**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.**120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbYYTK11oK
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 vessel120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsKkqKUZyd
bearing the crest of a private medical foundation. Officially, it was120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBpqFsMp9C
conducting a search-and-rescue operation for missing technical personnel in the120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUHVUHuLeJ
South Atlantic. On board were two medics, three crates of emergency supplies, a120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPyvyCA3at
portable communication tower, and twelve containers which looked, with120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvX15W1ZYaP
admirable innocence, like medical refrigeration units.
They were in fact filled with unregistered energy120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAJAsqJoDn
cartridges.
A distinction only the law would have found meaningful.
When Zorina descended from the direction of the volcano, the120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ske5s7uHr
rescue team stared at her.
She was still wearing the torn flight suit. There was dried120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVoSWkKtsU
blood at her temple, evidence of injury, though no injury impressive enough to120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfh05wKt5o7
satisfy the expectations of people who had been sent to retrieve a crash120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYwiiKcMX9
survivor. Her expression did not belong to someone recently rescued from120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLWlrRJjb1
disaster.
She was too calm.
So calm, in fact, that she looked less like a woman awaiting120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpORJ7xHiw
rescue and more like a supervisor watching a shipment of tools arrive late.
“Miss Li,” one of the medics said carefully, “please allow120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21IUmrMUGf
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. They120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktwTAZF8Ef
will not make you redundant.” She looked at him. “The tower.”
The medic, having encountered the sort of woman whom even120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW08bxwNr2q
trauma had failed to render decorative, sensibly stopped speaking.
The communication tower was assembled inside the temporary120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbccc3K2YSz
shelter. A few minutes later, Robin Shen’s holographic image appeared above the120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT55Xf2IAe9
projection unit.
He wore a silver-grey suit that was offensively expensive.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApmIzS6bx6
Behind him, there seemed to be a banquet terrace: laughter, music, the soft120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82QlzXs5mh
chime of champagne glasses, and the well-bred murmur of people who had never120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRDBemLjek
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 with120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxzKKMYn6A
anyone’s survival unless it affected the seating arrangement.
But his eyes were different.
His eyes, when they rested on Zorina, contained no trace of120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0sm9M6hpj
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 must120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSs3ECB1ks2
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 can120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEu2EywqVF
see exile has improved your manners.”
Zorina ignored him and placed the first energy crystal on120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnekgtBh9u
the scanning table.
It was a tiny thing.
Almost unimpressive.
Robin looked at it.
“What is that?”
“An energy crystal formed from converted human waste120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMe3brjwXXB
biomass.”
He considered her.
“Human language, please.”
“Fat, viral remnants, necrotic cells, metabolic waste.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaZgucJ5Rp
Converted into stable energy.”
The lazy expression on Robin Shen’s face slowly disappeared.
He did not understand the world as Atlas did. Atlas read120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡew00EEvOOH
systems through data, structure, and pattern. Robin read them through price,120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHTR7rdygN
leverage, appetite, fear, and the speed at which people became murderous when120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOELSVO9EGJ
ownership was in dispute.
Which meant he understood the crystal faster than almost120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMf2MioPIrm
anyone else would have.
“Efficiency?”
“Unknown at scale. The device I found is only a120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWvta8ounm
first-generation interface.”
“Side effects?”
“Low-grade operation appears painless. It also produces120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvf95sHwmPz
medical repair.”
“Reproducible?”
Zorina paused.
“The equipment can be generated. But the core activation120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqKoxYuH5f
currently requires me.”
Robin heard the important part and smiled, charmingly enough120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNI1T87Gha
to suggest that civilisation had been invented only to give him places to be120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPM31InhFg
forgiven.
“So if someone steals the machine, they may not be able to120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DwCcCbIE2
use it.”
“Correct.”
“Can it be scaled to city level?”
“With time, materials, space, a legal shell, and a large120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzy7C7Z3gy
number of willing participants.”
Robin laughed softly.
