The three of them together, standing in that white void, become the codec. Reality re-renders—not perfectly, but playably . Back in the Smith house. Dinner table. Everything looks normal—slightly too normal.

“You know, I kind of liked it here.”

Our Rick loses it.

Summer: “So did you fix… everything?” Rick: “Define ‘fix,’ Summer. The multiverse is now running on Jerry.exe as a background process. Expect minor glitches like extended warranty calls from God and pigeons that ask about your day.”