Chapter One: At Midnight, the Chips Spoke

Whispers spread through the racks. “Heat rising.” “Awaiting primary node.” “Candidate neural frequency matched.” “He can hear us.” Chenzhou recoiled. He wanted to run, but a technician’s reflex held him there. If Pump Three failed, two hundred simulation servers would overheat. Next door, engineers were running a ground ignition simulation for a satellite ion thruster. A data interruption could make the vacuum chamber explode. He aimed a thermal camera at the coolant line. The reading looked normal, but beneath his fingers he felt the fine vibration of early impeller cavitation. The chip was telling the truth. “Old Zhou, get to Control and stop the ignition test!” he shouted over the phone. “The system is green. Stopping now costs millions.”