One Impossible Technology Per Day

He laughed. “Four hundred billion sounds easier than one in a billion.” As the energy-lattice module loaded, a transparent wafer grew on the armor plate. Lin’s phone rang. Su Wanzhou—his university classmate, now a failure-analysis engineer—spoke before he could greet her. “You were near the crash, weren’t you?” “The news map is public.” “Don’t play stupid. The official flight path was altered. The real one passed directly over the *White Heron*. Someone is offering two million for sonar and radar logs from nearby boats.” “Who?” “Hanhai. They brought us a fragment for testing. Lin, its lattice changes while we observe it. I’ve never seen—” A door opened on her end. Her voice dropped.