Power consumption stabilized. The habitat’s environment returned to its comforting amber hue. The crew breathed a collective sigh.
Arun, ever curious, donned a portable exo‑suit and ventured outside the dome, guided by a tether of magnetic fields. The violet aurora washed over him as he approached the source—a fissure in the planet’s crust, no larger than a human hand, from which a column of dark, viscous fluid seeped.