Eleven people were present when Thomas got to the meeting. The only person Thomas recognized was Mark Gubrud, whom Thomas considered a good friend of many years, but hadn't seen since the Gulf War period. Richard Laskin, the founder of MFPE, was seated at the head of the table. Apparently Richard, who prefers to be called Rick, and who Thomas didn't recall ever having met, knew Thomas, because he introduced him to the rest of the group.

Thomas seated himself in the midst of Mark's passionate diatribe against including Zero Point Energy as part of the Support Resolution. Surprise, Thomas hadn't realized there was opposition to ZPE within the MFPE. As a neophyte to the movement, not well-versed in science, the magnitude of the debate only began to settle as he listened to Mark's argument.