Twelve-year-old Robyn Loxley, out for her routine nightly run to pilfer outdated tech stuff for her experiments, notices something odd about the 401 Compound, the junkyard where she usually forages. Tonight, it is heavily guarded, the searchlights along its boundaries turned to full power. Robyn manages to scale the high perimeter wall and enter the yard, but she runs into a police bulldog with its fangs bared. The dog begins to bark.

Thankfully, Robyn is carrying food for Barclay, the man who scavenges the junkyard to get circuits, adapters, and batteries for Robyn. She distracts the dog with bits of bacon, and he grows quiet. However, the guards have already heard the dog, and call out for him. Robyn, who is adept at climbing walls and maneuvering in tiny spaces, quietly sneaks into the section where electronics are dumped. She finds Barclay hiding here.

Robyn hands Barclay a sandwich. Barclay tells Robyn he had hoped she wouldn’t be at the junkyard, as the shadows on the moon tell him it is a dangerous night. Barclay believes in moon lore, the ancient faith that most wealthy people in Nott City have forgotten. Barclay gives Robyn the voltage adapter she had requested, as well as an old-fashioned wired modem.