Austin stood at the supervisory console with the Root Key in one hand and a network cable in the other.
“Overseer, open the deep-earth data link. No power transfer yet.”
The buried communication line woke beneath the Continental Fault. Five hundred and twenty kilometers to the east, light began carrying data to Sunset Peak.
Jiang Taixu answered from the Floor 1 control room. He wore safety goggles and flame-resistant coveralls. A labeled drawing of the receiving cabinet filled the screen behind him.
“Master Chu, the data link is clean. We are ready for a low-power test.”
Tie Kuang leaned into view. “Ready is an understatement. Jiang has rebuilt the receiving panel twice since you left. He threw out my first bus tie.”
“It would have fed power backward into the waterwheel controls,” Jiang said. “I installed an isolation breaker and a separate heat dump. The cabinet now has room for six blades, not twelve. I changed the cooling header after the Overseer sent the revised manifest.”
Austin smiled. “Good. Show me the heat-sink reading.”
Jiang did not need to search for it. He brought up three live gauges: radiator flow, reservoir temperature, and grid load. He had also placed a manual disconnect beside the cabinet where a worker could reach it without crossing the server aisle.
“I ran the Floor 3 pumps at full speed for an hour,” he said. “The reservoir held steady. I then shut one pump to test the backup. The bypass opened in four seconds. We can accept the first twenty-five megawatts, but no more until the eastern radiators are finished.”
The Overseer studied the same readings. “Your receiving limits match our agreement.”
“They should,” Jiang said. “I wrote them into our local controller before you connected.”
He guided the Vault crew through the remote checks. When a virtual diagram disagreed with the camera view, he stopped the test.
“Valve B-7 is shown closed, but its stem is raised. Xiaoyao, inspect the physical indicator. Do not trust the screen.”
Xiaoyao crossed to the valve and used his survey lamp. “The stem is raised. The diagram is wrong.”
Jiang nodded. “Then leave the power isolated. Master Austin, please check the position switch.”
Austin found a corroded contact and cleaned it. Only after the screen matched the hardware did Jiang allow the next step.
Tie Kuang watched with his arms folded. “He has been doing that all morning. Every label, every wire, every valve. He even made the golems repaint the floor markings because they were two inches off.”
“The markings guide the freight carts,” Jiang said. “Two inches is how a wheel finds a cable tray.”
For the next hour, he ran the integration from Sunset Peak. He assigned server addresses, checked coolant flow in both facilities, and increased the data load in small steps. The Overseer handled local interlocks. Austin fixed the mechanical faults. Xiaoyao recorded each approved change.
At last Jiang connected the geothermal bus at its lowest setting.
“Twenty-five megawatts. Hold there.”
The Floor 1 needles rose and settled. No breaker tripped. The reservoir temperature remained within its green band.
Jiang waited five full minutes before speaking again. “Power transfer stable. You may commission Floor 5.”
Austin turned the Root Key ninety degrees.
A golden map of Sunset Peak spread across the monitors. Vault 04 joined the base directory.
Austin took a slow breath. “Five floors. From a drafty timber shack to a linked industrial network.”
The geothermal plant could eventually run the foundry day and night. For now, its safe output was set by cooling capacity, breaker ratings, and the limits Jiang had tested.
The Overseer bowed toward the remote screen. “Underground Floor 5 is synchronized. Sunset Peak’s receiving engineer has demonstrated sound judgment.”
Jiang accepted the praise with a small nod and immediately checked the next gauge. “Your northern heat exchanger is isolated. I have marked the two valves Austin must inspect before you load it.”
Xiaoyao added the task to the manifest. “Jiang did all this from five hundred and twenty kilometers away.”
“Distance doesn’t excuse unclear labels,” Jiang said.
Austin laughed. “You heard the man. We inspect the valves, then move the approved salvage. Nobody touches a live rack without the Overseer’s release. Anyone who does gets a red tag.”