In the Renraku computer center, Lanier kept his gun trained on Saigo and waited as the seconds ticked by in agonizing silence. There was not a peep from Babel once he jacked into the computer system, and Lanier was forced to wonder how long the kid’s techno-wizardry would keep any alarms they might have triggered silent, or how long Dr. Westcott’s last spell would keep the staff in the lab unconscious. Were they going to have time to get out of the facility? Was Babel even planning to leave? Lanier couldn’t be sure. He didn’t think the kid was suicidal, but the near-fanaticism he’d seen in Babel’s eyes and heard in his voice when he spoke of his "destiny" made Lanier wonder.