Chapter One: Twenty-Three Percent

Leon barely caught a hanging cable. It tore blood from his palm. The entire passage shattered as if something huge had bitten through it. Rock thundered downward. Leon fell with the cable into darkness, hearing only wind, stone, and his own heartbeat. He struck water hard. Pain detonated through his shoulder. He forced himself over and found his flashlight. When the beam swept the cavern, his breath stopped. This was not a mine. It was a vast hollow buried under the world. Black metallic patterns covered the stone walls like the bones of an ancient city. At the center knelt a mech. No. Not a wreck. It was too complete. The machine knelt on one knee, at least forty meters tall, its armor deep silver and traced with dark blue light.