LUCAS reached the limits of his research on Bambo—the information from that point forward fragmented too much for him to make any sense of it. It evaded his pursuit like a wild hyena bounding close to the forest floor away from the hungry lion. So closely on the hunt yet so irritatingly left out of the jaws of the demon.

If he remained he would surely fester in the corrupted data. He let go of that thread and continued to navigate the network. Information scrolled passed him quickly, flowing through the circuits in his head. They looked like tracks on an electronic highway flowing through his mind at a speed only he could comprehend.

He saw names upon names that he didn't recognize. Faces flashed in his mind behind the names, but they made just about as much sense to him so he pushed them aside. He continued deeper into ICARUS' network. Diving deep into the innards of the machine with as much effort as breathing. He had to push passed some landscape information which had confused him, but finally he found some information on Blaise. He attempted to establish a connection, but was forced back.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

This was...strange. For all he could see from the outside, the data within seemed functional. There were trailing fragments on the tail end of the data like every other piece that was there, but there should have been accessible memories.

This shouldn’t be blocking him as it had.

He tried again, and again, and finally a third time after trying to brute force it open, he gave up. He checked his logs and found no response that reasonably could deny him access. No error, no record of the attempt even being made. The more he was denied the more curious he got. He pulled himself back up to his front mind, frustrated at the lack of results, and saw that they had made it back to the tent.