FIC: Time (Crimin4l Numb3rs)
I'm extremely pleased and proud to announce that Crimin4l Numb3rs has been nominated at the Numb3rs Awards in the drabble series subcategory of the gen category.
Title: Time
Series: Crimin4l Numb3rs
Author: Valerie Vancollie (valeriev84 [at] hotmail.com)
Characters: Charlie
Rating: G
Summary: Charlie works to overcome an obstacle.
Spoilers: None
Timeline: Set between Travel and Deviation. For a complete listing, see the Master List.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Numb3rs characters, items or situations. I only lay claim to the original aspects of the fic.
Target: 80 seconds.
Charlie stared at the complex algorithms on his laptop screen and then at the expressions he'd written on the whiteboard.
It wasn't enough. Not yet.
Current Time: 192 seconds.
He needed to bring it down to under 120 seconds to work and under 80 to satisfy Don's obsessive desire for a safety net. He'd made a lot of progress, but it wasn't enough. Not yet.
Charlie frowned, unconsciously bobbing his head to the blaring music. Whoever had written the algorithms was good, very good. He knew he was better.
Besides, it wasn't like the algorithms had been written to prevent what he was doing. They were merely one of several security features designed to protect the museum's vault. A time limit in which several encryption keys and physical locks needed to be opened.
It showed how far Don had come that he thought first of putting the countdown in a continuous loop instead of attempting to find ways to open all the locks in the allocated time.
If he could divide x by 2, it would reduce alpha greatly.
Charlie froze momentarily before rushing to the whiteboard and scribbling another equation upon it.
Current Time: 105 seconds.