Livia rubs a hand over her forehead. “I know this is inappropriate. I only needed a few hours. I booked the small conference room so he wouldn’t disturb anyone.”
“He escaped,” the boy informs me solemnly. Speaking about himself in third person, that's impressive.
Livia closes her eyes briefly, following along. “Yes. Apparently, he escaped.”
He looks at her now. “I was exploring, mama.”
“Unauthorized exploration.”
He seems to think about that wording. “Like spies?”
I almost smile.
Almost.
“Sometimes.”
His attention immediately shifts to the security badge clipped to my jacket pocket.
“What does that do?”
Livia exhales quietly like she already knows this conversation is spiraling away from her.
“It accesses secured areas,” I answer.
His eyes widen. “Can I see?”
“No.”
He accepts the refusal surprisingly well.
“Okay.”
Livia watches me cautiously, like she expects irritation any second now.
Instead, I crouch slightly and hold the badge where he can examine it without touching.
“It contains encrypted credentials,” I tell him. “The system reads the chip inside and determines which floors I can enter.”
He stares at the badge with complete fascination.
“How does it know it’s you?”
“Biometric verification.”
Livia blinks slowly.
The boy asks, “What’s abaomechic?”
“Information your body gives the system. Fingerprints. Eye scans. Voice patterns.”
His mouth drops open a little. “That’s so cool.”
“It is.”
I straighten again.
Livia is staring at me now.
