**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.**79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRFh9d41pT
Robin Shen saw Zorina again forty-six hours later.
He did not set foot on the island himself.
At least, not publicly.
The first arrival was a low-consumption supply vessel79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRx798IpXV
bearing the crest of a private medical foundation. Officially, it was79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALpEId8LY4
conducting a search-and-rescue operation for missing technical personnel in the79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7sgVY67yx
South Atlantic. On board were two medics, three crates of emergency supplies, a79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw36iTOQLGJ
portable communication tower, and twelve containers which looked, with79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSkEiHLWR1
admirable innocence, like medical refrigeration units.
They were in fact filled with unregistered energy79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynzpg0Q3DY
cartridges.
A distinction only the law would have found meaningful.
When Zorina descended from the direction of the volcano, the79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhXBP95lOk
rescue team stared at her.
She was still wearing the torn flight suit. There was dried79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhWjqszT11
blood at her temple, evidence of injury, though no injury impressive enough to79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fcWlmZVLe
satisfy the expectations of people who had been sent to retrieve a crash79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1o73qCnoa
survivor. Her expression did not belong to someone recently rescued from79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWTBKkYXnx
disaster.
She was too calm.
So calm, in fact, that she looked less like a woman awaiting79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXHWMTXo04
rescue and more like a supervisor watching a shipment of tools arrive late.
“Miss Li,” one of the medics said carefully, “please allow79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpYtOaRaDt
us to conduct a medical examination.”
“Set up the communication tower first.”
“But your injuries—”
“My injuries are not your occupation, so you may relax. They79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1bZKtyu9U
will not make you redundant.” She looked at him. “The tower.”
The medic, having encountered the sort of woman whom even79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwMJsaFAyJ
trauma had failed to render decorative, sensibly stopped speaking.
The communication tower was assembled inside the temporary79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SqARdX5hU
shelter. A few minutes later, Robin Shen’s holographic image appeared above the79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAs6S0ZKiE3
projection unit.
He wore a silver-grey suit that was offensively expensive.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitVcHLD0rG
Behind him, there seemed to be a banquet terrace: laughter, music, the soft79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRyQQx0RZV
chime of champagne glasses, and the well-bred murmur of people who had never79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJBTnvLIwy
once been inconvenienced by the truth without making staff handle it.
He looked exactly like any young plutocratic heir of 3911.
Beautiful.
Careless.
Irritating.
A man who appeared to have never concerned himself with79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUjA3Q70St
anyone’s survival unless it affected the seating arrangement.
But his eyes were different.
His eyes, when they rested on Zorina, contained no trace of79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUDB8V0FRY
wine.
“You’ve lost weight,” he said.
Zorina sat in the folding chair opposite the projection.
“You’ve gained some.”
Robin sighed. “Plutocratic life is brutal. One must79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4HB1oJibr
accumulate spare fat for warmth.”
“Good,” she said. “Your fat may soon become useful.”
One of his eyebrows lifted.
“After all these years, and not a single tender word. I can79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhraAf3dXo
see exile has improved your manners.”
Zorina ignored him and placed the first energy crystal on79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtdpDGgHG1
the scanning table.
It was a tiny thing.
Almost unimpressive.
Robin looked at it.
“What is that?”
“An energy crystal formed from converted human waste79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9sjvLyP9s
biomass.”
He considered her.
“Human language, please.”
“Fat, viral remnants, necrotic cells, metabolic waste.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErWS9ZRXi2
Converted into stable energy.”
The lazy expression on Robin Shen’s face slowly disappeared.
He did not understand the world as Atlas did. Atlas read79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrONv2YUgU
systems through data, structure, and pattern. Robin read them through price,79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡit4AeFOpYm
leverage, appetite, fear, and the speed at which people became murderous when79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBan9GFMIf
ownership was in dispute.
Which meant he understood the crystal faster than almost79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMtoaUEglF
anyone else would have.
“Efficiency?”
“Unknown at scale. The device I found is only a79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciiTCbhYmz
first-generation interface.”
“Side effects?”
“Low-grade operation appears painless. It also produces79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1UzG1tos9
medical repair.”
“Reproducible?”
Zorina paused.
“The equipment can be generated. But the core activation79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvHCfO1mC4
currently requires me.”
Robin heard the important part and smiled, charmingly enough79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVSe5I5uex
to suggest that civilisation had been invented only to give him places to be79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDWJKKaIZKc
forgiven.
“So if someone steals the machine, they may not be able to79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrm0VxSGMvG
use it.”
“Correct.”
“Can it be scaled to city level?”
“With time, materials, space, a legal shell, and a large79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Vpb0fn70G
number of willing participants.”
Robin laughed softly.
“Willing participants? Zori, you underestimate human79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXrrS8DdP6
vanity. Tell the Second Tier you can reduce fat, repair damaged cells, lower79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4tUfj6h2LY
viral residue, and slow visible ageing, and they’ll queue into the sea. You79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZOQIHUtMY
needn’t mention energy at all.”
