Evan awoke to a bright sliver of sunlight burning into his eyelids and the ringing in his ears being replaced by the call alert on his phone.

He knew his lack of steady employment had begun to wear his nerves. That, combined with lack of schedule, created a disastrous mix of late nights and later mornings.

The lack of his usual medication had done nothing to help his anxiety about the instability of his financial situation, Fred’s failing health, and the Cloud crashes. The cocktail of dramas was enough for Evan to write off the feelings left by the bizarre, vivid dream, as well as the return of Linc’s voice.

Evan rolled to his feet to check the time on the mobile device propped on the coffee table.

The screen was dark.

Evan tapped the side of the device, searching for the unlock key along the edge of the frame. Locating the fingerprint recognition surface, the screen blinked to life.

The home screen, however, was not what Evan had set. A bright blue background with an error message in bright white text assaulted Evan’s eyes.

He rolled to his side and drew the device to him, holding it between his palms. Evan examined the handheld computer. His brow furrowed as he considered the meaning of this error message.

He tapped screen.

Nothing. The image remained the same. He swiped the surface, the panel shifted. The same error message met him no matter which direction he slid his fingers. This was not a typical failure in connection. There should at least be applications and icons on the home screen.

Evan strode across the living room of his uncle Fred’s home. He wandered into the master bathroom and set the device on the edge of the sink counter.

The blue screen disappeared as the preset sleep mode activated, returning the screen to black. At least that still worked. He washed his face before taking up the device again.

He crossed into the kitchen to start coffee, eyes all the while on the device. The ritual of making coffee was never something Evan bothered with when the networks were fully functioning--he would leave that up to settings on the communication between the internet of things. With the networks behaving as they were, it was not worth the stress wondering if settings and alarms would remain functional.

Evan flopped into the closest chair. He let the mobile device clatter to the table and drew his tablet to him. It was possible the tablet could still get a signal when the mobile was down. Evan tapped the screen to wake the tablet from sleep mode.

The same blaring blue screen met his eyes.

“Oh, come on.” Evan prodded the screen.

Here. Let me help you out with that. Linc’s voice buzzed in Evan’s ears.

A moment later, the mobile device began to vibrate and sing the message alert Evan set for the hospital.

Evan lunged for the device that suddenly chose to function.

“Hello.” Evan panted the word out past the startled jump of his heart rate.

“Is this Evan Gabriel?” A woman’s voice on the other end of the connection offered vague concern.

Noting the woman’s tone, Evan and prepared for the worst. “This is Evan. Is this the hospital my uncle Fred is at?”

“Oh, good! Evan, we have been trying to reach you all morning.”

All morning? Evan rose and peered through the shade covering the kitchen window. Another blast of light accosted his adjusting pupils. It was brighter, and later, than he first thought.

“Is my uncle okay?”

Evan glared out the window at the high morning sun, and swallowed his emotions for the moment.

“He’s asking to see you,” the woman replied.