Chapter Four: The Work Order from Age Seven

“Don't issue a command,” said a woman in the dark. “I can save her.” She stepped from behind the wall in a white coat embroidered with a closed eye. “Bai Zhi, Night Watch. I make your partner disappear for thirty seconds. You take me to the Prism.” “You told me not to touch it.” “I thought you belonged to Han.” She saw Qishan's name on the form. “Your father saved thirteen of us. We owe him a road.” She snapped a paper eye. The alley lights died, and the guards seemed to forget Qiao existed. Qiao rolled into a storm channel. “Twenty-nine seconds,” Bai said. “What is a Creator?” Lin asked. “A position. The person who decides which technologies reach the world and which remain buried.” “Why does Mother Mi call me one?”