Chapter 5 - An Unexpected Spike
High up on the observation deck overlooking Sector Nine's processing hall, Senior Supervisor Kael watched hundreds of diagnostic screens simultaneously. His job was simple: identify accounts worth salvaging and consign the dead weight to systemic decommission. Usually, the intake feeds were monotonous—depressed influencers begging for retweets, disgraced actors attempting desperate monologues, washed-up musicians strumming out of tune.
Then a sudden audio spike flagged his dashboard with an urgent amber flare.
Kael adjusted his audio interface. The sound coming through was completely unpolished: no background track, no trending filters, no deliberate timing. It was the raw, helpless cry of a three-year-old child wearing a sauce-stained blue shirt, calling for his mother inside an interrogation bay.
""What is that?"" Kael muttered, leaning closer to his console.
""Intake feed 094,"" his assistant replied, checking the data stream. ""A low-retention dependent seized under Section Four. Total system irrelevance.""
""Look at the regional diagnostic,"" Kael interrupted, pointing at a line graph that had suddenly snapped upward like an electrified wire. ""Someone forgot to disable the localized public overflow feed. It’s leaking onto the municipal district network.""
Within seconds, the numbers on Leo's profile began to shudder. A handful of regional viewers had caught the unedited broadcast. Then dozens. Then thousands. Unlike the synthetic, focus-grouped content flooding the network, this was pure, unadulterated terror. The chat feed beneath the boy’s image began to flicker violently, scrolling faster than the automated moderation filters could purge.
Who is this child?
Where is this being filmed?
Is this real? Tell me this is fake.
Look at his eyes. God help him.
May you like
""Shut it down,"" Kael whispered, realizing the breach of protocol. ""Cut the feed immediately!""
""Sir,"" the technician swallowed hard, his hands trembling over the keyboard. ""We can't. The viral coefficient just crossed the emergency broadcast threshold. The network is auto-locking it to the central feed.""
