Sample degraded within 4 seconds.

If they were alive when they were taken, they would not have stayed that way for more than a few minutes. The director must know this. Perhaps he hopes to at least recover their bodies.

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I see why Yumei is always in Accounting now. STRANGE MATTER lives up to its name. The process of creating it has a steep price tag, and it is difficult to store for any usable length of time. We can barely coax together enough to stay on a slide. I can test pieces, but for a whole suit, I'll have to join Yumei in the queue.

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I overheard Conway bragging in the cafeteria. Visibility approved another public patent from his team. The fourth this year alone that they've reverse-engineered from their suit.

I asked him for a material sample to test with. Begged, really. I don't care how much he laughs about it later.

Pride is not a result.

——————————————

No tests today. I attended the dedication. The director gave the closing speech—about their lives, their work, and the importance of not leaving our own behind. I could swear he looked at me when he said it. I know. I know.

There were unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Not our people. They approached the director as soon as the ceremony closed.

——————————————

Althaus's desk has been cleared. I asked around—poached by DARPA for a weapons program based on the ballistics models they developed from their suit.

I see more unfamiliar faces in the halls every month.

The disappearances aren't just an internal affair. They never could have been. The director believes we will reach out into the void and find friends reaching back. Others do not share his hope.

I didn't need Dr. Purnell to explain this to me. I suppose that can be considered progress? I would rather be making progress on this [expletive redacted] suit.

——————————————

Sample degraded in 9 seconds. At this rate of improvement, even if they are friendly, we will not survive long enough to finish introducing ourselves.

——————————————

There was a scene in the main lobby today. A tall, dignified man in a charcoal suit, speaking with gravitas. Security was trying to escort him out, but the director stopped them.

Now everyone who was within a ten-room radius knows about the lawsuit the Davis family is bringing. Legal must be tying themselves in knots.

Before Mr. Davis left, the director told him, "I will bring them back."

Them. Not their bodies. Them, alive and whole. If the director were anyone else, I'd laugh. But he means it.

The new formulas are running. I will not let them down.