The device wakes me with urgent warnings just before dawn. I'm half out of bed before I'm fully conscious, reading quantum measurements that shouldn't be possible.

  "No," I whisper. "The containment was holding..."

  But the displays don't lie. The breach at the factory is bleeding out, artificial quantum states leaking through my carefully constructed barriers. The entity they drew through is pushing against natural dimensional interfaces, forcing reality to accommodate its impossible geometries.

  James stirs in his quantum dead zone. "What's wrong?"

  "Stay in the protective field," I tell him, gathering equipment. "The Church's tear is spreading. I need to reinforce containment before..."

  The motel room's lights flicker as reality shudders. Even through the device's damping field, I feel space-time buckling under pressure from something that exists in too many dimensions at once.

  "How bad?" James asks. He keeps his eyes closed - still adapting to quantum probability trails, still learning to process damaged perception.

  "Bad enough." The darkness pulses as I check readings. "The entity they drew through... it's not just maintaining the breach anymore. It's actively widening it, pushing against natural dimensional boundaries."

  "You need backup."

  "You're not ready." I gesture at his careful stillness, his closed eyes. "Your consciousness is still adapting to altered perception. Exposure to an artificial breach this unstable could shatter what recovery you've made."

  "Then call Rachel. Call someone."

  But we both know there's no time. The device shows reality starting to warp in expanding circles around the factory. Soon normal humans will notice as space-time bends in ways it shouldn't.

  "Stay in the dead zone," I say again. "I'll handle this."

  Outside, the pre-dawn air feels wrong - frequencies clashing as artificial quantum states bleed into normal space. The device helps mask my approach as I run toward the factory, but its readings grow more urgent with each block.

  I reach the building just as the first major containment barrier fails. Reality ripples visibly now as something vast and geometric pushes against dimensional boundaries. The darkness shows me what's really happening - the entity isn't just maintaining the Church's breach anymore, it's actively reshaping local space-time to better accommodate its existence.

  "Okay," I mutter, setting up Rachel's quantum stabilizers. "Work with natural frequencies, not against them. Guide reality back to stable states instead of forcing..."

  But it's not working like before. The entity seems to learn from each containment attempt, finding ways to push through natural dimensional interfaces. The device's warnings become frantic as more barriers fail.

  A sound like crystal breaking draws my attention upward. The factory's roof is changing shape, angles shifting to match geometries that shouldn't exist in normal space. The entity is rebuilding its surroundings to match its own impossible architecture.

  I reach out with the darkness, trying to stabilize local reality. But every natural frequency I establish, it counters with artificial ones. Every dimensional interface I strengthen, it finds ways to warp.

  "You're making it worse."

  I spin at the voice. Adrian stands - or exists - nearby, his form shifting between states as usual. But something's different about him now. More stable somehow.

  "The Church's beacon drew something old," he continues. "Something that remembers when reality was more... flexible. Fighting it with natural quantum manipulation just teaches it how our dimension works."

  "Why are you here?"

  "Because watching you fail to contain it is fascinating." He moves closer, reality rippling around him. "Natural sensitivity is powerful, but some things are too vast for natural methods alone. Sometimes you need to force reality to behave."

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  The factory groans as more of its structure reconfigures into impossible angles. The entity continues pushing outward, learning from each contact with normal space-time.

  "Help me," I say suddenly. "Your artificial quantum state - if we combine it with my natural sensitivity..."

  "Now you want to work together?" His laugh contains harmonics that shouldn't exist. "After rejecting what I offered? After showing me how broken my forced evolution made me?"

  "This isn't about us. If that thing keeps spreading..."

  Another barrier fails. Reality shudders as artificial quantum states bleed further into normal space. The entity's influence reaches deeper into surrounding blocks - buildings starting to twist, streets beginning to bend in ways that mock normal geometry.

  "Fascinating," Adrian says again. But I catch something else in his tone. Fear maybe. Or recognition of power even he can't match.

  "Adrian." I meet his shifting gaze. "Please. Natural and artificial methods together might be enough to contain it. To save..."

