“Noted,” Lehmann said. “Now, are there any ideas for weapons we can modify or repurpose against the Beans? Muskets and cannons are a good place to begin, but we are going to need more than that if we want any chance against them.”

“You know, I used to do this thing as a kid,” Schubert said. “I would wrap up these bottles full of alcohol in cloth, then light them on fire. When I threw the bottle, it would explode in a ball of fire and stay until the alcohol burned up.”

“You did that as a kid?” Reist asked.

“Interesting,” Lehmann said. “The alcohol would coat the Bean, killing the individual beans covering its body… Beer and wine are fairly accessible from the abandoned towns and cities our troops will be occupying, and our troops all have cloth and firestarters…”

“That’s all well and good, but what about the abnormal one?” Lehmann’s aide asked. “Something of that size wouldn’t be brought down by a few firebombs.”

“We can discuss the a-abnormal later,” Fischer said. “R-Right now, we should focus on the d-drone Beans. There have not been any confirmed sightings of other a-abnormal Beans besides the one from Dijon, meaning that they are m-most likely incredibly rare.”

“As for another weapon, we could use hammers,” Meyer’s brown haired aide suggested. “Something like a warhammer, to crush the beans.”

“That is a good idea as well,” Lehmann said. “However, we do not have a large supply of warhammers… It would be possible to equip some of our forces, but not more than a few hundred by the end of February. We do have access to blunt melee weapons that may prove effective at crushing the beans, like maces or even flails.”

“It is more, than nothing,” Meyer said. “Perhaps we could, modify muskets to have heavy, blunt ends, which would take the place of melee weapons, in the field.”

“Or modify the bayonet,” Reist suggested.

“Interesting ideas, b-but making the musket barrels t-too heavy would make it difficult for our soldiers to k-keep their weapons steady. Modifying the s-stock or butt would be b-best,” Fischer replied. “We could d-definitely modify the bayonet to be more h-harmful to the Beans, though. Perhaps we could heat the blade somehow.”

“Oh, oh, I know!” Schubert said. “We could make a bunch of bombs and throw them at the Beans! Or make explosive traps for them to set off! Explosives will probably be the most effective weapon we have against the Beans right now, anyways.”

“Another good idea,” Lehmann said. “Though our supply of explosives is limited. We would need to make more using our gunpowder supply, which is also limited and would be better used to supply our musketmen.”

“Can’t we just buy more gunpowder?” Schubert asked.

“We can barely feed our own citizens; we do not have the capital necessary to import gunpowder, much less the resources required to transport the amount we would need to arm our western front,” Lehmann replied. “Our army has gunpowder stockpiled, but the amount needed to build an explosive would be better spent giving our musketmen ten times as many shots.”

“Explosives would work against the Beans if we caught them off guard,” Sauer added. “They are intelligent, however, and would learn to avoid any explosives we attack them with. We still do not know how much heat is required to kill them, either; they may need to be exceptionally close to the explosive for it to have any effect. Explosives do not burn their victims, but instead shock them, which the Beans have shown themselves to be resistant to.”

“Ugh, fine,” Schubert said. “But you’re saying traps could work?”

“Explosive traps would be effective,” Sauer agreed. “Firebomb traps would be effective as well.”

Meyer said, “On the topic, of weapons, would boiling water, be effective? It is simple, but would be easy to make, in any area where we, have access to water and fire, like in cities.”

“That could work, too,” Sauer agreed, writing in his journal.

“Let us review what we have so far,” Lehmann said. “Sauer, I see you have been taking notes for us?”

Sauer reviewed his notes. “As for weapons, we have: muskets and cannons, mildly effective against the Beans and easily accessible; melee weapons such as flails and maces; firebombs, which make use of the flammability of alcohol to light Beans on fire; modifying musket stocks to simulate hammers; modifying bayonets to better kill Beans; and boiling water. We briefly discussed explosive and firebomb traps, which could prove useful in defending our territory but not in an advance on Bean territory. We also mentioned creating safehouses in our cities in the event of a Bean attack, which I think should be our next point of discussion.”

