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 “I’m sorry, professor.” You feel a pang of guilt for telling a lie but you truly believe that the technology should not belong to any single government. “The files got destroyed in the crash. It must have fallen out of my pocket.”

The devastation of the news makes the professor old and frail.

“No! My life’s work, gone!” For the second time in as many days you see the old professor close to tears. Mr. Jones, the government agent, narrows his eyes, his suspicions clear, but he remains silent.

The professor and Mr. Jones open a private channel on their headset and starts an intent conversation.

The helicopter lands. The conversation between the professor and Mr. Jones ended a while ago, with the professor shaking his head adamantly and Mr. Jones ripping off his headset, obviously angry. You all get out of the helicopter. A black car is waiting, Mr. Jones takes the professor by the arm, turns to you and say: “The professor will be coming with me! He says he cannot restart his work. I, however, will make sure the he at least tries,” he then turns to Emily. “Come with us!” he commands. Emily just nods and climbs into the car with Mr. Jones and her Grandfather.

You are stranded for the time being. But you still have the data, which may actually be worth a lot of money.

Go to chapter 10