[alchefire]

A small creaking of one of the doors inside of Hylia's Grace would fill the air. The one opening the door, being a rather jovial looking old man. His Hawaiian shirt barely visible in the darkness of the room he was entering. A small cough escaping him as he cleared his throat and spoke up.

"I... received your message, as cryptic as it was. Who are you? And why did you want to meet?"

Another voice would call out from the darkness. This one sounding closer to that of a young adult male. Probably in his early 20's. Their figure obscured entirely by the darkness. Their motions vaguely outlined by the soft light of the simulated moon as it shone through the window. "I just have something I want you to try and get approved by the leaders for me. It's in that parsel to your left."

The elder man would grab the aforementioned parcel before looking over it. His eyes squinting a bit as he opened it up and pulled out a memory stick... and a strange spike-like object. "What is this?"

"An old tool of mine I repurposed. The blueprints and coding for it are in that memory stick. All you need to do is connect it too the infrastructure and activate it. It'll reinforce whatever pathways you guys currently have open and start constructing new ones. Should speed up the internet for about 10-20 miles depending on how far you wanna stretch it's effects."

The older man's eyes would widen at that. "Wha... how did you? That shouldn't be possible, at least not without a physical connection."

"Let's just say I have a lot of experience in making the impossible become possible."

"But why would you work on this?" The elderly man seemed confused by this stranger and his... shocking generosity. Some part of him couldn't help feeling that something was amiss.

"Simple. I just want to make life a little easier for the people of the Life Sphere. Network traffic is constant, even in a world as ravaged as this one. People need to stay in contact and this is the most efficient way possible, but it needs improvement. Especially if we're to spearhead any future improvements to our situation."

He'd think for a few more moments... before finally asking. "Why don't you just bring this forward yourself then. If your technology is as impressive as you say it is, then sure you'd want the credit for this. Why are you passing it on to me."

"Let's just say... I have a habit of going Rogue, and I don't want the officials already knowing who I am when I decide to take a path the higher ups don't agree with."

"Don't lie to me." The old man's gaze would harden a bit as he placed the machine and the stick back in the parcel. "You have a different reason in mind." This elicited a small sigh from the person in question.

Alright, alright. You got me, you're as sharp as ever Doctor Hikari. A couple days ago, I caught wind of a signal... one I was really hoping I'd never see again. The internet as it is is... fine for the limited uses it has. But it hinders me. I can brute force through it, but it'll be really obvious. And if my hunch is right, then I wanna find that signal, before it finds me. And I can't do that with how weak the signals are here." They'd shift a bit on the desk they'd taken a seat on.

"That's also why I don't want to be the one coming forward. If this breakthrough came from you, it would make sense. It wouldn't draw nearly as much attention as a weird newcomer doing it. And it would keep them off of both of our backs."

"Very well... if this really is as useful as you say it is... then I'll do my best to get it pushed through." The doctor would turn to leave... before stopping himself and turning back to ask. "Can I at least have a name to call you by?"

The figure would chuckle a bit. For a brief moment, Hikari could swear he saw a smile on the shadowy figure's face. "I think I've got a good one. From now on just call me..."

"Data"