**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.**77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvexi36Uf2
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 vessel77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzyon1ETrp
bearing the crest of a private medical foundation. Officially, it was77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksjEazNVZv
conducting a search-and-rescue operation for missing technical personnel in the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqWiHeUxxl
South Atlantic. On board were two medics, three crates of emergency supplies, a77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjSnfhXh5Z
portable communication tower, and twelve containers which looked, with77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHFKDPrjho
admirable innocence, like medical refrigeration units.
They were in fact filled with unregistered energy77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxRbGMABqo
cartridges.
A distinction only the law would have found meaningful.
When Zorina descended from the direction of the volcano, the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3V12bMtdiy
rescue team stared at her.
She was still wearing the torn flight suit. There was dried77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6Xw7LbqlU
blood at her temple, evidence of injury, though no injury impressive enough to77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslz11JcMqd
satisfy the expectations of people who had been sent to retrieve a crash77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYOJADdESK
survivor. Her expression did not belong to someone recently rescued from77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyaNQKsWUe
disaster.
She was too calm.
So calm, in fact, that she looked less like a woman awaiting77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2t8lkM4vM
rescue and more like a supervisor watching a shipment of tools arrive late.
“Miss Li,” one of the medics said carefully, “please allow77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaF0EzI1H4N
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. They77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkv6tPSwLHh
will not make you redundant.” She looked at him. “The tower.”
The medic, having encountered the sort of woman whom even77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4i2wKgAPu4
trauma had failed to render decorative, sensibly stopped speaking.
The communication tower was assembled inside the temporary77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYzK1goKgM
shelter. A few minutes later, Robin Shen’s holographic image appeared above the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG98u2h8P7g
projection unit.
He wore a silver-grey suit that was offensively expensive.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrA6ObBnvh
Behind him, there seemed to be a banquet terrace: laughter, music, the soft77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2kSpG78rp
chime of champagne glasses, and the well-bred murmur of people who had never77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI27dVdNsQv
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 with77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtLMVlRAZ5
anyone’s survival unless it affected the seating arrangement.
But his eyes were different.
His eyes, when they rested on Zorina, contained no trace of77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gMLHDHCnE
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 must77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRll6ojdyU
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 can77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfM7gMupZq1
see exile has improved your manners.”
Zorina ignored him and placed the first energy crystal on77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUpn44A8fD
the scanning table.
It was a tiny thing.
Almost unimpressive.
Robin looked at it.
“What is that?”
“An energy crystal formed from converted human waste77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzFwYLkQ8y
biomass.”
He considered her.
“Human language, please.”
“Fat, viral remnants, necrotic cells, metabolic waste.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWKOXmcbI5
Converted into stable energy.”
The lazy expression on Robin Shen’s face slowly disappeared.
He did not understand the world as Atlas did. Atlas read77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5h3JJz1liU
systems through data, structure, and pattern. Robin read them through price,77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7pO9jOPyj
leverage, appetite, fear, and the speed at which people became murderous when77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8a4aGmLiLW
ownership was in dispute.
Which meant he understood the crystal faster than almost77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWR0ifltt3
anyone else would have.
“Efficiency?”
“Unknown at scale. The device I found is only a77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLyWLyBzYN
first-generation interface.”
“Side effects?”
“Low-grade operation appears painless. It also produces77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9bG99lkeq
medical repair.”
“Reproducible?”
Zorina paused.
“The equipment can be generated. But the core activation77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5I0bmaLxZX
currently requires me.”
Robin heard the important part and smiled, charmingly enough77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9OyP03Edu
to suggest that civilisation had been invented only to give him places to be77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTM5Zff40Yb
forgiven.
“So if someone steals the machine, they may not be able to77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQLc4VflmN
use it.”
“Correct.”
“Can it be scaled to city level?”
“With time, materials, space, a legal shell, and a large77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQC00tfKfn
number of willing participants.”
Robin laughed softly.
