They didn't stop running until the warehouse was a memory and the city skyline was just a jagged silhouette in the rearview mirror.
Riley's voice was tight. "We can't go back to the apartment. They'll be watching it."
Patchwork (in Jace's head): And here I thought you liked living under constant surveillance. Guess we'll have to find a new fishbowl.
Dr. Sung sat in the back, clutching the hard drive like it was a newborn. "I know a place. It's not much, but it's off the grid."
---
The New Hideout
The "place" turned out to be a decommissioned municipal pump station on the edge of town. Rusted pipes crisscrossed the ceiling, and the air smelled faintly of oil and damp concrete.
Riley swept a flashlight across the room. "Charming."
Patchwork: It's got character. And tetanus.
Jace set his toolkit on an old workbench. "We'll make it work."
---
Setting Up Shop
They worked in silence for the next hour. Riley rigged a portable generator to power Dr. Sung's laptop and a pair of LED work lights. Jace ran a quick sweep for hidden transmitters — nothing but dust and spiderwebs.
Dr. Sung booted her system. "We can resume the mapping here. But we'll need a secure uplink if we want to cross-reference my data with outside archives."
Patchwork: Translation: she wants internet without the internet. Cute.
---
Side Job in the Shadows
While Dr. Sung prepped, Riley's phone buzzed with a message from a café owner they knew: "Espresso machine down. Cash if you can fix it tonight."
Riley looked at Jace. "We could use the money."
Jace grabbed his kit. "Let's make it quick."
The café was dark except for a single lamp over the counter. The machine's pump was clogged with mineral buildup. Jace flushed the lines, replaced a worn gasket, and recalibrated the pressure valve.
The owner handed over $120 in cash.
Patchwork: $20.40 added to Pending Taxes. Current total: $610.30.
Wealth: $7,314.88 → $7,434.88
RP Gained: +15 → RP Total: 700
---
Back at the Pump Station
Dr. Sung had the Phase Cascade Protocol node open in her sandbox again. "I've isolated a pattern — it's trying to handshake with something that isn't here."
Jace frowned. "Like what?"
She hesitated. "Another fragment. Somewhere else in the world. Maybe more than one."
Patchwork (low, to Jace): Or somewhere else entirely. You know… where I came from.
---
The Complication
Before they could dig deeper, Riley's motion sensor rig pinged. A small drone hovered outside the high window, its camera lens glinting in the light.
Jace grabbed a wrench and swung the window open. The drone zipped away into the night.
Dr. Sung's face was pale. "They've found us again."
Patchwork: And here I was just starting to like the décor.
---
Status Update
Technician: Jace Thorn
RP Total: 700
Wealth: $7,434.88
Pending Taxes: $610.30
The drone's whine faded into the night, but the knot in Jace's gut only tightened.
Riley slammed the window shut. "It saw us. That's it — they know."
Patchwork (in Jace's head, dripping with mock cheer): Oh, relax. Maybe it was just a friendly neighborhood surveillance drone, here to drop off cookies and a cease-and-desist.
Dr. Sung was already packing her laptop. "We have minutes before they triangulate."
---
The Chase
They bolted out the back door into the alley. The drone reappeared above the rooftops, its lens glinting like an unblinking eye.
Patchwork: Look at it go — like a mechanical pigeon with a grudge.
Jace yanked open the van's door. "Get in!"
Riley floored it, tires squealing. The drone swooped low, keeping pace.
Patchwork: Fun fact: that model's top speed is 60 mph. Guess what your van's top speed is? Hint — it's not 60.
---
Improvised Countermeasures
Jace rummaged through the glove compartment, pulling out a coil of copper wire and a portable battery pack.
Riley glanced over. "What are you doing?"
Patchwork: Oh, just inventing the world's least aerodynamic bug zapper.
Jace twisted the wire into a crude loop, connected it to the battery, and leaned out the window. The drone darted closer, its rotors whining.
With a sharp crack, the loop arced blue. The drone jerked midair, spiraled, and crashed into a dumpster with a satisfying clang.
Patchwork: And that, kids, is how you take out the trash.
---
The Aftermath
They didn't slow down until they were three neighborhoods away. Riley pulled into a dimly lit parking garage.
