oom, to control a crowd, and right now, the room was telling him to be very, very afraid. The woman at the foot o

ke a bug under a microscope. He instinc

ice a little too high-pitched. "Get her o

o stop her were groaning on the floor, and the rest seemed to u

e gasps and whispers of the crow

that her mother was here. She pulled against her restraints, the glowing cuf

with a wave of deri

a thick gold watch shouted from the fro

nother voice yelled. "I want to bu

. "Oh, Mark, she' s still trying. It' s

rom the crowd' s support. "You hear that, Lily? No o

making lewd comments, their eyes r

, what are they selling ne

ortled, "She looks like she could us

ed pride. She flinched, her head bowing in shame. Despair was closing in on her, a suffocat

fiance ignite

eak. Not in fron

rning with a new fire. She looked

said, her voice clear and loud, ringing through

ough the crowd. Mark and Chlo

about?" Mark scoffed.

y skills. My very essence as a creator. It' s all encoded in my DNA, in my very being.

art the bidding. The prize for the first win

second winning bid gets this one. And

ence fell o

Mark is peddling. Something none of you have ever seen before. One creation for each restraint.

I seized all your assets, all your labs, all your resear

eyes locking with his. "Or are you afraid? Afraid that even

s better than a simple auctio

stage hadn't moved, but he felt her silent approval. This was his cha

n issued! The house recognizes the new terms. We will auction the removal of the first restraint. The bid

Then, a wiry man in the third row, a notorious ventu

int in his eye. "Let' s see what t

he bid is to claim the first secret

dared to c

tleman in the third row! Now, Miss Thorne, you

is is ridiculous.

small, almost invisible earpiece she had designed he

Protocol Phoenix.

er code that was previously displayed. It was an elegant, revolutionary design for a quantum encryption

room recognized the design for what it was. It was