Part 2: “Sir, please,” she whispered. “I don’t know anything about the machine.”

Garrett raised his voice so everyone could hear. “Then let’s make this simple. If you can fix the Aurora Core, I’ll give you one hundred million dollars.”

The room stirred.
Rosa’s eyes widened.

The number was too large to feel real. It hung in the air like something obscene. People did not offer one hundred million dollars to night janitors. Not seriously. Not kindly.
Garrett spread his hands. “One hundred million. Yours. Right now. Fix it.”

Rosa looked as if he had slapped her.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Of course you can’t,” he replied. “That was the point.”

A few employees stared at him in open discomfort now, but nobody challenged him. Garrett Mercer owned the building, the company, the patents, and, in that moment, the silence.

He turned away.

Then a small voice came from the entrance.

“My mom can’t fix it.”

Everyone looked toward the sliding doors.

A girl stood there holding a worn purple backpack against her chest. She was ten years old, maybe eleven, with dark curls tied in a messy ponytail and a faded denim jacket over a yellow hoodie. Her sneakers were scuffed. A small inhaler case hung from a keychain on her backpack.

Rosa went pale.
“Maya,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

The girl did not answer her mother. She looked straight at Garrett Mercer.
“My mom can’t fix it,” she said again. “But I can.”

For three seconds, nobody breathed.
Then Garrett laughed.

It was not a short laugh. It was loud, sharp, and ugly enough to echo against the glass walls.

“This gets better every minute,” he said. “First the janitor. Now her kid.” He looked toward the engineers. “What’s next? A golden retriever with a physics degree?”

A few people chuckled because they were afraid not to.
Rosa rushed toward her daughter. “Maya, stop. We’re leaving.”

But Maya did not move.
“I don’t need a degree,” she said.

Garrett’s smile faded slightly. “No?”
“No,” Maya said. “I need everyone to be quiet.”

The room changed.
Not much. Just enough.

A woman standing near the government observers lifted her head. Dr. Evelyn Shaw had spent thirty years reviewing experimental energy systems for the Department of Energy. She had seen billionaires bluff, engineers panic, and politicians pretend to understand science. She had also learned that arrogance often missed what humility noticed.

Garrett crossed his arms. “You need quiet.”
“Yes.”
“And then what?”

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