Deal

Chapter 3: Silicon Sacrifice

Phillips Academy Robotics Lab, 6:08 AM

As Summer used the laser cutter to fabricate a graphene battery, Jason’s modified Tesla crashed through the school gate's barrier. The car stereo blasted industrial electronic music by Machine Girl, the "EAT THE RICH" spray paint on the trunk seeping blood-red in the morning mist. Anonymous SIM cards stamped with "Dark Web University" littered the backseat.

"Morning, partner," Jason slammed a Starbucks cold brew onto the oscilloscope, a nanite caffeine patch glowing blue on his carotid artery. "Principal just forwarded your MIT recommendation letter to the official school robotics team."

Her eyes locked onto the Fibonacci sequence cipher scrawled on the cup sleeve – the emergency signal they'd agreed on during the StannyHacks finals. Sure enough, tearing open the sleeve revealed a message written in conductive ink on the inner layer: Surveillance code injected. Garage 17:00.

Student Union, 11:23 AM

Homecoming Committee posters covered the bulletin board's STEM competition notices. Tyler Wu was tagging a wall with an augmented reality spray can; as Summer walked past, the skull graffiti flickered into pulsing binary code: Check his Tesla dashcam 4pm.

"Heard you're helping Jason build a subsonic weapon?" Emily, the robotics team captain, blocked her path, her MIT class ring flashing ominously. "Friendly reminder: past whistleblowers tend to end up in psych wards."

Suddenly, the auditorium's main screen flickered to life with gameplay footage from Aether. Jason's synthesized voice echoed through the PA system: "Special thanks to Captain Emily for providing the quantum entanglement encryption protocol – acquired, of course, after she embezzled lab funds."

Amidst the eruption of laughter from the crowd, Summer watched the principal delete her name from the robotics team attendance log on his tablet.

Underground Garage, 5:17 PM

Data from the Tesla's dashcam unfolded in a 3D projection. Jason pulled up last night's footage: Principal Harper's Cadillac Escalade parked in an alley behind Boston Children's Hospital, a man in a suit handing him a metal case stamped with the "NeuroLink" logo.

"Brain-computer interface prototype," Jason rotated the holographic model. "They added neural monitoring to Lily's chemotherapy regimen."

Summer's quantum bracelet suddenly blared an alert – the Tesla's Autopilot system had been hijacked. The center console screen filled with the V-for-Vendetta mask hacker and a countdown timer: "Hand over the Aether core code, or your sister's ventilator stops at Bitcoin block height 813,265."

"Rules of the game just changed." Jason shoved an EMP grenade into Summer's hand. "You've got thirty seconds. Be MIT's good little applicant, or help me blow this whole damn system up?"

Boston Children's Hospital, 9:41 PM

The EEG monitor connected to Lily displayed erratic sine waves. Wearing modified Oculus goggles, Summer confirmed the NeuroLink device was actively reading patient neural data. Jason, using the Tesla's Autopilot system, hacked into the hospital's power grid, creating a controlled short circuit in the electrical room.

"They're using chemo patients to test BCIs!" Summer's quantum bracelet decrypted the transmission stream. "The principal took NeuroLink stock options."

As alarms blared, Jason uploaded the Aether source code to the dark web. "Now every hacker on the planet can see their dirty protocol."

Lily's ventilator suddenly powered down. Summer jammed the graphene battery pack onto the life support system's terminal, nanite wires searing scorch marks into her palm. As sirens wailed closer, Jason thrust a blood-stained mechanical watch at her. "My dad's – from the Tesla factory floor. It's your good luck charm now."