He labeled the first shape: MERIDIAN-DC1-RACK04 . He saved the file. The save dialog didn't ask for a location. It simply said: "Diagram will remember."

The program opened instantly. No splash screen, no loading bar. The interface was… wrong. It looked like Visio 2003, but smoother, as if the pixels were oil on water. The stencil library on the left wasn't labeled "Network," "Basic Shapes," or "Flowchart." It was labeled:

“Portable?” he frowned. “We don’t have licenses for portable.”

But Arjun knew. And sometimes, late at night, when he closed his eyes, he still saw it: the perfect, impossible diagram of his own home network, sitting on a phantom canvas, with a single unknown device pulsing softly in the corner.

The label on one of the new shapes resolved: MERIDIAN-ACCT-01 . That was the finance server. Another: MERIDIAN-HR-01 . Then the CEO’s workstation. Then the building’s HVAC system. Then the security cameras.

He placed it on the connector between "Diagrammer" and the core switch. A dialog box appeared, the first normal Windows dialog he'd seen in hours: "Disconnecting this shape will permanently delete the diagram. All changes will be lost. Continue?"

His phone buzzed. Carla. He answered.

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