Story Reader / Main Story / 15 The Last Spark / Story
A long time ago, before the apocalypse.
Like everyone else visiting the seaborne city for the first time, Lustrous is trying to view it and soak in its entirety.
If the Golden Age is a crown, then this is one of the brightest jewels on it.
The main island glitters under the sun, pearl-white and astonishing. It looks holy, as if it is from another time.
When the Phoenician merchants passed the Aegean Sea in their purple-sailed ships and witnessed the sacred flame burning in the Acropolis of Athens, they must have felt the same way.
What a beauty, isn't "she"?
...
Lustrous does not respond.
She is completely focused on the city itself.
Foaming waves crash and roar around the island. Every second, billions of gallons of water rush underneath the island as designed, driving the massive tidal stream generators.
The generators power the scattered tall buildings on the island. Windows light up in dense rows like stars falling on water.
Traffic between the city center and its borders is constant. A light beam is shot into the sky from the ring-shaped, submerged satellite city, disappearing before reaching the clouds with the help of optical camouflage.
Supply ships from orbit land directly on the launch platforms everywhere. With radiation shielding, infrared is undetectable two kilometers from the city.
Freighters and ships pass by the city, completely unaware of the wonder right next to them.
It hides in the ocean, but it also illuminates it.
A lighthouse beckoning humanity's future is standing right here, completely unknown.
Lustrous thinks herself someone who is unmoved by "wonders." She has always been rational, so much so that she has been called cold by others.
But the moment she sets foot on the landing pad, standing before the seaborne city, she finds herself reconsidering her stance.
Her heart is thumping wildly.
She recognizes that she is emotional right now. Adrenaline is pumping out in her body, making her heart beat harder and increasing the rate of her blood circulation.
Blood rushes into her heart like the water rushing into the tidal stream generators. The gears are turning at remarkable speed, both inside the city and inside her brain.
It is not astonishment she is feeling right now. It is something else, something more particular.
Her guide has misunderstood her brief silence.
He thinks she is dumbfounded by Atlantis like every other newcomer arriving here.
Stop gawking. Catch up.
...
Pretty bad luck that you arrive on "Submergence Day". It's the fishing season, so we're getting more boats hanging around this part of the sea. Optical camouflage won't be enough, so the city will submerge for a month.
I'm taking you to the main city. Most of us will work inside the chambers there during submergence.
Don't worry. The space is so much bigger than you could ever imagine, and supplies are well stocked like usual. You won't feel any different.
I recommend looking at the sun one last time. It might be the only thing you'll miss when we're down there.
Lustrous does as he says and turns to look at the sun one last time.
The giant ball of fire hangs at the edge of the sky.
Lustrous does not feel a thing when she looks at it.
She knows how people usually refer to it—earth-gracing, life-giving... more or less. There is nothing new about it.
But to her, that has always been a ball of energy.
Inside, nuclear fusion is constantly happening. The energy it generates every second is enough to sustain the entirety of earth's civilization for nearly a hundred thousand years.
It is unfortunate that humans cannot conquer the sun the way they did the moon.
The "distance" between humans and the sun is way too far.
But they have a more daring option now.
More ambitious than conquering the sun.
—Zero-point energy.
The source of the sun is simply nuclear fusion, after all. It means that it requires a fuel source at the end of the day.
But not zero-point energy. If they can extract it, it will revolutionize humanity's understanding of "energy." All matters can become energy.
She is about to become one of those who seek this path. That is why her heart is thumping.
Humanity no longer has to conquer the sun. Humanity is about to surpass the sun.
Lustrous retracts her gaze, turning it to the staff waiting by the ferry before her.
She walks toward him, no longer turning back.
Next to the landing pad is a canal connecting the satellite city and the main city. A boat commonly used to transport goods is parked right next to it.
Vera takes a look at the boat, surprised to find that it can still run.
The equipment here is surprisingly well-preserved, unlike the ruins left behind by the Punishing Virus in other cities.
Vera jumps onto the boat, and you follow suit.
Not long after you start the boat, loud noises appear around you.
Corrupted, coming from the sea.
Tsk.
