Page 28 of Last Chance to Save the World

Yeah, flare threads in a sun shield will do that.

You didn’t tell me there was more securityinthe room,I tell Rian with the subvocal transmitter.

I didn’t know there was.

“Inconclusive results,” the robotic voice says. “Please remove any material that blocks visual input.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.”

On either side of me in this narrow entryway are two lenses, the rounded glass moving as the red-light sensors rove over my body. The door registers who’s logging in, then the person who enters the room is scanned to make sure the biometric scans and PIN-pad key match the person who steps inside.

The system is designed to stop people from doing exactly what Rian and I are trying to do.

Shit.

“Please stand still; rescanning,” the computer says.

There’s a fucking body scanner in here,I say, stepping out of the entry and away from the scanners.

“You are required to rescan,” the computer says.

I didn’t know that,Rian says.

Of course he wouldn’t. The scans on his body have always matched the biometrics and PIN-pad key. Whenhewalks through the door, the computer is silent and doesn’t protest.

The only saving grace right now is the sun shield with flare threads. It’s enough to throw off the system and put it into an error rather than straight to blaring alarms.

“You are required to rescan,” the computer says as I sprint down the corridor to where Rian said the nanobots would be stored. I take out my earring; all I have to do is slide the metal post into the input port, and the code will go from the stud into the nanobot reprogrammer.

“You have fourteen minutes, thirty-two seconds to rescan before system alerts security.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck,I think. Except I must have done it subvocally, because Rian answers.

Is everything okay?

No,I snap back, skidding around a corner.We have less than fifteen before the system locks me in and alerts all the guards to come drag me away.

What? Why?

“Because it has a fucking body scanner inside!” I say out loud. The subvocal transmitter won’t pick that up, so I have to repeat it in an impatient hum as I slam toward the back of the room, frantically looking over the shelves.

I can override the system and cancel the lockdown,Rian says.

Really?I ask.

I think? Maybe?

Cool, cool, that eases my mind. Love a man with confidence.

This room holds more than just Fetor’s nanobot program. It’s a server room for most of Fetor Tech’s processes, and it’s cluttered with enticingly interesting prototypes I want to play with.

“Twelve minutes to system lockdown,” the computer voice announces cheerily.

Right, focus.

Nanobots are tiny. Microscopically tiny. The climate-cleaner program is designed to send enough bots out into the water system of Earth that eventually, the pollutants are stripped from the oceans and the atmosphere. It’s designed to change the entire water cycle of Earth.

But the bots themselves are small enough to fit inside a shoebox.

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