The only sound was the whir of the thermal drill and the frantic beat of Dr. Aris Thorne’s heart. Two miles beneath the Antarctic ice, in a pressurized dome of their own creation, his team had done the impossible. They had found it. Not a fossil, not a fragment, but a city.The laser scanners painted the cavern in a ghostly green light, revealing structures of smooth, black stone that defied known architecture. Spires spiraled upwards, frozen mid-reach, and archways led into profound darkness. The air was unnervingly dry and carried a faint, metallic scent.“It’s… pristine,” whispered Lena, their linguist, her