Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 557 Man-made Excavation

"The warp curtain here... is as thin as a cicada's wing, my lord." His deep voice carried the weariness and gravity of intense concentration. "Within the turbulent energy currents... ancient, inhuman echoes reverberate."

It was not a chaotic whisper, but it was extremely unfamiliar... and contained a cold, immeasurable power.

The ruins themselves... are like a huge piece of spacetime amber, radiating a powerful psychic stasis field that freezes everything inside... including time itself...

Sister Liz's empty energy field... is our only effective barrier against external subspace interference..."

He opened his bloodshot eyes and looked toward the corner of the bridge.

Sister Silent Liz, like a silent statue on the bridge.

She wore the iconic silver armor of the Sisters of Silent, with a visor covering half her face, revealing only a pair of sharp, hawk-like eyes devoid of any emotion.

Her hands were moving silently in a complex and rapid rhythm that was difficult for outsiders to understand.

Their gazes, like two cold searchlights, swept back and forth between the main energy reading screen, the tactical star map, and the bizarre and wonderful sights outside the observation window.

Few on the bridge could understand the Silent Order's sign language. With his limited understanding, Carleon could only barely grasp the vague meanings of her sign language regarding "abnormal convergence of energy nodes" and "sudden change in the frequency of spatial ripples." The meanings were obscure and difficult to understand, yet they carried a hint of unease.

The signal light spot of "Analyzer" blinked steadily on the tactical holographic star map.

Supported by the real-time data stream flowing from the Oregana servo arm control panel, the massive ship "Iron Will" cautiously traversed the relatively stable energy flow gaps barely discernible by the sensors, heading into the depths of this enormous rift, composed of frozen spacetime, ancient star debris, and unknown metals, large enough to accommodate a small fleet.

The warship's propulsion nozzles flickered with a faint blue light, and every tiny adjustment in attitude affected the nerves of everyone on the bridge.

The interior of the rift valley is not a completely vacuum-like, lifeless place.

Visible, bizarrely colored energy turbulence filled the space like living things: eerie blue arcs of electricity snaked and leaped across the frozen spacetime cliffs and asteroid surfaces like serpentine snakes; ghastly green energy beams swept across the void like ghostly tentacles, leaving brief visual afterimages; dark purple energy vortices spun and exploded silently, emitting a chilling hissing sound of static interference, which could be heard even through the thick ship armor and force field inside the bridge.

Under the continuous impact of the violent energy flow, the massive spacetime-ice rock structure experienced a constant accumulation of internal stress.

Every now and then, structures hundreds of meters or even kilometers long would suddenly collapse, silently tumbling and colliding in the weightless environment.

The sharp ice crystals, metal fragments, and spacetime matrix fragments generated by the shattering flew like a dense hail of bullets at a speed of several kilometers per second, continuously striking the thick frontal and side armor of the "Iron Will" and producing a fine, teeth-grinding crackling sound and a dull impact.

The ship's structural sensors continuously reported minute stress fluctuations, and the shield readings slowly decreased as they were consumed. "Pay attention to the distribution and orientation of those tiny star-like fragments within the cliff structure!" Oregana's prosthetic eye array focused at high speed, magnifying, enhancing, and overlaying the high-definition images transmitted from the sensors for analysis.

Her voice carried the fascination and vigilance characteristic of a sage of mechanics when facing unknown technology: "This is by no means a natural sediment. Its crystal structure exhibits a highly ordered, almost perfect fractal geometric arrangement, which has a strong mathematical correlation with the overall macroscopic morphology of the rift valley and the local spatiotemporal distortion characteristics."

The metal composition analysis is exceptionally complex, containing multiple alloy phases not recorded in the Imperial Mineralogy Database.

Conclusion: This rift valley is most likely not a naturally formed geological structure, but rather a product deliberately shaped by some kind of... incomprehensible force powerful enough to distort spacetime itself, or a permanent scar left after its energy outburst.

"Manual excavation?" On the bridge, Guterres listened to Aurejana's words with an incredulous expression: "In this kind of... field that involves both extreme physical environment and the nature of spacetime?"
What kind of...technological means beyond the limits of our understanding would this require? Could it be from humanity in the legendary Golden Age?

“More likely, it’s the remnant of some ancient, destructive weapon.” Caul moved his massive mechanical body, staring at everything outside with an almost obsessive expression, and added in a deep voice.

Staring intently at the distorted, non-Euclidean entrance outline that was faintly visible behind the energy curtain, his gaze seemed to pierce through the frozen spacetime barrier and look directly at its core: "An extremely vague fragments in the ancient collections of Mars mention that in the ancient era when the Emperor established his empire, there once existed a terrifying force in the Milky Way that could tear apart the structure of reality, reshape the galaxy, and even freeze spacetime briefly."

The mission codename 'Pioneers' itself strongly suggests some kind of lost ancient human trace.

Please be extremely cautious, my lord. We are approaching what may not be just a ruin, but a colossal graveyard of an ancient interstellar war, or a forgotten, sealed forbidden creation.

Its residual energy field continues to distort the physical laws of this space.

"Whether it contains lost knowledge or cursed creations, it is the target of this operation." Felus's voice was resolute and unwavering: "Auregana, continue to monitor the energy turbulence interaction effects, especially the coupling reaction with the ship's shields and engines."

Carleon, raise the psionic alert to the highest level. Report any unusual mental fluctuations or signs of warp rifts immediately.

Maria, the Knight Mech is on high alert, ready to engage in any potential battles.

Scan all optical, sensor, and predictive model data to assess all potential threat angles, including... unconventional attack paths.

Just as the "Iron Will" cautiously ventured deeper into the middle of the rift, the distorted, non-Euclidean outline of the ruins' entrance became increasingly clear behind the churning curtain of energy, its irregular geometry resembling the slowly opening maw of a colossal beast, ready to devour everything—

"Subspace jump signal detected! Location: Gamma-4! Distance: 0.05 AU! Signal source located inside the rift, relative coordinates locked! Energy signature... matching in progress... matching complete! It's an Inquisition-class signal identifier!" The sensor operator's voice, filled with metallic shock and disbelief, suddenly boomed across the bridge, instantly shattering the intensely focused atmosphere!
0.05 astronomical units—almost equivalent to hand-to-hand combat on a cosmic scale, and even closer in a complex and vast canyon space like the "Pioneer Throat"!

(End of this chapter)