Do not move a single muscle or even shift your weight on those loose stones, Lennon, because one wrong twitch will drop ten tons of granite straight onto our foreheads," the stranger whispered, his rough voice barely a faint rustle in the heavy, suffocating darkness.​Trapped under the massive mountain of stone, Lennon and the stranger found themselves sealed within a narrow, pressurized air pocket. The tight survival space was created by two angled steel support beams from the fallen terminal ceiling, which had wedged together at a sharp peak right above their heads to hold back the vast weight of the cave-in. The space was barely wide enough for them to sit shoulder to shoulder, with jagged rock faces pressing tightly against their backs and legs.​"Are you pinned anywhere under your boots?" Lennon asked, keeping his voice as low and soft as possible to avoid disturbing the loose shale near his knees.​"My right foot is caught under a minor iron brace," the stranger replied quietly,

​Drop flat right now before that crimson beam burns a hole straight through your spine, boy," Kaelen shouted, his broad hand lunging out to snag Lennon's collar.​The Black-Guard hunter-drone opened fire with a high-frequency scatter cannon, sending a deadly stream of white-hot plasma charges whistling through the open transport hatch. Lennon instantly reacted, dodging the initial blast by diving sideways across the vibrating steel platform. Thumb on the trigger, he pointed the modified plasma cutter upward and sliced through a high-pressure hydraulic pipe hanging from the tunnel ceiling. A torrent of superheated steam erupted instantly from the severed line, creating a dense, blinding wall of white fog that completely blocked the drone's targeting laser.​"Get those support pins cut while the machine is blind," Vanya yelled from the forward cabin, her voice barely carrying over the deafening hiss of escaping steam.​"I am on the left locking brace," Lennon called back, his boots skid

​Stop moving toward that white light if you do not want your skin peeled right off your bones, Lennon," Vaelen screamed inside his mind, the spiritual voice vibrating with absolute terror as the heat wave slammed into them.​Lennon jammed his crystallized arm directly into the incinerator's heavy gear mechanism, forcing his purple-scaled fist straight between the massive iron teeth drive. The raw, dense mineral structure of his arm acted like a solid steel wedge, shattering the drive teeth with a violent, metallic crunch and bringing the massive belt to an abrupt, violent stop. The white-hot plasma wall halted its forward slide just inches from his face [118 min, 2,100 MB], the blinding heat singeing his eyebrows and turning the sweat on his skin into instant steam.​"Did the gear block hold?" Lennon choked out, his lungs burning as he pulled his chin back from the scorching edge of the plasma line.​"The drive teeth are completely shattered," Vaelen panted, his presence inside Lennon'

​Hold your breath and shield your face right now if you do not want to drown in glowing chemical waste, boy," Vaelen’s spiritual voice screamed inside his head as the air rushed past Lennon's ears.​Lennon plummeted into the rupturing stasis vat, bracing himself as thousands of gallons of glowing bio-fluid and shattered glass exploded outward onto the refinery floor [115 min, 1,850 MB]. The tidal wave of pale green liquid carried his body through the air like a piece of drift-wood, throwing him across the cold floorboards before dumping him onto his knees among a mountain of glittering glass shards.​"Lennon, get on your feet before that liquid burns through your trousers," Vaelen shouted over the roaring noise of the breach.​"The fluid isn't burning my skin," Lennon coughed out, wiping the glowing green slime from his cheeks as he pushed himself up onto his elbows. "It feels like cold ice."​"It is a conductive preservation gel," Vaelen barked, his spiritual presence buzzing with sh

Keep your head tucked low against my shoulder scales or the rushing water will tear your grip loose in three seconds, boy," Vaelen’s spiritual voice screamed inside Lennon's mind over the deafening roar of the subterranean river.​Lennon and the leviathan crashed into the turbulent waters of the underground aqueduct, the raging current sweeping them away from the collapsing refinery explosion [116 min, 1,900 MB]. The icy liquid slammed into Lennon's chest with the force of a falling stone slab, washing away the green stasis gel and sending them tumbling wildly through the dark. Above them, a massive shockwave of orange fire rolled across the river ceiling, but the deep, fast-flowing water carried them safely into the dark tunnel before the heat could reach their flesh.​"I cannot see the tunnel walls," Lennon gasped, his fingers digging into the rough, bio-mechanical ridges along the leviathan's neck.​"Do not let go of those neck plates," Vaelen barked, his spiritual presence buzzing