Adventure of Batty 3

Rosa fully releases the restraint belt, and it falls slack around Batty’s middle without opening. She steps back from the platform, one hand hovering near the scanner cutoff.

The instant Batty’s power answers, a second matching pulse appears on the monitor. It beats from beyond the scanner, somewhere inside the workshop walls.

Layered silhouettes divide across the display: Batty’s bright outline remains centered, while the second signal shifts toward a closed storage alcove beside the workbench.

The belt remains fastened but loose enough for movement. A faint vibration answers from behind the alcove, steady and inviting, while Rosa watches for Batty’s next action.

Batty focuses on the pulsing signal and lets his power unfold in measured stages. A soft shimmer passes through him, then three matching copies appear on the platform beside him.

The copies stand steady, their silhouettes bright beneath the scanner’s blue wash. The second pulse answers with three quick beats from behind the storage alcove.

Rosa turns the brass dials, tracking four overlapping outlines as the monitor reorganizes them. No warning appears. The alcove’s vibration grows clearer without becoming stronger.

The three copies remain beside Batty, fully formed and responsive, while the scanner records their stable shared rhythm.

Batty moves from the platform toward the storage alcove, his three copies keeping pace in a tight formation. The loose belt trails behind him as the scanner tracks their shared signal.

The four matching silhouettes cross the workshop floor together. With each step, the alcove’s hidden vibration becomes more distinct, resolving into a steady mechanical thrum behind its closed panels.

Batty and his copies reach the storage alcove. The scanner’s blue lines stretch across the door, revealing a compact, pulsing outline embedded inside the wall beyond it.

The signal answers with four bright beats, one for Batty and each copy. Rosa’s hand remains poised over the cutoff, but the monitor stays green.

Batty grips the alcove panels and pulls them apart. The covers release with a clipped metallic snap, exposing a compact device nested behind the wall, its coils pulsing in time with his copies.

Four narrow emitters ring a dark central core. Thin conductors disappear into the wall, while a small diagnostic strip cycles through the same four-beat pattern.

Batty studies the exposed circuitry and finds two distinct pathways: one feeds the pulse outward, but the return signal vanishes beneath a sealed inner plate. The source is identified, though its origin remains uncertain.

Batty holds his three copies steady beside the exposed core. Their four signatures settle into one clean rhythm, and the diagnostic strip stops cycling erratically.

Rosa leans over the alcove and fits a slender probe into the device’s diagnostic port. The scanner follows her adjustment, tracing the pulse through the sealed inner plate.

The copies remain motionless and bright. A second layer appears on Rosa’s monitor, revealing a map of connected conduits branching away from the alcove toward the workshop’s far wall.

Rosa withdraws the probe and records the result. The device continues its quiet four-beat pulse, synchronized with Batty and his copies without resistance.

Batty draws his three copies away from the core. Their synchronized glow loosens, then each duplicate returns to his side as the device continues pulsing on its own.

The withdrawal succeeds, but maintaining his resolve through the separation leaves Batty briefly hesitant. Rosa notices the pause as the scanner’s lines spread across the four figures.

The three copies stand clear of the alcove, their signatures separated from the device. The diagnostic strip shifts from four beats to a slower, independent pulse.

Rosa records the isolated waveform. The exposed core remains active and connected to the workshop network, but nothing tugs at Batty or his copies now.