4338.211 · July 30, 2018 AD
The Harder Way
Luke is running late, running on no sleep, and running out of patience. The builder waiting at the Owens' property is already halfway to another dimension chemically — how much harder could it be to show him one for real? Turns out cannabis doesn't work the way Luke hoped. And neither does anything else that follows.
The night spent freezing in darkness while Karl watched from across the road has left Luke exhausted, stiff, and dangerously behind schedule. Adrian Pafistis is already waiting at the Owens' property — a builder with skills Bixbus desperately needs, currently leaning against his ute with the particular languor of someone who started his day with something stronger than coffee. Luke makes a calculation: perhaps a mind already loosened from ordinary reality might accept the impossible more readily. Perhaps, for once, he can skip the careful cultivation and just show someone the truth. The portal blazes to life against the shed wall. Adrian's reaction is not what Luke hoped. And suddenly a man with knowledge he shouldn't have is fleeing in his ute, tyres spinning against dirt, while Luke scrambles to contain a situation that's already spiralling beyond recovery. What follows involves Gladys behind the wheel, speeds that physics barely permits, a roadside confrontation that goes sideways in multiple directions, and a desperate race toward an exit that not everyone will be able to take.
