Chapter Seven

I walked down the hallway, alert. Every nerve was on end. I crept as quietly as I could, trying not to make a sound.

I heard the pair of destructive robots from a while away. They were armed with lasers and nets. They were quick, but I was quicker. Jumping off a wall, I flung myself at them. One fired a net at me, which brought me down. Quickly thinking, I flicked my hand. A holographic knife shot out of a panel in my wrist, striking the robot that had trapped me with deadly aim. Both it and the net flickered out of existence. With another quick swipe, I defeated the other cleanly.

In the real world, I flicked off my holo-goggles and brushed back my sweaty hair. I readjusted my braid and reflected on how lucky I was to live in a time like this, with a bunch of technology- and that our dad had finally relented, slightly. He at least let us go to the Mission Center, but just to train.

“Charlotte,” a voice behind me said. “I need your help.”

I turned around and blushed when I saw who it was. “Silas,” I said. “What is it?”

“Come quick.” I heard the urgency in his tone and immediately followed, abandoning all protocol to replace the VR headset where it ought to go. Yeah, it was that urgent, I could tell.

We walked through a corridor, all decked out in silver and blue. He glanced around quickly to make sure nobody was watching, and slipped into a security room.

“Silas,” I asked, “what are we doing here?”

“You need to see what I found.”

“You hacked?” I asked, gasping.

“I needed this.” He began to type on the largest monitor. “See, the whole reason my father started mining uranium was because a company bought out his company. Nemesystems. And look, I found these records.”

I looked at the information he had pulled up. Then I gasped, reeling. “The TTA bought out the company,” I whispered.

“That means that I’m right, and that they’re responsible for the death of my father and many others who were fired and were working in the mines at the time of the blasts!” He smashed a fist into his palm. “We rivaled the TTA. They were jealous when we beat them for awards.”

“Silas, I’m sure they didn’t mean to…” I trailed off. Even I had to admit it was hard to talk us out of this one.

“They’re murderers,” he whispered. “Every last one of them.” There was the kind of hatred in his eyes I had never seen before, and I stumbled back into a chair. He turned around and looked at me. I stared at him and ran.