“In our combined forays into the labyrinth that is the MegaCorp mainframe,” Acrylic recounted, “we were successfully able to pilfer the details of Lethologica.” His face grew grim. “Abductees by MegaCorp’s hand were decerebated. The cortex was removed from the white matter and brainstem, erased, and cut up into square pieces of various size. The teeth were also extracted.”

“Teeth?” I loudly interjected.

“People’s teeth contain small reserves of stem cells,” Fetus explained. “It’s the reason why MegaCorp has those medical holdings—part of it, anyway. Acrylic personally zeroed the tooth fairy who oversaw my parents.”

“The stem cells,” Acrylic continued, “are coaxed to form neurons, which repair some damage and allow for the incorporation into the main unit. Combined with a reservoir of blood, oxygen infusion, climate-control systems and some slightly modified neural components, and one has a highly capable computational system.” He paused. “And MEPHISTO is a daughter program of Lethologica.”