Page 31 of Alien Healer's Touch

What secrets, what dangers, lay dormant within that ancient matrix? While she hesitated, caught between instinct and uncertainty, my gaze drifted past her, the pristine crystal a stark island amidst the vast decay of our surroundings. Dust shifted in gentle swirls around my boots as I examined the crumbling remains.

My ancestors spoke of these places with reverence—temples of healing where the wounded walked whole again and the sick left renewed. The reality before me mocked those stories. Exposed wiring hung from ceilings like dead vines. Crystalline surfaces, dulled by time, revealed only faint hints of their former brilliance.

I traced my fingers along an examination table, feeling the fractures and splinters in the crystal surface.

"This facility survived better than most," I said, half to myself. "The elders speak of these places as if preserved in amber, waiting for our return."

"It's still amazing," Selene replied, her voice hushed despite the decay surrounding us. "You can tell what this place was meant for."

Her words pulled my attention back with a healer's perspective. Despite the damage, patterns emerged from chaos—the circular arrangement of platforms suggested treatment areas. Recessed alcoves along walls once held supplies or monitoring equipment.

"How can you be sure it's a medical facility?" Selene asked, exploring what remained of a control panel.

"The configuration. These pedestals—" I indicated circular platforms arranged in a sunburst pattern around the room's center, "—would have held patients. And here."

I followed grooves in the floor to wall nodes that retained faint gold tinting.

"These channels conducted healing energy throughout the chamber. The patterns match diagrams in our oldest texts."

Selene nodded, then paused at a section of wall. "What about this? It almost looks like storage."

She brushed dust from a panel, revealing rectangular depressions. I joined her, studying the configuration.

"Likely a diagnostic array. Our texts speak of crystals containing the knowledge of healers past."

Compelled by the need to understand this place—and find if it offered another path forward—we moved deeper into the complex.

"Look—" Selene pointed ahead to a chamber branching from the main corridor. "Something's different about that room."

She stepped ahead, her curiosity outpacing caution. I followed, my tail swinging low for balance as we entered what appeared to be a central treatment chamber.

Unlike the other rooms, this one contained equipment largely intact beneath layers of dust. Crystalline instruments perched on stands—tissue regenerators, diagnostic arrays, pain modulators—all preserved as if waiting for healers to return.

But the chamber's center captured my attention. A crystal formation rose from the floor, its structure complex and purposeful. As Selene approached, it flickered with faint blue light, responding to her presence.

"Wait," I said, reaching for her arm.

Too late. She stepped within an arm's length of the crystal. The light intensified, illuminating her face from below. The markings on her wrists gleamed in response, sending my lifelines pulsing beneath my skin.

"It recognizes you," I said, astonishment in my voice. "That should not be possible."

Selene turned to me, brow furrowed. "Why not?"

"These facilities responded only to Nyxari lifelines—to our energy patterns." I approached the crystal, watching as it brightened further with our combined presence. "Your markings should not interface with our technology, yet they do."

This contradicted everything the elders taught about our sacred technology. If these human markings could interface with our ancestral systems...

Selene circled the crystal formation, examining each instrument with methodical attention, occasionally murmuring about function and design.

"The craftsmanship is extraordinary," she said, lifting what seemed to be a surgical tool. "The balance, the precision—whoever designed these understood both form and function."

"Knowing your commander's nature, he would see this place differently," I observed.

Selene nodded, setting down the instrument carefully. "Hammond would have his people strip this place bare, looking for anything that could be weaponized." A shadow crossed her face. "He doesn't understand that knowledge itself isn't threatening—it's the intent behind its use."

She moved to another station, brushing away dust to reveal a crystalline panel. "What do you think this?—"

A rumble vibrated through the floor, cutting off her words. We froze, watching as a section of seemingly solid wall trembled, then split along an invisible seam. The panels slid apart, revealing a darkened corridor beyond.

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