“I reached the same conclusion.”
“Medical aesthetics as the shell. Healthcare as the flag.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJgCSxbcfh
Plutocratic bodies as the first raw supply.” Robin’s voice grew slower as he79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LmI72AsVk
assembled the idea. “Charge them money, extract their waste, convert it into79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARBGWZf5Lq
energy, then use that energy to expand the system.”
Zorina watched him.
“Would it work?”
“Perfectly.”
He sat a little straighter. The laughter and music behind79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzr8iT9lc43
him seemed, all at once, unrelated to him.
“But you must understand something. This is not starting a79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cHmtLmOrG
company. This is declaring war on Quota Civilisation. The moment energy is no79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOatcXb8Wf6
longer something regimes alone can distribute, the Five Tier system begins to79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7LWR5VfWn
loosen. The First Tier will want to control you. The Second Tier will want79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznfvepdZD3
shares in you. The Third Tier will want to reverse-engineer you. The Fourth79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUccT4Wm4kh
Tier will call you hope. The Fifth Tier may call you a god.”
“I do not want to be a god.”
Robin looked at her.
“My dear, when has history ever troubled itself with what79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sUpeVWaDT
women wanted to be called?”
Zorina did not answer.
His voice lowered.
“You have always been like this. Since we were children. The79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgWZb0rAKQ
instant you see someone drowning, you reach for them. Have you considered that79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6qXt7jCcj
this time the entire world may be underwater and holding on to your wrist?”
“That is why I called you.”
“Because I am charming?”
“Because you know how to bribe lifeguards.”
Robin paused.
Then he laughed.
For one brief moment, the expensive suit, the banquet, the79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEh2Oag0Xvp
plutocratic mask, all of it slipped. He looked almost like the boy from a Hong79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrneaGoiUJk
Kong kindergarten playground, placing sweets in her hand with the solemn79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndjMqj1BXQ
generosity of a child who had not yet learned that kindness was dangerous.
Back then, whenever she had needed something, Robin had79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdQomko8Mc
appeared with money, access, excuses, and an astonishing talent for making79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJMWLUDIcm
consequences lose interest in her. Always at precisely the right moment. Always79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2NgTc9sfI
from behind the curtain.
Then his parents died in a political purge dressed very79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JsesulcS2
neatly as a traffic accident.
After that, he learned to play the fool.
To be stupid.
To be rotten.
To become the sort of decorative wastrel everyone79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjODXLpTIS7
underestimated, because the powerful were always more comfortable around vice79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPITnC2wwTC
than intelligence.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll help you.”
“Conditions?”
“Conditions?” Robin looked almost offended. “What conditions79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtt9DS8erbr
do you imagine I require?”
Zorina was silent.
He looked at her with a stubbornness that had not changed79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLuKjq02BM7
since childhood.
“I am not helping you because I believe the world deserves79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hPk6Bnlqc
saving.”
He smiled as he said it, but his voice was gentler than the79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaBZplTLSN
expression allowed.
“I am helping you because you believe it does.”
Outside the tent, sea wind dragged black volcanic ash across79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90wuv8pdRy
the ground.
Zorina lowered her gaze to the energy crystal.
It was small.
Yet it looked more like dawn than all the white light in79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYVbBnZ0V8
Britain’s government domes.
“First step,” she said. “I need Britain to recognise my79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJyH2K776w
control of this island.”
Robin’s smile thinned into something more professional.
“Tristan da Cunha remains within Britain’s residual overseas79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0tDksqIZH
control sequence. Britain will not simply hand over sovereignty because a79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeL0MSB8aJ5
missing analyst has had an eventful weekend.”
“Then we do not ask for sovereignty at first.”
His eyes brightened.
“Development rights. Scientific autonomy. Long-term lease.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwHFXYOy3U
Energy special zone.”
“And one more clause,” Zorina said. “All subterranean79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVCMX3De7r
discoveries on the island are to be administered by me.”
“Britain will ask what it receives.”
“Priority sales rights. The legal products produced during79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzo5OszkQ5
phase one of the biological energy medical system: Britain receives priority79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExG33roEuo
procurement and agency rights.”
Robin touched his chin.
“They will want control of the technology.”
“They can control distribution. Not the core.”
“They will be displeased.”
“Then let them be shown a demonstration first. Enough to79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6jTaBDpMl
make them greedy.” She paused. “And they should understand that even if the79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbCp5wsYDh
devices are exposed, they will only operate under my instruction. If they kill79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpavdvNhdft
me, they inherit nothing.”
Robin studied her for a moment.
“How much are you prepared to show them?”
Zorina closed her fingers around the energy crystal.
“Enough to make them want it. Not enough to make them think79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNp8wIWFd9
they can murder me and take it.”
Robin’s smile returned slowly.
“Starling,” he said, “you have grown up.”
She looked past the tent flap towards the black volcano.
“No,” she said. “I finally have tools.”
**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.**
ns216.73.217.22da2
and then Add to home screen.