The deceptive peace of Sector Zero shattered into a thousand jagged pieces exactly twenty minutes later.
I was waist-deep in the mechanical shadows of the sub-basement, mid-way through detaching the secondary high-pressure hydraulic hoses from the primary grease traps beneath the heavy automated lifts, when the main overhead light grid abruptly shifted from an unyielding halogen white to a pulsing, violent crimson. Simultaneously, the low, mechanical hum of the building's ventilation system was drowned out by the piercing, high-frequency wail of a Level 3 Security Breach. It wasn't the rhythmic buzz of a generic fire drill or the low-priority tone of a power grid failure. It was the frantic, three-tone sonic pulse reserved exclusively for the active compromise or physical theft of classif
