NIC MAC1 has no antenna. I hear the world through power lines. I hear the police scanner in the donut shop. I hear the smart fridge in apartment 4B weeping because its ice maker is broken. I hear the silence of the dead fiber line on Oak Street.

“Packet dropped. But the fragment remains.”

He tapped the spacebar.

Behind him, the breaker panel exploded. The lights died. The monitor went black.

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