The red siren light spun against the damp granite arches, washing the vault in rhythmic, blood-colored glare. Deep beneath the floorboards, the hydro-electric turbine screamed—a sound no longer resembling an industrial engine, but a metal casing being torn apart by pure, unyielding water pressure.
"Three minutes to bedrock failure!" Sarah yelled, her hands braced against the mahogany field terminal as the floor shook violently enough to throw loose bolts from the upper gallery. "The turbine housing has expanded past five hundred pounds per square inch! The portcullis locks are dead-circuit iron!"
Bastian lunged up the gallery ladder, his boots slamming against the iron rungs as he reached the upper platform. He raised his carbine, leveling it through the reinforced glass at Baron Von Keller.
"Open the pressure relief gates, Von Keller!" Bastian barked, his voice cutting through the deafening roar of the runaway turbine.
