Chapter 2

RECORD: 6782W671$LUN-0.167
IDENTITIES: Dr. Tanis Lee, Commander Kuang Xuan, Captain Hou Ye [present, unspeaking]
LOCATION: K1 Dig Site 2, Communion, Command Center
THREAT DETECT: Level 10—Protocol Incompliance
THREAT RESPONSE: Record for Posterity
   [REVISED RESPONSE]: Exhibit Record 12, FILE//REPORT TO RASPUTIN


"Commander, we found it."

"Where?"

"Nearly twelve hundred meters deep in Site 3. The readings were all over the charts like in the other dig sites, but the borer broke into a tunnel and… Well, we almost hit it with the borer. The machine chewed through a pillar or something that held it up, and—"

"It? So what is it? What does it look like? Show me the feed, the diagnostics, everything."

"I don't have any of that."

"What?"

"That's why I'm here. Instruments failed the moment we broke through. The borer too."

"Some sort of EMP? But your suits—"

"Worked just fine. We checked and rechecked everything."

"So what is this thing?"

"Nothing like what I expected. You have to see it for yourself."

"I think I do."

"I'll help you get your suit on."