**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.**104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyAwXG3Wns
The First Energy Crystal
Leaving the Abbas Archive proved more difficult than104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cD5f2WuSb
entering it.
Which was, Zorina supposed, only fair. Ancient impossible104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9eLDHMMJP
civilisations were rarely considerate enough to provide clearly marked exits,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4FOoK66EA
emergency lighting, and a polite notice reading: This way back to your104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLG4x1vm33
previous understanding of reality.
She stood beneath the great column of light, with104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlX5LMJiTic
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 to104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfN5Sa7eG4
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 fantasy104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVQ18nDk7P
and more like a word humanity had invented for knowledge it had failed to104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzTUKEHQ6z
catch.
Zorina walked towards the flower-shaped biological energy104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuL16SC4alS
device.
The six transparent crystal petals sensed her approach and104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKc7EKExHqg
opened slowly. The reclining platform at their centre shimmered with a104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiQzD2F53e
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.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1j4xnOS8T
Even when one finds oneself inside a volcanic archive that recognises one’s104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyLVcve0en
blood and opens ancient doors in one’s honour, a certain professional suspicion104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjH2aOFZ7RT
remains healthy. Faith, after all, was merely ignorance wearing ceremonial104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsKuov1Ott
clothing.
She rolled up the torn sleeve of her damaged flight suit and104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRUf2pd2RV
exposed her arm.
Bruises. Abrasions. Dried blood. A shallow split across the104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSOhP0u6Am
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;104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdD7FqOZtTH
inflammatory response; residual analgesic compounds in bloodstream; accumulated104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeF5bHBrU2z
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 official104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa054F3R595
systems. It responded immediately, which placed it already above half the104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL4dcTDrJx
departments in Britain.
From within the petals, countless blue filaments emerged,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTEIv5WeND
fine as hair. They did not pierce her skin. They passed through its surface104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8EWau1I04
like light through shallow water, distinguishing with impossible delicacy104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaxMyQHjGE
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.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8CnysIr9E
Redness faded. Dried blood cracked and lifted away. Beneath it, new skin104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ575VZjSKrx
formed, smooth and faintly luminous for one brief second before settling into104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpnjqVrTTw
ordinary flesh.
She stared.
High-tier medicine in 3911 could perform rapid repair. Of104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvg9OUfEn84
course it could. With enough energy, nanomaterial, authorisation, medical debt,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5wQNbokAT
and institutional permission, the ruling classes had achieved wonders. A First104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBCzGfe1S9
Tier minister could have an injured liver mended before lunch and complain104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZywYz2oGHP
about the inconvenience of the appointment by dinner.
A Fifth Tier child could die of infected water beside a dark104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpkte9WuO2
purification station.
Civilisation, as ever, was less a question of possibility104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzl5QCoBIT
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 feed104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIXkqhReW2
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 would104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1747AHLzgm
have buried it beneath twelve paragraphs of discouraging language and an104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KvVOjUUmb
encouraging note about future review.
Yet Zorina stared at the little crystal as if she had just104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dcFjC8Psm
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 worst104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnT1NgfzzL
nightmare: a fact.
Her mind moved at once to the First Tier.
To those polished old men and beautifully maintained women104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmOuEy2fuQ
who ate too much, drank too much, took gene-stabilising therapies, anti-ageing104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMImP21gnhI
injections, cellular rejuvenation compounds, and private metabolic treatments104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡon9DcoXkXL
with the wounded dignity of people forced to remain alive in considerable104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rnFd9z2Dj
comfort.
Their bodies accumulated excess fat, metabolic residue,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMzqlbzMDV
decayed cells, drug residues, ageing tissue, corrupted proteins, minor lesions,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UaXAPv9cU
and all the waste that privilege politely renamed maintenance.
If one injured ordinary person could produce 0.003 units,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuu1bScUBt7
then what might be harvested from the overfed, over-treated, chemically104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyO0cQt7LXQ
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 a104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡresBRDAfPY
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 extended104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6CSOepaHd
towards the far side of the cavern.
