Chapter 68
CHAPTER 68 — THE BURNING OF ELYSIUM
The fall was a brief, violent plunge into darkness. Claire managed to grab the edge of a lower structural pipe, her fingers slipping on the hot grease, while Instance Three tumbled down into the boiling mineral pool, his synthetic components short-circuiting in a spectacular explosion of green sparks and white steam.
Above her, the vault was collapsing. Victoria Lane had detonated the emergency thermite charges she had planted along the platform's primary flotation tanks. The entire Elysium Enclave began to tilt violently to the right, the black water of the gulf pouring into the lower levels through the ruptured hull plates.
Alexander crawled along the tilting walkway, his hand reaching down to pull Claire up from the pipe. His face was entirely gray, his chest heaving as his independent pacemaker began to emit a steady, high-pitched alarm. "I’ve got you... Claire... grab my hand..."
With a final, agonizing effort, Claire pulled herself back onto the platform. She ran to the terminal where Lily was clinging to the console, the dark obsidian glass webs beginning to fracture and break away from her skin as the system’s power grid fluctuated.
"Anna, get the box!" Claire shouted, grabbing Lily and pulling the black shoes from her feet, tossing them into the boiling water below.
But Victoria Whitmore wasn't done. Bleeding from her shoulder, her face twisted in a mask of pure, demonic fury, the old matriarch grabbed the white-gold and the jade shoes from the altar, rushing toward the emergency escape pod capsule at the back of the chamber.
May you like
"You haven't stopped the sequence, Claire!" Victoria Whitmore screamed over the roar of the rushing ocean. "The data has already cleared the gulf! The final vault isn't a lab... it's a living host! The grandfather is already awake... in the one place you never thought to look!"
The escape capsule door slammed shut, and before Alexander could fire, the pod launched out through the base of the platform into the deep current of the ocean trench.
