Page 31

I followed along as she guided me to a circular railing overlooking an almost bottomless pit of enormous generators and tanks whirring and whooshing in a constant, loud thrum that made my body vibrate along, like a they were giant bass players. Steam rose from one of them, and I could just make out the bright orange Liquid Nitrogen label on its side.

“These are the main power generators, the water purification driver that continuously cleans and recycles water for the resort, the oxygen pump, and the depth pressurization chamber,” she shouted above the noise.

I threw my hands over my ears and nodded to show I got it so we could move on.

“Of course, we have a backup for each major part. And here,” she said, walking backwards and gesturing to more terminals on my right. “Are the emergency pod controls.”

“Excuse me?” I said, doing a double take.

She grinned. “The original design for Paradise Atlantis called for a mobile resort that could move around the ocean, relocating to different scenic views. In practice it was too difficult to manage the mapping and control. But if there’s ever a major event such as an earthquake, we needed an emergency escape route for the guests. So we added pods, the only one online at this point is located outside the aquarium, but access is limited to staff and essential human personnel.”

I raised my eyebrows, wondering if I now qualified as essential. I had no idea this whole place was supposed to be a giant submarine. The engineering necessary for something this massive to be made with such versatility excited my tech brain. I wondered what else I was going to learn on the engineering deck.

“So theoretically someone could get to the surface if they had the right clearance?” I asked.

“Only the Bennets and head of Communications have the ability to release the pod’s controls from here.”

Alyssa led me past various emergency hatches that acted like pod docking stations in anticipation of material deliveries from the surface once they really got going. There were a few scattered employees working hard at computer stations throughout. None of them looked happy about it. From their expressions, I was guessing if there hadn’t been glitches, they would be enjoying themselves poolside, drinking a cocktail.

“Guess no one wanted to work on vacation,” I said, indicating one guy who continually sighed and checked his wristband, presumably for the time.

“Of course not. But it’s part of our contracts. A full month, and if there are any issues within our areas of expertise we may be called on to handle it in a timely manner.” Alyssa stopped in front of a relatively normal-looking door and ran her wristband over a panel that changed from glowing red to glowing green.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“Restricted entry. I’ve added you, but no one outside of our department or above is allowed in.”

I didn’t know what I was expecting, but inside was a normal office, desk, keyboard, and two large monitors. Cupboards bordered the walls all around. Alyssa slid into the leather swivel chair and tapped at the computer. The cupboard doors slid upward, revealing a hexagonal beehive of inlaid monitors, each reflecting a different portion of the resort. I gasped.

“Big Brother, I know,” Alyssa said. “But we aren’t watching the people. We’re keeping an eye on the staff. Anything that’s connected to the AI can be monitored from this station.” She swiveled the chair and stepped aside, gesturing for me to take a seat.

I slipped behind the monitor and cracked my knuckles. My fingers flew across the keyboard as I scanned the code she’d created. It really was genius. Even I had to admit that she knew what she’s doing.

“Find the error yet?” she asked after a few minutes.

“This is incredible,” I conceded. “The way you set up the logic trail. All the protocols. But what’s this section for?”

She leaned over me, intent on the screen. “That’s the nerve center. The patented code that makes this system more lifelike than anything else out there. It’s encrypted. That’s why you can’t read it.” She straightened and patted my shoulder. “Nice work, Meadows. If you’d been unable to read any of it, or worse yet, pretended to get it all, I would have known you weren’t the real deal. It seems you’ve passed the test.”

My nostrils flared. Little Dragon needed to cool it. Nothing good could come of losing it here like I had in my room earlier.

“Yep, I’m the real deal,” I said. “MIT was right. So what’s the issue? I know the elevator malfunctioned.”

“That was one symptom. We also had a television that wouldn’t turn off, several delayed response times, and one staff robot that began speaking Spanish to a guest.” I recalled the delay in the lights the other day and the repetition by the computer this morning. I made a mental note to be grateful that was all I’d experienced. “Then there was the vandal.”

My chest squeezed, and I gripped the arms of the chair, swiveling to face her. “What does that have to do with the AI?”

“First, anything I confide in you here, stays here, got it?” She sat on the edge of the desk.

“Of course.” I didn’t see the need to tell her Mason already shared vital details with me, or that I had an empty spray paint can under my bed.

“The vandal disabled several security cameras for crucial periods of time.”

“Tons of people here have the tech savvy to do that.” I bit my lip, hoping I hadn’t reacted too quickly.

“True, but the way I designed the AI, it should have detected and reported the malfunction, or even fixed it immediately.”

I drew a sharp breath, staring at a section of screen that showed Travis sulking near a bench while an older woman nearby snapped pictures. “Alyssa, is there a possibility that these malfunctions could spread to any vital systems?”

Alyssa moved toward the screens on the wall, not meeting my eyes. “There are fail-safes in place to prevent it.”

“Weren’t there fail-safes to prevent the other glitches?” I pressed.

“Of course. But don’t you think we took extra care with vital systems? This isn’t some shoddy operation. This is the culmination of years of work from the greatest minds of our time.” She touched a monitor, distracted.

“What is it?” I asked, squinting at what looked like a mound of mud inside the spa.

“Zoom in on section 4E, please, Meadows.”

I reached trembling fingers to the mouse pad and zoomed in on the section she pointed to. My hand flew to my mouth, and Alyssa screamed.

The mountain of mud was a body.