was less a center and more a sprawling slum built

urning fuel. People shuffled through the makeshift streets, thei

look as inconspicuous as possible, a

twentieth birthday. According to Imperium law, her

f receiving an adulthood stipend from the

th a sliver of hope she didn't know she had,

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elfare payment. The Bennett family had bee

, humorless laugh. She should have known b

ng the last thread of

y way. Her gaze shifted to the vast junkyards surrounding the Ce

d money.

scrap fields and began her search, her ex

metal and discarded machinery, he

she spotted an unusual green glimmer bene

the heavy debris, digging out three fist-sized

r breath caught in her thro

s, treasures containing the purest form of life en

embled as she picked one up, feeling

als, but their essence was the same. Thi

er. She almost laughed out loud

a rag and hid them inside her shirt,

ust grow plants on this wasteland. S

easure. She gathered a few other pieces of valuable-

and sold the ordinary scr

dwelling-a derelict capsule pod-and buy a f

as no green anywhere. Not a single potted plant, not even a dried leaf on d

the pod, she took out the crystal

ul. She needed tools to refi

d and looked at the mount

her, it was a storeroom of raw materials for

ive. She was going to use thi