The silence in the comms hub was no longer peaceful; it was wounded. The gentle, ever-present hum of the interconnected Gardeners had been severed, leaving a psychic void that felt like a phantom limb. The air itself seemed thinner, the colors of Verdant Promise momentarily dimmed. The Scarab’s data-phage had been a psychic shockwave, and the aftershocks were both technological and spiritual.
Lira worked with a grim focus, her fingers flying across consoles as she and Jax diagnosed the damage. “The resonant relays are fried. The feedback surge overloaded the crystalline cores. We can rebuild them, but it will take time. The worst of the data-phage was contained by the firewalls, but it was… maliciously designed. It didn’t just seek to disconnect us; it sought to corrupt the very concept o
