– The fans in his laptop began to whine, struggling with the encrypted data.

The first image opened automatically. It wasn't a landscape. It was a shot of a heavy steel door embedded directly into the mountainside, numbered Unit 7 . The second image showed the door open. Inside, rows of server racks hummed, powered by a rushing underground waterfall.

The download finished with a sharp ping . Elias double-clicked the zip. It didn't ask for a password; instead, his webcam light flickered on.