The faculty is in a room. Not just any room, but a conference room. The view outside of the PolyTech's other buildings over their suitably artificial turf/grass hybrid is marked by the students who are currently in the process of taking their finals for the term.
Unfortunately, that means that this is the funding meeting. Going by the usual methods, the board of trustees has sent a small accountant to introduce you to the concept of budge allocation for what must be the fourth time in this year alone.
He is a flighty skinny man wearing black-rimmed glasses and a cheap suit that seems to have been bought from a thrift store specializing in Space Elf apparel. It looks a little bit tight. He is currently filing papers and preparing for his little introduction to a subject which all of you not only understand, but know the outcome of the meeting.
“Now we can begin: I am Gene Rotterdam and I have been appointed-“
One of the faculty coughs in such a way that seems to sound more like “duped” than a cough.
Gene Rotterdam knows not interruption or subtlety so he continues “by the board of trustees to introduce to you the financial consideration for the next academic year.”
He stops talking as the lights flicker slightly, if it's anything like the usual cause, it means that Rob-O-Tron's experiment has failed. There is a pause as the faculty and even an accountant who knows not about subtlety or interruption listens. Slowly, but surely, a shockwave passes through the windows, and rattles the building just a little bit. This shockwave is followed by the screams of a hundred flaming students running for their lives.
“The board of trustees would like me to tell you very specifically Rob-O-Tron, that you will be required to do significant research outside of your project because PolyTech does not like keeping professors who can’t manage their experiments well enough to avoid large catastrophes. But of course, if you find anything like last year, you’ll be fine.”
The rest of the faculty wonder what Rob-O-Tron found last year that would make him so attractive to the board of trustees.
“Theta, your request for funding based on ah-“ he pauses one moment and adjusts his glasses. “’Lamarckian Evolution’ have been declined until you, like Professor Rob-O-Tron, find something of immense worth to study.”
“None of you have contributed to the mass of knowledge that the board of trustees desires that I mention, that PolyTech has acquired. However, I would like to welcome… Professor Dave, from the… stenesian institute on Beta Pax III, he is a mechanical Engineer with a special expertise in robotics, also professor Ch'thul F'woo Ch'ool Zul from the Aquarian Institute on Tatooine who is a Biologist, and Edgar Evans who is a particularly nice person to share Tea with. However, that doesn’t affect my decisions because you have an operational budget, each of you, of around five space-marks. This is a fifty percent increase from last year, so therefore, I hope that you can use it well.”
Five space marks will buy a large space-soda at McSpace’s pub and soda depository.
“There is one more item of business, that I have been instructed to tell you that the PolyTech board of trustees has reviewed its ah… task management and decided that it is possible for you to work together on projects to earn more budget together. In fact, they strongly recommend it. So much so that they mandated a grouping that seems more or less arbitrary to me, but they assure me is scientifically sound.”
This is important for you
“In group 1, Theta, Rob-O-Tron, Xavrax, Sariis Erion, Ch'thul F'woo Ch'ool ZulC, Edgar Evans, Dave, and Egor”
(Out of Game)
You have the option to check the bulletin board for tasks, or you can blow your operational budgets and go to McSpace’s pub and soda depository.