Page 181 of What We Become

You’re not losing your mind.

My stomach drops.

FENRIR:

I’ve been tracking a similar signature for the last nine days. Different target, same routing architecture. Virginia relay, Amsterdam hop, São Paulo dead-end. Whoever this is, they’re not just probing you. They’re probing the network.

me:

Which network?

FENRIR:

Odin’s.

The basement gets colder. Or maybe that’s me.

me:

So the pings on my firewall aren’t about me.

FENRIR:

They’re mapping what you’re connected to. Your server node, Holden’s security controller—each exposed endpoint gives them another piece of the architecture. Map enough of those connections and they map upward. Odin. The club. The operations infrastructure. Every asset on the grid.

I stare at the words on the screen.

My servers. The ones I built my whole digital life around, connected to Odin’s relay because he needed a local node and I was the best option. I’m not just a target. I’m the door.

me:

How close are they to getting through?

FENRIR:

They haven’t tried yet. None of the probes carried a payload, and none of them breached your systems. They’re measuring the perimeter.

me:

And they’re getting closer together. Twelve days between the first and second. Six between the second and this one.

FENRIR:

If the interval keeps compressing, the next contact could come within a day.

me:

And when they stop probing?

A pause. Longer this time.

FENRIR:

Then they’ve learned enough to try a real entry. And you won’t see it coming the way you saw the pings.

me:

Comforting. Thank you. I feel great about everything.