But even during the flash, Scotty kept hammering away at his keyboard to gain encryption access rights for Sprite, albeit with his eyes closed briefly to avoid momentary blindness.

The monitors rebooted from black and soon all flickered to life again.

“Spectators rapidly decreasing,” Vapor announced. “200 and falling. Only five specters are still in the sector.”

“My ghost deflected this one too,” Darkholm said. “Running metrics and triangulating location now.”

“150 spectators,” Vapor said.

“Eight-seven,” Scotty announced, getting closer to encryption.

“Where’s our other ghost?” Ling asked.

“I lost him,” Vapor said, a hint of panic in her voice.