**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.**85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡco8cFrBVry
The First Energy Crystal
Leaving the Abbas Archive proved more difficult than85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYlDjp6KPB
entering it.
Which was, Zorina supposed, only fair. Ancient impossible85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dAa8uGFJY
civilisations were rarely considerate enough to provide clearly marked exits,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxHkZAKJVp
emergency lighting, and a polite notice reading: This way back to your85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF97jwXvFAS
previous understanding of reality.
She stood beneath the great column of light, with85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxETCMx7cm
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 to85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaxoVKChOC
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 fantasy85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbq9QcMRs6E
and more like a word humanity had invented for knowledge it had failed to85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWI6XJUWq7I
catch.
Zorina walked towards the flower-shaped biological energy85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyVGc9mNEg
device.
The six transparent crystal petals sensed her approach and85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnsfuTAjwN
opened slowly. The reclining platform at their centre shimmered with a85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxG0aN4WSQ
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.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmDJgRnH16
Even when one finds oneself inside a volcanic archive that recognises one’s85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLlDhoC2uc
blood and opens ancient doors in one’s honour, a certain professional suspicion85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakix8mbmdF
remains healthy. Faith, after all, was merely ignorance wearing ceremonial85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQY58bMiJb
clothing.
She rolled up the torn sleeve of her damaged flight suit and85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQs059tPaz
exposed her arm.
Bruises. Abrasions. Dried blood. A shallow split across the85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCMOROyAqI
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;85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxURaM6Wet8
inflammatory response; residual analgesic compounds in bloodstream; accumulated85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmu2xNvZ76
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 official85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDltEbnB9u
systems. It responded immediately, which placed it already above half the85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyhRGrXZl4
departments in Britain.
From within the petals, countless blue filaments emerged,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr99Em8LRKd
fine as hair. They did not pierce her skin. They passed through its surface85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHm2OkN4Jn
like light through shallow water, distinguishing with impossible delicacy85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Mf6JKB6VM
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.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoxwSSLuwW
Redness faded. Dried blood cracked and lifted away. Beneath it, new skin85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUztJAaKxY
formed, smooth and faintly luminous for one brief second before settling into85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUXf18ONGO
ordinary flesh.
She stared.
High-tier medicine in 3911 could perform rapid repair. Of85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PUm0Tcixd
course it could. With enough energy, nanomaterial, authorisation, medical debt,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0IOsE0sr3
and institutional permission, the ruling classes had achieved wonders. A First85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV20L61flRd
Tier minister could have an injured liver mended before lunch and complain85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWj5ylEn7rr
about the inconvenience of the appointment by dinner.
A Fifth Tier child could die of infected water beside a dark85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLx3O1LRf3
purification station.
Civilisation, as ever, was less a question of possibility85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGt9r02uvx
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 feed85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5F7vcUMZl
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 would85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSPJ4ZnHDz
have buried it beneath twelve paragraphs of discouraging language and an85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC94K2oSM6I
encouraging note about future review.
Yet Zorina stared at the little crystal as if she had just85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFE0uUkkPl
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 worst85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKALWvVFWO
nightmare: a fact.
Her mind moved at once to the First Tier.
To those polished old men and beautifully maintained women85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsRHLwwT2C
who ate too much, drank too much, took gene-stabilising therapies, anti-ageing85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFamvcxS0A3
injections, cellular rejuvenation compounds, and private metabolic treatments85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiiesdCwPrD
with the wounded dignity of people forced to remain alive in considerable85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8yl2osLBe
comfort.
Their bodies accumulated excess fat, metabolic residue,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuIs0gVWyDI
decayed cells, drug residues, ageing tissue, corrupted proteins, minor lesions,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuKnNUBQOz
and all the waste that privilege politely renamed maintenance.
If one injured ordinary person could produce 0.003 units,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDuci1lawr
then what might be harvested from the overfed, over-treated, chemically85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCF0G6BeQM
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 a85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5CEHlpBZv
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 extended85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGeXPNQcg7
towards the far side of the cavern.
