Every time the software paused to load a filter, a thought pricked him: Is it crashing? Is it checking the license? He saved obsessively, terrified that the illicit code would unravel at any moment. He noticed small things—the 'Help' menu didn't work. The 'Sync Settings' option was greyed out. It was a beautiful car, but the doors were welded shut, and the engine was running hot.
It was the silence of a craftsman ready to work. He had bought his freedom.
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Three days later, Elias was deep into a complex composite. A notification slid into the corner of his screen. It wasn't from the system.
A week later, his browser homepage changed. It had been hijacked by a search engine he didn’t recognize. Then, his fan spun up to a jet-engine roar while the laptop was supposed to be sleeping.