Chapter Three: Ninety-Three Lives and One Drop of Metal

“When I come down.” “Don't make promises sound like last words.” Zhou kicked off. Micro-thrusters in the suit pushed him toward the facade. To remain within plausible Earth technology, they provided only brief assistance; most of the time he climbed like an ordinary high-rise worker. At floor forty-eight, flame poured through a broken window. His gray suit turned white as its cells absorbed heat. [THERMAL PROTECTION: 11:40.] Zhou crashed inside. Smoke erased the room, but the swarm projected a path directly onto his vision. He kicked through a warped fire door and found four employees in a pantry. Three could walk. One was pinned beneath a steel frame. “Rescue team. Follow the green light!”