BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

1156  Surviving Data (1)

Erik stood in the server room, watching as the technicians fixed whatever was needed to be fixed and doing the last tweaks.

They had been efficient; the damaged servers were now hummed with renewed life, though whether any useful data remained was uncertain.

One of the technicians approached Erik.

"Good morning, sir."

"Good morning. Is everything complete?" Erik asked.

"Yes, sir." The technician stood at attention, hands behind his back, showing respect. His eyes met Erik's with a mix of awe and slight nervousness. The technician understood how important it was to speak to Erik Romano. "We've repaired everything we could. The physical damage has also been addressed, and everything had been properly set up, but I can't guarantee the integrity of any data that might be stored within."

The technician's face fell, his brow furrowing. He looked disappointed, as if he wished he could have done more. But Erik didn't care for the man and his feelings. He had many things to deal with, and this guy's personal feelings were not on his list.

"What issues did you find?"

"The structural damage was extensive, sir. When the building collapsed, the servers were nearly crushed. We had to substitute a lot of the components; otherwise, we wouldn't have taken two weeks for the fix."

In truth, it would have been better to simply buy new stuff and recycle these servers. Of course, the man knew the point of repairing all of this was to get the data stored on it, but in a different situation, he would have suggested otherwise.

Erik nodded.

"That wasn't the only problem, sir. Somehow, the server got infiltrated by water, electrical surges from damaged power systems, and physical impact damage from falling debris. The cooling systems were completely destroyed."

<Thanks for that, Terra, Monica.> Erik sighed.

The man moved to one of the server racks, pointing out the new components. "We've replaced roughly sixty percent of the hardware. The power distribution units were beyond repair, so we installed new ones. The data storage drives were our primary concern; we used specialized equipment to recover what we could from the damaged units."

The man's fingers traced the new cooling lines running along the walls. "The entire cooling infrastructure had to be rebuilt from scratch. We've installed a redundant system to prevent overheating, though we had to modify the room's layout to accommodate it."

"What about the data integrity?" Erik asked. That was his main concern, of course.

The technician's expression twisted with hesitation, his brow furrowed and lips pressed thin, as if searching for the right words to deliver unwelcome news. "That's... harder to say, sir." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "We've restored the physical systems to operational condition, but... data corruption is highly likely."

He paused; his gaze went to the servers. "And the blackguards may have implemented deletion protocols before your arrival on the island. Just to make sure you wouldn't end up with important information in case you won. Honestly, sir, they could have purged the critical data before you even left for Hin."

The technician's shoulders sagged. He let out a sigh. "We've done everything we can to repair the hardware, but whatever remains on it... It's out of my hands now, sir."

Erik looked around the fixed server room in silence. There was nothing he could do about the data if they were not there. <Well, at least I have a new server room.> The technicians had done a great job. New power lines were on the stronger ceiling. The cooling systems worked well and quietly. They had also added emergency stop buttons and backup power.

Erik didn't actually need a server room, but he was thinking of making Maynard Island the Chimaeric Demons' base of operation, so having one was bound to be useful.

"You've done well," Erik said. "Clear the room—all of you. I need to examine this myself."

"Of course, sir." The technician gave a quick nod. "Of course, sir," he said. He turned, gathering a few tools from the nearest workstation, careful not to make any unnecessary noise, and left, avoiding meeting Erik's eyes, as if he could only feel shame.

It was true that Erik Romano was a force of his own and that he didn't work for him. But he was from Frant. Actually, he was Frant's only awakener. Well, not that there weren't many in these days. Yes, but not from Frant.

It looked like their enemies had plenty of them now, making him wonder why Frant was the only country without them. With one last glance back—more out of duty than curiosity—he closed the door behind him, leaving Erik alone in the low hum of the server room.

Erik took a last look at their work. The question he was eager to find answers to was whether they'd been thorough enough in erasing their secrets before their defeat or not. Erik was about to find out.

He approached the main console. Erik put his hand on the server rack. That was needed by the biological supercomputer.

<System, is there anything on these servers?> Erik asked.

The system paused.

[Yes.] The biological supercomputer said while scanning the device. [There is data there, some partial, some corrupted, but there is also a lot of free space on the device, meaning that the blackguards were in the process of deleting everything or deemed what remained here of no importance. However, I can tell you that the most critical information seems to have been erased, likely a contingency measure in case of defeat. ]

Erik clenched his fist. <What kind of information survived?>

[There are multiple categories. There's a substantial file on you, which they apparently didn't consider sensitive enough to delete. Well, I mean, it is a file about you. Why would they hide it from you? Some of the remaining data is about the extensive mapping data of Maynard Island and the facility layouts. Additionally...] The system paused, as if organizing its findings.

<Go on.> [Well… While they erased their plans and current operations on Mur, they left behind geographical surveys about the place. There are photos and detailed mapping of valleys, waterways, and mountain ranges. There are also records of discovered ruins—former human settlements.]

"Not ideal, but better than nothing," Erik said. That wasn't exactly what Erik was hoping to find. He wanted answers about what the blackguards were doing and why; he wanted to know what the biological supercomputer exactly was and why it had been created. Besides, Erik wanted answers about the sinister cold. The blackguards were bound to know something about it, but there was no trace of the information he sought. Instead, he got something not related to it—information about himself and on Mur.

Yet, at least this last data was going to help them a lot on Mur, at least to know what to expect and where to head first. He might be able to understand where the blackguards went and their goals based on the information he had.

Maybe he would be forced to make conjectures and reason a lot, but there still was a chance. Of course, it depended on the data itself.

"Inject the data."

[Initiating data transfer.]

Information flooded Erik's mind. The geographic data formed first—detailed topographical maps, environmental surveys, wildlife migration patterns. But then unexpected data streams surfaced. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

12:39

Personnel files started flowing in countless profiles of blackguard operatives. Most were likely on Mur now, their identities considered either irrelevant enough to leave behind or referring to dead individuals.

<Well, this is a lucky find.>

Then came something that made Erik pause. It was a file about Benjamin Kaminski.

Based on the documents, the blackguards listed him as missing in action since they didn't exactly know what happened to him, given that the Chimaeric Demons purged them from the city. Not having access to his body, not having someone make reports—that was the only thing they could do. Of course, while they weren't officially certain of his death, they knew he had died by Erik's hands.

<To Emily's…>

Based on the file, Uncle Benjamin was an orphan. Apparently, he showed a brilliant mind since a young age and had been marked early by the blackguards for recruitment. Images of a younger Benjamin went through Erik's mind—a student at Thornton High School, crossing paths with Lucius Romano, Erik's father. Neither aware of the other's significance to the blackguards.

<They likely became friends at that time…>

Their paths took separate ways at the military recruitment. Back then, it wasn't mandatory, as Becker was still trying to carve a space in Frant's complicated political landscape. At that time, both Erik's father and Uncle Benjamin received an offer to join the blackguards. Lucius rejected it, but Benjamin didn't. The file then detailed Benjamin's rising influence: his oversight of the Crystal Cross Gang, his role in Doran's research program, the countless abductions he ensured the Crystal Cross Gang did, and his role in keeping an eye on him.

<He was their eyes and ears in Frant all along.>

But Erik knew that already. However, he forced himself to push past the thoughts about the man since there were more pressing matters.