For sixty heartbeats, the universe ceased to breathe.
The star-white-gold land-mapper metal pen clicked into the master commit socket. Then, every light across the Primordial Core put out in total all at once. The emerald light-projected panes dissolved into nothingness. The sapphire glow of the shattered titan vanished. The faint eerie glow of the empty pocket chamber faded into total, ink-black darkness.
There was no sound. There was no wind.
In the complete absence of photons, Lin Tao stood motionless upon the sixty-pace platform. His iron-shod boots rested on the cold deck plates. He anchored his weight to the bedrock of Container World 07.
He felt the rough weave of his wool coat against his throat. He felt the dull, steady pulse of living blood behind his temples. The high-voltage spark charge that had coursed through the chamber for thirty thousand years bled away into the deep grounding struts. That left the air freezing cold and smelled faintly of dry stone.
Beside him in the dark, the twelve quarry masters stood huddled together in silence. They didn’t speak. They held each other’s shoulders, listening to the heavy, reassuring sound of each other’s breathing.
The massive dark shape of Tie Shan stood unmoving. The giant didn’t shift his stance. His star-iron pry-bar remained planted against the floor. An iron pillar was anchored in the total stillness of the void.
