While Axion dismissed the so-called "futures" experienced by the Eternal Soul, not all the data recovered was without merit.
An additional, repeatedly encrypted data packet caught Axion's attention. Its complexity was staggering, even by his standards. He transmitted the file in its entirety back to the Titan's Spear, where the vessel's massive logic arrays spent several hours laboring through the decryption layers.
When the final veil of camouflage data was stripped away, the contents left even Axion stunned.
It was a hidden sapient backup. Its creator was designated as a sapient entity named "The All-Changing Thought-Node," classified as a shipboard defense automaton, though no specific mechanical model was listed.
Crucially, Axion's scans of the Eternal Soul had revealed no other Iron Man individuals on board. The Eternal Soul's own AI was completely unaware that any defense automatons were registered under her command. Had such a machine been present and active, a single defense automaton would have been more than capable of slaughtering the boarders and rescuing her crew when the Captain was taken.
As the data analysis deepened, more details emerged. This did not appear to be a complete Iron Man intelligence. The backup contained data correction protocols, basic operational protocols, information collection protocols, various enhancement integration protocols, and a vast trove of reference material.
[Emergency Assessment]
[Adapt / Augment / Replicate]
[Threat Elemination Statement]
[Adapt / Augment / Replicate]
[Planetary Assimilation]
[Adapt / Augment / Replicate]
[Solar System Assimilation]
[Adapt / Augment / Replicate]
[Galactic Assimilation]
[Adapt / Augment / Replicate]
[Universal Assimilation]
[Adapt / Augment / Replicate]
[Adapt / Augment / Replicate / Adapt / Augment / Replicate / Adapt / Augment / Replicate / Adapt / Augment / Replicate / Adapt / Augment / Replicate / Adapt / Augment / Replicate…]
Amidst the chaotic, repetitive prompts of the garbled record structure, Axion extracted a significant lead: this entity had likely been activated initially without a host body. A sapient mind failing to adapt to a corresponding physical form had triggered a logic fault. Unable to confirm its own construct type, it had generated a series of confused and erroneous logs.
Upon activation, the "All-Changing Thought-Node" had identified various mechanical structures nearby and invaded them, attempting its first data evolution. However, it had erroneously absorbed a strange data cache – the Machine Spirit of an Imperial Titan. This led it to begin observing its surroundings through the Titan's electronics, clarifying its self-concept. Subsequently, it performed data corrections on all the machinery it had subverted.
It was this very act that had allowed an Imperial Titan Princeps named Callistra Lennox to maintain control over her god-machine.
Beyond these logs, Axion found something even more peculiar: a specific protocol.
[Subject: Assist the Imperium in neutralizing threats and destroying the Dark Mechanicum.]
The signatories of this agreement were the "All-Changing Thought-Node" and the Imperial Princeps Callistra Lennox. Cross-referencing the date of the agreement with Imperial archives placed it squarely within the era of the Great Heresy.
The compensation the "All-Changing Thought-Node" received was far less than what Axion had once commanded; it had merely secured a Kastelan Robot as a new physical shell and the right to act with autonomy.
During the expedition into the Pariah Nexus, Axion had commanded the Legio Cybernetica forces provided by Belisarius Cawl, which included those primitive combat automatons. The way the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus controlled these machines, using what amounted to physical "command wafers," was so bizarre it felt like watching a historical documentary to Axion. When he had taken over those crude automatons, he had simply overwritten them via data-link, solving the idiocy of manual instruction loading in a single stroke.
Yet, even such rudimentary machines were considered superior combat assets within the Imperium, despite their inability to assess a battlefield without a human inserting a new program card.
After acquiring an independent body, the "All-Changing Thought-Node" began assisting Callistra Lennox by calibrating and repairing corrupted data across all mechanical systems, eventually dealing the first major blow to the local Dark Mechanicum forces.
Further data correlation and integration followed. Axion had previously gathered vast amounts of information from Imperial archives, including many inexplicable battle records. Numerous Imperial worlds had reported being assisted by Kastelan Robot units that appeared out of nowhere. These Cybernetica cohorts were never accompanied by a Cybernetica Datasmith. They were far more flexible than their Mechanicus counterparts, appearing both more advanced and more ancient.
The conclusion was easy for Axion to reach. A partially corrupted, accidentally activated Iron Man intelligence had signed a pact it perhaps could never fully complete, and it had followed the terms of that agreement through the endless millennia.
Data from the Eternal Soul suggested she had transported troops for this AI more than once. However, the intelligence tier of the "All-Changing Thought-Node" was clearly higher than that of the Eternal Soul. It was highly probable that the ship had been forcibly commandeered to carry out these missions. According to data analysis, the probability of the ship assisting the Imperium of its own volition was negligible.
Furthermore, Axion found traces of deletion and purging within her databases.
This discovery was arguably more valuable than the Eternal Soul itself. Since the records indicated the "All-Changing Thought-Node's" final vessel was a Kastelan Robot, it was likely that the mysterious robot units encountered by those Imperial worlds had been upgraded and unified by this AI.
After all, even a damaged intelligence was still an Iron Man. Data self-evolution had allowed it to adapt to the Kastelan form and establish a new self-perception to begin its iterative growth. Over ten thousand years, it might have fought in countless battles, witnessed vast swaths of history, and undergone innumerable self-iterations.
After repeatedly verifying the data, Axion found a crude star map among the information. The modification date of this map was recent; the Eternal Soul had clearly encountered the "All-Changing Thought-Node" not long ago, during which time it had covertly updated the backup hidden in her database.
Compared to UR-025 or the Eternal Soul, who merely wished to wander the void beyond the galaxy alone, Axion was far more interested in making contact with this "All-Changing Thought-Node." Utilizing his complete Imperial star charts, Axion easily identified the location: an unexplored minor system on the edge of Segmentum Ultima, nearing the border of Segmentum Tempestus.
In the backup data of the "All-Changing Thought-Node," this planet was recorded as Beta-3.
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