An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The group was in a eting when Liana laid down the day’s crystal tally - everyone passed the sheet around in silence.
Magnus’s six Life Crystals were off the record. Altogether, they’d dug up 211 crystals today. Water Crystals were the bulk - 85 pieces. Fire Crystals numbered 78. tal Crystals only had 48 left - 37 had gone into use during the day.
To avoid chaos when things went south, each of the 50 squads under the Ice Regint had been given one Fire and one tal Crystal. The rest stayed with Charlotte for centralized safekeeping.
These crystals ca from the heavens - you get what you get. Not worth debating. Still, Magnus reminded them what these little things could do - all except for the six Life Crystals he wasn’t talking about.
"Tomorrow..." Sophia cut in, "We’ll need to speed up. Try to finish digging by 3 p.m. sharp. Also, I suggest we find a temporary shelter with a roof for the night - like Sophie’s old warehouse. Sowhere safe. Sowhere the team can get out of the trucks."
"We also need to talk water," Liana added, frowning. "We started with over a thousand crates of bottled water, and now we’re down to less than 300. People need water - eating, working, you na it. We’ve still got three tanker trucks untouched, but they won’t hold out for long."
"Water’s not a problem."
That was Magnus again.
"You’re underestimating Water Crystals. Each fire truck carries about 8,000 to 9,000 liters - that’s 8 to 9 tons of water. In bottled form, that’s about 16,000 bottles. But a single Water Crystal gives us at least 2,000 cubic ters - that’s two thousand tons."
He glanced around. The won looked confused. Magnus sighed and broke it down even further.
"Okay. One ton gives you 2,000 bottles. So ten tons is 20,000. A hundred tons, 200,000. A thousand tons, 2 million. Two thousand tons? That’s 4 million bottles of water. From just one Water Crystal."
"Four... million?!" Sophia gasped. "Wait! Didn’t you say a single Water Crystal could fill only two swimming pools?"
"Well, yeah. That is two pools," Magnus shrugged. "People forget - even a small pool takes 1,000 cubic ters. That’s 1,000 tons of water. One pool’s worth equals 2 million water bottles. Do the math - two pools hit that 4 million mark easy."
Charlotte looked stunned, too. "But..." she said slowly, "didn’t you say that once we activate a Water Crystal, we can’t stop it? We’ve only got three water trucks. They hold maybe 30 tons total... so two thousand tons - that’s just a massive waste, isn’t it?"
"I’ve figured out how to shut the Water Crystal off," Magnus said, his tone vague, brushing past the details. "Even if it can’t be turned off, it’s fine. Just find a reservoir, crush the crystal and toss it in. If your team is big enough, you can store while using - it’s not like the flow rate is massive."
No one argued about the water again. Though the won still had doubts about that ’four million bottles’ claim, everything Magnus had said so far held up. Whether they trusted him or not didn’t matter - they had no better choice.
The next issue was the convoy’s temporary base. This ti, Sophia clashed hard with Charlotte and Emily. Sophia insisted on finding a shelter with a roof, sothing that’d shield them from aerial recon.
Charlotte and Emily wanted to keep moving, chasing teorites near villages and setting up camp wherever they stopped. Today’s firsthand look at the Crystal’s power only deepened their craving for more.
"I’m telling you," Sophia snapped, "what if bombers co? Helicopters we can shoot down, sure - but bombers? You wanna take a bomber down with a damn rocket launcher? Charlotte! I don’t expect them to know better, but you? How do you not get this? You’re killing here!"
That silenced Charlotte and Emily. Guilt or reluctance - either way, they had no coback. The tension hung heavy until Magnus lit a cigarette, took his ti puffing, then said, "They won’t send bombers."
"Oh? And how would you know?" Sophia barked back. "Don’t tell you’ve got so sixth sense now. You’re not living in Cliff’s head!"
"I just know..." Images flashed through Magnus’s mind, mories from his past life in the apocalypse. The bomber raids - they were carved into him.
He stared hard at the ground ahead. Slowly, he muttered, "Because..."
*****
"What the hell did you just say?" Cliff roared. The glass in his hand shattered. He stord up to the soldier reporting in and grabbed him by the collar. "Say it again! What happened to the 3rd, 13th, and 17th Divisions?!"
"Commander..." The soldier trembled, barely speaking above a whisper. "Those three divisions... they’ve rebelled."
"Rebelled?!"
Cliff exploded. A backhand sent the soldier crashing to the floor. The man scrambled back up and stood rigid, not daring to breathe too loud.
"Rebellion! Damn bastards got guts, I’ll give ’em that!"
In the temporary command center at Lightwater Residences, Cliff paced furiously, hands behind his back. He was fuming.
Those three divisions - nearly thirty thousand n - had been dispatched to support Salem, Ridgehaven, and Southark City. And now? Their commanders and political officers had blown it. Total incompetents. Useless, every last one of them.
If it had just been mutiny, whatever - traitors die. But no, worse - hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers were fleeing to Springvale City.
"How many have you caught?" Cliff bellowed. "What about the airfield? What’s going on there?"
"We - we haven’t got the full numbers yet, sir. And the airfield, I - I don’t have a report - "
"You don’t know?" Cliff thundered. "Then get soone who does and have them report to ! Now! You useless waste!"
His voice cracked the air.
"Orderly! Get those freeloading brigade and regint commanders in here right the hell now! If anyone’s late by a second, I’ll have them shot myself!"
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