Later, deep within the Nexus Data Aggregation Chamber—a vast, humming cathedral of blinking servers—Kieran was approached by a colleague, an older programmer whose face was permanently etched with nervous exhaustion.
The man leaned in, speaking in a barely audible rush. "Kieran, this file… I saw your attempted access. You shouldn't have touched it. There is a reason for its isolation."
Kieran met his gaze, his voice low but firm, the conviction in his voice surprising them both. "But I need to understand that reason. The System is concealing something systemic. Something crucial to the city's foundational integrity."
"If you keep digging, they won't just fire you. They will make sure you don't leave here alive," the older man warned, his eyes darting quickly to the nearest security lens, the paranoia of years institutionalized. He did not wait for a reply, vanishing back into the maze of humming cabinets.
Alone again, Kieran looked down at the data slate. The encryption was formidable, a stack of defensive protocols designed by minds as sharp as his own, yet his curiosity had already overridden his self-preservation. He began the decryption process. After an agonizing few moments, a single, uncorrupted message emerged from the core of the file, a beacon in the digital noise: THE NUCLEUS: KEY TO ORBITERA.