“Willing participants? Zori, you underestimate human77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1W0OqQNYgp
vanity. Tell the Second Tier you can reduce fat, repair damaged cells, lower77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RT59ZRmAX
viral residue, and slow visible ageing, and they’ll queue into the sea. You77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnApt7UTzxZ
needn’t mention energy at all.”
“I reached the same conclusion.”
“Medical aesthetics as the shell. Healthcare as the flag.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGt5PF8ypdY
Plutocratic bodies as the first raw supply.” Robin’s voice grew slower as he77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCYZ67SRjB1
assembled the idea. “Charge them money, extract their waste, convert it into77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbMsJqbR7I
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 behind77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDiNqrEOUG
him seemed, all at once, unrelated to him.
“But you must understand something. This is not starting a77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2X3riKb72T
company. This is declaring war on Quota Civilisation. The moment energy is no77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURtIHmYxNZ
longer something regimes alone can distribute, the Five Tier system begins to77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZvLESQM3k
loosen. The First Tier will want to control you. The Second Tier will want77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QkXIEHIxP
shares in you. The Third Tier will want to reverse-engineer you. The Fourth77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIO0H7KIQF
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 what77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sK5kNaqgX
women wanted to be called?”
Zorina did not answer.
His voice lowered.
“You have always been like this. Since we were children. The77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWXXgswmlY
instant you see someone drowning, you reach for them. Have you considered that77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpo00hApSL
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, the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQ3R1vg9jN
plutocratic mask, all of it slipped. He looked almost like the boy from a Hong77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQq3jolrVx
Kong kindergarten playground, placing sweets in her hand with the solemn77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XUCgfDb5n
generosity of a child who had not yet learned that kindness was dangerous.
Back then, whenever she had needed something, Robin had77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlVLzCFRPa
appeared with money, access, excuses, and an astonishing talent for making77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjO4yxdCuo
consequences lose interest in her. Always at precisely the right moment. Always77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWNs2zdPKm
from behind the curtain.
Then his parents died in a political purge dressed very77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FGwOmKeNR
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 everyone77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjifGHSe3n
underestimated, because the powerful were always more comfortable around vice77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDZgHidB2x
than intelligence.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll help you.”
“Conditions?”
“Conditions?” Robin looked almost offended. “What conditions77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33iybwaN27
do you imagine I require?”
Zorina was silent.
He looked at her with a stubbornness that had not changed77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGgbQZ5wKQ
since childhood.
“I am not helping you because I believe the world deserves77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUVgeHdD3S
saving.”
He smiled as he said it, but his voice was gentler than the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzH9lFumiYh
expression allowed.
“I am helping you because you believe it does.”
Outside the tent, sea wind dragged black volcanic ash across77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAOftF62Wo
the ground.
Zorina lowered her gaze to the energy crystal.
It was small.
Yet it looked more like dawn than all the white light in77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgA9Ul2ZSYg
Britain’s government domes.
“First step,” she said. “I need Britain to recognise my77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26zTsICFQI
control of this island.”
Robin’s smile thinned into something more professional.
“Tristan da Cunha remains within Britain’s residual overseas77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rGBRewvLo
control sequence. Britain will not simply hand over sovereignty because a77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RAJF6b1vQ
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.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPrKp05jrq
Energy special zone.”
“And one more clause,” Zorina said. “All subterranean77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBhu2jjqkg
discoveries on the island are to be administered by me.”
“Britain will ask what it receives.”
“Priority sales rights. The legal products produced during77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjFvEWlaj7
phase one of the biological energy medical system: Britain receives priority77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLZfoI5xfV
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 to77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYoAY7hJHG
make them greedy.” She paused. “And they should understand that even if the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBOjgc57Dc
devices are exposed, they will only operate under my instruction. If they kill77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrby6NRaD1
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 think77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eSIG8HVAi
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.**
ns216.73.217.128da2
and then Add to home screen.