Inside the Committee office.
Marcus picked up the copy of *Nature* that had fallen onto his desk and read through Dieppe's paper once more, carefully, from beginning to end.
This time, he was more focused and invested than during the review, so much so that more than half a day passed before he lightly tapped the desk with his black-gloved hand. "If electrons are treated as wave-like, then there's a direction of explanation for the energy levels and orbits in New Alchemy. No wonder His Excellency Lucian Evans would value Dieppe's hypothesis so highly."
These were his inner thoughts, not meant for anyone else to hear. Marcus, who instinctively detested the light quantum theory, was unwilling to address Lucian as "His Excellency" — yet every time that name crossed his mind, he couldn't help but recall how the theory of relativity had illuminated electromagnetic phenomena in moving reference frames, and that breathtaking description of the nature of gravity that left one no choice but to marvel and bow. So instinctively, he tacked on another "His Excellency."
"Regardless, this hypothesis is far too bold. It must be verified by experiment." Marcus set down *Nature* and left the Committee office, heading back to his own magic tower, muttering to himself with a touch of wry amusement: "The authority and pillar of particle theory needs something as absurd as 'electrons are waves' to fix electron energy levels and orbits, to improve New Alchemy — what a perfect irony. When he proposed the light quantum hypothesis, I wonder if he ever imagined this day would come?"
For Archanists who had weathered one trial after another, blindly following someone else's views and believing without verification was a guaranteed path to an early grave. So even though Lucian was a fearsome Grand Archanist with an unassailable authority built on one triumph after another, Marcus would not simply accept his viewpoint. Everything had to be grounded in experimental phenomena or data. The only impact Lucian's editor's note had was to elevate his attention on this paper to the highest level — this was the closest path to the truth of the microscopic world.
If the experiment was truly designed and the wave nature of the electron verified, the returns would be beyond imagination. He would very likely share in the true world's feedback and the Evans Arcane Award with Dieppe himself!
Strength, reputation, future prospects, status — all would improve enormously.
Inside his magic tower.
Yana looked at the copy of *Nature* before him with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. "This really is unexpected. His Excellency Evans gave it such high praise — is he encouraging everyone to think more broadly?"
"Electrons are waves. What a fantastical era we live in. Twenty or thirty years ago, if anyone had dared say atoms were waves, they'd have had every Archanist laughing them out of the room. And now... tsk."
He had no intention of ridicule; his words merely expressed the shock churning inside. His gaze drifted as he sank into contemplation, searching for ideas on how to design the experiment.
Even those in the electromagnetic faction who were delighted by Dieppe's hypothesis reacted this way — those Archanists who couldn't accept it were, naturally, even more unsettled.
Headquarters of the Elemental Will.
Larry, K, and Gaston were likewise staring at this issue of *Nature* in a daze. After a long while, Larry finally managed a bitter smile. "Am I too conservative? Or is this world changing so fast that we can't keep up with the times?"
"I don't think anyone in the Council can keep up with this pace," Gaston shook his head. "Lucian must have seen in this hypothesis the dawn of solving the electron distribution model in New Alchemy — that's why he gave it such high praise. But as he himself said, it all depends on experimental results and phenomena, and right now all of that is blank. Whether electrons are waves is still an unknown."
As he spoke, whether it was Gaston talking or Larry and K listening, all three felt an indescribable strangeness. Since when had "whether electrons are waves" — a sentence whose subject and predicate had no business being connected — slipped so naturally into conversation?
The strangeness was like someone asking whether humans were made of waves.
K nodded and scratched the back of his head. "If we changed our views simply because of a hypothesis and Lucian's endorsement, then our views wouldn't deserve to be called views. Besides, every current experiment thoroughly confirms the particle nature of the electron. There's no doubt about that."
"This is the arcanist attitude we should hold," Gaston agreed, while furrowing his brow slightly. If treating the electron as a wave could solve the various problems of New Alchemy, it would at least be an indirect verification of the truth.
Although building a theory from this hypothesis to improve New Alchemy would not yield results in the short term, and the wave-nature experiment for electrons showed no signs of feasible progress due to wavelength limitations, Gaston couldn't help but worry: when the time came, which of the two foundational theories in the elemental and matter domains would he have to abandon? Particle theory or New Alchemy?
"What an era of changes and strangeness — so much that it's hard to know how to navigate," he sighed inwardly, and decided that everything would have to be determined by experiment. That was the only way he could feel the pulse of the times. He resolved to be prepared to admit that particle theory and the current model of New Alchemy were wrong — but if that happened, before finding a new path, his own strength would likely stagnate.
Larry sighed as well. "If it's really proven that electrons are waves, I simply can't understand this world anymore. What exactly is wave-particle duality? Why does wave-particle duality exist? It's not that I'm too foolish — it's that such a world is too insane."
…………
Inside the Atomic Research Institute.
Lazar, Hetty, Annick, and the others were all sitting with copies of *Nature*, staring blankly, having broken from their usual work routine for once.
Just then, Lucian walked in through the door and startled them back to life. They all crowded around him, and Hetty, always the bold one, asked eagerly: "Teacher, do you agree with Mr. Dieppe's electron-wave hypothesis?"