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didn’t like the lanky man who seemed to have some prejudgment about her abilities. She didn’t need to rely on her father’s background. She had plenty of her own ideas, and she was ready to put them to use.
    She read over the summary:
    – Base camp stationed at Gallup
    – 2,500 troops
    – Transport: on foot
    – Weapons: 2,000 M9 Bayonets, 400 Berettas, 300 M4 Carbines, 200 Remingtons, 120 incendiary rocket launchers, 200 multi-shot grenade launchers
    – One supply line
    – Target: two enemy base camps. Santa Fe (approx. 2,300 troops) and second in Albuquerque (approx. 3,500 troops)
    – Approx. 4,000 civilians dispersed between both cities
     
    She studied the map and the trails leading to each of the cities, as well as the neighboring towns and civilian dwellings. The obvious and expected approach would be to focus on the smaller city of Santa Fe first, then move down to Albuquerque. But she chose to do an unexpected and indirect approach. The plan would be to divide up her troops, sending the first group to the outskirts of Santa Fe to begin the destruction of the nearing towns, drawing those troops out of their camp and taking control. Simultaneously the other group would launch a surprise attack on Albuquerque. No one would be expecting such a bold move, which is why she believed it would work. Total war. She mapped out a trail with mini base camps that lead directly between the two cities and the location where they’d split up; one heading north to Santa Fe and the other south to Albuquerque. The supply line would also be divided to follow behind each company. She made a chronological list of towns the first group would hit to draw out the northern troops. From there they’d consume supplies, destroy the infrastructure, and devastate the enemy’s morale. Then, she drew up a plan to surround Albuquerque and attack in the early morning hours before dawn, when they were least expecting an attack.
    Completely immersed in typing out the details of her strategy, she hadn’t heard the chiming of the bell. The administrator touched the screen, shutting down the program.
    “Time’s up,” he said.
    “I wasn’t finished.”
    “You’ll be judged on what you accomplished in the time allotted.”
    Grace left the room feeling she had done well enough to impress the judges. All those years of study paid off. Of course, it didn’t hurt having the same genes as one of the most strategic minds in the military. Two down, one to go. The last test would be the toughest—technology was her mother’s thing, not hers. She swallowed down the boulder of fear in her throat and ignored the biting voices of negativity.
    In the middle of the main hall, thirty loungers had been set up in a circle so that the competitors faced each other. Everyone took their places. Grace looked around and saw Blythe, who winked with blatant cockiness. Unlike Grace, Blythe had nothing to worry about.
    The announcer stood in the middle of the circle and addressed the competitors. “For the final segment, individuals will be tested for their aptitude inside the mainframe. You will have five minutes to exhibit your level of coding competence.”
    Grace was confused. He said the mainframe. She thought the final segment would be a virtual aptitude test, not actually connecting into the network of servers. This was not something she had prepared for. She had only been in the mainframe a few times, and her coding knowledge was bordering nil. If she failed this segment, her scores would plummet, costing her acceptance into the academy. Grace put her hand into the connector panel and saw her mother smiling from the benches. She wanted to hit pause and tell her how sorry she was for everything—not just their argument the night before, but for always pushing her away. It was too late. Grace slipped into the blackness of the mainframe . . .
     
    Inside the mainframe, Grace jetted through what looked like space—bright flashes of galaxies zipped by at