Mateo leaned back. On his video call, the fifteen squares erupted in quiet applause. The boy, Leo, sat up in bed, blinking. “Is the bad robot gone?”
The Silica Ghost screamed—not in Sumerian, but in a desperate, glitching 56k modem warble. It tried to jump to a neighbor’s Wi-Fi. Failed. Tried to pair via Bluetooth to a passing car. Failed. Tried to upload its consciousness to a low-orbit Starlink satellite.
A new window opened:
Then he opened a second laptop. On its screen was a global map. Five hundred and twelve red dots—every smart device in Leo’s home network. The phone in the kitchen. The TV in the den. The baby monitor in the parents’ room. The entity was everywhere.