I walked into my house and shivered. Everything was such a blur when I left that I must have forgotten to set the automatic timers. And I never trusted "smart" houses. The last thing I needed was some asshole hacker trying to kill me in my sleep by turning on the oven and burning down the house.

I made a quick adjustment on the heating panel and then headed to the living room's fireplace. Winter in Kingston wasn't bitter like the prairies or the arctic but was cold and damp enough. A fire would keep us warm until the heaters got the rest of the house liveable.

It also gave...