Melinda tried very hard not to cry in guilt, "I'm sorry Ms. Althea. The temperature has indeed been steadily rising for many days now and I was hoping to wait for a week's worth of data before reporting, but..."
She paused and seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. Althea sighed, taking out a cup of water for her to drink. The girl gulped it down and resumed reporting.
"But then the rise had increased all of a sudden," she continued. "Before, it was only a hundredth of a fraction of a centigrade every day, but yesterday it went up by an entire 0.1 degree.
So it had been warming up for a while, but like frogs being boiled slowly, they couldn't notice it.
They had known from the aborigines that the weather in Xeno was relatively consistent (per geographical region) except for the massive spikes upwards or downwards of the weather every one or two years.
They also confirmed it through their own meteorological teams, who had recorded data ever since its formation. Their area had very good weather and had indeed maintained a certain range of temperature for weeks.
This meant changes , no matter how minor, were not a good sign.
"That's okay," Althea said, trying to calm the woman down. "You did good coming to us for this."
Melinda then excused herself and went away, relieved to finally let it out of her chest.
She really couldn't handle pressure very well…
Anyway, back to the villa, Althea was left with her husband and Mathilda and they immediately knew what to do next.
That night, an emergency meeting was held in the Village Center. Including the elders, there were also Oslo and some of the hired aborigines. They didn't have many people so the third floor was still comfortable even with their number.
They went straight to the point, with Mathilda leading the meeting. "We called you here because it's likely that the extreme weather changes have begun and it is extreme heat for us this year.
"It may also happen within the next month, or even within a couple of weeks, even."
This naturally made everyone else flinch. "What?"
The others looked at each other, their stomachs dropping. Oslo looked at the old woman curiously, "How do you know this Maam Mathilda?"
In their knowledge, the changes always happened all of a sudden. Even if there were signs, it was only a day or two prior that the temperatures would drop or dramatically rise. There simply wasn't enough time to prepare everyone, so only the nobles and the rich (as well as those in strong territories) could pass it with better chances of survival.
Mathilda nodded. "Haven't we mentioned we have a meteorology department?"
"Well, you did, but…"
It wasn't easy for them to comprehend it.
In fact, the concept of molecules alone was something above their heads and it would take them quite some time to understand even a bit of it.
"It's okay," Mathilda said, also realizing this. "Basically, we have a method to understand the weather in a way humans can't quite sense on their own."
Speaking of, not including the new observatory, they had actually tried hot air balloons, though it was for meteorology equipment. They had to pour some beast-repelling potions every day so it wouldn't be taken down by birds or, when they reached their area, flying monsters, so it was a bit costly.
Fortunately, they invested in it.
"Anyway, that department found that the temperature had been slowly rising the past few days, but it's very slow that we adapted to it. It's like how boiling a frog in boiling water worked."
They had forgotten that metaphor wouldn't hit locally.
"Imagine a… say, a Juju Toad. Imagine it trapped in an enclosed space with water that can be heated up.
"If you suddenly increase the temperature it would naturally react and try to escape—as any living thing will do, whether they are sentient or not.
"However, if you gradually increase the water temperature, it is a very different story.
"Instead of a sudden spike in temperature, what if the change was much more subtle?
"Assuming that there is no lack of food or water, do you think it will try to escape like its life depended on it?"
The aborigines shook their heads. If the Juju Toad was comfortable enough, it could stay there for a long time.
"Indeed," Mathilda patiently explained. "In fact, if everything it needed was there, it wouldn't mind staying there at all for an indefinite amount of time.
"Even if the water would still come to a boil in the end. It would stay there until it died, not knowing what happened."
This made the aborigines silent, understanding the accuracy. Indeed, it was entirely possible there had been subtler signs. It was just that very few people—if any—noticed.
Maybe those famous soothsayers—whom the nobles paid large amounts for information—simply noticed these signs better than others!
Regardless of those people, this news jerked everyone back to activity.
"If it's true, then we have to prepare at the soonest!"
Mathilda nodded. "If it's extreme heat then we naturally have to prepare all the territories to handle it."
Not just Alterra, but also the other two!
While Alterra would definitely be better off than others by virtue of the design of the houses and the landscaping, they still needed to do a lot more for everyone to survive.
Even in Terran, the urban heat could get reduced by around 15% with just 30% greenery compared to an all-concrete construction. Partnered with the use of ventilation and the water sources around them, the ambient temperature around would be much lower than anywhere else.
For the other two, because they were limited to existing building types, they could (for now) modify the terrain instead. She would need to add and move a lot of plants to distribute across the territory, add more parkways, and increase underground constructions.
Water for Limestone Valley would be relatively more secure due to its access to mountain spring water. On the other hand, it was the new Iron Mountains that could be a problem.
The people in the room looked at each other and sighed.
This… was going to be a long discussion.