**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.**76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsDsZ2laWl
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 vessel76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIt1jUHiilX
bearing the crest of a private medical foundation. Officially, it was76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cMcYoQu8C
conducting a search-and-rescue operation for missing technical personnel in the76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCu79fDmG9
South Atlantic. On board were two medics, three crates of emergency supplies, a76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7wlVQooe5
portable communication tower, and twelve containers which looked, with76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRENGPJldtP
admirable innocence, like medical refrigeration units.
They were in fact filled with unregistered energy76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjYsPILAZY
cartridges.
A distinction only the law would have found meaningful.
When Zorina descended from the direction of the volcano, the76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOUn3hqxAQ
rescue team stared at her.
She was still wearing the torn flight suit. There was dried76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UqFsVTxuM
blood at her temple, evidence of injury, though no injury impressive enough to76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5YHP9BANs
satisfy the expectations of people who had been sent to retrieve a crash76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftGLNo5Lc7
survivor. Her expression did not belong to someone recently rescued from76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEc77EmlKX
disaster.
She was too calm.
So calm, in fact, that she looked less like a woman awaiting76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKoPN4iF7d
rescue and more like a supervisor watching a shipment of tools arrive late.
“Miss Li,” one of the medics said carefully, “please allow76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhksB85cGYG
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. They76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRPZXmfF3m
will not make you redundant.” She looked at him. “The tower.”
The medic, having encountered the sort of woman whom even76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7Vg0OPDng
trauma had failed to render decorative, sensibly stopped speaking.
The communication tower was assembled inside the temporary76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ln1OFSAi4
shelter. A few minutes later, Robin Shen’s holographic image appeared above the76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQ5d5UgxYz
projection unit.
He wore a silver-grey suit that was offensively expensive.76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSmDaYzxU2
Behind him, there seemed to be a banquet terrace: laughter, music, the soft76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdR5ecKBMI
chime of champagne glasses, and the well-bred murmur of people who had never76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1qoDNHOOZ
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 with76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwjKIZI8Zg
anyone’s survival unless it affected the seating arrangement.
But his eyes were different.
His eyes, when they rested on Zorina, contained no trace of76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySDoB4MC3d
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 must76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ316JmCLkm5
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 can76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lmiKtIUqM
see exile has improved your manners.”
Zorina ignored him and placed the first energy crystal on76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6do1NFN6g
the scanning table.
It was a tiny thing.
Almost unimpressive.
Robin looked at it.
“What is that?”
“An energy crystal formed from converted human waste76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nls9Ukosk
biomass.”
He considered her.
“Human language, please.”
“Fat, viral remnants, necrotic cells, metabolic waste.76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrHvBaT22M
Converted into stable energy.”
The lazy expression on Robin Shen’s face slowly disappeared.
He did not understand the world as Atlas did. Atlas read76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsfjxf2cCw
systems through data, structure, and pattern. Robin read them through price,76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYWONriIQA
leverage, appetite, fear, and the speed at which people became murderous when76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfu0PJPo8bP
ownership was in dispute.
Which meant he understood the crystal faster than almost76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2Jxiyo73u
anyone else would have.
“Efficiency?”
“Unknown at scale. The device I found is only a76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzYb45wCBa
first-generation interface.”
“Side effects?”
“Low-grade operation appears painless. It also produces76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YdNdwWQmJ
medical repair.”
“Reproducible?”
Zorina paused.
“The equipment can be generated. But the core activation76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgap5CPa3yc
currently requires me.”
Robin heard the important part and smiled, charmingly enough76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Hy9rijIqL
to suggest that civilisation had been invented only to give him places to be76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVn11xB9D1s
forgiven.
“So if someone steals the machine, they may not be able to76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKEnM2eGmI
use it.”
“Correct.”
“Can it be scaled to city level?”
“With time, materials, space, a legal shell, and a large76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnXN0jtNZU
number of willing participants.”
