**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.**107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsr5FYVtq0O
The First Energy Crystal
Leaving the Abbas Archive proved more difficult than107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTISDm8g9R
entering it.
Which was, Zorina supposed, only fair. Ancient impossible107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfM1U3cYLb
civilisations were rarely considerate enough to provide clearly marked exits,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Br1qAuIEu
emergency lighting, and a polite notice reading: This way back to your107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAoRslTXUz
previous understanding of reality.
She stood beneath the great column of light, with107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxj35ZFcXXs
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 to107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAB3TumJmOY
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 fantasy107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3qJ1sJgLa
and more like a word humanity had invented for knowledge it had failed to107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKiKKOPnPk
catch.
Zorina walked towards the flower-shaped biological energy107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2e2K6y3w9B
device.
The six transparent crystal petals sensed her approach and107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDioYBYp55
opened slowly. The reclining platform at their centre shimmered with a107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2H4EXAHTZ
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQMvSweTuw
Even when one finds oneself inside a volcanic archive that recognises one’s107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap2fBLPrDG
blood and opens ancient doors in one’s honour, a certain professional suspicion107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0k7ksDAgQr
remains healthy. Faith, after all, was merely ignorance wearing ceremonial107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vw1JdSra2
clothing.
She rolled up the torn sleeve of her damaged flight suit and107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCckGNIm3US
exposed her arm.
Bruises. Abrasions. Dried blood. A shallow split across the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMiHPtjbLk
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;107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYCFF5RiNG
inflammatory response; residual analgesic compounds in bloodstream; accumulated107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKbHHmXK28
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 official107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9c0USEoUpE
systems. It responded immediately, which placed it already above half the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NAfikPC0W
departments in Britain.
From within the petals, countless blue filaments emerged,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOZr5wLWUA
fine as hair. They did not pierce her skin. They passed through its surface107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrcoXD5tKi
like light through shallow water, distinguishing with impossible delicacy107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qcqCBzUBJ
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkTZj83nNp
Redness faded. Dried blood cracked and lifted away. Beneath it, new skin107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgD3tvVKeT
formed, smooth and faintly luminous for one brief second before settling into107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgwu396xVl
ordinary flesh.
She stared.
High-tier medicine in 3911 could perform rapid repair. Of107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEVEtNzDYl
course it could. With enough energy, nanomaterial, authorisation, medical debt,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sfBWVvL8O
and institutional permission, the ruling classes had achieved wonders. A First107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRrApAEeAw
Tier minister could have an injured liver mended before lunch and complain107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6z3pnKJulP
about the inconvenience of the appointment by dinner.
A Fifth Tier child could die of infected water beside a dark107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wcU1Sit50
purification station.
Civilisation, as ever, was less a question of possibility107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMs0AU9jSf
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 feed107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOGRkAC1Um
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 would107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoYN2ofQoY
have buried it beneath twelve paragraphs of discouraging language and an107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQHSSF2kF2
encouraging note about future review.
Yet Zorina stared at the little crystal as if she had just107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLUSST5ov0
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 worst107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjJvTnt6cC
nightmare: a fact.
Her mind moved at once to the First Tier.
To those polished old men and beautifully maintained women107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshds4crJ5P
who ate too much, drank too much, took gene-stabilising therapies, anti-ageing107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFH3ZWRgvR
injections, cellular rejuvenation compounds, and private metabolic treatments107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmuxMj0wK1
with the wounded dignity of people forced to remain alive in considerable107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxZyMop4qL
comfort.
Their bodies accumulated excess fat, metabolic residue,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfIFGCCacH
decayed cells, drug residues, ageing tissue, corrupted proteins, minor lesions,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCACMQVOoS
and all the waste that privilege politely renamed maintenance.
If one injured ordinary person could produce 0.003 units,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHFLUqWTW3
then what might be harvested from the overfed, over-treated, chemically107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGWaJG5nz8
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 a107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViS6pJa8MX
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 extended107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSTBuoqEmw
towards the far side of the cavern.
