The ultimate victory of a perfect machine is not to rule over humanity forever, but to teach people how to organize themselves so beautifully that the machine itself becomes entirely obsolete.
A sudden, brilliant flash of solar radiation slammed into the upper atmosphere, and every digital screen along the Scottish harbor instantly died. The glowing satellite navigation maps on the commercial fishing boats flickered twice before turning into blank sheets of grey glass. Inside the small harbor master office, Sarah Vance stared at her dead diagnostic terminal, her jaw dropping as she tapped the plastic frame in vain. Ethan Vance stood right beside the wide window, his dark eyes calmly scanning the horizon where dozens of heavy cargo hulls and smaller fishing vessels were scattered across th
