Rain drummed against the armored glass of Victoria's mobile lab—a repurposed orbital command vehicle retrofitted with solar panels, magnetic shielding, and enough circuitry to power a small city. Inside, it smelled of ozone, coffee, and old paper.
Luna stepped in, shaking water from her sleeves. "You really live here?"
"Live? No," Victoria said, not looking up from a holographic schematic floating above her workbench. "Survive. Strategize. Occasionally sleep." She tapped a key. The schematic folded into a spinning model of Earth's magnetosphere. "Close the door. The damp messes with the sensors."
Luna did. The hiss of the seal engaging felt like entering another world.
Because it was.
No sigils on the walls. No whispering relics. Just clean lines, blinking LEDs, and shelves lined with notebooks labeled in precise, angular handwriting: Field Notes – Vol. 7, Quantum Resonance Trials, Failed Rift Stabilization (Do Not Repeat).
"You wanted to show me something," Luna said.
