For half a second, no one spoke.
Then the floor dropped beneath Marcus's left foot.
He threw himself forward as a section of metal plating split open behind him. Caleb caught his arm and dragged him away from the widening crack.
A burst of sparks rained from the nearest console.
"Whatever they were doing," Damian snapped, "we can discuss it outside."
Noah lifted his head.
His eyes moved past the screens.
Past the consoles.
Toward the far side of the chamber.
"There."
Marcus followed his gaze.
Nothing stood there except a curved section of black wall.
"Where?"
"Straight ahead."
Marcus ran.
The wall appeared seamless.
Only narrow metal plates arranged in overlapping rows.
Noah raised one trembling hand.
"Third panel."
Marcus stopped in front of it.
"Which one?"
"From the floor. Left side."
Marcus found it.
The panel looked identical to every other plate in the wall.
"Press the center."
He did.
Nothing happened.
Behind them, several machines shut down at once.
Their low mechanical hum vanished.
The sudden silence was worse than the alarms.
Marcus pressed harder.
"Nothing."
"Twist."
"It doesn't move."
"Push. Then turn."
Marcus planted his palm against the panel and forced it inward.
It sank less than an inch.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
He twisted.
The panel rotated beneath his hand.
A line appeared in the wall.
Then another.
The overlapping plates withdrew soundlessly, revealing a narrow doorway.
Darkness waited beyond it.
Caleb stared.
"How did you know that was there?"
Noah's hand fell back against Marcus's shoulder.
"I didn't."
"That's comforting."
The chamber lurched again.
One of the tall machine banks toppled sideways, crushing two consoles beneath it.
"Inside!" Damian shouted.
Caleb entered first.
Marcus followed with Noah.
Damian ducked through after them, shielding Adrian's head with his shoulder.
Ethan reached the doorway last.
Behind him, the control room was collapsing.
The ceiling display shattered into fragments of light.
Every remaining surveillance feed flickered at once.
Cultivation tanks.
Caverns.
Tendrils.
Creatures running through the dark.
Then the images vanished.
The entire wall became static.
Ethan stepped through the doorway.
"Close it!"
Marcus reached for the hidden panel.
"Wait."
Noah's voice stopped him.
Marcus looked down.
Noah was no longer watching the doorway.
He was looking back into the chamber.
At its exact center.
The consoles surrounding the sunken platform were dying one by one.
Lights faded.
Screens went black.
Machinery slowed to a stop.
But in the middle of it all stood a single low pedestal.
Something rested upon it.
A black rectangular object.
No larger than a thick book.
A thin line of blue light moved slowly across its surface.
The entire control center was dying.
Only that object remained alive.
Noah raised his hand.
He pointed directly at it.
"Take it."