The leap from the staging shelf into the open expanse of the Crystal Genesis Throne felt like stepping off the edge of a continent into empty space.
Because of the micro-gravity pull kept by the liquid aether core. He fell was not a violent drop, but a controlled drift through crystal-clear mid-air. Arthur Vance engaged the low-output cold-gas thrusters mounted on his lower-back harness, guiding his descent toward the central ridge of the titan’s skull plate.
Beside him, Vesper leaped from crystal spire to crystal spire, her movements defying inertial physics. She didn’t need thrusters. Every time her paw pads touched a facet of emerald quartz, she slipped through a tiny spatial curve. She folded fifty yards of empty space beneath her claws in a blink.
Above them, Pip was already a streak of blazing amber. The raptor circled at four hundred meters height. His wings were tucked into a tight delta. His golden plumage left an afterimage of blazing bright sparks that hung in the dense air like tiny suns.
And beneath Arthur, dropping with the terrifying driving force of a falling mountain, was Titus. The great terrapin had curled his limbs slightly, his massive shell oriented downward like a heat shield, his innate Xuanwu gravity well pulling him steadily toward the target map points.
