Chapter Three: The First Reservation—One Billion Credits

Lamps flared overhead and revealed a restaurant, an observation gallery, and hundreds of doors formerly hidden in darkness. Most glowed for only a heartbeat before turning gray again. One low door to the right of the lobby remained silver. LEVEL-ONE ENERGY WELL ACTIVATED. UNLOCKED: LUNAR-DUST PURIFICATION ROOM. UNLOCKED: BASIC OXYGEN CYCLING. BONUS: MANAGER'S OFFICE. The alarm stopped. Vents exhaled cool air with the faint scent of green leaves. Oxygen rose rapidly from eleven percent. Old Chen gulped it and stared at the crystal in his palm. “Did she forgive me?” “I don't know,” Zhou said from the floor. “But you let her grow up.” After a long silence, Chen offered him the crystal. “The hotel paid it. That makes it yours.”