Chapter Two: Coordinates of the Wing Bone

At the northwest corner, the reading quadrupled. The spectrum showed a spike every seven hertz. They entered through a ventilation shaft. The first basement was modern: moldy cables, standing water, dead fans. At the second, reality became less convincing. There were no steel reinforcement returns behind the concrete. Instead, the scanner showed honeycomb cavities. Farther down, the staircase acquired an extra floor. Basement four did not exist on the plans. Its temperature held steady at minus seven Celsius. Their flashlights revealed a narrow corridor. Its walls were neither stone nor metal, but a translucent white membrane threaded with dark-gold lines. It resembled a bird bone magnified to architectural scale. "The wing bone," Lin said.