The device was a brick. Not literally, of course, but to Sofia, the dark, unresponsive screen of her late father’s Mediatek-powered tablet might as well have been a block of clay. It held photos, messages, and fragments of a voice she was terrified of forgetting.

python mtk.py rl --part userdata

With trembling fingers, she installed the Python scripts on a dusty laptop. She connected the tablet via a frayed USB cable. The screen remained black. She held down the Volume Up button and plugged it in.

A sob escaped her. She wasn't hacking a phone. She was holding a séance.