The passage beneath the pedestal opened without sound.
The light widened first, turning the narrow ring into a vertical seam of pale brilliance. Then the stone around it slid apart in measured sections, each piece moving with the same deliberate patience the chamber had shown since they entered the transfer path. Fang kept his hand on the bowl for one heartbeat longer, feeling the warmth beneath his palm as the hidden mechanism completed its assent.
Then the chamber invited him forward.
Ren stepped in beside him immediately, close enough to catch him if the floor shifted or the room changed its mind. Fang drew his hand away from the bowl and the heat faded into his skin like an echo.
Dr Sane studied the opening with narrowed eyes. "That is the final chamber."
Pax, who had been peering at his readings with increasing unease, muttered, "You say that with suspicious calm."
"I have had years to prepare for suspicion," she said. "It has not improved my temperament."
