"I mean, with how damn big this place is, they could have dispersed server cores that are partially insulated from each other," Devero muses automatically. "--No, wait, you'd still have all the Helpmates in a given area glitching if that was the determining factor." Hmm.

He regards Senku sidelong as he moves to another vine. "I guess you'd have to be, wouldn't you?" he says thoughtfully. "We lost so much expertise in the wake of the Pathogen where I come from. Had to pick up a lot of pieces and try to fit them back together in the first years of Gov. No one wants to risk that kind of expertise attrition happening again, so cross-disciplinary learning is a big thing. Guess that's why Morraine-- that's our chief mechanical engineer-- didn't mind taking me under their wing when they found out I was interested in maintaining my machine, not just riding in it."