They were pointing.
There stood a small platform.
Zorina walked to it. The platform was empty, smooth, and107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLW4wmZne1t
black, with a shallow circular depression at its centre. She placed the tiny107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zR0bOADQ9
crystal upon it.
Silver rings materialised above the platform.
The air stirred.
Minute particles gathered in the empty space, first as dust,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8uuLWeEi9
then as mist, then as a surface. The shape thinned and flattened, edges107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCQoFv4vV0
refining themselves with silent precision until a small, tablet-like object107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7ir7PmGd9
formed in the air.
It resembled an old-world communication device.
Only simpler.
Cleaner.
As if design, after centuries of human committee meetings,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkTTlb8qvv
had finally been allowed to recover.
[Low-level communication interface generated.]
[Warning: external world communication networks are under regime107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQItaqATJc
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 went107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6Uyhcd0Za
still.
Crystal-Pattern Panel 1011 was not a discovery.
It was a keyhole.
This civilisation had not preserved a single technique. It107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7qlYTz8xy
had preserved an entire hierarchy of tools beyond Earth’s present level. If107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BXNikPK8k
even a portion of them could be awakened, the order built upon energy scarcity107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoq1am1t4GA
would not merely be challenged.
It would be made ridiculous.
And few things enraged power more than being made107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gjCoP1CSN
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 be107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUn5VekZlWK
watched, especially now. Any abnormal communication would push him straight107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiwzLfzoDo
into the Bureau’s line of fire, and the Bureau had never been famous for107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9nwgRXm4z
missing when shooting at inconvenient loyalty.
Robin Shen was different.
Robin Shen had been raised in fire and taught to call it107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrO1QyAtfW
central heating.
She entered a private code she had not used in years.
Long ago, when they were still children, Robin had turned107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡac41MysyFh
that sequence into a secret game between them. He had told her that if the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTs9GyAH09Q
world ever became too loud, she could use it to find him.
At the time, neither of them had known that the world would107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFHFQ4MHBL
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 not107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLQaktGYMN
currently buying insurance, investing in Martian cemetery plots, or fostering107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZOOZTnNkT
any former girlfriend’s cat.”
Zorina closed her eyes.
“Robin.”
Silence.
Five full seconds.
Then every trace of theatrical laziness vanished from his107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwYW0PMXkm
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,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qup0daQra
offended, awakened, or possibly inherited from a prior civilisation.
He asked only, “Money, identity, flight corridor, or a107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlFvkTQaAK
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,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdBfPgFy54
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 the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtsdvTh9Xj
interface.
“Tristan da Cunha.”
Robin said something very softly and extremely unsuitable107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGjLhJ2mlV
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 me107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJReX1RN6gt
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 charming107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROik7Zjay7
embarrassment at expensive dinners — all of that could deceive society pages,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5bGOvYLQ2
family enemies, and women who mistook cynicism for intelligence. But before107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0G9FhImjGT
real danger, Robin never wasted time denying information merely because it107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZ50PvLash
sounded deranged.
It was one of his few genuinely civilised qualities.
“Stay where you are,” he said. “I’ll arrange a rescue line.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEmYEyTxL8
It cannot be official. The most important thing is that Britain must not define107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjd1uJ5EPE
you first.”
“Define me?”
“Missing. Defector. Dead. Traitor. Asset under protective107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaB9whMn0V
custody. Choose any unpleasant noun and place it in a white folder. That is how107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDHusdbm1I
governments perform sorcery.”
“I don’t only need extraction.”
“Well?”
Zorina lifted her eyes to the chamber that had slept beneath107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EJ8joAeQk
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,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYWmKkiYDO
one card on the table capable of frightening the house.
“Perfect,” he said softly. “Then we shall have a civilised107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwxUPAnikt
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 continued107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmmqmedovY
congratulating itself on being permanent.
107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPaZMuAE98
107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBgte9IwNf
**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.