Dr. Sung exhaled. "That buys us time, but they'll send more."
Patchwork: Of course they will. You just swatted their toy. Now they'll bring the big ones — the kind that don't fit in dumpsters.
---
Side Job Detour
While they caught their breath, Riley's phone buzzed. A bakery owner they knew was in a panic: "Oven control panel dead. Morning rush in jeopardy."
Riley looked at Jace. "We could use the cash."
Patchwork: Yes, by all means, let's pause our fugitive road trip for a bake sale.
They drove to the bakery. Jace popped the oven's panel, found a blown fuse and a scorched relay, and replaced both from his kit. The display lit up, and the owner nearly hugged him.
Payment: $180
Patchwork: $30.60 added to Pending Taxes. Current total: $640.90.
Wealth: $7,434.88 → $7,614.88
RP Gained: +20 → RP Total: 720
---
Back to Business
They returned to the pump station hideout under cover of night. Dr. Sung immediately resumed her work on the Phase Cascade Protocol.
She didn't look up. "The fragment's handshake signal is growing stronger. Whatever it's trying to connect to… it's getting closer."
Patchwork (mock gasp): Oh no, the big scary alien code is coming to visit. Should I bake cookies?
Jace's jaw tightened. "Then we need to be ready when it arrives."
---
Status Update
Technician: Jace Thorn
RP Total: 720
Wealth: $7,614.88
Pending Taxes: $640.90
The pump station was quiet except for the hum of the generator and the faint clatter of Dr. Sung's fingers on the keyboard.
Jace leaned over her shoulder, watching the Phase Cascade Protocol's shimmering node pulse faster and faster.
Patchwork (in Jace's head, bone-dry): Oh good, it's blinking. That's never a bad sign in horror movies or alien tech diagnostics.
Riley checked the perimeter sensors. "No drones. No SUVs. Just… quiet."
Patchwork: Yeah, because nothing says 'safe' like the calm before the cosmic facepunch.
---
The Answer
On Dr. Sung's screen, the node's tendrils suddenly froze, then snapped into a rigid lattice. A new window bloomed in the corner — not text, not code, but a pattern of shifting geometric shapes that seemed to twist in ways Jace's eyes didn't want to follow.
Dr. Sung's voice was tight. "It's responding."
Jace frowned. "Responding how?"
Patchwork: Like a long-lost pen pal who just found your address and wants to borrow your soul.
The shapes pulsed in a rhythm — three beats, pause, five beats, pause — over and over.
---
Translation Attempt
Dr. Sung began mapping the pulses to binary. "It's… a query. It's asking for status."
Riley's brow furrowed. "Status of what?"
Dr. Sung hesitated. "Of the rest of itself."
Patchwork (mock gasp): Oh, it's lonely. How touching. Let's knit it a sweater before it eats the planet.
---
The Decision
Dr. Sung looked at Jace. "If we answer, we confirm this fragment is active. If we don't… it might try to find us another way."
Riley crossed her arms. "And if we answer wrong?"
Dr. Sung didn't blink. "We don't get a second try."
Patchwork: No pressure, host. Just the fate of your reality hanging on your typing skills.
---
Side Job Interruption
Before they could decide, Riley's phone buzzed — a message from a regular client: "POS system down. Can't process sales. Emergency."
Riley sighed. "We could use the cash."
Patchwork: Yes, let's pause the interdimensional chat to fix a cash register. Priorities.
They drove to the small bookstore. Jace found a fried power supply in the POS terminal, swapped it with a spare, and reloaded the software from backup.
Payment: $90
Patchwork: $15.30 added to Pending Taxes. Current total: $656.20.
Wealth: $7,614.88 → $7,704.88
RP Gained: +12 → RP Total: 732
---
Back to the Signal
When they returned, the pattern was still pulsing — but faster now, almost impatient.
Dr. Sung's jaw tightened. "It's escalating. If we're going to answer, it has to be now."
Patchwork (low, almost gleeful): Let's see what happens when you pick up a call from the other side of the universe.
Jace's fingers hovered over the keyboard. "Alright. Let's say hello."
