But gravity doesn't care about budgets.

"Fix it," she said. "Or find a new basement."

"Free software is never free. The price is just hidden. And someone always pays it."

For three weeks, everything was perfect. Arjun became a hero. He even helped the engineering team from a sister hotel, using his "special copy" of 1Tool to balance their VAV boxes. He started to feel powerful. He started to feel smart.

Mrs. D'Souza didn't fire him. She sued him for negligence. The insurance didn't cover "deliberate use of pirated industrial control software." The forensic audit revealed that during those three weeks, the cracked 1Tool had been quietly logging every setpoint, every password hash, every network topology detail—and phoning it home to a server in a country with no extradition treaty.

It was 2:59 PM. The hotel was full. The banquet hall was hosting a wedding. The spa was packed. Arjun stared at the main SCADA screen. The temperature in the east wing was 23°C. The chiller was humming.