Ultraviolet Catastrophe

“But you don’t know that. Max could like you and be just as scared to say something. Sometimes you have to take chances.”

“Like you?” Zella raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t see you letting your guard down around Asher.”

I laughed dismissively before turning away to rummage in my bag, my lungs suddenly tight.

Zella shook her head, frowning. “Aren’t we a pair? We’re both cowards.”

“Maybe we should do something about it?”

“Like what? Profess my undying love?” Zella scoffed and shook her head. “Uh-uh. Not going to happen.”

“What about a movie? Or coffee?”

“Max and I do that every weekend. Honestly, we’re practically dating now. Without the additional benefits.” She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We have bigger things to worry about. Any ideas on how we can sneak into QT Friday night?”

I shook my head. I’d let it go for now, but there had to be some way to get them to realize what they had before they turned eighty. “How about you?”

“It’s going to have to be a good reason. Security is tight already, and if the four of us show up in the middle of the night, that’s going to set some alarms off.”

Zella and I stared off into the distance, trying to think. I watched Joan re-shelving some of the research books, her movements jerky and strained.

“They should really get someone to reengineer poor Joan. She’d be much more efficient with a few tweaks.” All they needed to do was move those bolts down a few inches and use some different gauges for the joints. I could sketch it out for them in my sleep.

Zella dropped her pen. “Lexie, that’s it.”

I blinked at her. “What is?”

“My parents work in the robotics labs and have been complaining about most of their staff being reassigned to Project Infinity. They’re always looking for help with check-ins and chassis tweaks. They have three to do this week alone. I’ll offer our help after-hours, and that’ll give us a legit reason to be here. Besides, the robotics labs are in Division Five. Just a few floors from where we need to go.”

“That could work.” I jumped to my feet. “Let’s go get us some extra homework!”

26

Asher called me later that night, but I’d already heard the bad news from my dad.

“The regents wouldn’t even see me,” Asher said. His voice in my ear was unexpectedly intimate, and I couldn’t stop myself from remembering the way those lips had felt against mine the night of the gala.

I shivered as goosebumps erupted on my skin. Focus, Kepler. “I can’t believe they met in my dad’s hospital room.”

“I can’t believe my own father wouldn’t listen to me.” He growled, and I could tell he was pacing. “He wouldn’t even let me in the room. Though I suppose, since Danvers was there, it wouldn’t have done much good. What do we do now?”

I bit back a grin. “Are you asking my opinion for a change? Well, I think we move ahead with our plan. We still have to trick Amy into leaking our data to Danvers so we can destroy Branston.”

“You sound excited about that prospect.” There was a smile in his voice.

“I am. I hate what they’ve done to QT and to you guys.”

“I just hate I was stupid enough to fall for Amy’s act. I should have caught it.”

I fought to keep my voice cool. “Even the smartest guys can get distracted by a pretty girl.”

“Yeah, but it takes more than just pretty to interest me. I like girls who are smart and funny and real. Amy is fake. In every way.” He let out a noisy sigh. “Thing is, even though I didn’t like her, I was still flattered she liked me. I can’t believe I was so stupid. If Branston takes over QT because of me…”

“You couldn’t have known she was part of this. It’s not your fault. And we’re going to stop her. Don’t even talk like that.”

He laughed softly in my ear. “Fine. But you know the only way I’m really going to feel better about all this?”

“Stopping Danvers and Amy and Branston?”

“Finally going on our date. It feels like the universe is conspiring to keep us apart.”

“Oh.” The breath froze in my lungs, and the silence between us crackled for a long, delicious moment. I couldn’t stop my stupid grin. “Well, at least by the time we get around to it, it’s going to be one epic date.”

Zella texted Amy on Thursday and asked if we could have a study session at her house that afternoon. Amy’s text back was mostly exclamation points and smiley faces. We were in.

Asher’s black BMW pulled up at my house a little before two. I locked the door behind me and shivered as a gust of November wind blew through the bare trees. I pulled my heavy coat tighter around me and inhaled the damp, cold air. It would be winter soon. My first winter in Tennessee, and if we didn’t stop Branston, it might be my last.

I slid into the front seat and smiled over my shoulder at Max and Zella in the back. “Asher’s playing chauffeur, huh?”

“We needed to spread out and review some of Asher’s plans.” Zella smirked, and I knew that wasn’t all she wanted to do back there.

“We ready for this?” Asher asked as he put the car in drive, and we sped toward Amy’s.

I was glad my fingerless gloves hid my clammy palms. “What’s the plan?”

“We’re just going to keep it simple. We’ll tell Amy that you found proof the simulation and equations are wrong. Max and I will use Amy’s laptop to ‘redesign’ our simulation so it works now, based on what you discovered. That’ll load the wrong data on her computer, along with the tracking code, but she’ll think it’s the right stuff.

“Where do I come in?” Zella asked from the back seat.

Asher tapped his finger on the steering wheel. “You’re our ringer, Z. We’re going to argue about whether or not we share this new info with Danvers, and you need to keep us from making an actual decision. Then, when we conveniently leave our USB drive behind in Amy’s computer, it won’t seem so suspicious.”

“What’s that going to do?” I asked.

Asher gave us a Cheshire cat grin. “I’ve installed a code inside the simulation to track who opens it and create an exploit that will allow us to access any computer it’s sent to. As soon as we have confirmation she’s given it to Branston, we’ll use Danvers’ computer to hack into their network and delete all the old files. They’ll be left with the fakes and no record of anything else. They can’t trace it back to us, and they can’t verify if there were other files. It’ll be like Harry Potter waved his magic wand.”