Brandon’s team scrambled, adjusting settings on laptops. Ethan worked quietly, fixing the broken piece with tape, checking airflow with his breath.
Daniel stood at the back, clutching his mop, heart racing.
“Begin!”
Brandon hit a button. Lights flashed, motors whirred—but the flow stuttered.
“It’s calibrating!” he shouted nervously.
Ethan opened a valve.
At first, nothing.
Then suddenly—movement. Air rushed through the narrowed pipe, creating suction. Water surged upward in a steady, powerful stream.
His tank began filling.
Brandon’s robot blinked red.
“Connection error,” he muttered.
“Why does it need Wi-Fi to move water?” Hayes asked calmly.
The room fell silent—except for the sound of water pouring steadily into Ethan’s tank.
“Time!”
Ethan’s tank overflowed.
Brandon’s barely had anything.
The silence was crushing.
Brandon’s father stood up angrily. “This is impossible!”
Hayes stepped forward.
“Money can buy technology,” he said, his voice firm. “But it cannot buy understanding. It cannot buy hunger. And it certainly cannot buy physics.”
He turned to Ethan. “What did you say your grandfather’s name was?”
“Henry Blake.”
Hayes froze. His voice softened.