The spreading void of amber signal loss on the control room monitors had forced an immediate tactical retreat to the lower levels of the medical wing. Delon sat rigidly on a reinforced medical stool inside the low-pressure isolation chamber, the thick, heavy air smelling faintly of stale antiseptic and ozone. The walls were lined with lead-shielded acoustic dampening tiles, designed to seal the room against the external frequency hum of the upper sectors. A series of heavy, rubberized cables connected his newly modified chest plate directly to a localized diagnostic terminal near the corner of the room.
"The cascade failure in the third residential tier is creating too much external static, Erica," Delon said, his teeth grinding together as a sharp, needle-like pain began to throb behin
