they ducked under a conveyor heavy with refuse , burdened with various relations of death , and found themselves , whether with eyes closed or open , in a place where many sets of steps converged , sweeping in a twisted downward helix , the red of each knotted stair transmuted via spectral deformation into greens and violets , ambers and blues , the mass effect a colour vortex , the floor as if melted and sunk , moulded through heat into a spiralling chimney of living metal .