Darkness.
The only light came from the holographic receipt floating in the freezing air.
[Transaction Complete] [-3,500 EP] [-1 Level 3 Insect Core] [Remaining Balance: 100 EP]
Alex stared at the number "100".
Ten seconds ago, he was a king. He had the capital to arm a squad. Now, he was gutter trash. He had traded a fortune for a glorified radiator.
"Better work," Alex muttered. His breath puffed out in heavy, white clouds.
Luna huddled in her wheelchair. Emergency lights on her rig died. Teeth chattered. A rhythmic, bone-on-bone sound in the silent room.
"Alex?" Her voice thinned out. "Did... did you buy it?"
"Back up," Alex commanded.
He raised his hand. The [Geothermal Energy Pylon] blueprint seared his retina. It demanded an anchor.
He pointed to the utility room. Dead center. Right over the building's structural spine. Where the corpse of the diesel generator sat.
"Deploy."
[System Notification: Construction Initiated] [Safety Protocol: Local Reality Distortion Active. Evacuate Zone.]
VRRR-THUM.
Pressure popped his ears.
Gravity doubled. Then vanished. Then doubled again.
The diesel generator didn't explode. It unmade itself. Steel, copper, and rubber dissolved into blue dust. The System wiped it from reality.
Then, the Pylon arrived.
It didn't drop from the sky. It punched up from the floor.
CRACK.
Concrete screamed. The slab split open. A monolith of black metal rose from the breach. Ugly. Angular. Alien.
Magma-red veins pulsed beneath the obsidian skin. A deep, rhythmic thrum vibrated the bones of everyone in the room.
It rose one meter. Two meters. It tore through the drywall ceiling like wet skin.
Three meters tall. A dark needle piercing the heart of the building.
"What the hell?" Luna shielded her eyes. Red light bled from the machine. It blinded them.
"The bill," Alex said.
The Pylon wasn't finished.
[Status: Anchor Locked] [Drill Sequence: Active] [Target Depth: 3,000 Meters (Mantle Layer)]
Plates slid open. A blue plasma core spun inside.
ZZZZT.
A beam of concentrated energy shot downward.
It didn't cut the floor. It phased through it.
The HUD schematic flashed. The beam bypassed Floor 24. Bypassed Floor 23. Bypassed the frozen meat-wall of corpses.
It punched a dimensional tunnel straight down the skyscraper's spine. It ignored matter. It hunted the bedrock.
Then, it dug.
RUMBLE.
The floor jumped. Dust rained from the vents.
This wasn't construction. This was planetary surgery. The Pylon forced a straw into the Earth's molten gut.
"The floor!" Luna screamed over the roar. She grabbed the doorframe. "It's cracking!"
"It holds," Alex shouted. He slammed his hand on the obsidian surface.
Cold. The heat hadn't climbed the ladder yet.
"Come on," Alex hissed. "Drink."
The vibration deepened. Mechanical whine turned into a tectonic groan.
Deep below. Three kilometers down. The beam breached the crust.
THUMP.
A heartbeat. Massive. Hot.
Red veins on the Pylon flashed white.
[Connection Established] [Thermal Siphon: Active] [Input: Unlimited]
The obsidian warmed under Alex's hand. Instant.
Ice-cold to fever-hot in a microsecond.
WHOOSH.
Heat blasted the room. Not the chemical stink of diesel. The dry, absolute heat of a volcano.
Frost on the walls flash-sublimated. Steam hissed.
"Lights!" Luna pointed.
Dead bulbs didn't flicker. They exploded into brilliance.
POP. POP. BUZZ.
The surge hit the grid. Kitchen LEDs. Hallway track lighting. Bathroom vanity. Everything slammed on at 100% brightness.
Ventilation fans kicked in. Not a wheeze. A scream. They spun to maximum RPM, gorging on the infinite juice.
[System Notification] [Power Status: Online] [Output: 500 kWh (Continuous)] [Heating: Active]
Alex stepped back. The Pylon hummed. A stable, infinite note of power.
He checked his breath. No fog.
The air already tasted warm.
"Infinite," Alex whispered. The word tasted like sweet wine.
He turned to Luna. She sat mouth agape. Terror gone. She looked like a caveman watching fire start for the first time.
"You..." Luna stammered. "You pierced the planet."
"I paid for it," Alex corrected. The phantom weight of 3,500 EP was gone, replaced by heat.
He walked to the thermostat. The digital display flickered to life.
[Current Temp: -15°C] [Target Temp: 25°C]
He spun the dial.
"Let there be heat."
THUMP... THUMP...
The sound didn't stop in the penthouse.
The Pylon's vibration traveled. It ran down the steel skeleton of Riverside Gardens.
Floor 20. Floor 10. Floor 1.
The frequency hit the frozen lobby. Black ice on the marble floor cracked. Spiderwebs of fractures raced across the ground, snapping with the sound of pistol shots.
It went deeper.
The Basement.
Below the parking garage. In the sewage processing maintenance tunnels.
The vibration hit the nest.
Thousands of frozen shapes lined the walls, stacked like cordwood. Dormant. Waiting for a signal.
The deep, rhythmic thumping of the drill shook the frost from their eyelids.
Heat—faint, but distinct—began to radiate from the building's structural pillars.
A grey eyelid snapped open. Then another. Then a thousand.
Milky white eyes turned upward. They felt the vibration. They smelled the thermal signature.
It smelled like food. It smelled like home.
SCREEE.
A howl erupted from the dark. It wasn't one voice. It was a choir of the damned.
[System Warning] [Seismic Activity Detected] [Horde Alert: The heat has attracted attention.]
Alex looked at his interface. The joy of the heater died.
"Right," Alex muttered, pulling the AA-12 off his back and racking the bolt. "Nothing is free."
He looked at Luna. She wept silently, hands held out toward the obsidian monolith, basking in the artificial sun. She didn't hear the scream from the basement yet.