The villa's storm shutters rattled under the weight of another thunderclap. Viola Kane hurried down the hallway toward the main control room, her tablet clutched in one hand, an umbrella in the other. The power had flickered twice already that afternoon, and her logs warned that any lapse longer than fifteen minutes would trigger Lester's seizures. Tonight, she would verify the villa's new auxiliary power systems and battery backups.
She reached the control room door—as familiar as any lab entrance—and found it swung inward, light spilling into the corridor. She slipped inside. Marlowe stood by the central console, frowning at a cascade of red alerts.
“Backup generator's offline," he reported, voice taut. “Primary grid's down again. Lightning strike on the transformer."
Viola's heart se
