Meanwhile, within the pod.
[DING!!!!!]
[A SUITABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR EVOLUTION HAS BEEN DISCOVERED!!!!!]
[INITIATING SYSTEM EVOLUTION]
Those prompts were being displayed to the currently comatose Aron, who remained unaware of anything that was happening to him. The MANA inside the pod began to be absorbed by every pore of his body, being depleted as fast as it was being replenished, forcing Nova, who was alerted by the situation, to immediately increase the amount of MANA that was being sent to the pod, which ultimately resulted in Aron's body to start absorbing the incoming MANA even faster.
This started a game of filling and refilling like an endless well, as Aron, no, his body continuously absorbed the incoming MANA.
Nova had a hypothesis of what was happening; she suspected it was either an evolution in Aron's body or something else similar to that, and the more MANA she provided, the faster whatever the system was doing would be completed.
She didn't try to intervene in it all, as she knew if she stopped it, harm could befall Aron. She also didn't try to stop it because she didn't know what might have triggered the system's evolution; she was afraid that if she tried to stop it, Aron might forever miss the opportunity for this process to occur once again.
She trusted that the system was doing it for Aron's best interest, as every single one of its actions for Aron had been motivated by that intention.
Even the personality reconfiguration that it had initiated by itself, which Aron was in the process of reversing at the moment, was also something that would have been of great benefit to Aron, who didn't want such a thing to happen to him as he wanted to evolve his personally naturally and not through artificial means, as that was one of his most sacred things if one counts it together with his soul.
He found it unacceptable to manipulate this core aspect of himself without even being aware of such a change being done to him, though he acknowledged this being hypocritical as he had conducted similar changes to the soldiers in his forces as well.
However, the only difference that lay here was that the soldiers remained oblivious to the process, assuming it was a result of the training they had undergone. But also, the changes they faced were not as massive of a change in personality when compared to what Aron would have experienced if the system had managed to complete its process of changing Aron's personality.
......
FBI Headquarters.
Inside the research laboratories of the headquarters, a team of scientists could be seen engrossed in scrutinizing the data they had gotten from the machine after almost a month of spending time with it.
"Any significant discoveries from studying the machine from the past month?" Peter queried after he entered the lab, interrupting the researchers who were amidst doing their tasks.
"We haven't gotten any more beyond what we have already shared with you. To delve deeper, we would need your permission to let us break it apart to thoroughly investigate what exactly it is made up of," Tom, the lead scientist of this project, responded, indicating that no more information could be gathered just through observation after how much they already had.
"And what about our attempts to break into its system? Did any of our breach programs manage to break the password even once?" Peter inquired, ignoring the previous request.
"As you know, after powering it on the day you delivered it to us. It showed a new operating system that required a password to access the computer. However, as soon as we tried to forcefully bypass the password by using our program and gain access to it, the computer autonomously powered off," Tom answered before he shortly added, "We are still analyzing the data the program had collected before the computer had automatical powered off after it had discovered our attempt, so we just need a few more days utmost to find out what is the password from the collected data and voila we are in on the computer." He said with a high expectations of being permitted to continue with the project, which would followed by breaking into the computer and receiving permission to break it apart.
Unfortunately, he was disappointed when he heard Peter say, "Then start packing it as it will be transferred to DARPA for the breakdown. They possess all the necessary advanced equipment and tech to accomplish the task. You have until tomorrow morning to have it ready for transportation," before he started walking to the exit, clearly trying to leave the room.
"Why send it all the way to DARPA when we have the appropriate equipment to do the same task?" Tom pressed on, running after Peter, trying to stop him from leaving the room before he received a clear answer as to why they were playing this dirty game with his team.
"DARPA can achieve the task faster since they have the equipment to accomplish it. There's uncertainty as to how long we can hold onto the machine since the original owner has an army of lawyers who are pursuing its retrieval. This indicated its significance for them. I had asked for a month's extension approval from the higher-ups in order to allow you to break it. However, they seem not to have enough trust in you guys breaking it and returning it in the same condition, particularly in case the owner wins the case and we are forced to return it back." He paused slightly to take a breather before he continued.
"So, please stop bothering me. I did my best to advocate permission for you guys to be given more time, but what can I do if the higher-ups order me to do otherwise? Should I jeopardize my position?" Peter's explanation was delivered with the facade of an honest person, skillfully deceiving with his sincere appearance, seemingly a prodigy at his work.
Upon hearing Peter's reasoning, Tom lowered his head since he was convinced that the man before him had done his best to help them, so he felt bad that he was trying to force him to risk his job.
Tom returned to his desk that evening, feeling defeated, as he tried to do his best to find anything that would result in him convincing his superiors otherwise.
...
A few hours later.
Tom sat alone in the same laboratory, his eyes red, a result of him having his eyes focused on the data displayed on his screen. His gaze hadn't wavered since he had sat down hours ago.
"Found it!!!!!!" He exclaimed, his eyes fixed on a few strings of numbers and other characters with excitement that could be felt from every fiber of his being; in his mind, he was sure that he had found the key to access the computer.
He turned his head, scanning the room in an attempt to share this breakthrough with his fellow team members. Eventually, he came to a realization that he was all by himself, everyone else having left home while he was working, dipping his mood a bit. But that didn't hinder his mood at all. He raised himself from his chair and headed to the center of the room where the machine, which he believed to be a revolutionary computer, was residing.
Upon reaching it, he found that it had already been packed, ready to be transported. Not caring about this, he started unpacking it as fast as possible, fearing that someone would come and stop him from doing it since he wouldn't have the time to convince them as they would be afraid of getting in trouble.
After ruggedly unpacking it, he connected the machine to power using the power cable provided with it. He then extended his hand to where two ethernet cables came out, one in red color and the other in white color. In his hurry, he grabbed the white one, quickly connected it, and pressed the power button of the computer.
As he had anticipated, the machine powered itself up, and the same screen lit up, wanting a password for the login. He immediately entered the numbers and characters he believed were the password.
Just as he was about to press "ENTER," Tom took a deep breath, pausing for a moment before he dropped his finger and pressed enter. Simultaneously, he closed his eyes, hoping that he had guessed correctly because if he was wrong, he was sure of being fired from his job.
A few seconds later, as he opened his eyes and found that the computer was still powered on, he let out a scream of happiness, not caring about being overheard by anyone at all, as he jumped, swept up in the elation of happiness and excitement for the moment.
At the same time as Tom was celebrating his achievement, the quantum computer that was now finally powered on once again after a week of their last trial started establishing communication, calling for "HOME" to inform them that the trojan had finally infiltrated the nest.
