**Thank you for reading my novel. If you enjoyed the story, please give it a like and leave a comment — your support really encourages me to keep writing and sharing more chapters.**108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3xEWKaB5I
The First Energy Crystal
Leaving the Abbas Archive proved more difficult than108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKHg00WgnQ9
entering it.
Which was, Zorina supposed, only fair. Ancient impossible108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwfTvNrGXZ
civilisations were rarely considerate enough to provide clearly marked exits,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2tpBHUm6t
emergency lighting, and a polite notice reading: This way back to your108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HLdfnP6t1
previous understanding of reality.
She stood beneath the great column of light, with108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOfcCRVoNG
Crystal-Pattern Panel 1011 hovering at her side.
She had not taken it with her.
Not exactly.
Yet she knew, without knowing how, that it would return to108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYhzwKsRe4
its place when she no longer needed it, and come back to her hand when she did.
The thought was absurd enough to belong in a fairy tale.
But inside the Archive, absurdity seemed less like fantasy108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUyjovaNj0
and more like a word humanity had invented for knowledge it had failed to108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjjuVhXmWM
catch.
Zorina walked towards the flower-shaped biological energy108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBaB0d3XLX
device.
The six transparent crystal petals sensed her approach and108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rWzUzZajK
opened slowly. The reclining platform at their centre shimmered with a108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9MMHwFRpV
pale-blue film of light, like water trying to remember how to be skin.
She did not lie down at once.
She was an analyst, not a worshipper of expensive miracles.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzR7ZruyvE5
Even when one finds oneself inside a volcanic archive that recognises one’s108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnrXsBvLfI
blood and opens ancient doors in one’s honour, a certain professional suspicion108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtbl2a7tbh
remains healthy. Faith, after all, was merely ignorance wearing ceremonial108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9VOmxStAh
clothing.
She rolled up the torn sleeve of her damaged flight suit and108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK9bwoffei
exposed her arm.
Bruises. Abrasions. Dried blood. A shallow split across the108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHE69gi2tGC
skin. The small, unattractive documentation of survival.
She reached out and touched one of the crystal petals.
The device awakened.
[Lifeform scan.]
[Human body.]
[Injuries detected: mild impact trauma; epidermal laceration;108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7y1z2sI5CU
inflammatory response; residual analgesic compounds in bloodstream; accumulated108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJM0Cn7YJy
fatigue toxins.]
[Convertible waste biomass: low quantity.]
[Activate low-level medical conversion?]
Zorina studied the words.
“Activate.”
She had no idea whether that was the correct command.
Apparently, the device was more forgiving than most official108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaCoTkYVBj
systems. It responded immediately, which placed it already above half the108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ShvSmGMk3
departments in Britain.
From within the petals, countless blue filaments emerged,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMhoMjCHzI
fine as hair. They did not pierce her skin. They passed through its surface108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwOY1Pbpv7
like light through shallow water, distinguishing with impossible delicacy108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb22LJd2gy6
between what belonged to her body and what no longer deserved residency.
Zorina’s arm tingled.
The swelling around the wounds receded at a visible speed.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzB1HE2Lu9
Redness faded. Dried blood cracked and lifted away. Beneath it, new skin108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbmVD56WJ7
formed, smooth and faintly luminous for one brief second before settling into108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWRKXlAfCK
ordinary flesh.
She stared.
High-tier medicine in 3911 could perform rapid repair. Of108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkdfksuLpW
course it could. With enough energy, nanomaterial, authorisation, medical debt,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHCEKgUbfY
and institutional permission, the ruling classes had achieved wonders. A First108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYj8XtMy2a
Tier minister could have an injured liver mended before lunch and complain108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4JJMvAtLQ
about the inconvenience of the appointment by dinner.
A Fifth Tier child could die of infected water beside a dark108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2n9wC8u8K
purification station.
Civilisation, as ever, was less a question of possibility108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKHiKWmfaS
than of who was allowed to benefit from it.
But this device was doing something different.
It was not consuming vast external power.
It was using the biological waste within her body to feed108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMx9GzT5fP
the repair.
The centre of the flower condensed a tiny pale-blue crystal.
