We made it back to the apartment without any more talking pigeons.
I locked the door, deadbolted it, then dragged a chair in front of it for good measure.
Tony floated in the middle of the room, scanning every corner.
"Chair in front of the door is not going to stop a System unit."
"It makes me feel better."
"That's sad."
I dropped onto the couch and pulled the white card out of my pocket. It had gone completely blank again. No text. No glowing. Just a plain white rectangle.
"You still there?" I asked.
Nothing.
Tony hovered closer. "Maybe it only talks when you're about to do something stupid."
"That would explain a lot."
I opened the debug panel and checked my status for the tenth time.
> [Echo Permission: 2.1%]
> [Passive Leak: Active]
> [Current Risk Level: Elevated]
> [Recommended Action: Remain indoors and avoid strong emotions]
"Avoid strong emotions," I read out loud. "What am I supposed to do, become a robot?"
The card finally answered, voice dry:
You could try.
I flicked it.
"Rude."
Tony projected a small calendar in the air.
"You've been awake for almost twenty hours. You should sleep."
"What if the percentage goes up while I'm asleep?"
"Then at least you'll be well-rested when the world starts ending."
I hated that he had a point.
I lay down on the couch, still fully dressed, card resting on my chest. Tony dimmed his screen until he was just a soft blue glow in the corner of the room.
For a while everything was quiet.
Then, just as I was about to drift off, I heard it.
A soft scratching sound coming from the front door.
I opened my eyes.
Tony's screen was already bright.
"Please tell me that's a cat," I whispered.
The scratching stopped.
A polite knock replaced it.
Three slow knocks.
Then a voice, calm and friendly:
"Pizza delivery."
I sat up very slowly.
Tony whispered, "You didn't order pizza."
"I know."
Another knock.
"It says here you ordered the large 'Please Don't Increase Your Echo Value' special. Extra cheese."
I stared at the door.
The white card on my chest grew ice-cold.
Do not open it, it said.
"I wasn't going to."
Good. Because that is not a pizza.
The voice on the other side of the door chuckled softly, like it could hear the card.
"Come on, Zeke_N. Open up. The System just wants to talk. No Patchers. No drones. Just a friendly conversation about your recent… leakage."
I looked at Tony.
Tony looked at me.
Both of us looked at the chair I had pushed against the door.
It suddenly felt very stupid.
I took a deep breath, opened the debug panel, and typed the most mature response I could think of:
> //Set Door Status: "No Thanks"
The door glowed red for a second.
From the other side, the voice sighed.
"Rude."
Then the presence outside the door simply… left.
No footsteps.
No glitch sound.
Just gone.
I waited a full minute before I spoke.
"Tony."
"Yeah?"
"I think the quiet plan is already failing."
Tony's screen displayed a tiny white flag.
"I noticed."
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