**Cloud City - Three days later **
Chai Tiang was having a terrible day.
First, she'd overslept and missed her alarm. Then she'd discovered her laptop had died overnight and hadn't charged properly, meaning all her notes for today's presentation were inaccessible. And now, standing in line at the campus coffee shop, she realized she'd left her wallet in her dorm room.
"Perfect," she muttered, staring at the menu board with longing. "Just perfect."
The line moved forward, and Chai reluctantly stepped aside to let others order while she dug through her bag one more time, hoping to find some emergency cash she'd forgotten about.
Nothing.
"Excuse me," a voice said behind her. "Are you going to order, or are you just admiring the artistic integrity of the menu board?"