It was smaller than a grain of rice.
[Conversion complete.]
[Low-grade energy crystal: 0.003 units.]
The amount was negligible.
Ridiculous, almost.
A number so small that any respectable administrator would108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdL8IwAyvtC
have buried it beneath twelve paragraphs of discouraging language and an108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcyKIwufj5
encouraging note about future review.
Yet Zorina stared at the little crystal as if she had just108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FooSnbka9
seen a city relight itself.
Not because it was large.
Because it proved that the impossible had quantity.
And once the impossible had quantity, it could be measured.
Once it could be measured, it could be repeated.
Once it could be repeated, it became policy’s worst108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyDqjGto2T
nightmare: a fact.
Her mind moved at once to the First Tier.
To those polished old men and beautifully maintained women108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVhNPTMNQb
who ate too much, drank too much, took gene-stabilising therapies, anti-ageing108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnClCt6qGV
injections, cellular rejuvenation compounds, and private metabolic treatments108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMA6VbIS483
with the wounded dignity of people forced to remain alive in considerable108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQeZI6rbLz
comfort.
Their bodies accumulated excess fat, metabolic residue,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVT0TOUB9W
decayed cells, drug residues, ageing tissue, corrupted proteins, minor lesions,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCXR2rw8CC
and all the waste that privilege politely renamed maintenance.
If one injured ordinary person could produce 0.003 units,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyObO6gEAy
then what might be harvested from the overfed, over-treated, chemically108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUq4vREDa1U
preserved bodies of the elite?
Their excess could become someone else’s light.
The irony was almost beautiful.
Which was inconvenient, because beautiful ironies had a108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfrBc7Utke
habit of becoming dangerous.
Zorina lifted the energy crystal from the device.
It rested in her palm, faintly warm.
At once, the golden patterns on the floor lit and extended108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTU1xncmAx
towards the far side of the cavern.
They were pointing.
There stood a small platform.
Zorina walked to it. The platform was empty, smooth, and108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkixBmC8xvh
black, with a shallow circular depression at its centre. She placed the tiny108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmjHKqWt6S
crystal upon it.
Silver rings materialised above the platform.
The air stirred.
Minute particles gathered in the empty space, first as dust,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0T4Y7hbj2
then as mist, then as a surface. The shape thinned and flattened, edges108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlr0uD2uDq
refining themselves with silent precision until a small, tablet-like object108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jhjOVxqHT
formed in the air.
It resembled an old-world communication device.
Only simpler.
Cleaner.
As if design, after centuries of human committee meetings,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOdYC3doJW
had finally been allowed to recover.
[Low-level communication interface generated.]
[Warning: external world communication networks are under regime108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafMrTM3Qhn
surveillance. Low-frequency hopping recommended.]
Zorina’s pulse quickened.
The Archive could do more than heal.
It could make.
Energy into matter.
Atomic reconstruction.
The meaning struck her with enough force that she went108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdYS4Tg3LM
still.
Crystal-Pattern Panel 1011 was not a discovery.
It was a keyhole.
This civilisation had not preserved a single technique. It108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0T7xDU1e0s
had preserved an entire hierarchy of tools beyond Earth’s present level. If108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZ94WZiAqS
even a portion of them could be awakened, the order built upon energy scarcity108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkfnBU2mnO
would not merely be challenged.
It would be made ridiculous.
And few things enraged power more than being made108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYJGD5O28v
ridiculous.
Zorina picked up the communication interface.
Its surface brightened.
[Please specify contact.]
She remained silent for several seconds.
She did not contact Atlas.
Not because she distrusted him.
Precisely because she trusted him.
Atlas was inside the Energy Quota Authority. He would be108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft5ZICp5i6
watched, especially now. Any abnormal communication would push him straight108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApNAoqMgZz
into the Bureau’s line of fire, and the Bureau had never been famous for108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbJRQh4vob
missing when shooting at inconvenient loyalty.
Robin Shen was different.
Robin Shen had been raised in fire and taught to call it108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfBpBhO9PJ
central heating.
She entered a private code she had not used in years.
