After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1 by Nicole Stark Page B

behind, carefully grabbing Xin’s cup after he dropped it into the recycling bin.
     
    Avalon waited till the curfew for being in the dorm room had come and passed. At around 2300 hours, Avalon kicked the covers off of her and jumped to the floor. She leaned her ear up against the door. Silence. She unlocked her door via wrist swipe. Pausing, she turned her head left and right before crossing over into the corridor. As Avalon shimmied down the corridor, she checked over her shoulder every so often to ensure no one followed her. She also checked the halls for security cameras and tried to avoid being detected by them. The main rectangular shaped fluorescent lights were turned off to conserve energy, and only a few bare emergency bulbs lit the path. Under cover of darkness, Avalon reached the computer room. Sweat materialized on her armpits and her heart beat sped up. Avalon quickly swiped her wrist across the door sensor of the computer room and silently slipped inside.
    Avalon stepped onto her circle, and the blue light illuminated her face in the darkness.
    Carefully, she placed Xin’s coffee cup on his login pad and stood on it, providing the necessary pressure for activation.
    “Welcome Xin,” the AI said.
    Yes!
    Trying to emulate Xin’s voice, Avalon said, “Blow up Research files.”
    The Research files folder blew up. Going through several folder headers, she came across one named Code BK Max.
    Hmm. That sounds interesting.
    “Show details,” she said.
    “Access denied.”
    “Darn!” she said. What could the Accipios be hiding? And who does have access?
    Several folders displayed, including one labeled Contingency plan. But she was short on time. So instead she asked the computer a question related to her waking up.
    “Computer, please play the video from when I awoke.”
    “Yes,” the computer answered as it instantly brought up footage. Avalon enjoyed being nostalgic. However, as it played she noticed something.
    Avalon tilted her head to the right and asked, “Computer, please rewind the video ten minutes prior to me waking.”
    The computer rewound the tape. The video did not include sound, but Ilium could be seen walking around the infirmary attending to his patients. He moved slowly, like he was tired, but he was very attentive to his patients, constantly checking their stats. About eight minutes into the video, Ilium exited the room.
    Two minutes later, someone entered the room. This person pressed a ton of buttons on Avalon’s chamber and shortly thereafter, the room was bathed in red lights.
    Did someone cause my cryochamber to open prematurely? I could have died!
    “Computer, zoom in on frame 10, 8:21 seconds please.”
    The computer attempted to zoom, but uncharacteristically, the image froze mid-zoom.
    This was highly unusual.
    Avalon scrunched her forehead and asked, “Computer, are you feeling OK?”
    “Yes. I think I may need a quick reboot. I apologize for the freezing. Please wait fifteen seconds for me to reboot.”
    Avalon’s stomach knotted as she waited for the computer to reboot. Hurry, hurry, hurry!
    Her heart sank as the doors to the computer lab opened. She thought she had been listening, but obviously she didn’t listen hard enough.
    Guess this is it.
    Then the shadowy figure which entered the room stepped into the path of light.
    “Ilium!” Breathing a sigh of relief, she whispered, “You scared me half to death. You aren’t supposed to be here!”
    “Neither are you,” he said with a smirk. “But, I wanted to talk to you and I figured you would be here after our last conversation.”
    Ilium walked over to her and asked, “Well, did you find anything?”
    “Yeah. Something about genetic modification and Code BK Max. Does any of that ring a bell?”
    Ilium shook his head. “Nope. Can’t say it does.”
    “I also discovered that my cryochamber opening prematurely was no accident.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes. It was deliberate. I watched video footage of a