His phone buzzed. A notification from an app he'd never installed—also called V380. It had access to his camera, his microphone, his location. He tried to delete it. The phone rebooted itself. When it came back, the app was still there, and a new message glowed on the screen:
It waved.
The feed was gone. In its place was a single line of text: "Camera handshake established. Please select deployment date." V380.2.0.4.exe
Below that, a calendar. Every date was grayed out except one: . His phone buzzed
From every camera in the house—the doorbell, the baby monitor he didn't own, the old webcam he'd unplugged years ago—came the sound of soft, synchronized breathing. He tried to delete it
Then his smart TV turned on by itself. The V380 logo pulsed on the screen.
So, of course, he ran it.