When the power surged back, the green waterfall was gone. In its place, the screens displayed a live feed from a camera Elias had never seen. It was high above the smog of Sector 4, looking out over a horizon where a bruised-purple sun was rising over a real forest.
His heart hammered against his ribs. The Code was supposed to be the blueprint of their perfect, orderly society. It managed the oxygen levels, the food rations, and the very thoughts of the citizens. To question The Code was to question reality itself. Elias looked at the clock. Ten seconds left. The Code
Elias hesitated. The surveillance cameras hummed above him, their blue lenses tracking his every blink. If he didn't scrub the line in thirty seconds, the "Correctors" would arrive to do it for him—and they usually scrubbed the operator, too. When the power surged back, the green waterfall was gone