Susan peered over the edge. "I'm guessing jumping isn't encouraged."
Steve's scanner pinged. "There's a localized field here. Weak, but directional."
Cain stepped onto the bridge. It didn't react. The hum beneath the floor shifted subtly, adjusting rather than resisting.
"Follow me," he said.
Halfway across, the bridge extended on its own, plates sliding out from beneath Cain's feet to complete the span. The timing wasn't coincidental. It was responsive.
They crossed without incident and emerged into a control nexus—smaller than the chamber above, but denser. Consoles lined the walls, most dark, some flickering with unreadable data streams. At the center stood a cylindrical column wrapped in segmented bands, each rotating at a different speed.
Roselle stared. "This is a command layer."
"Or a memory vault," Steve said. "Too much redundancy for real-time control."
Cain approached the column, slower this time. "It's both."
