Dry Thunder

The exterior plain produced thunder without clouds, rain or visible lightning. Each discharge travelled horizontally through the ground and stopped beneath a line of dead streetlamps.

The Fluxborn technician measured a magnetic pulse that rose whenever the Ashwalker reported heat beneath the soil. The two signals were not synchronized; they appeared to be avoiding one another.

The team marked the field and withdrew. MOTHER's maintenance report calls it a damaged grid. The technician's addendum says the plain had two systems trying not to touch, and the Vault had no right to force them together.