Chapter 56: A Test Once More
Several days later, deep within the sanctum, reinforced and expanded beneath the desert.
Utterly different from the barren chaos of the surface, this subterranean space was shrouded in an almost holy solemnity. The air, scrubbed by multi-stage filtration, was pure and dry, carrying the distinct tang of ozone and coolant. Only the low thrum of the stable reactor core and the faint hiss of the circulation systems composed the eternal background hymn of the place.
The primary illumination came from neatly arranged, cold-white lumen-strips, bathing the central area in stark light while leaving the peripheries in regimented shadow. This light highlighted the sanctum's core: the complex holy apparatus constructed to test the Dimensional Sextant.
The burnished-gold dodecahedron, the archeotech relic, was secured on a bespoke platform cast from blessed alloys.
Several sanctified power conduits, thick as a man's arm, snaked from the newly established reactor-shrine, locking precisely into the platform's reinforced interfaces.
The surging, divine energy within them was being continuously channeled, refined by the platform's internal regulators into an unnervingly stable flow, and fed into the relic's foundation.
Joric's tall, crimson-robed form stood before the main command-altar. His crimson compound optical lenses were focused intently on the floating holo-displays before him. Data-streams poured down like silent waterfalls, reflecting on his impassive faceplate.
The left display showed the reactor-shrine's core parameters: output percentage, plasma-containment stability, energy-conversion efficiency—all stable in the sacred green.
The right display monitored the relic's feedback: surface energy-field strength, internal resonant frequency, micro-variations in structural stress.
The largest, central display ran the control-litany he himself had coded, its complex lines of script flashing with critical status markers.
Several mechadendrites, tipped with different modules, extended from his back and robes, hovering in a ready-state.
Their micro-forcefield generators, high-precision spectrum-analysis probes, and emergency power-shunts were all sanctified and warmed, prepared to counter any unplanned fluctuations.
"Initiating first micro-conduit opening attempt. Objective: Establish a stable Immaterium data-fissure, duration no less than thirty seconds. Bandwidth priority is high, but stability must be maintained," Joric's synthesized voice announced, both a self-confirmation and a directive to his sole observer.
The "Old Friend" servo-skull hovered silently to his left, its blue oculars slaved to the data-displays, its metal jaw locked slightly open, as if in stasis.
With a synaptic impulse, a virtual rune-slider on the command-altar was precisely advanced.
The reactor-shrine's output increased by 0.5%—a minute adjustment, but a significant step in this high-precision rite.
The thrum of the power conduits deepened almost imperceptibly. The flow of energy into the relic intensified.
On the Sextant's surface, the strange, liquid-metal patterns, once dormant, began to illuminate.
At first, it was a faint, illusory shimmer, but it soon brightened to a clear, deep, ethereal blue, as if containing a void-born star.
The very light in the sanctum began to ripple, a visible distortion warping around the relic.
A low, oppressive hum filled the air, the sound of space-time itself being stretched and compressed. The very frequency of the floor's vibration changed.
Joric's mechadendrites began to move, making micro-adjustments on a millimeter scale.
One tendril's calibrator emitted a high-frequency tick, tuning the energy's resonant frequency. Another monitored the local spatial curvature, ensuring the distortion remained within safe parameters.
His entire processing power was focused, his optics adjusting as he monitored the relic's every spectral-shift and energy-bleed. He was less a scientist than a master Enginseer, playing a divine instrument, forcing the raw, chaotic energy to sing the precise note he required.
Time passed in this state of extreme focus.
Eleven seconds... twelve...
Suddenly, an infinitesimal, yet blindingly bright, point of light tore itself into reality!
It flickered and shuddered, wildly unstable, as if it would collapse or detonate at any moment.
Success! This was the micro-Immaterial conduit he sought, large enough only for the passage of information!
"Conduit formed! Commencing data-stream reception!" Joric's voice, though still synthesized, was a fraction faster.
In the same instant the conduit opened, a highly compressed torrent of data, bearing a completely alien physical signature and encryption protocol, burst through the unstable connection!
The manufactorum's multi-band receiver-array lit up as the cogitators greedily harvested the flood, buffering and caching it.
The entire reception lasted exactly thirty seconds.
Joric's gaze was locked on the progress bar and the energy-waveform monitoring the conduit's stability.
The pinpoint of light struggled on the very edge of collapse, shrinking and swelling, threatening to tear.
His mechadendrites were a blur of micro-adjustments, as if trying to harness a furious, otherworldly beast.
The instant the progress bar reached 100%, Joric slammed his hand on the master energy-cutoff rune.
The power-feed was severed. The light in the conduits died.
The pinpoint of light in the center of the relic emitted a soft pop, like a bursting bubble, and was gone.
The ethereal blue patterns on the Sextant's surface faded like a receding tide, returning to their deep, light-absorbing, burnished gold.
The oppressive feeling of warped space vanished, and the light returned to normal. Only the steady thrum of the reactor core remained.
"Test-litany complete. Data-packet reception complete, checksum verified. Conduit closed as per protocol. No anomalous energy-reflux or structural-damage feedback detected." Joric slowly, almost imperceptibly, relaxed his grip on the command-altar's controls.
The servo-skull drifted over the platform, its blue oculars bathing the relic and interfaces in a diagnostic light, performing its post-rite inspection and logging the final data. Its jaw clicked softly, as if expressing a purely logical satisfaction.