Hell Ditch Pilgrim (after the supernatural crevice it appeared above). The next day, as new officers are paired with veterans, Toybox goes looking for the Rumor, anxious to thank him for rescuing her from Ultima years ago. She however cannot find him, but new officer Hoodoo Priest informs he knows of the Rumor and alludes to his divine role. Officer Joe Pi is reconfigured as a lesser form to investigate a new strain of robot drug that seems connected to the Hell Ditch Pilgrim. After giving Joe Pi his new assignment, Captain Traynor is called to the mayor's office, where he is summarily fired and replaced with the more hawkish Sean Cindercott. Cindercott soon initiates a number of sweeping reforms, instituting radio check-ins every quarter-hour, less focus on street-level crime in favor of "rooting out subversive elements", no non-essential visitors at the station (meaning loved ones), mandatory overtime with base pay, no contact with the media, and ceasing of routine maintenance of officer's personal equipment. Finally, all officers are asked to sign a ten-page "loyalty oath". The officers are polarized by these decisions, with a large number signing a letter of resignation, until Hyperdog convinces them all to stay. Joe Pi reports back, after accidentally having experienced the effects of the dark energy capsules firsthand. The "darkshots" create a direct mental connection between any cybernetic intelligence and an extra-dimensional entity. The drugs are being created in a federal lab called Project JOOTS, where Irmageddon's husband works. Irma's husband, Ron, explains the basic goal: the scientists are investigating "superspace", the underlying region that seems to bind all timelines in the multiverse. In superspace, dark energy is the force that holds the multiverse together, as well as having other properties. A robot worker, named Rikby-2001, has been using dark energy to create and distribute the drug, but he purposefully overdoses and transcends this plane rather than talk. After the precinct thwarts a minor attack by a group of anarchic "derridadaists", they have to deal with the Hell Ditch Pilgrim spreading his influence and destructive insanity through all the entities in Neopolis, including fellow officers. While Cindercott wishes to make a beeline for city hall to protect the mayor, the officers know they have to attack the problem at its source: superspace. But without any means to breach superspace, they cannot fight the Hell Ditch Pilgrim, until the Rumor shows up. He informs