The industrial power junction was a cathedral of rusted steel and humming copper, hidden deep within the belly of the city’s forgotten manufacturing district. As Elian crossed the threshold, the air grew thick with the ozone stench of an imminent overload. He felt the city’s ghost that lingering, desperate consciousness of Monarch swelling within the cables, sensing his approach.
Sarah reached the junction entrance just as Elian tore open the main control panel. Her chest heaved, her boots skidding on a layer of slick, spilled coolant. She saw him standing amidst a nest of glowing fiber-optic veins that pulsed in rhythm with the orbital platforms far above.
Elian, stop! There has to be a physical circuit breaker, she shouted over the rising whine of the station’s capacitors. You don't h
