The quartz metal tube of the hyperbaric full-body VR chamber shook at a hum that made the teeth of everyone in the lab ache with deep, sympathetic deep ring.
Inside the eight-hundred-and-twenty-air vessel, the four hundred liters of deionized heavy water had turned fully, immaculately see-through. Every micro-particle of crushed spatial crystal, every gram of colloidal river-jade. Every drop of eerie-glowing kelp rich fat had been absorbed into Echo’s expanding cellular matrix. The water was so pure that Echo appeared to be suspended in empty, crystal-clear air, bathed in a soft, self-lighting up halo of sky azure light.
Then, the high-pressure fluid at the center of the tank began to warp.
Light passing through the quartz metal tube bent at unnatural, impossible angles. The straight lines of the lab’s steel ceiling ribs distorted into gentle. It curved waves, like looking at the world through a molten glass lens.
A deep, ringing chime rang through Arthur Vance’s optic nerves. He was followed by the crisp, golden cascade of text from the Ancient Taxonomy Engine:
“Pressure drop detected in the main metal tube!” Toby shouted, his voice cracking with sheer fight-or-flight rush. He watched the digital tracking data readouts spin out of control. “Deep water pressure is plummeting from eight crushing deep-sea pressure to one bar. But the pumps haven’t cycled! Arthur, the water mass inside the tank hasn’t changed, but the nearby gravity field has inverted!”
