Crimin4l Numb3rs: Time
by Valerie Vancollie
valeriev84 at hotmail dot com
Characters: Charlie
Rating: G
Summary: Charlie works to overcome an obstacle.
Spoilers: None
Note: This series has been nominated in the Numb3rs Awards gen category for best drabble series!
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.
Please let me know what you think of this drabble!