Maya's apartment was chaos.
Computer parts covered every surface.
Three monitors glowed with lines of code.
"Welcome to my humble hacker cave," Maya said proudly.
Elara looked around curiously.
"You live alone?"
"Parents travel a lot," Maya shrugged. "Which means unlimited internet."
She sat in front of the computer.
"Let's test your algorithm."
Elara placed the USB drive into the system.
The program loaded.
Data streams began flowing across the screen.
Maya's eyes widened.
"Whoa."
She typed rapidly.
"Your model isn't just predicting trends."
She pulled up another graph.
"It's predicting human reactions to economic pressure."
Elara frowned.
"That wasn't intentional."
Maya turned toward her slowly.
"That's the scary part."
The model suddenly produced another output.
A name appeared repeatedly in the data.
VALEN CORPORATION
Elara froze.
"That's my father's company."
Maya's expression darkened.
"The algorithm is showing that someone is manipulating financial markets."
She pointed at the screen.
"And that someone might be your father."