Soon after, Maker questioned you about your past quite thoroughly. It became immediately apparent that Sonoma or the Haven crew had leaked information to her about your true identity. She knew you were Colonel Williams's son, and she was fascinated. Before she could get too in-depth, her left arm twitched and she stared down at it, a look of alarm spreading over her face. It was her subdermal implant—the same type that many of the undercover prisoners were using for their escape.
Maker cursed. "I added an early warning system—last-minute adjustments in case someone screwed us," she said. "We have maybe thirty minutes until all hell breaks loose!" Abandoning all pretext of calm, Maker bolted back through the door to her lab in a mad dash. You followed her more out of instinct than conscious desire, the pounding sound of your heartbeat ringing in your sensitive ears. As you passed through the door into the sterile air of the laboratory, Maker ran past you, her hands wrapped like talons around reams of paper and computer components trailing bristling red wires. She turned and looked at you, her eyes bright and wild—not with fear, but exhilaration.
"You need to move," she said, short of breath. "I arranged for several minutes of downtime for the surveillance software during the Elders' Circle meeting. They should be explaining the nature of our escape right now. You need to warn them! This is our one chance to break out of the Nail, and I'm not going to spend the rest of my life sucking up to pea-brained imbeciles for favors." She turned to stare at you. "Go!"
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