"I didn''t mean it like that. Our files don''t just get messed up for no reason," Robert said, trying to keep his cool. He''d taught plenty of sses but had never faced anything like this before.


    The timing of the video file''s corruption was just too perfect to be a coincidence.


    No way was this just a random glitch.


    "Instead of griping at me, why not see if there''s a backup? If you can get that up and running, your school won''t look too bad," the professor snapped.


    Robert''s face fell at the suggestion.


    Sure, there was a backup, but how was he supposed to whip it out right then and there?


    Fly back to the hotel like some superhero?


    The professor was clearly being sarcastic.


    Robert clenched his fists, ready to respond when he heard Mirabe''s voice behind him.


    "Let me take a look."


    Robert turned, eyes widening a bit as he saw Mirabeing over. "Mirabe, what are you doing here?"


    Mirabe just nodded at him, dragged a chair over with a screech, and sat down at the table.


    Before the professor in charge of the video could say a word, she reached over, pulled theptop closer, and started typing.


    Robert watched in disbelief. Could she really fixputer files?


    The professor, catching on, lunged to take back hisptop. "Who are you? Who said you could touch myputer?"


    But before he could grab it, Robert instinctively held him back. "She''s one of our students. She''s just checking out what''s wrong with our video. She won''t mess up yourputer."


    "Are you nuts?" The professor yanked his hand away, thinking Robert was just stalling. "I already said it can''t be fixed!"


    Just as he finished his protest, Mirabe hit the enter key. "There, it''s done."


    The video on theputer was no longer a jumbled mess but the simtion footage her friends had created.


    The professor''s face went pale, as if he''d seen a ghost. He hadn''t even noticed how she worked theputer, yet here was the video, all fixed up.


    Ignoring his shock, Mirabe opened the projection software and dropped the restored video in.


    Outside, ze and the others, who''d been trying to keep things from falling apart, saw their video light up the screen again and let out a collective sigh of relief.


    Sure, the first few minutes had been a train wreck, but with the video


    back on track, the three of them started to rx and got back into the groove of their presentation.


    Mirabe returned theptop to the professor, cing it almost exactly where it had been before.


    The professor stared at the screen, his anger about Mirabe''s bold move suddenly stuck, unable to go up or down.


    "Mirabe, what was wrong with the video?" Robert asked, focusing on the issue


    at hand rather than questioning herputer prowess.


    "It was infected. A Trojan messed it up," Mirabe exined calmly.


    "That''s nonsense! Myputer doesn''t have a virus!" the professor shot back immediately.


    Mirabe didn''t bother responding. Instead, she nced around the room, walked over to the projection equipment, and pulled out a mini USB drive connected to theptop. "It was probably this."


    Sorry, just three chapters today. I''ll update tomorrow around 5 p.m. to make up for


    the missed days.