It began with the lights. Not the city-wide spectacle of the cyber-attack, but a soft, sickly flicker. The soft, omnipresent light of the streets faltered for an instant, then returned, but now pulsed with a soft, irregular rhythm, like a dying heart. It was the first, soft cough of a terminal illness.
Adrian stood inside the command center, the System's new, foreboding message burned into his eyes.
> Integrity Breach Found.
> Risk of Project Collapse: 64%
> Reason: Induced Cascading Systemic Failure.
Sixty-four percent. The percentage was a chill in his heart. It was not a prediction; it was a diagnosis.
Then the pressure of the water decreased. The elegant sweeps of water from the public fountains, emblem of their abundance, faltered, becoming a miserly, pitiful trickle. I
