This was a vast circular hall, somewhat like the interior of a flying saucer. Blue-glowing conduits ran everywhere amid cold-toned silver metal, and everything exuded a sense of advanced technology.
Yet the most conspicuous thing was not the décor, but the object atop a raised platform in the center of the hall. It was a huge tank shaped like a flower's pistil, filled with orange translucent liquid. Several tubes connected it to the walls around the room.
The liquid pulsed like a beating heart, its surface constantly rippling. A thin, slightly hunched middle-aged man craned his neck and searched the room like a vulture looking for prey.
"Ikaris, Ikaris, hehe! Where are you?"
He let out an odd chuckle as he reached out to touch the wall. Wherever his hand made contact, the silver wall near his palm transformed into a transparent screen, displaying strings of Celestial characters.
In other words, the 0s and 1s everyone knew.
Unlike scrap species like humans, the Eternals' strength lay in the fact that they could directly comprehend binary strings like the Celestials. They had no need for translation and could use them as fluently as their native language.
The black-haired, hawk-nosed man rubbed his hands together. He was in no hurry. There were only around a hundred Eternals, and every one of their backup consciousnesses was stored here. Finding Ikaris was only a matter of time.
Then he touched the wall beside him again. A string of 0s and 1s appeared there, making him stop in his tracks. Tilting his head, he muttered to himself.
"Hmm, Thena's Consciousness Backup?"
As he spoke, he reached into the wall and pulled out a cluster of something resembling transparent crystal. He stared at the blue light within it, but did nothing else, simply placing the crystal