The three copies flicker out at once. Every nearby monitor blanks the signature it was tracking, while the exposed core keeps pulsing, now drawing power directly from Rosa’s invention.
Rosa Lewis
Batty, stay clear of the core. The emergency controls are still powered, but they are not accepting input.
Rosa strikes the cutoff and tries the isolation switch. Their indicator lights respond, yet the relays remain locked. A narrow strip beneath the core illuminates with a new, steady line.
Rosa Lewis
That line was not there before. The signal has learned to persist without your original pattern.
Batty
The core is still pulsing without my copies.
Copper conduits around the alcove brighten one after another, carrying the stolen rhythm toward the invention’s main housing. The workshop lights dip, then recover under the strain.
Rosa Lewis
I can keep the controls from failing completely, but I cannot shut this pathway down from here. We have seconds before it reaches the central converter.
Prevent the autonomous pulse from damaging Rosa’s invention