**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.**117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeTh2OYOTL
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 vessel117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNzxnpG27J
bearing the crest of a private medical foundation. Officially, it was117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfA7KjFaEZW
conducting a search-and-rescue operation for missing technical personnel in the117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8J91gEbn21
South Atlantic. On board were two medics, three crates of emergency supplies, a117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczo7c4qMkC
portable communication tower, and twelve containers which looked, with117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3sGb8Dhi4
admirable innocence, like medical refrigeration units.
They were in fact filled with unregistered energy117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFwXzpqETJ
cartridges.
A distinction only the law would have found meaningful.
When Zorina descended from the direction of the volcano, the117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrMHYDq2e1
rescue team stared at her.
She was still wearing the torn flight suit. There was dried117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIcPCOGHju
blood at her temple, evidence of injury, though no injury impressive enough to117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxk956wDKpS
satisfy the expectations of people who had been sent to retrieve a crash117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kAqMv5Uzm
survivor. Her expression did not belong to someone recently rescued from117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJNz70Zjfz
disaster.
She was too calm.
So calm, in fact, that she looked less like a woman awaiting117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmi9snyYlgC
rescue and more like a supervisor watching a shipment of tools arrive late.
“Miss Li,” one of the medics said carefully, “please allow117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0S0gMCxshq
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. They117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhQByEszZn
will not make you redundant.” She looked at him. “The tower.”
The medic, having encountered the sort of woman whom even117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJ08FGhwVw
trauma had failed to render decorative, sensibly stopped speaking.
The communication tower was assembled inside the temporary117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7FxtOyYXY
shelter. A few minutes later, Robin Shen’s holographic image appeared above the117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kmqlTDWbW
projection unit.
He wore a silver-grey suit that was offensively expensive.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0E4sRLFNoJ
Behind him, there seemed to be a banquet terrace: laughter, music, the soft117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgmn5vvv4u
chime of champagne glasses, and the well-bred murmur of people who had never117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPiBzJpVuY
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 with117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvC08qEclou
anyone’s survival unless it affected the seating arrangement.
But his eyes were different.
His eyes, when they rested on Zorina, contained no trace of117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKrPL6phJg
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 must117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOCHs3iLQP
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 can117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLGRRaBWWt
see exile has improved your manners.”
Zorina ignored him and placed the first energy crystal on117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvy1tXdWYlU
the scanning table.
It was a tiny thing.
Almost unimpressive.
Robin looked at it.
“What is that?”
“An energy crystal formed from converted human waste117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5e57zenwHC
biomass.”
He considered her.
“Human language, please.”
“Fat, viral remnants, necrotic cells, metabolic waste.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sI3jKCn1x
Converted into stable energy.”
The lazy expression on Robin Shen’s face slowly disappeared.
He did not understand the world as Atlas did. Atlas read117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pIceUpEkx
systems through data, structure, and pattern. Robin read them through price,117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDMnZOzJ9D
leverage, appetite, fear, and the speed at which people became murderous when117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsk98P5Vpyy
ownership was in dispute.
Which meant he understood the crystal faster than almost117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaQzVrse5e
anyone else would have.
“Efficiency?”
“Unknown at scale. The device I found is only a117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPtbBUhBd8
first-generation interface.”
“Side effects?”
“Low-grade operation appears painless. It also produces117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQ44x8VPKY
medical repair.”
“Reproducible?”
Zorina paused.
“The equipment can be generated. But the core activation117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUJa32xPDU
currently requires me.”
Robin heard the important part and smiled, charmingly enough117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnw1GHF7ru3
to suggest that civilisation had been invented only to give him places to be117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYJT7Do9Oq
forgiven.
“So if someone steals the machine, they may not be able to117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHVbXxQlsm
use it.”
“Correct.”
“Can it be scaled to city level?”
“With time, materials, space, a legal shell, and a large117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIXGz5bwa4
number of willing participants.”
Robin laughed softly.