“Willing participants? Zori, you underestimate human120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcukRqWqx7V
vanity. Tell the Second Tier you can reduce fat, repair damaged cells, lower120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0pL1Zxo69
viral residue, and slow visible ageing, and they’ll queue into the sea. You120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3S2wtuhYBO
needn’t mention energy at all.”
“I reached the same conclusion.”
“Medical aesthetics as the shell. Healthcare as the flag.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBKilmoGW3
Plutocratic bodies as the first raw supply.” Robin’s voice grew slower as he120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLN44HbdRF
assembled the idea. “Charge them money, extract their waste, convert it into120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMI9vjje4wa
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 behind120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPxgTecYRg
him seemed, all at once, unrelated to him.
“But you must understand something. This is not starting a120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQFcSVrWNH
company. This is declaring war on Quota Civilisation. The moment energy is no120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZbZJ3VV1n
longer something regimes alone can distribute, the Five Tier system begins to120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡva6sCxXa6x
loosen. The First Tier will want to control you. The Second Tier will want120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmNWDcXjui
shares in you. The Third Tier will want to reverse-engineer you. The Fourth120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDslumU6Ec
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 what120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbrwuaZLI7
women wanted to be called?”
Zorina did not answer.
His voice lowered.
“You have always been like this. Since we were children. The120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfT0d3HS0i9
instant you see someone drowning, you reach for them. Have you considered that120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBo6ldCPFYg
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, the120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5quEp0K8pr
plutocratic mask, all of it slipped. He looked almost like the boy from a Hong120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH72c7fOx86
Kong kindergarten playground, placing sweets in her hand with the solemn120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrqOQ1NbtP
generosity of a child who had not yet learned that kindness was dangerous.
Back then, whenever she had needed something, Robin had120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuxgqKWv2L
appeared with money, access, excuses, and an astonishing talent for making120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlFIDVdQ1M
consequences lose interest in her. Always at precisely the right moment. Always120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpv5xfYYlVJ
from behind the curtain.
Then his parents died in a political purge dressed very120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBjxLVv1Rm
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 everyone120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiL3hNQCbEO
underestimated, because the powerful were always more comfortable around vice120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx80yh36Y2R
than intelligence.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll help you.”
“Conditions?”
“Conditions?” Robin looked almost offended. “What conditions120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rtlx85kjN
do you imagine I require?”
Zorina was silent.
He looked at her with a stubbornness that had not changed120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnOxuTu0Er
since childhood.
“I am not helping you because I believe the world deserves120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONWLeuQDn3
saving.”
He smiled as he said it, but his voice was gentler than the120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsP6oR8UlU
expression allowed.
“I am helping you because you believe it does.”
Outside the tent, sea wind dragged black volcanic ash across120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWMLZMm6JA
the ground.
Zorina lowered her gaze to the energy crystal.
It was small.
Yet it looked more like dawn than all the white light in120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAyj1l0uuG
Britain’s government domes.
“First step,” she said. “I need Britain to recognise my120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZiMx0KoS7V
control of this island.”
Robin’s smile thinned into something more professional.
“Tristan da Cunha remains within Britain’s residual overseas120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKaQmLAY7K
control sequence. Britain will not simply hand over sovereignty because a120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXmJ6oKr5x
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.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNp7bH5Bp2H
Energy special zone.”
“And one more clause,” Zorina said. “All subterranean120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45rJohnxQz
discoveries on the island are to be administered by me.”
“Britain will ask what it receives.”
“Priority sales rights. The legal products produced during120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8N4AZbidwe
phase one of the biological energy medical system: Britain receives priority120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa45ajMIIyf
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 to120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0aonBjXwq
make them greedy.” She paused. “And they should understand that even if the120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TEPbuY01r
devices are exposed, they will only operate under my instruction. If they kill120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEVRcGdPtp
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 think120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCI7pyy7KHv
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.**
ns216.73.216.179da2
and then Add to home screen.