The final chamber did not feel large.
That was the first thing Fang noticed as he stepped through the lighted opening. It was impossible, given the shape of the space he had just seen, but the sensation remained stubbornly true. The room ahead was perhaps the same size as the chamber behind, maybe larger, yet its stillness made every edge feel closer, every shadow more deliberate. The white beam at the centre did not simply illuminate the object within it. It made the rest of the room seem to lean away in reverence or caution.
Ren entered just behind Fang. Dr Sane followed with the satchel held against her body, and Pax and Wolf came last, both of them quieter now than Fang had ever heard them in a room built by old machinery and older decisions.
At the centre of the room stood a circular plinth of black stone, waist-high and bare except for what rested upon it.
A small box.
No larger than a book.
Matte black, with no visible hinge or clasp.
