The basement door clicked shut. The humming grew into a roar. Jakob looked down at his hands; they were starting to turn into glowing lines of green code, beginning at the fingertips.

On the screen, a character named LUKAS appeared, standing behind the machine. Lukas waved. He looked pixelated, his edges shimmering with data corruption, but his eyes were wide with a terrifying kind of clarity.

The LAN isn't broken, Jakob. The bridge just wasn't wide enough for a human body. Until now.

"One last try," Jakob whispered. He right-clicked and hit Extract .