y Mars

polished platinum and the massive twenty-car

the Boston sports pages and campus media scrambled against

as the queen

uble doors and stepped into the chan

rough the crowd as I walked straig

p, was standing behind the velvet ropes. He looked visibly bored, swirli

pped across the opening as I approached

Credentials only," the guard

k card embossed with the silver geometric l

ng out. The guard's eyes widened in instant panic, and he immediately unclipped th

an rug just as Maxwell Stone cu

sional-grade impact loads," Stone was saying, rubbing his temples in ex

instead of integrating a 3:7 titanium-superlattice alloy,"

p gaze swept over my designer gown, an

ty distraction. "The materials development for elite ice

ngle sheet of heavy cryptographic paper, and slid it acro

ercent increase in shear resistance, with a twenty-percent net we

s the exact monopoly technology your firm has

pticism, but within three seconds, his kn

ve?" He looked up, his dismissive demeano

cold, victorious smile. "I engineered i

p breath, nearly dropp

out of the lounge with a frantic wave of his hand. He pulled out the

xisting manufacturing models. I laid out the precise thermodynamic ste

offered a feast, frantically jottin

sbelief. "ForcePeak will offer triple our initial valuation fo

playing my trump card. "Fifteen percent non-dilutable equity in your new advanced

y terms, but he wasn't stupid. He knew th

is brow. "I need to run these terms by our primary managing partner. He is extremel

time," I sa

e, a sudden, primal instinct made the

. Standing near the railing was the tall, broad-shoulde

tly on me, burning with an intense, posses

distraction was v

s frat brothers. He had spotted me from the main floor, his eyes

r table, completely ignor

ied smoothly, throwing his arm aggressively

r my... fiancee. The LN-Titanium specifications she just p