I’d always been curious about what the Internet was really made of, but the topic seemed off-limits. Data centers were legendarily top secret–the famous “fight club” mentality–and undersea cables were like something out a spy movie. But two things happened in 2009 that changed my view: the US government announced the “BTOP” program, to provide economic stimulus funding for the construction of new broadband networks. And a squirrel chewed through my cable connection at home. Both events (while unrelated) made me realize the Internet wasn’t a monolithic whole. It had parts and pieces, owned by a whole slew of operators–some of whom were happy to show me around. It was a like a hidden door had cracked open. I went inside.