Page 219 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

Nicholas Boothman
saving ourselves. We’re proving we deserve a place among the stars.”
A woman stood up in the audience. Dr. Phenice O’Brien, a neuroscientist from Brisbane, Henry had consulted during Verax’s development.
“How do we know this will work? The Curator said ninety-four percent of species fail. What makes us think we’re special?”
“We’re not special,” Henry said. “But we’re here. We’re trying. And that has to count for something.”
Vincent took the stage beside him.
“I have spent my life believing in grace,” Vincent said. “Maybe that is what this is, not a test we pass perfectly, but a chance to prove we are willing to try. To choose wisdom over pride, cooperation over competition.”
“Pretty words,” someone shouted from the back. “But what if we fail? What if we spend seventy-two hours building your system and the Curator rejects it? Then we’ve wasted our only chance at Extraction.”
“Then we fail together,” Jinji said, stepping up to join them. “As a species. As a family. I’d rather die trying to save everyone than live knowing I abandoned ninety percent of humanity to save my own skin.”
The debate raged for hours. Factions formed and reformed. Proposals were drafted, debated, torn apart, and rebuilt. The clock ticked down, sixty hours, fifty, forty.
And then, thirty-six hours into the Assessment, the Curator returned.
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