Phoenix

15. Invasion

"Thank you for your help," the technician said as they navigated the labyrinthine halls. "But that confrontation wasn't my doing. Roger—your foreman—is such a stubborn bastard. He makes a fuss every time he’s on-site. What’s the big deal? All he had to do was order two of his men to haul the equipment to the central hub."

​Jin shook his head slightly, his voice a low, measured baritone. "It wasn't entirely his fault, sir. You spoke quite rudely. We may not be scholars like you, but a man should never be underestimated simply because of the grime on his hands."

​The technician paused, blinking in surprise. "Oh. Are you still upset about the 'day laborer' comment? My apologies."

​"Our profession is not a badge of shame," Jin replied. "The workers take pride in it. When you speak with such condescension, it suggests you view us as something less than human."

​The man looked at Jin with a suddenly sharpened gaze. There was something about this man—a gravity that didn't belong to a simple loader.

Beneath the oversized jacket and the soot-smudged face was a formidable personality, a stark contrast to his casual attire. Jin’s eyes were the most unsettling part; they were deep, harboring a strange duality of gentleness and humility, yet flickering with a latent, wild cruelty. It was the look of a man who could be infinitely kind—or devastatingly lethal—depending on the wind.

​For a moment, he felt inexplicably small. He shook the feeling off, clearing his throat. "Why have we stopped? Come on, show me the way."

​As they resumed their pace, the man asked, "What is your name?"

​"Lee. And this is my cousin, Cheng," Jin said, gesturing toward Arya.

​"I’m Neville Brick. How long have you two been with Brighton?"

​Jin felt the prickle of alarm. The interrogation had begun. "Lee" and "Cheng" were paper-thin ghosts; if Brick decided to cross-reference their employee files, the facade would crumble. He needed to seize control of the narrative immediately.

​"This is our first run," Jin replied. Before Brick could dig deeper, he threw out a question of his own: "What kind of research are you actually conducting here, Mr. Brick? It seems... extensive."

​"Experimental mining—utilizing nanotechnology," Brick answered, his pride evidently outweighing his suspicion for the moment. "Have you ever heard the term before?"

​"We’re laborers, not fools, sir," Arya interjected, her voice sharp with feigned annoyance. "Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the molecular level, right?"

​Brick’s eyebrows shot up. "Yes. You’re better informed than most I encounter."

​They exited the storage bay and transitioned into a vast, semicircular passage. While the exterior of the facility was constructed from Plexipolisorbet, the interior was a complex hive of modular partitions.

The layout was organized in concentric circles, with horizontal walls dividing the layers into laboratories and workshops of varying sizes.

​The heart of the dome—the central hub—was their ultimate destination. Every few yards, they passed through security checkpoints where guards in tactical gear stood watch.

Each time, Brick offered a casual wave or a handshake, ushering the "workers" through the restricted zones.

​"What can you possibly mine from a shelf of solid ice?" Jin asked, maintaining the conversation as they passed a third security station.

​"Pure hydrogen, oxygen... even Deuterium," Brick explained. "Extracting it from ice is far more efficient than our previous methods, provided you use nanorobotics."