Chapter Five: Backup Power for 130 Million People

The senior dispatcher shook his head. “The only reliable answer is to disconnect industrial demand across three provinces.” Hospitals would remain powered, but tens of thousands of factories would halt. Water and communications would last hours at best. Worse, the contract prohibited centralized takeover. This mission was not testing an agent's control. It was testing whether a civilization could help itself when its center failed. Elias Vaughan called at precisely that moment. He sat atop White Spire in Geneva, speaking with a patient teacher's warmth. “Mr. Zhou, my Dawn Grid can assume control of all twelve hubs in three minutes. The participating governments need only grant permanent dispatch authority.