The price of energy: Part I

Everyone present near the TDC, which restrained the movement of tectonic plates, looked at Eno in fear.

- "We don't know how many such technologies are still in the world. But this one is responsible for the continent east of us. As soon as the TDC stops restraining the tectonic plates, they will begin to shift. This will lead to the rupture of the continent, volcanic eruptions, faults and a host of other disasters," - said Eno.

- "No. No, no! We can't allow this," - said Lien.

- "Can't? Then what do you propose?" - asked Eno.

- "Let's find another way out!"

- "There is no other way out!" - exclaimed Eno angrily. - "Do you think I didn't look for it? It was I, the one who brought you here. And it was my fault that this catastrophe would happen. I thought for a long time before suggesting this option," - said Eno.

Lien looked at Kelis.

- "Did you know?" - Lien asked.

- "This is a difficult decision, Lien. For all of us."

- "A difficult decision? Is that what it's called?" - Lien said displeasedly.

- "If we forget about the Rebirth that awaits us all, the tihirax available here will last a maximum of three hundred years. After that, the plates will still shift." - Eno said.

- "This is no reason to condemn everyone to death now!" - Lien exclaimed.

- "I've searched everywhere. I've reached for all the information I could. I remembered that I once knew. But... this is the only option we can have to launch our TDC," - Eno said.

- "If it makes you feel better, I've warned the mainland authorities about evacuating people. But, it's only a matter of time before people familiar with this project send armed forces here. "Well, we have to get out of here as soon as possible," said Kelis.

- "I refuse!" - Lien shouted angrily.

- "You don't have to take part in this. We'll do everything ourselves. If you have a better solution, we'll listen to it," said Kelis.

Kelis nodded to Nix. Nix, along with his men, approached the container and began to pull out the tihirax from it. They put all the collected minerals into bags. Lien could only stand silently on the sidelines and think about what was happening.

The team had already filled eight bags with tihirax. And only a few minerals remained in the container at the bottom. At that moment, the alarm went off. The entire room lit up in red. A message in the Xarak language began to play through the speaker.

- “What is this?” - Axel asked.

- “Lien!?” - Kelis asked worriedly.

Lien was in no hurry to answer, but later uttered the answer. – “This is a message about a low mineral level.”

A huge shadow appeared behind Axel, which only grew larger. Axel looked around. Behind her stood the robot that had been lying motionless in the corner of the room until recently.

The robot was looking straight at Axel. Axel stared at the robot in silence and shock. Everyone else present also noticed the robot, who had risen to his feet.

- "Damn it!" - Nix shouted and took out a weapon from behind his back and pointed it at the robot. All the other members of his team did the same.

One of the members of Nix's team activated the exoskeleton system and brought him to readiness.

- "Don't shoot! It's just a help robot!" - Kelis warned everyone.

- "It'll be too late to shoot if he smears one of us on the wall," - Nix replied warily.

However, the robot continued to simply look at the people and study the people present in the room one by one.

After examining everyone, the robot began to walk towards the neighboring room that used to be the Tihirax warehouse. All the people present moved out of its way.

- "And what should we do?" - said Tera.

- "Just wait!" - replied Eno.

The robot looked around the room, analyzed that it was empty, and returned to the main room with the TDC.

The robot began to examine the almost empty container, in which there was almost no Tihirax left. It began to study what was around. The robot saw a bag containing Tihirax and immediately reached for it. The robot grabbed the bag and poured the tihirax back into the container.

The robot looked around and, seeing another bag of tihirax, reached for it. However, Nix grabbed the bag, trying not to give away her work.

- "Oh no! This is ours!" - Nix said.

- "Tavoe!" - Lien said calmly.

The robot stopped. Everyone around froze and looked from robot to Lien.

- "It seems that when the tihirax ran out, the robot woke up and replenished its reserves in the container. Those who made this technology made sure that it worked for several thousand more years," - Lien said. Then he turned to the robot itself. - "Hitu ave?".

The robot's eyes lit up red for a few milliseconds.

- "What a pity. He understands what I'm telling him, but he can't answer himself..."

- "Will you stop him?" - Eno asked.

- "Don't think wrong. "I don't agree with this development of events. But, I want to offer an alternative way out. And you will have to accept it. Because only I can stop this robot," said Lien.

There was silence for a few seconds. Everyone looked at Lien intently.

- "Tell me what you're proposing," - said Kelis.

- "Part of the tiharx will stay here so that the mainland can't split," - said Lien.

- "That's not possible! Every gram of tiharx is important to us. We can't put the launch of our project at such risk!" - said Kelis.

- "Three days," - said Eno.

Everyone looked at Eno in surprise.

- "Kelis is right. We can't risk the tiharx we have. However, I'll give the mainland three days. I know how much mineral is needed for the TDC to not stop," - added Eno.

Lien looked at Eno and considered what he had said.

- "Okay. Three days," - agreed Lien.

- "Now can we load the tiharx?" - asked Nix impatiently.

- “The robot will no longer take the mineral from you,” said Lien.

Nix looked at the robot carefully and carefully picked up the bag with the mineral. The robot stood motionless, only its eyes moving in the direction of the bags with the tihirax.

As soon as Nix's people moved away from the robot with the bags, he immediately approached them to get closer to the tihirax. Nix and his people panicked. However, the robot stopped as soon as it got close to the bags.

- "Hey, Lien, what is this?" - Nix asked.

- "It seems like it's trying not to lose sight of the tihirax," - Lien suggested.

- "Tell him to stay here," - Nix said.

- "No. He can be useful to us," - Kelis argued. - "Let him follow the mineral."

Nix looked at the robot and turned around dissatisfied.

- "How do you know!" - Nix said dissatisfied.

Everyone left the room except Eno. Lien stopped and looked at Eno, who was sitting at the TDC control panel.

- "Hey, Eno... what are you doing?" - Lien asked.

Eno looked sadly at the control panel, which was flashing red.

- "When I read that lab technician's report, it detailed everything I could find out about this TDC. The thing is, as soon as the tihirax level reaches a critical point, all the energy goes to support this command post. The tectonic plates shift, but this place should not be destroyed. That's how it works. However, we want the mainland to survive... at least for three days. And for this, someone needs to redirect all the tihirax energy to the mainland, and in return, allow this place to be destroyed."

- "Eno... you can't..."

- "It's okay Lien... I brought you here. And I doomed the mainland to death. I can't accept and justify this. Therefore, staying here and keeping the promise I made to you is the best thing I can do...".

Lien listened to Eno in fear.