Biometric tech is a whole umbrella of new tricks and procedures which include palm prints, irises, facial recognition, voice patterns, and even mannerisms. If there’s something unique about you, biometrics can track it.
—VICTOR FLEMMING
As we file into the classroom, Journey moves some chairs into position at one of the tables. Victor lays out some electronic-type gadgets. Then he begins pacing and rubbing his hands together in that excited way he gets when he’s getting ready to show something off.
Journey takes a seat in one of the chairs. I head over to take a seat in the chair next to him and he quietly shakes his head.
Whoops. Okay.
I move back to stand near Spam, Lyman, and Lysa.
Victor keys in on Lyman. “Who’s this?”
“Oh, this is my boyfriend,” Spam says. “He came to help us out today. But don’t worry, you don’t have to pay him or anything.”
Lysa and I exchange smirks. Spam admitting to a boyfriend. What’s next?
Lyman offers his hand. “My name’s Lyman, sir. Nice to meet you.”
Victor shakes his hand. “Nice to meet you, Lyman. Thanks for helping out.”
“Lyman’s an amazing organizer. Wait until you see the storage room,” I say.
“Great.” Victor continues pacing. “Okay. So, we’re just five days away from launching the first CSI camp in this city.”
We all cheer.
Immediately, the classroom door opens and Principal Blankenship enters the room. My stomach drops because I’m sure she’s here to chastise us for making too much noise … or breathing too much air … or being in her space.
I check my Bella bracelet and there’s no light. I glance at Spam. She places her hands in front of her, imitating how Blankenship walks around with her notebook. She’s not carrying the notebook, which means she doesn’t have the tattletale bookmark.
Victor acknowledges her with a nod, but she hangs toward the back of the room.
Maybe I’m worrying for nothing. I remind myself this isn’t school, it’s a job. But my stomach tends to squeeze itself into the size of a coin purse whenever she’s around.
“The lab and evidence room are done. Most of the basic equipment is in. We moved the AFIS fingerprint scanner over here because PD is upgrading to mobile units anyway.” Victor points to Clay, who is hanging off to the side. “Where are we with the safety equipment?”
“Everything’s ordered, just waiting on delivery,” he says.
“We can open without the ventilation system because I can hold off doing any tests in the lab until we have that,” Victor says. “But we have to have the alarms and fire extinguishers in or we won’t pass the permit stage. You were also supposed to get a price for the automated fire suppression system? We don’t have to have it, but it would be nice.”
Clay nods. “Yes, sorry. I’ll install the alarms tomorrow. The extinguishers are on their way and I’ll call again about the automated system.”
“Good. Journey and I are driving to Salem tonight to pick up some donated supplies,” Victor says. “We can circle back on this in the morning.”
I give Journey a grouchy look. He failed to mention a trip with Victor. His response is a helpless gesture. I know it’s not his fault and I also understand that Victor’s got the time pressure of opening day to worry about. It’s just every day there’s something new keeping Journey and me apart.
Miss Blankenship checks her watch and raises a slender finger. “Do you need me here for this?”
“Yes, just a few minutes more,” Victor says. “I was just giving an update. We now have locks on all the doors.”
We all glance around at the various doors. They are each standing open and all of them have gleaming new doorknobs with small keypads and screens above the knobs.
“These are the biometric locks. They’ll be keyed to your fingerprints. This will provide us the security we need for the lab, as only certain fingerprints will open certain doors. We’ll also be implementing a fingerprint attendance system for the kids in the camp.”
Lyman looks surprised. “How will that work?”
“Easy,” Victor says. “A biometric system takes a fingerprint and converts it to a code that can be used to open a door or add a name to an attendance file. The actual fingerprint isn’t stored or viewed. It’s just the unique identifier, like your name.”
“Interesting,” Lysa says.
“Camp attendance will be a test, but if it works the way I know it’s going to, the whole school will go in this direction in the fall.” Victor nods at Blankenship. “Right?”
Blankenship offers a slight nod in response. “I’m detail oriented and your biometric system offers a lot of detail. So it’s possible I could be persuaded.”
I’m kind of amazed. Victor’s charm has made her almost tolerable.
“I can explain all of this in even more detail,” Victor says. “But then your heads would explode.” He pauses for laughter, but doesn’t get any.
My stomach grumbles and Blankenship checks her watch again.
The rest of the room stays silent.
“I get it,” he says. “Let’s set up those files.”
