==> BARD: INSPECT SBURB MACHINERY. DETERMINE FUNCTIONALITY.

You pivot from the carrot-patch and stroll toward the row of **SBURB DEVICES**, your shadow and piplioβ dragging behind you like warped scanlines. Dust motes swim in the neon glow, turning every movement into a slow-motion crime scene.

There are three core constructs here, relics from when Rosie was still Earth-bound:

• **CRUXTRUDER** — tipped on one side, purple coolant leaking like old Faygo. Its countdown screen is blank but its core still hums, waiting for an input that will never come.

• **TOTEM LATHE** — jammed mid-stroke, half-carved dowel fused in its jaws. A sticky note in Rosie's handwriting clings to the side: “REMEMBER TO FLIP SWITCH **AFTER** ENTRY.”

• **ALCHEMIZER** — dormant but intact, the build plate dusted with carrot soil. It smells faintly of cookie jar ceramic and static.

You extend a claw and tap the edge of the Cruxtruder. A thin pulse of green code runs under your fingertip then evaporates — the **LAW OF THE TERMINAL** keeps you from directly interfacing. You can examine but not alter. No matter how hard you honk.

**"tHeY’rE sLeEpInG mAcHiNeS nOw, mY lItTlE bEtA… dReAmInG oF dOwElS tHeY’lL nEvEr SeE."**

piplioβ flickers, leaving red spores across the Cruxtruder’s blank timer. The spores briefly light up the number “413” before fading.

Your assessment:

— All three devices are **functional but frozen** in pre-entry state.

— They can still read dowels, totems, and alchemize, but only for players logged in.

— Without their original Clients (Rosie/Broket) present, they’re inert scenery to you.

— You could watch, you could honk, but you cannot press the buttons.

The HUMANS remain oblivious, picking carrots. The air smells like Nostalgia and burnt code.

What Will You Do?