“Willing participants? Zori, you underestimate human117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnd13aIvG5q
vanity. Tell the Second Tier you can reduce fat, repair damaged cells, lower117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VaA9qaPtv
viral residue, and slow visible ageing, and they’ll queue into the sea. You117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsi1QjVF74D
needn’t mention energy at all.”
“I reached the same conclusion.”
“Medical aesthetics as the shell. Healthcare as the flag.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlBkuaTk4T
Plutocratic bodies as the first raw supply.” Robin’s voice grew slower as he117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCy1KJzE5ZO
assembled the idea. “Charge them money, extract their waste, convert it into117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62HBV4rlBD
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 behind117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUl2u8NP1r
him seemed, all at once, unrelated to him.
“But you must understand something. This is not starting a117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKPWxqxbOR
company. This is declaring war on Quota Civilisation. The moment energy is no117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4TwvQkJfI
longer something regimes alone can distribute, the Five Tier system begins to117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteN8oPCMgV
loosen. The First Tier will want to control you. The Second Tier will want117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKV6xPlqZQh
shares in you. The Third Tier will want to reverse-engineer you. The Fourth117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrcTKMtNIA
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 what117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnsRcxiJu7
women wanted to be called?”
Zorina did not answer.
His voice lowered.
“You have always been like this. Since we were children. The117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmRWOhlVBM
instant you see someone drowning, you reach for them. Have you considered that117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sKb9a7wGf
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, the117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTi3jgyPU6R
plutocratic mask, all of it slipped. He looked almost like the boy from a Hong117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSYFieHHTe
Kong kindergarten playground, placing sweets in her hand with the solemn117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqJMBMYz0F
generosity of a child who had not yet learned that kindness was dangerous.
Back then, whenever she had needed something, Robin had117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDlvOoV9xMz
appeared with money, access, excuses, and an astonishing talent for making117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynNE2bFKzB
consequences lose interest in her. Always at precisely the right moment. Always117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJx6JJ1DoX
from behind the curtain.
Then his parents died in a political purge dressed very117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYslJRmvah
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 everyone117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsVrHoLqif
underestimated, because the powerful were always more comfortable around vice117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡud2sumxNFn
than intelligence.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll help you.”
“Conditions?”
“Conditions?” Robin looked almost offended. “What conditions117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3v6DloHhz
do you imagine I require?”
Zorina was silent.
He looked at her with a stubbornness that had not changed117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhIDXLmab4
since childhood.
“I am not helping you because I believe the world deserves117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLh2TrjSvlG
saving.”
He smiled as he said it, but his voice was gentler than the117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qVM43DPHU
expression allowed.
“I am helping you because you believe it does.”
Outside the tent, sea wind dragged black volcanic ash across117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcAuXa76zu
the ground.
Zorina lowered her gaze to the energy crystal.
It was small.
Yet it looked more like dawn than all the white light in117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEo5gBvoRA
Britain’s government domes.
“First step,” she said. “I need Britain to recognise my117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92CALPJPCM
control of this island.”
Robin’s smile thinned into something more professional.
“Tristan da Cunha remains within Britain’s residual overseas117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSdCh6mBjq
control sequence. Britain will not simply hand over sovereignty because a117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75xQ1VSQMz
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.117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNdR5X1T9t
Energy special zone.”
“And one more clause,” Zorina said. “All subterranean117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMpAEcOvCc
discoveries on the island are to be administered by me.”
“Britain will ask what it receives.”
“Priority sales rights. The legal products produced during117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjvD4yzx2k
phase one of the biological energy medical system: Britain receives priority117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKwy4xE5Vr
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 to117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLeI6k4H93
make them greedy.” She paused. “And they should understand that even if the117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTuAJW6yhz
devices are exposed, they will only operate under my instruction. If they kill117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKw6a3emA2
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 think117Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rxitC1xsY
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.**
ns216.73.217.114da2
and then Add to home screen.