Elias sat back, his heart hammering a rhythm against his ribs. He looked around the empty server room. Was this a prank? A hidden script left by a previous engineer? He knew the AMI codebase inside and out. It was supposed to be a set of instructions, a biological reflex of the motherboard, not a philosopher.

Tonight, however, the breath was ragged.

He looked at the empty command line, the cursor blinking in the darkness of the terminal window.

American Megatrends Incorporated (AMI) is a renowned global leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of hardware and software solutions for the technology industry. Founded in 1983 by H. Miron Beldock, AMI has established itself as a pioneer in providing innovative and reliable products and services to the computing, storage, and networking markets.

You may never buy a product labeled "American Megatrends." You will likely never see a commercial for them. Yet, every time you press the power button on a modern PC or server, you are relying on their code.