The corridor narrowed until the crew had to walk single file. The glow of the crystal in Daniel's chest was the only steady light, casting jagged shadows across the walls.
Suddenly, the surface shifted. What had looked like solid red stone rippled like liquid glass. The veins of light bent, stretching into strange symbols that pulsed with rhythm—almost like a heartbeat.
"Jesus," Hayes whispered, touching the wall with his glove. The surface flexed beneath his fingers, not solid but not liquid either. "It's alive."
Marquez pulled him back. "Don't touch it!"
But the moment contact was made, the corridor reacted. Panels along the walls folded inward, sliding apart like the petals of a flower. Behind them, gears turned, not of metal but of translucent crystal, rotating with a soft grinding hum.
Okafor stared in awe. "These mechanisms… they're still working after—what? Millions of years?"
The floor vibrated. Ahead, a large archway unfolded, the crystal mechanisms pulling apart until a vast chamber yawned open before them.
---
The Chamber of Resonance
They stepped inside cautiously. The chamber was spherical, with walls covered in the same glowing veins. In the center floated a massive crystal, suspended by invisible force, slowly rotating.
Every time it turned, the air thrummed, vibrating through their bones. The crystal pulsed with deep, resonant tones—like a voice too vast for human ears to comprehend.
Daniel staggered forward, clutching his chest. The crystal inside him answered, glowing brighter in rhythm with the larger one.
"Daniel!" Marquez shouted. "Step back!"
But he couldn't. The pull was irresistible. His chest burned, the smaller crystal beating in time with the giant one.
Then, without warning, the walls of the chamber brightened. Symbols of light scrolled across their surface, shifting in spirals and streams. Some looked like star maps. Others like mathematical codes far beyond human comprehension.
Hayes cursed. "It's a machine. The whole planet's one giant machine."
Okafor corrected him softly, eyes wide. "Not a machine… a memory. Mars is remembering."
---
The First Echo
The massive crystal flashed once, blinding them. When the light dimmed, the chamber filled with an image—a projection of the planet itself, young and green, oceans glimmering, forests stretching across its surface.
They gasped.
Mars—alive.
The vision shifted. A great war tore across its surface, the oceans boiling away, the forests burning, skies ripped open by weapons of impossible scale. Then, as if to preserve what was left, the giant crystal sank into the planet's core.
The vision faded, leaving silence.
Daniel collapsed to his knees, panting. "It's showing us… its past."
The shadows slid into the chamber, bowing before the floating crystal as if in reverence.
Marquez whispered, "If this is the past… what does it want from us in the present?"
And as if in answer, the floating crystal shifted. Its rotation slowed, and a new light burst outward—forming a doorway deeper into the unknown.