The reason to commit more than directions to memory became abundantly clear by the end of the week.

In a matter of days the minor hiccups in connectivity had grown to full blown blackouts. The furlough of ITower employees had become an exodus. Blame was passed from the highest ranks to the lowest, and back up again.

The security teams led by Evan and others in his position were dragged in for questioning on corporate and criminal levels. It was no one’s fault, and everyone was to blame in the same stroke.

It was the next wave that shocked Evan most however.

“We will be opening a limited line of connectivity in our ongoing efforts to discover the root of the issues, and continue to serve our most valuable customers.”

“Hotspots.” Evan growled at the radio.

“It does make sense.” Fred moved a pawn to block the path of Evan’s bishop. “Your move.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” Evan paced the living room. “We are listening to radio broadcasts. In a week the tech company heads are going to start hopping out of windows. In a month it will be much worse.”

Fred leaned away from the chessboard. “The backup systems will be online by then. Bo patient. Your move.”

Evan halted mid pace to stalk over to the board. His eyes flit across the pieces a moment before he snatched Fred’s rook from the corner of the board.

“Check.” Evan returned to his circuit of the room.

Fred frowned at the pieces. “Maybe we should take a break. You seem stressed.”

Fred rose to stretch his legs. Out of habit he reached for his tablet to check the time.

The screen was dark.

“Look at it this way, hospitals are running again since the ethernet hardline bypass. Libraries, police and fire stations have the same safety net. We will be fine.”

“How can you be so calm about all of this?” Evan followed his uncle through to the kitchen.

“Mankind has come a long way, and most of the journey happened without nearly the technology we have today.” Fred opened the pantry and spied a bag of pork rinds.”

“Yours is in the back.” Evan reached past Fred and snagged a bag of air fried banana chips.

Fred offered an ungrateful scowl as he claimed the bag from his nephew. “Right.”

“At least the stores kept their backup inventory files on the hard drives in the clerk handhelds.” Evan joined Fred at the table.

“They are only daily lists but it allowed them to retain most of the data required for supply updates.”

“I’m calm because a lack of data connectivity isn’t the worst thing in a world where I am denied pork rinds and hot dogs.”

Evan smirked as he popped a rind into his mouth. “And long walks as soon as you get the all clear.”