Lukas arrives at IT on level thirty-four exhausted and shaken after secretly hiding behind the servers and rummaging through Juliette's belongings. He is carrying the small box of possessions he was assigned to deliver, but he is also hiding other items on his person and is terrified that Bernard or security will discover what he has taken.

Inside IT, Lukas finds chaos. Sammi rushes out, technicians are being shouted at, and Bernard and Sims are both angrily interrogating staff. When Bernard sees Lukas with the box, he snatches it away and demands to know whether this is all Juliette owned. He pulls Lukas into the conference room with Sims, saying this search matters more than Lukas's usual server work.

In the conference room, Bernard and Sims dump out and inspect Juliette's things, looking for any clue to explain how Juliette survived cleaning and made it over the hill. Lukas, trying to act normal, helps reveal that the wooden box has a sliding lid. Bernard reacts with frustration to nearly everything, including Sims's casual suggestion that Juliette may simply have been lucky. Bernard's rage escalates until he throws Sims out of the room, leaving Lukas alone with him.

Once they are alone, Bernard drops some of the bluster and speaks more personally. He says he has never taken a shadow because he hates the idea of anyone else running IT, but he now believes failing to prepare a successor is dangerous. Warning that silos can be destroyed by one man's hubris and by the vacuum left when a leader dies, Bernard says he needs someone he trusts who already has server access. He then offers Lukas his hand and tells him he wants Lukas to become his shadow.