Stasis Crystal's "Entropy Reversal Field" lay deep within the city, inside an enormous domed building constructed entirely of pure white crystal. As a tractor beam slowly drew the Benatar inside, the Guardians of the Galaxy almost held their breath.
There was no complex machinery in the chamber, no bustling technicians-only near-absolute silence and an indescribable strangeness, as though time itself had frozen there. The ship floated in the center of the chamber, surrounded by subtly distorted space and streams of milky-white energy that flowed like liquid halos.
"All personnel, please leave the repair area. The entropy reversal process is about to begin," a Crystal Guard informed them through telepathy, without a trace of emotion.
They withdrew to the observation platform at the edge of the chamber, watching the "home" they depended on for survival with mixed feelings.
"Is this thing really going to work? Why does it feel like they're about to melt the ship..." Rocket Raccoon tugged uneasily at his fur.
"Stasis Crystal's technology is far beyond our understanding," Dr. Banner said, awe in his voice. "They seem to be manipulating entropy within a localized region of spacetime. This is nothing short of a miracle..."
"It'd better work, or we'll really be cosmic beggars," Star-Lord muttered.
With a low hum that was not unpleasant, the milky-white energy streams within the chamber suddenly accelerated, engulfing the Benatar like a living tide. Before their astonished eyes, something impossible happened:
The twisted, melted wreckage of the engines at the ship's stern began to recover as though a video were playing backward. Molten metal flowed back, reshaped itself, and regained its structure; the jagged cracks across the hull rapidly closed and vanished, as though they had never existed; burned-out wiring reconnected, and insulation regenerated. Even the mottled scorch marks and impact dents on