Two hours after the feast, when the squad’s body-energy reserves were fully replenished, Arthur packed away his field kitchen. Then he stepped out from beneath Titus’s shell.
The Central Glacial Caldera was calm and spotless.
The millions of diamond crystals that had drifted upward during Ymir’s dissolving had settled into a fine, glittering layer across the black iron-hard metal floor, crunching softly beneath Arthur’s boots like newly fallen snow. At the center of the vast chamber stood the raised dais of Vault One: a circular platform of seamless star-iron, sixty paces wide. It was surrounded by eight towering obelisks carved from black dark rock.
Arthur walked up the wide steps, his hand resting on the receiver of his ARC-7 Mag-Carbine.
Behind him, Grimm bounded up the stairway in three easy leaps, his sleek jet-black coat catching the faint, surrounding soft glow of the vault. Titus followed with steady, earth-shaking steps. Meanwhile, Pip soared above the obelisks, scanning the high stonework with bright, curious eyes. Vesper prowled along the platform’s outer edge, her whiskers twitching at the ancient bio-electric hum shining from the center of the dais.
At the center of the platform stood the Master First-born End-post.
It wasn’t an electronic computer of silicon chips and copper wiring. It was a massive stone pillar of crystal-clear star-iron, four meters tall, its polished surface carved with thousands of tiny micro-grooves that pulsed with deep emerald and sky azure light.
