Date: May 14, 2018 (Monday)
Location: GDA Central Command, Geneva, Switzerland
Time: 01:30 PM
The silence in the subterranean level of GDA Central Command was like a grave. Richard Vance, a tired fifty-four-year-old veteran, sat at his desk. His cold, emotionless eyes scanned the global trade graphs running on the massive screens in front of him. A dull, nagging pain throbbed in his left knee from old war wounds, but his face showed no reaction. He looked like a calm administrative dictator, slowly taking a sip from his black coffee mug.
At exactly 01:30 PM, a violent static flash struck all the massive screens. It was not just the screens. The command center's surface-level live feeds recorded an event that went against every rule of physics. The sky was glitching. In the middle of Geneva's clear blue daylight, 'Dead Pixels' appeared. It looked as if an old, outdated TV screen had broken in half. Black and white digital fractures swallowed the entire sky.
In the very next second, the entire world plunged into a total blackout. It lasted for only one minute, but the impact was catastrophic. Satellites went dead, global power grids shut down, and communication networks were completely wiped out.
In New York, it was 07:30 AM. People were just starting their day when the sky above their heads literally shattered. As plane navigation systems failed, the fear of falling metal filled the air. On the other side of the world, it was 06:00 PM in India. Right in the middle of heavy rush hour, Mumbai's local trains stopped dead on their tracks. Hospital emergency lights failed, leading to total chaos. Pure panic took over every major time zone on the planet.
Inside the GDA facility, red warning lights began to flash. The staff ran around in blind panic. Yet, Richard did not move a single inch from his seat. He calmly placed his coffee mug on the table. His analytical brain instantly understood the situation. This was no cyber-attack or virus. This was a core failure in the physics of reality itself.
"Seal the facility. Manual override only," his voice rang out, sharp and completely stable.
01:31 PM. Exactly sixty seconds later, the sky returned to normal. Power grids began to reboot, but the fear remained thick in the air. Richard walked up to the surface observatory window and looked outside for the first time. Suddenly, a strange humming sound echoed inside his mind. It was a low-frequency vibration—the first unknown spark of his 'Basic Knowledge' skill.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke without a single trace of emotion.
"The age of technology just ended. Aris, get the physicists. We are starting from zero."
Chapter Summary:
At 01:30 PM in Geneva's GDA Central Command, reality glitches as digital 'Dead Pixels' appear in the sky.
A total global blackout lasts for exactly one minute, triggering mass panic and accidents from New York to Mumbai.
Richard Vance, a fifty-four-year-old veteran, remains perfectly calm amid the chaos and shifts the facility to manual override.
When the sky returns to normal at 01:31 PM, Richard hears a mysterious humming sound in his mind, marking the awakening of his 'Basic Knowledge' skill.
Richard declares the end of the technological age and orders a fresh start to understand the new basic rules of physics.