Chapter 36:


    “Belle bought cheap parts to boost margins,” Isolde said. “She thinks engineering is about branding. She forgot about the physics.”


    Isolde wrote down: Phase 2: Stress Test.


    “She just handed me the win,” Isolde said.


    The Javits Center was transformed. Rows ofputer terminals and workstations filled the massive hall.


    Isolde walked in. She wore a baseball cap pulled low and heavy ck-framed sses. Effie wore a matching cap.


    They looked like nobodies. Just a mom and kid who liked space.


    They approached the registration desk.


    “Name?”


    “Team Sophia,” Isolde said. She slid Nelson’s card across the counter.


    The volunteer scanned it. Her eyes widened. “Level A clearance. Go right ahead.”


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    They walked to their station. It was small, just two chairs and a terminal.


    In the center of the room was the SkyLine fortress. Six monitors. Three assistants. Belle was shouting orders. Grayson sat in a VIP chair, wearing sunsses indoors to hide his hangover eyes.


    Daron walked by Isolde’s table. He stopped.


    “Well, well,” Daron scoffed, a nasty smirk on his face. “Look what the cat dragged in. Couldn’t afford a real team, Carson? Decided to bring your kid for backup?”


    Isolde didn’t look up. She was typing code. “Go away, Daron.”


    Daron squinted, leaning closer. “You know, for a broke, washed-up housewife, you’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face here.”


    Isolde adjusted her sses. “I’m nobody.”


    The announcer’s voice boomed. “Round One: Structural Integrity. Simtion begins in ten minutes.”


    The screen lit up. A virtual Martian storm was approaching the habitat models.


    On the main screen, SkyLine’s model appeared. It was massive, shy, with ss domes.


    “Look at that!” Belle shouted. “Indestructible!”


    Isolde’s screen was filled with lines of code. She wasn’t building a model with the standard software; she was running her own proprietary physics kernel, one that ounted for variables the off-the-shelf program ignored.


    “Mommy, wind speed is 200 kilometers,” Effie read from the data stream.


    “Adjusting drag coefficient,” Isolde muttered. Her fingers flew.


    “Five minutes!”


    SkyLine’s model was holding. But the ss domes were vibrating.


    Isolde hit Enter.


    Her model appeared. It wasn’t a dome. It was a honeb structure, low to the ground, buried halfway into the Martian soil. It looked ugly. It looked organic.


    “Time’s up! Simtion Start!”


    The virtual wind hit.


    SkyLine’s ss domes shimmered. Then a crack appeared.


    “Stabilize it!” Belle screamed at her team. “Add more struts!”


    “We can’t!” an engineer yelled. “The budget is maxed out!”


    The crack widened. One dome shattered.


    Score: 78%.


    The crowd groaned.


    Then the camera shifted to Team Sophia.


    The wind howled over the honeb. The structure didn’t move. It flexed. It absorbed the energy.


    Wind speed increased. 300 km/h.


    Isolde’s model held.


    Score: 100%.


    The hall went silent.


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