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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rybaer" data-source="post: 1641077" data-attributes="member: 118">Thurman Biological Sciences BuildingCC State University, Coast CityApr 1723:15Dr. Linderman raises an eyebrow at Jorgi.  "You're good with computers, eh?  Well, these two are the ones that Paul had most of his files on.  All I know is that most of his have been deleted."Jorgi takes the professor's vacated seat and lets his mind connect to the system.  The monitor starts flickering in response to his control - almost too fast for any of the others to follow.  Recovering deleted files has never been terribly challenging for Jorgi, but it can be time consuming.  This computer in particular looks like a beast - it's three years out of date and riddled with tens of thousands of files from dozens of shared users."I'mquickbutthiswillstilltakesometime," he says off handedly to the others.Everyone gives Jorgi some room by moving to another part of the lab."Uh, let me think," the professor says.  "He doesn't have too many friends that I know about, aside from maybe his roommate.  He did have a girlfriend for a while, but I think she broke up with him about a month ago.  Her name is Suzie something-or-other.  Can't recall her last name.  I think...yeah, her picture is still hanging over Paul's desk."  Dr. Linderman pulls a photo of two people off a cabinet door and hands it to Fate.  One is a lanky, non-descript man in his late twenties.  The other is a cute girl wearing a CC State sweatshirt.  It looks like the picture might have been taken while they were camping."And that's Paul with her, if you hadn't guessed," he says.Dr. Linderman gives him a bewildered look.  "You have no idea how strange that sounds...a sentient fungus."*****Meanwhile, Thomas and Lawrence are trying to pay attention to the conversation.  Both hear a quiet, low frequency thud.  Neither is even certain he heard it until he sees the puzzled expression on the other's face.  It sounds like it came from outside the building or on one of the lower levels.  Lawrence, nearest to a window, peers out and sees nothing out of the ordinary.  Another thud sounds...definitely coming from somewhere near street level.  Professor Fate and Dr. Linderman seem oblivious.*****Jorgi does a little quick programming to have the computer start searching for deleted files on its own.  In spite of his ability to connect directly with computers, he's not nearly as fast as a computer at grunt computing.  While the processor chugs away at the task, he starts poking around the file directories.  One particular folder catches his eye.  It is a hidden directory.  Furthermore, it seems to be encrypted - the only thing on the computer thus far that has any manner of security on it.  He checks the file properties and finds that it was last modified on April 14, 2004.</blockquote>

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