They were pointing.
There stood a small platform.
Zorina walked to it. The platform was empty, smooth, and104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0bui36BUt
black, with a shallow circular depression at its centre. She placed the tiny104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbDoZCA9sC
crystal upon it.
Silver rings materialised above the platform.
The air stirred.
Minute particles gathered in the empty space, first as dust,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwc7w1QlSr
then as mist, then as a surface. The shape thinned and flattened, edges104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6eP7qdL7w
refining themselves with silent precision until a small, tablet-like object104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdJS2uVPxS
formed in the air.
It resembled an old-world communication device.
Only simpler.
Cleaner.
As if design, after centuries of human committee meetings,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEyxR92XsA
had finally been allowed to recover.
[Low-level communication interface generated.]
[Warning: external world communication networks are under regime104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QMmzpccTh
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 went104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrt3QJe9Za
still.
Crystal-Pattern Panel 1011 was not a discovery.
It was a keyhole.
This civilisation had not preserved a single technique. It104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTeH4RzYs0
had preserved an entire hierarchy of tools beyond Earth’s present level. If104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTVlsnHopy
even a portion of them could be awakened, the order built upon energy scarcity104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJERNGJRdTR
would not merely be challenged.
It would be made ridiculous.
And few things enraged power more than being made104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVGDOYFAHP
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 be104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtN1aTQDxJY
watched, especially now. Any abnormal communication would push him straight104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoTXNDm2Sc
into the Bureau’s line of fire, and the Bureau had never been famous for104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxrnUTvdqh
missing when shooting at inconvenient loyalty.
Robin Shen was different.
Robin Shen had been raised in fire and taught to call it104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7LUqSXXuV
central heating.
She entered a private code she had not used in years.
Long ago, when they were still children, Robin had turned104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmanPfqABUl
that sequence into a secret game between them. He had told her that if the104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zr1EkSgsg
world ever became too loud, she could use it to find him.
At the time, neither of them had known that the world would104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojkTl2MIRu
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 not104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbB8DrhMnHv
currently buying insurance, investing in Martian cemetery plots, or fostering104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMHWTtTrNA
any former girlfriend’s cat.”
Zorina closed her eyes.
“Robin.”
Silence.
Five full seconds.
Then every trace of theatrical laziness vanished from his104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zIcHoST7l
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,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1deXBD497z
offended, awakened, or possibly inherited from a prior civilisation.
He asked only, “Money, identity, flight corridor, or a104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ycQfFE6D7
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,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiDCIvcDxv
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 the104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr330OlSX0c
interface.
“Tristan da Cunha.”
Robin said something very softly and extremely unsuitable104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGvjddUQAI
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 me104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgt7QfQpuke
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 charming104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGo6GbDLHU
embarrassment at expensive dinners — all of that could deceive society pages,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd2K9xKUSz
family enemies, and women who mistook cynicism for intelligence. But before104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eN2qI2qRi
real danger, Robin never wasted time denying information merely because it104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXkstXMlDU
sounded deranged.
It was one of his few genuinely civilised qualities.
“Stay where you are,” he said. “I’ll arrange a rescue line.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2lOBnarWv
It cannot be official. The most important thing is that Britain must not define104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrkHX4NiJe
you first.”
“Define me?”
“Missing. Defector. Dead. Traitor. Asset under protective104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqKM9W44cn
custody. Choose any unpleasant noun and place it in a white folder. That is how104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIMGLCerRF
governments perform sorcery.”
“I don’t only need extraction.”
“Well?”
Zorina lifted her eyes to the chamber that had slept beneath104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnln1undWLf
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,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdikSC0v8d3
one card on the table capable of frightening the house.
“Perfect,” he said softly. “Then we shall have a civilised104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8embj18rh3
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 continued104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFd5QFR7TR
congratulating itself on being permanent.
104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBXD4Tbh3B
104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vuEkDiCAn
**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.