“Yes, safehouses…” Lehmann agreed. “In the event of a Bean attack, we would need fortifications for both civilians, in the event that they are unable to escape the city before the Beans arrived, and for soldiers, to attack the Beans from relative safety.”

“We don’t need much to hold off the drone Crimson Beans,” Reist said. “They weren’t able to destroy the gates in Dijon without the abnormal Ashen Bean’s help, so a fortified wooden door would be more than enough to stop them.”

“And no windows, covered or otherwise,” Sauer said. “The safehouses should have nothing but a single entrance. If there were any other entrances, forces would need to be split to defend them, and windows would allow the Beans to send individual beans through.”

“B-But what if the safehouse is o-overrun?” Fischer asked. “W-Would the civilians not be t-trapped inside?”

“If the door is broken, there is little that could be done to save those inside,” Sauer said. “On that note, as long as an abnormal Ashen Bean does not attack, the safehouse should be able to withstand the drone Beans’ attacks. If the city is overrun with Beans, it would be better to be inside the relative safety of a safehouse than fighting the Beans.”

“I agree,” Reist said.

“S-So are we to l-leave those inside to d-die?” Fischer asked.

“We could stock the safehouses with weapons,” Lehmann suggested. “I agree with Sauer and his assistant; we should design the safehouses to be impenetrable by the Beans, and provide those inside the tools necessary to fight against the Beans in the event that they become trapped inside.”

Fischer sighed. “A-Alright… At least they will have a chance…”

Meyer asked, “And, what of the other, Bean types? You say the, Crimson Beans, were not able, to get inside, Dijon, but do you think, the Ashen, or Verdant Beans, would? The Ashen Beans, in particular, may be able to, break through the safehouse entrances, due to their, beans being harder, than the Crimson Beans’. At least, that is what I understand, from the reports.”

“Ashen Beans may be a problem,” Sauer agreed. “But even if they are able to break through wooden doors, I doubt they would be able to break through doors reinforced with iron. We would need to ensure the hinges, and where the hinges connect to the doorframe, are able to withstand repeated attacks, however… Perhaps we could design doors that would better defend against the Beans’ blunt attacks. And, regarding the Verdant Beans, from what I understand, they are physically weaker than the Crimson Beans and should pose no threat.”

“Shall we, discuss door designs?” Meyer asked.

“We can work out the specifics of the safehouses later,” Sauer said. “We would also need to scout for locations, preferably stone buildings in defensible positions, but we can not do that now.”

“I think that is enough discussion of the safehouses for now. Shall we move on to discussing traps?” Lehmann asked.

“We could dig a pitfall trap,” Schubert suggested. “Then, once the Beans fall inside and can’t get out, we just light them all on fire and watch them burn!”

“No one give Leon access to fire,” Reist said. “And pitfalls would work on the front lines, but wouldn’t work in cities like Stuttgart. It would be a waste of manpower to try and dig holes through the stone streets.”

“In cities we could put trap explosives!” Schubert said. “The Beans are blind, right? We could, like, make pressure sensitive explosives that go off when they’re stepped on, and make the pressure plates obvious so no people step on them!”

“That is a creative idea, but we would have to work on it more,” Lehmann said. “If the Beans were to attack, I doubt panicked civilians would be paying attention to the colors of the stones they are running on. Not to mention, it may be dark when the Beans attack; they did attack before the sun rose on November 8th, after all. With the oil rations in place, the cities will be dark at night for the foreseeable future.”

“Using the Beans’ lack of senses is an interesting idea, however,” Sauer said. “We may be able to take advantage of that, though assuming their senses incorrectly could result in creating ineffective traps...”

They continued to discuss various facets of the Beans’ abilities, weapons and traps that could take advantage of their weaknesses, and ways to protect their forces on the front lines and civilians in their cities, until Sauer could barely keep his eyes open. There were no windows in the heart of the Bean Research Facility, but it felt as though the sun had long since set.

“I think we have discussed as much as we can for today,” Lehmann said. “We will meet again tomorrow to begin discussing the development and implementation of weapons. Now, if no one has anything else to mention…” No one did.

The twelve researchers began the two hour process of leaving the facility.