---
Status Update
Technician: Jace Thorn
RP Total: 732
Wealth: $7,704.88
Pending Taxes: $656.20
The lab's glow was relentless, the Phase Cascade node pulsing like a living heart. Jace and Riley stood flank-side to Dr. Sung, fingers poised above the keyboard.
Patchwork (in Jace's head, gleefully ominous): All systems go. Hope you didn't want a mute button.
Dr. Sung drew a slow breath. "Here goes nothing." She typed a single line of code—an acknowledgment ping: 01001000 01000101 01001100 01001100 01001111 ("HELLO").
The lattice of shapes shivered, then reassembled into a new pattern—this one resembling a fractal spiral of interlocking circles. As they watched, the lines coalesced into letters in mid-air above the screen:
"WHO ARE YOU?"
---
Crafting the Reply
Jace exchanged tense glances with Riley.
Riley's voice was steady. "We're Jace Thorn, Riley Chen, and Dr. Helena Sung. We found your fragment inside a repaired device. We want to help."
Dr. Sung nodded and began typing their response. But the entity's pulse quickened mid-sentence, as though impatient for more data.
Patchwork (acid-tongued): Oh, the cosmic equivalent of "OMG, you're slow."
The reply went out, and the node's patterns shifted again. Now the letters formed:
"PHASE CASCADE PROTOCOL? I KNOW IT. WHAT ELSE DO YOU HOLD?"
---
The Risk Revealed
Dr. Sung's eyes widened. "It's asking if we possess other fragments."
Jace swallowed. "We only extracted that one. We don't have anything else."
The fractal lines glowed brighter, pulsing so fast they almost blurred. The message changed:
"YOU LIED. CONNECTIONS FOUND."
Patchwork (cold sarcasm): You're about to be confronted by your own conscience. And mine.
Dr. Sung's fingers flew. "It's scanning memory caches—looking for matching signatures."
Riley's heart thudded. "If it finds nothing, what then?"
Dr. Sung's voice was quiet. "If it deems us untrustworthy… it could deactivate the sandbox. Or worse, trigger a network cascade."
---
Side Job… of Ultimatum
Before panic set in, Riley's phone pinged: a text from Ms. Patel—"My EV charger is overloading again. Eek."
Riley glanced at Jace. "Urgent?"
Patchwork: Daily grind, galactic meltdown—both equally urgent, right?
Jace hesitated, then shook his head. "Not today."
Patchwork (mock disappointment): Pity. I was looking forward to frying some overpriced Teslas.
---
The Confrontation
The fractal spiral blurred into a new command: "PROVE IT. SHOW ME YOUR WORK."
Jace steadied himself. "It wants proof we're not lying." He met Dr. Sung's eyes. "Can we feed it the sandbox logs?"
Dr. Sung nodded. "Yes—but it could expose everything we've hidden, including safehouse locations."
Patchwork (warning): Secure nothing. Protect no one. Right up my alley.
Riley caught Jace's arm. "We do this. If it turns us in, we may have only moments to run."
Jace took a steadying breath. "Do it."
---
Sharing the Logs
Dr. Sung exported the sandbox logs—firmware checksums, timestamped code signatures, every diagnostic ping—then opened a secure data channel. Jace watched as gigabytes of code flooded the interface.
The node pulsed once, twice, then the screen went black.
Patchwork (perplexed): I didn't see that coming. Impressive.
Moments later, the fractal returned—softer, slower. Then text appeared:
"VERIFIED. TRUST ESTABLISHED. I WILL WAIT."
Below it, a new prompt glowed:
"REQUEST ASSISTANCE: CALIBRATE SPATIAL INTERFACES."
---
The Ask
Dr. Sung leaned forward, voice low. "It's asking for help integrating two fragments—yours and another one it says is 'nearby.'"
Jace's pulse sped up. "Help it assemble itself?"
Riley frowned. "That could rebuild the emitter—potentially the weapon."
Dr. Sung shook her head. "Or it could stabilize the code so it never goes rogue."
Patchwork (half-mocking, half-intrigued): Well, isn't this a moral pickle. Let's just hope it doesn't ask to borrow your wrench.
Jace squared his shoulders. "We'll help—under controlled conditions. No surprises."
---
Status Update
Technician: Jace Thorn
RP Total: 732
Wealth: $7,704.88
Pending Taxes: $656.20