[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Shut it down, Alistair! I don’t care about the quarterly projections or the offshore firewalls. If we don’t route the Lanka Fund’s primary processing power through the Aegis frequency within the next three minutes, my brother isn't just going to win; he’s going to turn every person on this continent into a mindless biological relay. Pull the master override. Now!"

Sofia’s fingers were a blur across the semi-translucent interface of the ship’s auxiliary terminal. Her breath came in short, jagged hitches, the copper tang of adrenaline coating her tongue. They were tucked into a maintenance crawlspace of the Royal Spire, the walls pulsing with a sickly, rhythmic...