They were pointing.
There stood a small platform.
Zorina walked to it. The platform was empty, smooth, and85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnZDbLfDyc
black, with a shallow circular depression at its centre. She placed the tiny85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pSj8uzzAh
crystal upon it.
Silver rings materialised above the platform.
The air stirred.
Minute particles gathered in the empty space, first as dust,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFboZhSLOei
then as mist, then as a surface. The shape thinned and flattened, edges85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUdDKHcQtf
refining themselves with silent precision until a small, tablet-like object85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCkFiZRBLR
formed in the air.
It resembled an old-world communication device.
Only simpler.
Cleaner.
As if design, after centuries of human committee meetings,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wbDF4ptxs
had finally been allowed to recover.
[Low-level communication interface generated.]
[Warning: external world communication networks are under regime85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogZYGeCEwD
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 went85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIuHp557oJ
still.
Crystal-Pattern Panel 1011 was not a discovery.
It was a keyhole.
This civilisation had not preserved a single technique. It85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvlY00HvWj
had preserved an entire hierarchy of tools beyond Earth’s present level. If85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLytESAxJiv
even a portion of them could be awakened, the order built upon energy scarcity85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhp6nnER3e
would not merely be challenged.
It would be made ridiculous.
And few things enraged power more than being made85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHjCsTFEm6
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 be85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QhMAZGBme
watched, especially now. Any abnormal communication would push him straight85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQqQh9oZG3
into the Bureau’s line of fire, and the Bureau had never been famous for85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt0kCJBWzT
missing when shooting at inconvenient loyalty.
Robin Shen was different.
Robin Shen had been raised in fire and taught to call it85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKh9VE3iGs
central heating.
She entered a private code she had not used in years.
Long ago, when they were still children, Robin had turned85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuQ1r4gXrv
that sequence into a secret game between them. He had told her that if the85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYR8KGI9IB
world ever became too loud, she could use it to find him.
At the time, neither of them had known that the world would85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRD1yRRvkS
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 not85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZinnoiyFq
currently buying insurance, investing in Martian cemetery plots, or fostering85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5v04vAx3K
any former girlfriend’s cat.”
Zorina closed her eyes.
“Robin.”
Silence.
Five full seconds.
Then every trace of theatrical laziness vanished from his85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡue8GjCwNOZ
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,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuoQXVdecG
offended, awakened, or possibly inherited from a prior civilisation.
He asked only, “Money, identity, flight corridor, or a85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCfKhJKc1z
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,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMkEMsuYuq
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 the85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc2h9xrg7Af
interface.
“Tristan da Cunha.”
Robin said something very softly and extremely unsuitable85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvrKyhgDFr
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 me85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLhmm9RtYA
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 charming85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCXxTwapj4
embarrassment at expensive dinners — all of that could deceive society pages,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTLawtW9yo
family enemies, and women who mistook cynicism for intelligence. But before85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6Oo40NJPw
real danger, Robin never wasted time denying information merely because it85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsjXcbsEOy
sounded deranged.
It was one of his few genuinely civilised qualities.
“Stay where you are,” he said. “I’ll arrange a rescue line.85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgmQi0TvWc
It cannot be official. The most important thing is that Britain must not define85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWfyZZLHhS
you first.”
“Define me?”
“Missing. Defector. Dead. Traitor. Asset under protective85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVlS85O4x9
custody. Choose any unpleasant noun and place it in a white folder. That is how85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9tiMvUpHG
governments perform sorcery.”
“I don’t only need extraction.”
“Well?”
Zorina lifted her eyes to the chamber that had slept beneath85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrMDhu5PwL
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,85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bDzhpT3tm
one card on the table capable of frightening the house.
“Perfect,” he said softly. “Then we shall have a civilised85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOVlg78eVi
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 continued85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpXGv6o4lW
congratulating itself on being permanent.
85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3spXpufOhn
85Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZPLJex5lT
**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.