Victor takes a seat at the table, next to Journey, and begins arranging the electronic equipment. “I want you to use the thumb on your dominant hand. You don’t need to press down hard, just fit your thumb against the screen and hold it there until the system beeps.” He opens a stamp pad and drags a small slip of paper in front of him. “To get a good scan you’ll place your thumb straight down. Don’t press, just touch.” He demonstrates using the stamp pad, producing a nice, light, oval thumbprint. He holds it up for us to see. “This is perfect. It’s not smeared, stretched, or distorted.”
He repeats the process several times, rolling his thumb one way or the other, each time producing a misshapen version of his print.
“If you roll or tip your thumb in any direction it will make your scan difficult to read. You can practice a few times with the stamp pad if you want.”
Miss Blankenship makes a bored cluck and switches from one foot to the other. Her impatience is not lost on Victor.
He sweeps the slips of paper to the side and positions the scanner. “Everybody got the drill? Let’s do this. I’m the administrator, so I’m already in the system.” He spins out a piece of paper with a colored chart. “You can see here how the doors are arranged, numbered and color coded. Green is for campers, no door access. Yellow is limited access. This will be for the classroom and storage room. Various teachers and administrative personnel will have access. For the summer, this will include our camp counselors. Finally, red equals restricted access. For the moment, the only restricted access on campus will be the two entrance doors to the lab as well as the door to the evidence locker. And the only ones who have access are me and Journey.”
Victor looks up at me. “Erin. You ready?”
I step up and press my thumb onto the screen of Victor’s device. After a few seconds, there’s a flash of light and a beep. “Okay. You’re all set. Who’s next?”
Spam goes next, then Lysa, Journey, Miss Blankenship, and even Clay.
“We’re giving Clay yellow access for now, which is the same as the camp counselors, but we can delete him when his work is finished here,” Victor says. “That’s what’s so great about this system. You don’t have to worry about collecting keys or rekeying locks.”
“What about me?” Lyman asks.
“Lyman is signed up for the camp,” I say.
“Oh. Good idea,” Victor says. “This will be a great way to test every level of the system. Campers should not be able to open any doors at all, but will be counted on the attendance scan each morning. Step up here. Let’s try this.”
Lyman steps up to the table and plants his thumb on the scanner.
“Okay. Now we can test the doors and make sure they work … or don’t work, as the case may be.”
Victor closes the door between the class and lab. There is an electronic buzz as it locks. Then he applies his thumb to the keypad and a second light buzz signals it’s unlocked.
Victor closes the door and Journey steps up and tries. He’s able to unlock the door too.
Victor waves me over. “Okay, Erin. Let’s see how you do.” He closes the door to the lab with a satisfying clang.
I step up and press my thumb to the screen. The system responds with a negative, electronic bleat. My friends laugh. I shrug.
Who cares, anyway?
Okay. Maybe I do care a little. But for the most part I’ve let it go. I flash them all nasty smiles but stay quiet.
“I have a question,” Miss Blankenship speaks up. “Does the system keep a record of who goes in and out of each door?”
“It does,” Victor says. “Which is one of the great things about utilizing a system like this over traditional keys. Once it’s dispersed throughout the campus, we will have a record of everyone who comes and goes, in every room.”
I glance over at Spam and watch as the space between her eyebrows narrows.
I know what she’s thinking. Biometric scanners are cool and everything, but we’re not exactly in favor of the adults always knowing where we are all the time. Like Lysa and the teen tracker her parents installed on her car. It sends a text to her parents if she goes outside of her boundaries. And they can always look back and see every place she’s been.
“But will it keep a record of denied attempts to enter a door?” Blankenship asks. “Or access with the key?”
Victor looks intrigued. “Hmm. Good question. I don’t know the answer to that. I can check into that further, if you like?”
“Would you, please?” she asks.
Her questions are kind of sketchy, but the truly suspicious behavior is how nice she’s being to Victor.
Victor turns to Clay. “We’ve tested all the doors, so I think you’re done for the day. Journey and I need to get on the road. You’re all dismissed,” Victor says.
Miss Blankenship whirls and heads for the door.
Spam races up to her before she can completely escape. “Oh, Miss Blankenship. I have something for you.” She pauses, a slight scowl on her face.
Spam hands her one of the Bella pins. It’s a volcano wearing a graduation cap. Blankface examines it closely.
“It’s a special school pride pin that I made for graduation.” Spam shrugs. “It’s for the booster club.”
Blankface examines it stoically. Then she shrugs and clips it to her sweater.
Bam!