The Cosmic Glitch

I paid a fortune on the black market for an anomaly codenamed 'The Mimic', allegedly salvaged from the edge of the known universe. I used a high-energy laser to strip away its dazzling crystalline shell, revealing a mass of liquid shadow writhing like a frantic heart. I engaged the force field to evaporate the darkness, exposing a perfect geometric orb of light that hummed like a choir. Trembling, I shattered the orb. What clattered onto the metal tray was just a rusty iron nail. Baffled, I glanced at the quantum analyzer's final report. The single line of glaring red text made me instantly kill all power to the lab and cower in the pitch black, my hands clamped tightly over my ears.