Chapter 4 - The Deeper Dark

The blueprint fought back.

Sisyphus traced the northwestern passage. Ink pulled away from his stylus. He tried again, pressing harder. This had been the third attempt. A Different angle, but the same result.

"It doesn't want to be contained there," he said quietly.

Behind him, Daedalus muttered calculations, too focused to notice.

"Daedalus."

The old man looked up, eyes red-rimmed.

"It's fighting us." Sisyphus pointed to the passage he had been fighting with. "Look at the stress patterns. Every time we reinforce this section, the surrounding stone-"

"My structure's don't fight," Daedalus corrected. "They negotiate. It knows what it wants to become." He moved to examine the plans. "If we redirect through here-"

"No." Sisyphus saw it clearly. "We don't fight it. We let it flow where it wants, like redirecting a river instead of damming it."