Arthur returned to the command bridge. There, the quiet peace of the ancient tomb remained unbroken.
He walked to the central console beneath the viewport. In the lower stone stand of the command dais sat a heavy, fireproof safe bearing the official seal of the Year 2082 Geological Survey. The safe’s clockwork combination lock had been frozen shut by over a century of sub-zero heat levels.
Arthur didn’t waste time with lockpicks. He drew a high-potency fire-powder pencil from his medical field kit, struck the primer. Then he touched the blazing white flare to the safe’s steel hinges.
The metal melted in seconds, melted rock waste dripping into the black ice below.
Arthur pulled the heavy door open.
Inside rested a single, empty pocket-sealed silver-steel container the size of a razor-sharp tray. Arthur lifted it out, wiped the frost from the check glass. Then he broke the magnetic seal with a firm twist of his wrists.
Lying within the velvet inside was the Master Cryogenic Survey Drive. A solid metal tube of blended sapphire and gold circuitry, containing the complete, unredacted underground tracking data mapped by Project Boreas before the collapse.
Arthur slotted the drive into his portable end-post.
