The descent through the melted floor was a plunge directly into the metallic bowels of the alien world. Crown Prince Jules summoned a thick, perfectly smooth platform of condensed earth to carry the infiltration team downward. The air grew progressively colder and more sterile with every passing second. The rhythmic, bone-rattling hum of the planetary engine amplified until it vibrated directly into their teeth.
They dropped into a cavernous, spherical chamber that defied the scale of any throne room or grand hall they had ever seen.
The walls of the immense sphere were lined with millions of geometric circuits. They pulsed with a slow, rhythmic, and deeply hostile crimson light. At the very epicentre of the room stood a towering monolithic pillar forged from polished chrome and black glass. Thick, serpentine cables of glowing synthetic coolant connected the pillar to the floor, walls, and ceiling, feeding an unimaginable amount of power into the central nexus.
