Page 85 - SurprisingTruthFinal

Nicholas Boothman
He found a single, live communication channel: the
Emergency Grid Council, a skeletal organization
staffed by three terrified, legally bound engineers,
operating out of a bunker somewhere miles away.
Henry connected, disguising his voice and network
ID, adopting the sterile tone of an anonymous technical
consultant.
“Grid Council, this is Watcher-7. Status report on
Substation Gamma-9. Why is the central distribution
offline?”
The voice that came back was strained and weary.
“This is Council Engineer One. Gamma-9 requires a
full capacitor bank replacement. Technical solution is
known: divert 30% of power from Sector B (Medical
and Research) to Sector A (Industrial and Residential)
for eight hours, allowing a clean replacement window.”
“And the blockage?” Henry pressed.
“The Mandate,” the engineer stated simply, the
word dripping with exhausted bitterness. “To
implement the diversion, we must publish the risk.
Our Gaze-mandated projections show that rerouting
30% from Sector B carries a calculated 20% probability
of a catastrophic voltage surge and total blackout in
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