  "To save a reality that has no place for things like us?" He gestures at his unstable form, at the darkness behind my eye. "Let it spread. Let everyone see what exists beyond their limited perception. Let them understand what the Church is really offering."

  "You know that's not what the Church wants. They want control, not understanding. Want to force evolution instead of letting it happen naturally."

  "And you want to stop evolution entirely? Keep reality locked in patterns that can't accommodate what we're becoming?"

  The device's warnings reach critical levels. The entity's influence spreads further, reshaping space-time to match its impossible existence. Soon the effect will reach populated areas, force human minds to confront geometries they can't process.

  "Not stopping evolution," I say. "But controlling the rate. Letting consciousness adapt gradually instead of shattering under too much awareness too fast." I hold out my hand. "Like James. Like what happened to him when natural sensitivity overwhelmed his perception."

  Adrian goes still - or as still as his quantum state allows. "The enforcer. The one who let you go in that subway tunnel. What happened?"

  Quickly, I explain about James's damaged consciousness, his permanently altered perception. About how forcing awareness of quantum states just creates broken things pretending to be transcendent.

  "Help me contain this," I finish. "Not to stop evolution, but to control how fast it happens. To prevent more minds from shattering under forced awareness."

  He studies me with eyes that exist in multiple states simultaneously. Around us, reality continues warping as the entity pushes against dimensional boundaries. The device shows containment failing completely in several sectors.

  "If we do this," he says finally, "we do it my way too. Not just your natural methods. Sometimes reality needs to be forced into new patterns."

  "Controlled force. Guided force. Working with natural frequencies instead of against them."

  He nods slightly, form stabilizing as he focuses. "Show me how you perceive quantum states naturally. I'll show you how to channel artificial ones effectively."

  We reach out together - my natural sensitivity and his forced evolution combining as we try to contain something vast and geometric that wants to remake our reality in its own image. The darkness flows between us, finding ways to merge artificial and natural methods into something new.

  Reality shudders one final time as we establish new containment patterns. Not just barriers, but guided interfaces that let the entity exist partially in our dimension without forcing complete manifestation. Like the quantum damping field around James, but on a much larger scale.

  "It's working," I say as space-time begins stabilizing. "The bleeding is stopping."

  "For now." Adrian's form flickers as he helps maintain the new containment. "But it's still here. Still pushing. Still trying to reshape things to match its nature."

  "We'll need to monitor it. Maintain the barriers. Keep adjusting as it learns and adapts."

  He laughs that strange harmonic laugh again. "We? Now you want to work together regularly?"

  "Want? No. Need? Maybe." I check the device's readings. "Natural sensitivity alone isn't enough anymore. Not with what the Church is doing. Not with what they're drawing through."

  "And my artificial methods aren't stable enough alone," he admits. "Need your natural quantum manipulation to guide them, to keep them from fragmenting reality completely."

  The factory stands partially transformed, angles suggesting geometries that human minds can't quite process. But the effect is contained now, the entity's influence restricted to a manageable area.

  "This changes everything," Adrian says quietly. "Natural and artificial methods working together. The Church won't like that."

  "The Church doesn't have to like it. They just have to face it." I start setting up permanent monitoring equipment. "Reality is evolving, with or without their control. Best we can do is try to guide it, to keep it from happening too fast."

  He nods, already fading back into spaces between spaces. "I'll be watching. Helping maintain containment when needed. But Vesper?" His form shivers between states. "Be careful what you wish for. Working together means seeing how broken I really am. How artificial my evolution really was."

  "And seeing how limited natural methods can be alone," I counter. "How sometimes reality needs to be pushed, not just guided."

  He vanishes like smoke in wind, leaving me to finish establishing permanent containment around a partially manifested entity that exists in too many dimensions at once. The device shows the bleeding stopped, the barriers holding, but also something else - traces of artificial quantum states merging with natural ones.

  The darkness pulses quietly as I head back to check on James. Behind me, reality settles into new patterns around a thing of impossible geometries that won't be leaving anytime soon.