Robin laughed softly.
“Willing participants? Zori, you underestimate human76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3zHKk0S54
vanity. Tell the Second Tier you can reduce fat, repair damaged cells, lower76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkCVPZN8bB
viral residue, and slow visible ageing, and they’ll queue into the sea. You76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdhvxAZpho
needn’t mention energy at all.”
“I reached the same conclusion.”
“Medical aesthetics as the shell. Healthcare as the flag.76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYBBg0NYJF
Plutocratic bodies as the first raw supply.” Robin’s voice grew slower as he76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYgkTSurlK
assembled the idea. “Charge them money, extract their waste, convert it into76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYiuXGTM4d
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 behind76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6SUsLQIRz
him seemed, all at once, unrelated to him.
“But you must understand something. This is not starting a76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRgcu6yzj1
company. This is declaring war on Quota Civilisation. The moment energy is no76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgm2d2giC6
longer something regimes alone can distribute, the Five Tier system begins to76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl09BqU8kZz
loosen. The First Tier will want to control you. The Second Tier will want76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFzycNSly9
shares in you. The Third Tier will want to reverse-engineer you. The Fourth76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfqhnYL9I6
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 what76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrKaZe3PhE
women wanted to be called?”
Zorina did not answer.
His voice lowered.
“You have always been like this. Since we were children. The76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3abDbni8aK
instant you see someone drowning, you reach for them. Have you considered that76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBw7S0qqOc8
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, the76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQBDI2LuTh
plutocratic mask, all of it slipped. He looked almost like the boy from a Hong76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbBBmXq6an
Kong kindergarten playground, placing sweets in her hand with the solemn76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmySBS10NP
generosity of a child who had not yet learned that kindness was dangerous.
Back then, whenever she had needed something, Robin had76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9h7qmfuJLB
appeared with money, access, excuses, and an astonishing talent for making76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyt3JY2CCXG
consequences lose interest in her. Always at precisely the right moment. Always76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRMuEntaPw
from behind the curtain.
Then his parents died in a political purge dressed very76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIo3U1UP4C
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 everyone76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZWK7xBpkx
underestimated, because the powerful were always more comfortable around vice76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yXXMit2kq
than intelligence.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll help you.”
“Conditions?”
“Conditions?” Robin looked almost offended. “What conditions76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiICoI6YWAS
do you imagine I require?”
Zorina was silent.
He looked at her with a stubbornness that had not changed76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWr0PuGsd02
since childhood.
“I am not helping you because I believe the world deserves76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyne3jgZs8q
saving.”
He smiled as he said it, but his voice was gentler than the76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Vn1PiVd9r
expression allowed.
“I am helping you because you believe it does.”
Outside the tent, sea wind dragged black volcanic ash across76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lKFYH4FnT
the ground.
Zorina lowered her gaze to the energy crystal.
It was small.
Yet it looked more like dawn than all the white light in76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzctenveL1s
Britain’s government domes.
“First step,” she said. “I need Britain to recognise my76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPKfkP2mWy
control of this island.”
Robin’s smile thinned into something more professional.
“Tristan da Cunha remains within Britain’s residual overseas76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlDuruTxfy
control sequence. Britain will not simply hand over sovereignty because a76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DoompkexU
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.76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYKuRNAavV
Energy special zone.”
“And one more clause,” Zorina said. “All subterranean76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCVUkz6fQz
discoveries on the island are to be administered by me.”
“Britain will ask what it receives.”
“Priority sales rights. The legal products produced during76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡworJGaC5R8
phase one of the biological energy medical system: Britain receives priority76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdd86c2VLjW
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 to76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXUulCivTs
make them greedy.” She paused. “And they should understand that even if the76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIx1FoxpuW
devices are exposed, they will only operate under my instruction. If they kill76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFh6o8JbvO
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 think76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWGl46Cjkg
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
→ Request update
and then Add to home screen.