The vacuum pump beside Deposition Booth #00 thudded with a wet, rhythmic pulse.
Chug-chug-chug.
Inside the three-inch-thick cylinder of leaded acoustic glass, the air was growing thin.
Clara Vance pressed her hands flat against the cold pane, her knuckles white.
The vacuum gauge mounted above the brass lintel showed the pressure dropping at negative two pounds per square inch every sixty seconds.
[CHAMBER PRESSURE: 10.7 PSI]
[OXYGEN SATURATION: 82%]
[COUNTDOWN TO VOCAL EXTRACTION: 13:42... 13:41...]
