Panel six: If you are reading this, you are the manual now. Pass it on.

Leo snorted. "Dramatic." He’d read worse from sketchy IoT devices.

The box was smaller than Leo expected. Plain white, no glossy renders of futuristic living rooms, just a single line of text: Smart Light Remote Controller ZH17.

Panel five: The ZH17 does not control lights. It negotiates with them. Some negotiations fail.

The sphere drifted closer. Leo set the remote down carefully. Picked up a pen. Started writing on the back of the instruction sheet, in case the next person who lived here needed to know what happens when you press all three buttons at moonrise.

Panel three. Sustained low hum. Release buttons. Close eyes.