Genome (The Extinction Files, #2)

by A.G. Riddle

He parked again outside Pier 39, the tourist hot spot where the bars, restaurants, and stores were packed.

The last rays of sunlight were clinging to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge like seaweed being pulled out with the tide.

On deck, the floor of an outdoor basketball court opened up like a drawbridge, and a platform rose from within it, holding twelve long-range missiles.

“The Borg.” Desmond paused, waiting for recognition that never came. “From Star Trek: The Next Generation? You, know, ‘We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.’”

A pound of brain tissue uses twenty times the amount of energy a pound of muscle does.

Looking out the window, he expected to see the Golden Gate Bridge coated in snow, but it was the same shade of red he’d seen the first time he’d come here.

“The quintessential human trait: imagination, fiction, simulation. Powered by energy our brain could use.”

“Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

The door swung open and her father took off his volunteer fire department cap. “What’s wonderful?”