"Funny you should ask."
The Heart spread out in front of them. The main floor was a vast open space, three levels deep, bridges connecting everything, lined on every side with workshops, laboratories and storage bays. Engineers in pale suits moved between stations. Sparks flew from a welding bay on the lower level. A tracked machine the size of a small car rolled past on its way to somewhere important. The whole space hummed — not loud, but constant, the deep mechanical rhythm of a complex that ran twenty-four hours a day and would keep running long after the night came and most people went home.
Raizen breathed it in. He'd missed this too.
They walked. Alteea led, sunglasses still on, her heels clicking on the metal floor. Engineers nodded as she passed. She nodded back without breaking stride.
"So," she said, "to answer your question."
Raizen looked at her.
