The seventh key wasn't a code. It was a person. And whoever controlled the seven keys could rewrite reality's root directory.
Leo looked at the file still sitting on his desktop. It had a new name now: Keys7.exe (Executed. You are live.) He didn't click anything. But the cursor moved on its own.
Leo realized the terrible truth: Keys7.exe wasn't a program. It was a propagation vector. By downloading it, he had become a node in a mesh network of human-automated keys. Every device within 50 meters of him now answered to the same silent master.
And the file wasn't "free."
Then his phone rang. He hadn't plugged it in. It wasn't even on the same network.