Dümped

After three day they saw a building outside were solar panels. On the building it said "Lynx Data Center ". They hurried towards it but it was at the other side of a bridge. The bridge was mostly damaged. Vines grew around it keeping it in place. Some burrowed through them weakening it. Sandra and the boys slowly walked across the bridge one at a time.

They entered the building to see there was no electricity. The devices did not turn on. Sandra went to the electrical room. There were a bunch of wires all across the room. In the room were fourteen 300AH power batteries and an inverter.

Sandra tracked the wiring with Moderna's help. Moderna color coded and labeled everything. The inverter was already connected to the battery. She removed and connected them again anyway. Nothing happen the she removed the connector and clean it with her shirt. Based on Moderna's labels and diagrams, everything was in the right place.

"Maybe the Solar panels are damaged " Sandra said to herself before stepping out. She followed the wiring from the solar panels. This led her to a box which she opened.

It was filled with dust and debris, a few dead insects wedged between the wiring. Sandra wiped at the grime with her sleeve and examined the connections. Some of the wires looked intact, but others had corroded or been chewed through. She sighed. If the panels weren't supplying power, this was probably why.

She traced the damaged wires back toward the building, noting where breaks had occurred. Moderna displayed a schematic overlay, highlighting points of failure. Sandra tapped her fingers against the edge of the box, thinking. They needed replacement wiring—maybe there were spare parts somewhere inside.

"Sandra?" one of the boys called from inside the building. "Any luck?"

"Not yet," she replied, glancing at the solar panels. They were still mounted in place, angled toward the sky. But if the wiring was bad, they wouldn't be doing much.

She turned back toward the entrance. "Let's see if this place has any extra cabling. If not, we're going to have to get creative."

Sandra and the boys roamed the facility, searching for cables. Suddenly, Sandra let out a scream. The boys came running.

TomTom glanced around and shrugged. "I saw a rat run past me, but I ignored it."

"What happened?" Jackfrost asked, scanning for danger.

"There was a huge rat, but I'm fine," Sandra said, catching her breath.

Jackfrost shook his head. "Seriously?"

They turned to leave when Sandra screamed again.

Jackfrost groaned. "What now? Another rat?"

"This one is the good kind of scream. You guys should really learn the difference," Sandra said, grinning. She pushed open a door, revealing shelves stacked with cables. "I found them—lots of them."

Moderna's holographic interface flickered to life beside her, projecting wireframe diagrams onto the rusted metal. Sandra scraped the terminals clean with a multitool, flakes of corrosion raining down. Next, she nudged the breaker back into place with a decisive *click*. The real challenge came with the wires—splicing the frayed ends required steady hands and patience. Moderna highlighted each damaged strand in pulsing blue, guiding Sandra as she stripped insulation and twisted copper threads together, sealing them with salvaged heat-shrink tubing. 

A spark hissed. The charge controller's dormant display flickered, then glowed a steady green. Sandra held her breath. 

Back in the electrical room, the inverter buzzed to life. Lights flared overhead, and rows of servers hummed like waking giants. Monitors blinked on, bathing the room in an icy blue radiance. Archived maps, weather logs, and decades-old survival protocols flooded the screens—a trove of data sharper and richer than anything the group had seen in years. 

They weren't sure if they could access the SVI data from this location. Egg Farm, the company behind SVI, had outsourced some of its data storage to third-party facilities.

They powered on a computer, but it was password-protected. Surprisingly, Sandra didn't need Moderna's help. She searched the desk, hoping someone had written the password down.

"Got it. Humans are so predictable," she said, smirking as she typed it in.

She opened the data storage software and searched for "SVI." A restricted-access box popped up with a password field below. Sandra entered the same password—and the system unlocked.

A list of names, addresses, and other personal details filled the screen. Sandra and the boys cheered. But as she scanned the scores next to each name, her excitement faded.

Every score was below 50.

They decided to copy the data anyway, despite its massive size—300 terabytes. The largest drives they could find were only 20 terabytes each.

To make room, they wiped several drives, consolidating files where possible. Once they had enough space, they started the transfer.

It was a slow process. The outdated system and sheer volume of data stretched the transfer to nearly two days. They took turns keeping watch, ensuring the process wasn't interrupted.

Finally, the last file finished copying. Exhausted but victorious, they packed up the drives, ready for whatever came next.

After packing the drives into their bag, Sandra grabbed one of the batteries.

"You're not seriously planning to carry that all the way to the North Pole, are you?" TomTom asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sandra nodded. "It'll be useful."

Without further argument, she followed them, lugging the heavy battery along.

As before, they crossed the bridge one at a time—Merlin first, then Jackfrost, followed by TomTom. When it was Sandra's turn, the bridge groaned under her weight. The vines holding it together began to snap.

She quickened her pace, but just as she neared the other side, the bridge gave way.

Sandra fell.

She hit the water hard, sinking into the dark, swirling current. The river was deep brown, its force pulling her under and carrying her away before she could even scream.