A streak of blood-red suddenly appeared in the transparent pipe. Then that smear of red began spreading at an astonishing speed. The blue solution being slowly pumped into the Holy Coffin was dyed the color of blood in the blink of an eye!
The chief operator, who had been watching the solution pipe intently, immediately noticed the anomaly. Along with the terror in his heart, the fastest movement of his life erupted in an instant—the Hermetic Society member practically left behind an afterimage as he slammed the emergency stop button beside the Holy Coffin.
But the emergency stop button failed—not just the emergency stop button. Every control device around the Holy Coffin had failed.
"The operating system is offline!" an assistant shrieked from the side, nearly howling. "Friar! This thing won't stop!"
"Smash the pipe! Cut the power!"
"Give me the axe!"
With a deafening boom, the Hermetic Society member serving as chief operator raised a fire axe and viciously brought it down on the pipe connected to the Holy Coffin. Then, without hesitation, he swung several more times, smashing the power cables and neural conduits on one side of the platform. The tremendous noise echoed through the Holy Coffin room. The system alarm rang throughout the chamber in a bizarre, discordant tone, then abruptly fell silent. A string of explosive sparks spread along the base of the Holy Coffin, briefly illuminating each terrified face at the scene.
Then everything fell quiet. Only the Holy Coffin at the center of the platform continued to emit a faint wisp of smoke, while the lights indicating malfunction flickered endlessly across its surface.
"...Did we stop it?" the chief operator asked shakily, the fire axe dangling from his hand as he stared fixedly at the smoking Holy Coffin. He sounded as though he