Please Stand By Guide

Please Stand By.

That’s what flickered on every screen in the building: two pale green words on a dead black field. The televisions in the break room, the monitors at reception, the massive display wall in the lobby—all frozen in that same sterile mantra. Please Stand By. Please Stand By

And she had no idea what came next.

The servers weren’t humming. They were singing. A low, harmonic chorus, like a thousand tuning forks struck at once. In the center of the room, a woman stood facing the main processing tower. She was dressed in a sharp gray suit, her hair pinned perfectly. Lena had never seen her before. the monitors at reception