Page 69 of Time Stops With You

Being the center of attention unnerves me. One side of my brain begs me to retreat, to hide in a corner and conduct this meeting from behind the safety of a screen.

But I force myself to accept the microphone that Sara hands me. How she set up a PA system in the room in such a short time, I’ll never know. But I think I owe her a raise.

“Hello, everyone,” I say hesitantly. “Thank you for making it on such short notice.”

It feels like a hundred pairs of eyes blink at me.

I swallow hard. “As you all know by now, our software was replicated by a well known company overseas.”

Grumbles erupt at my words.

I lift a hand to stop them because that’s not the point. “But today isn’t about what was taken from us. It’s about what we’re about to gain. Sara.”

“Yes, Mr. Cullen.” My assistant hustles toward me, clipboard at the ready.

“Can you set up my laptop?”

“Already done.” She spins around, removes my device from the desk and hands it to me.

“Thank you,” I say, gifting her a genuine smile. “I’ll need to?—”

“Attach it to a monitor and also set up a feed so the online team members can view what’s on it? Done and done. There’s a dungle allowing wireless connection. You’re good to go.”

This woman is a beast at her job and I NEED to give her a raise.

I start with a bang. “You may or may not know that our system was hacked into a few days ago.”

Gasps ripple around the room.

Several eyes dart around in suspicion.

“This is the code the hacker used to infiltrate our system.” I click to the simulation and show them Josiah’s lines of code. “At first glance, it’s easy to miss but if you look deeper, you’ll see something very interesting.”

Asad pushes his glasses up and peers at the monitor showing my screen. “What is it? What are we supposed to be looking for?”

“Here.” I point to the variation that Josiah revealed today in class.

Dr. Young’s eyes bug. “That’s the code for an out-of-commission satellite. But how? It’s impossible to let a satellite orbit like that.”

“It’s impossible until you look at it through the eyes of a child who’s never been told it ‘can’t’ be done,” I tell them.

Rumbles of surprise and agreement follow the statement.

I pace the room, growing more and more excited and less and less self-conscious as I speak about my idea. “Since the start of this project, we’ve been trying to code a direct link to the plane.”

“Because it gives us the most secure signal and the smallest error rate,” someone says.

“But what if there was another way to get a reliable signal.”

Their eyes glaze over with confusion.

I click to a webpage. “Adam Harrison and Richard Sullivan created a new company last year, investing in a global satellite system. It’s governed by a programming software called ‘INVERT708’. With the strength of the INVERT708’s signal, we can transfer from satellite to satellite, compared to other satellite systems that are stationary.”

Finally, it clicks.

Applause breaks out around the room. A few of them shoot to their feet, unable to contain their excitement.

Asad whistles.

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