Learn, learn, learn. Even the Teacher program on my console insisted on it. Not that Papa didn't insist on it anyway. I loved wandering through the lists of related sites when I searched out new information on old topics.

Staring at the screen, I knew I stumbled into something which should not be public. What was this doing here? Clicking on links in forums was one of the best ways to find the newest research on many medical fronts. This time it sent a shiver down my back.

If the graphs were true, someone was working on a nanobot project to brainwash soldiers. It took out their survival instinct to produce blind obedience.

How the hell was I going to erase my path in? The origin of the information was the facility I was working in. I mean right down the hall in the next sealed lab. How am I going to conceal the fact that I know? Why would someone be doing this in the World Miniature Medicine Advanced Research Lab?

I knew Dr. Alizon. Was she in on it or was someone hiding their project under her umbrella? Her ability to repair the brain with her nanobots was legendary. Many common metal illnesses were cured at a microscopic level as they found the faulty gene replacing the mutated MNRA with corrected strands.

She would be horrified. Or maybe not.... The uncomfortable knowledge of funding shortages hit me. Althea was never worried.

Now what? I erased the entire history of my online work for the night, and then went one step further and purged the entire facility's records for the last month. It was the day before the usual automatic maintenance window, so no big deal.

Who did I take this to? How many employees were compromised because they were part of the clandestine project?

No one here. I would have to go outside, and I had no idea where. Military was probably already part of it, or maybe not. This sounded like something our enemies would use. Central Security. And not the online portal for reporting.

I slipped my memory cube into my pocket. Time to find help.

The knock on my door sent my heart rate into dangerous territory. Checking the monitoring screen, I took a deep breath and sighed in relief. Just my usual lunch date.

My best friend worked next door. Do I share this with him?

"Delilah? Pause whatever you're working on. Remember, we have the afternoon off, and I'm not letting you out of it. You don't touch grass nearly enough."

"Coming. Just shutting down."

I had to keep everything normal. Everyone knew I was a recluse, and Jasper was the only one who could get me to take the mental health breaks required to keep our jobs. The perfect excuse to get this discovery out of here.

Everything changed today. Now I understood the phrase scared of my own shadow.

The hum of my system eased into silence and I opened the door.

One look at my face, and Jasper said, "What's up?"

Do I tell him? I hoped he wasn't in on it. I needed an ally.

"Let's get out here." I wasn't going to tell him where cameras observed every breath we took. The hallways were pocked with little red lights.

He raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm with you on that. It's a beautiful day."

Not anymore more my friend, I thought. Not anymore.