Elias was desperate. His trial for the specialized diagram viewer had expired at 11:59 PM, and the board presentation was at 8:00 AM. He couldn't open the proprietary .eddx files his team had sent. With a sweat-slicked mouse, he bypassed the corporate firewall and entered the "Gray Web."

A text box popped up in the center of the screen, the font a perfect mimic of his own handwriting: "License Key accepted. The price of 'Free' is the host."

He tried to force-quit, but the mouse cursor moved on its own, dragging his "Work History" folder into the void. Then his "Photos." Then his "Identity_Docs."