"Targeted rollback on relay five," she decided. "Let the clinics keep priority, but isolate the market mesh."

"Hot," Kade said quietly, and Noora understood. Not just the temperature, but the condition—pressure, attention, danger. The update had changed the tempo of the town. It stitched efficiency into living things with an artist's brutal hand, and PMVHaven had to learn to move to that new rhythm.

The summer air in PMVHaven always tasted like burned sugar and salt—equal parts sun-baked tarps and the ocean’s breath. Tonight the town hummed on a frequency that made the streetlights buzz and the power boxes hum. It wasn't the usual kind of heat; it had teeth.