But late that night, alone in the lab, he noticed something strange. The firmware’s log buffer contained a single new line, timestamped for the moment he’d jumped out of the debug stream. It wasn't written in C or assembly. It was written in plain English:
“Same thing,” the child replied, and pointed. “The Watchdog knows you’re here.” Firmware Mtech 8803
The tower shuddered. The sky cracked open. But late that night, alone in the lab,