Shaft Delta-Seven was a narrow, service tunnel that ran like an artery alongside the Chamber housing. The heat was intense, the vibration a physical assault that made their teeth rattle. Through inspection ports, they could see the colossal, rune-etched bands of the constrictor, one of them glowing a dangerous, feverish orange where it was failing.
Sage's hands shook as he unpacked the bronze resonator. The Stillpoint Spin glimmered in the hellish light. "We need to attach it, and we need to charge it. It needs pure Vitae."
Valentine had already anticipated this. From her pack, she produced a small, shielded canister. "My entire personal ration for the month. Two liters. High-purity. Will it be enough?"
"It has to be," Sage said. He found the service port—a small, heavily shielded hatch marked Geological Sonde Interface. It was the old Aquifers' access point, long since sealed. The injector tool Lysander provided fit the archaic coupling.
With a grunt of effort, he drove the tool into the port and turned. It bit, then gave way with a shriek of protesting metal. A rush of hot, moist air sighed out, carrying with it the deafening, multi-layered scream of the Core, now unfiltered.
Sage positioned the resonator, its crystalline inlays facing the open port. Valentine connected her ration canister to a port on the resonator's edge.
"On three," she said, her hand on the release valve. "We'll have one shot. The Vitae will flash through the pattern and into the Chamber."
Sage placed his hands on the bronze, as if he could steady the song himself. "One…"
An alarm blared directly above them. A new, piercing tone.
"Two…"
A heavy door slammed open at the far end of the shaft. Enforcers?
"THREE!"