The hospital had been dark for ninety seconds when the Hacker's voice came back on the comm.
[Hacker: Caleb. They forced the feed. I lost the firewall. You are going live in sixty seconds and there is nothing I can do about it.]
Caleb was already on his feet.
His helmet was on the floor beside the bed his brother had been on. He picked it up. The visor came online when he clamped the chinstrap. The HUD inside the visor lit pale green and showed him what he didn't want to see.
PUBLIC FEED: RESTORING. ESTIMATED LIVE: 00:00:54.
"Who pushed it."
[Hacker: VeilWard Premier-Tier. Three of the secondary investors filed an emergency stake-protection motion. They claimed the stream blackout was depriving them of contracted access to a high-value asset during a confirmed incident. The Guild Lawbook arbiter sided with them in forty seconds. I have never seen the arbiter move that fast. Someone paid for it.]
"Iris."
