This was an extremely dangerous gamble, like belling the cat.
A few seconds later, the scanning energy flow receded like a tide. Then, with a grating sound of rock reshaping itself, the densest crystalline veins in the center of the door actively retracted and dissolved, forcibly "melting" an irregular, person-sized opening into the heavy door panel!
Beyond the opening was an almost blinding concentration of gray-white light and an even more intense, nearly tangible smell of cloying ozone.
It had truly "opened the door."
"...I really don't like this," Rex muttered, his blaster muzzle fixed firmly on the opening.
"Maximum alert. Once inside, no matter what you see, no firing without my direct order," Kael reiterated. He was the first to turn sideways and carefully step through the opening, which was made of active, still faintly writhing crystal.
Rex and Lia followed closely behind.
The scene inside the lab made Kael hold his breath, even with some preparation.
This was no ordinary laboratory anymore.
The entire vast space had been completely transformed. Walls, ceiling, floor... every surface was covered by a thick layer of gray-white crystalline matrix that pulsed faintly like living tissue. This matrix wasn't just a covering; it formed bizarre, non-Euclidean geometric structures. Countless crystalline veins of varying thickness wound through them, carrying visible streams of energy, producing that whispering rustle.
In the center of the lab, the original workbenches and instruments had vanished, replaced by a massive, incredibly complex nest-like structure made of pure crystal. It resembled a giant, beating heart, or perhaps an abstract throne.
And suspended at the very center of this nest-like structure was the "geode."
But it was no simple crystal.
It was roughly human-sized, its form not fixed but constantly, slowly flowing and shifting. At times it resembled a complex polyhedron, then it would stretch and extend like liquid light, only to contract and coalesce again, emitting waves of intense danger. Its core was a deep, light-absorbing darkness, but its surface flowed with dazzling, intoxicating shades of gray-white, silver, and occasional iridescent flashes.
*It* was the source of all the light, all the energy, all the anomalous whispers and transformations in the entire lab!
The energy field it emitted was so powerful it distorted the very air, causing visual double images. Kael felt his processor speed dropping; his sensor readings went haywire, nearly failing. Rex's armor emitted a faint hum, a warning of energy field overload. Even the smooth data streams in Lia's eyes showed noticeable stuttering and corruption.
This was the "Pandora Stone." He had seen its nascent form ten years ago, but it was nowhere near this... powerful and complete.
Even more chilling were the humanoid forms "embedded" in the crystalline matrix beneath the nest structure.
Most of their bodies had assimilated with the matrix, leaving only blurred outlines and a few fragments of not-yet-fully-transformed biological tissue. But one of them was relatively "fresher." The tattered remains of a scientist's lab coat were recognizable, and much of the face still retained human features, though the skin was utterly grayed, and the eyes had become two empty sockets emitting a faint white light.
His lips—if they could still be called that—parted slightly. A distorted, inhuman "speech," mixed with electromagnetic static and hissing airflow, issued forth intermittently, like a broken radio stuck on a frequency:
"......perfection.........unity.........evolution.........shed the fragile shell.........join the eternal........."
It was Director Elara Vance. He had become the crystal's... mouthpiece, or perhaps, a not-yet-fully-digested puppet.