The first drone attacked without a sound, its laser firing a pencil-thin beam of incandescent light that seared a black, molten scar across the wall, inches from Chloe's head.
They scattered, pure survival instinct taking over. The space was tight, offering almost no cover.
"The crystal!" Ethan yelled, remembering the strange artifact they had been given. "Maya, try the crystal!"
From her position on the travois, Maya fumbled in her pack and pulled out the pulsing white crystal. As she held it up, its light flared. The drones faltered, their movements becoming jerky, their targeting lasers flickering. The crystal was emitting a frequency that interfered with their systems. It wasn't a key or a gift; it had been a tracking device, and now, a potential weapon.
"Chloe, the coolant pipes!" Ethan roared, recognizing the larger, insulated conduits running along the ceiling. "Rupture them!"
It was a desperate gamble. Chloe didn't hesitate. Leaping onto a low platform, she swung her geological hammer with all her might against a large valve. The metal groaned and then burst. A thick, super-cooled gas billowed into the room, obscuring everything in a dense, white fog. The drones' optical sensors were rendered useless. They began firing sporadically into the mist.
This was their chance.
"Cover me!" Ethan yelled, and sprinted through the disorienting fog toward the central pedestal. He could see its red light glowing faintly through the chaos.
A drone loomed out of the mist in front of him. He didn't break stride. He swung his ice axe in a vicious arc, embedding the pick deep into the drone's optical sensor. The machine spasmed and crashed to the floor.
He reached the pedestal. It was covered in glowing, alien symbols. There was no time to understand it, no chance to reprogram it. He had only one option. With a final roar of defiance, he raised his ice axe high and brought it down with all his strength onto the nexus where the thickest cables converged.
The effect was instantaneous and catastrophic.
The axe shattered the crystalline conduits. A shower of blue sparks erupted through the room. The remaining drones froze and dropped to the floor, lifeless. The red emergency lights flickered violently and died.
And then came the scream.
It wasn't a voice in their heads. It was a real, synthesized, ear-splitting shriek of pure agony that blasted from hidden speakers throughout the facility, the sound of a god dying. The shriek was cut off as the entire Sanctum shuddered, a deep, structural groan echoing from the very bones of the mountain.
The lights went out completely, plunging them into a darkness more absolute than any they had known before. The low hum of the great machine fell silent. Around them, the structure moaned and shifted, the terrifying sound of a collapsing tomb.
They had won. They had hurt the monster.
But in killing the god, they had just begun the destruction of its temple—with them still trapped inside.