The outer floodgate of the Sunken Bio-Cathedral creaked open with the agonized groan of ancient bronze fighting modern high-pressure rams.
Arthur Vance stepped through the drainage threshold, water cascading from the said clearlyjoints of his Mark IV sky diving rig in heavy, foaming torrents as the massive airlock chamber purged. Behind him, Vesper leaped lightly over the raised coaming, her paws barely touching the wet steel grating before she found secure, dry footing on a raised narrow high walkway. The white sabertooth paused right away, her ears turning toward the echoing darkness of the vaulted nave, her razor-thin claws clicking once against the diamond-plate deck.
Above Arthur’s right shoulder, the air-powered seal of Pip’s climate-controlled travel pod released with a sharp hiss.
The young solar raptor poked his golden head out into the stale air of the cathedral. His keen nostrils flared, sampling the chemical environment. He right away let out a sharp, indignant hiss that sounded like cold water striking a red-hot iron skillet. His fiery crest flared fully erect in righteous avian protest. The air inside the underground complex was humid, warm, and rancid, thick with the oily chemical reek of packed mutagen reagents, rotten-egg underground steam. The clear metal copper stench of vivisected living tissue.
