"YOU'RE OUT!" THE DIRECTOR SAID. "THE GRID WILL RUN JUST FINE." I SMILED. "WITHOUT MY SCHEDULER SETTINGS? YOU'LL HAVE A STATEWIDE OVERLOAD AT 5:02PM. BUT GO AHEAD." The warning wasn’t a siren… it was the hum. That low 60Hz vibration that crawls under your skin when the grid is seconds away from biting back. I was in the control center off I-35, 1400 Switchyard Blvd, America, staring at a demand curve climbing like a knife, when Preston—fresh suit, fresh teeth, zero scars—walked in with HR and a