The air at the bottom of the Sulfur Ravine was yellow with floating brimstone dust and acidic water drops.
Forty-five meters below the level of the outer ash flats, the ravine was a jagged earth-shaking scar carved by hundreds of years of toxic heavy-duty drainage. Rusted steel heavy beams, collapsed mag-rail pylons, and mounds of stone-hard chemical sludge choked the narrow gorge. That created a maze of blind corners and stale, bubbling puddles. The acidic fog was so dense that clear sight was restricted to less than twelve meters, eating at the exposed brass fittings of Arthur’s gear and stinging his nostrils with the sharp reek of packed hydrogen sulfide.
Arthur walked with his knees bent, his combat boots stepping soundlessly onto the wet melted rock waste. Behind his carbon-weave trench coat, his breathing was controlled through a compact charcoal breathing mask filter. Mounted snugly against the center of his chest harness, inside a specialized brass-collared glass full-body VR capsule, Echo was awake.
The small axolotl pressed his pale snout against the curved glass. His frilly pink gills waved with rhythmic curiosity. Every few seconds, Echo’s black eyes blinked lazily. He watched the yellow vapor swirl past, entirely calm by the toxic environment that would dissolve an unprotected human’s lung lining in three minutes.
