Armed with the knowledge of Ruhl's Dormer Research Facility (the source of the ADO), Elara knew she had to strike at his command center—his personal office terminal—to gather the final proof. She had the map: Joric's security schematic detailing the digital blind spots and physical access points.
The Infiltration
Elara initiated the infiltration under the cover of a high-priority, city-wide network patch Joric had legitimately scheduled. This provided a window of intentional digital turbulence that obscured her minute, targeted system entry.
She entered Ruhl's building via the sub-floor maintenance access Joric had identified. Moving through the vents, she located the maintenance junction box beneath Ruhl's terminal. It was precisely where Joric's schematic indicated.
The execution was swift. She isolated the terminal's primary data conduit and inserted a microscopic, low-power monitoring program designed to mirror the drive's activity. She wanted Ruhl's private ledger—his conversations, his schedules, and, most crucially, his communications with the Silent Weaver.
🌡️ The Shield's Blind Spot Revealed
As the program began its covert synchronization, a silent, internal alarm pulsed in Elara's mind. A faint, nearly imperceptible heat radiated from the surrounding walls, far exceeding the normal temperature of the room. It was not a conventional infrared camera; it was a dedicated thermal detection system concealed within the plasterwork.
Ruhl had anticipated an internal breach—a threat from someone who knew the system, like Joric or Elara. He hadn't relied on the city's predictable security; he had installed a dedicated, private layer of defense.
Elara was almost detected. The thermal system was set to flag any non-uniform thermal signature—a sign of a human presence—outside the standard environmental parameters. Joric's schematic, based on official city security, had been fatally incomplete. The Shield's blind spot was real.
Elara immediately recognized the system as a specialized, government-grade counter-surveillance measure. She had only seconds. She deployed a thermal-dissipating gel (a contingency tool from Thorne) onto the monitoring program's insertion point, rapidly cooling the area and temporarily masking her heat signature.
She retrieved the installation device, completing the infiltration in a dizzying forty-two seconds. The thermal signature stabilized just as she melted back into the ventilation system.
She had secured the monitoring program on Ruhl's drive, but the near-fatal exposure confirmed the brutal reality of their partnership: Joric could map the known, but Ruhl was fighting with personalized, secret countermeasures. The price of this intelligence was almost her freedom. She knew now that the next betrayal would come from the technology itself.