Long ago, when they were still children, Robin had turned108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3t8fdFvizd
that sequence into a secret game between them. He had told her that if the108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6jL7XxRK3
world ever became too loud, she could use it to find him.
At the time, neither of them had known that the world would108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZoVSXjxxp
eventually become quite so deafening.
The interface flickered.
Once.
Twice.
On the third pulse, a lazy male voice drifted through.
“If this is not a scam, I should first clarify that I am not108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpuiwCxRls
currently buying insurance, investing in Martian cemetery plots, or fostering108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQnUyRDP06
any former girlfriend’s cat.”
Zorina closed her eyes.
“Robin.”
Silence.
Five full seconds.
Then every trace of theatrical laziness vanished from his108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpiXEG6Dms
voice.
“Zori?”
She did not waste time on greeting.
“I need your help.”
Robin Shen did not ask where she was.
He did not ask why she was using a strange channel.
He did not ask what trouble she had created, fallen into,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0PpcIlTcL
offended, awakened, or possibly inherited from a prior civilisation.
He asked only, “Money, identity, flight corridor, or a108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAJWsK7Nao
corpse?”
Zorina looked around the impossible Archive.
“Possibly all of them.”
Robin drew a soft breath.
“Well. You have finally decided to be interesting.”
“I found something.”
“Dangerous?”
“Enough to change the world.”
“Interesting…”
She looked down at the tiny blue crystal in her palm.
“I can make energy.”
This time, the silence on the other end became absolute.
When Robin spoke again, his voice was lower.
“Do you understand that if any regime hears that sentence,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfSA3RTLLCM
you cease to be a person and become an asset?”
“That is why I called you.”
“Where are you?”
Zorina glanced at the external position displayed on the108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOkTE347L2
interface.
“Tristan da Cunha.”
Robin said something very softly and extremely unsuitable108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDXrUgyLMA
for polite company.
Then, in English, with exquisite irritation:
“Brilliant. And what, precisely, happened to South Africa?”
“The capsule went off course.”
“Sabotage?”
“Possibly. But I don’t think they succeeded in making me108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyHwrm0jfu
fall.”
“What does that mean?”
Zorina looked towards the great column of light.
“I think the island caught me.”
Robin did not laugh.
That was the thing about him.
The frivolous heir, the decorative wastrel, the charming108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3i2YZ2KXWx
embarrassment at expensive dinners — all of that could deceive society pages,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFThLvw8Z1Y
family enemies, and women who mistook cynicism for intelligence. But before108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUpqEdXFXk
real danger, Robin never wasted time denying information merely because it108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HlwRia5wh
sounded deranged.
It was one of his few genuinely civilised qualities.
“Stay where you are,” he said. “I’ll arrange a rescue line.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfKBxyfy90
It cannot be official. The most important thing is that Britain must not define108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJGLoQXXUu
you first.”
“Define me?”
“Missing. Defector. Dead. Traitor. Asset under protective108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMBW7DM9V7
custody. Choose any unpleasant noun and place it in a white folder. That is how108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJCMXjOHTr
governments perform sorcery.”
“I don’t only need extraction.”
“Well?”
Zorina lifted her eyes to the chamber that had slept beneath108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkjPzBjlrA
the volcano for longer than human empire had known how to flatter itself.
For the first time, her ambition became clear.
Not anger.
Not survival.
Not even justice.
A structure.
A plan.
A direction.
“I need the island.”
There was a pause on the other end.
Then Robin laughed.
Not lightly.
Not foolishly.
It was the laugh of a gambler who had just seen, at last,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDWVU25k2L
one card on the table capable of frightening the house.
“Perfect,” he said softly. “Then we shall have a civilised108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1iqaswmSaG
conversation with Britain.”
Zorina looked down at the first energy crystal.
Small.
Blue.
Almost nothing.
A seed of light resting in her palm.
Above her, the Archive breathed in silence.
And somewhere beyond the stone, the old world continued108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGzceqyybI
congratulating itself on being permanent.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4dIKqOv8h
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz27zSfXFUx
**Thank you for reading my novel. If you enjoyed the story, please give it a like and leave a comment — your support really encourages me to keep writing and sharing more chapters.**
and then Add to home screen.