Sharon Ede www.magethenovel.com © 2023 all rights reserved
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QUEEN NEFARIA TURNED Lillian Lightstone’s memory stick over and over between her thumb and forefinger.
Her stare was fixed on the diminutive man kneeling before her, his eyes downturned, his midnight-blue robe pulled around him. Navy light cast from the lamps behind Nefaria’s black-rock throne flickered over his face and smooth scalp. The room was completely silent.
‘Saphiro, you are my best intelligence agent. You say you have tracked down a source for a superconductor.’
Nefaria’s voice, though soft, seemed to fill the cavernous room. Without raising his eyes, the man nodded.
‘Tell me what you have learned over the last year of your mission,’ the Queen ordered.
Saphiro looked up at Nefaria with his almond eyes.
‘The Terrans had a theory that the unique chemical composition of the planet Saturn was producing diamonds — the lightning storms that rage there turn methane into carbon, which hardens into chunks of graphite and then diamond. These Saturnian diamonds are extremely powerful superconductors.’
‘What use is this? Saturn is a long, long way away, and you speak only of a theory.’
‘The Terrans undertook a classified mission to Saturn some years ago called Chronos 6. Mission Chronos was designed to navigate a special probe through Saturn’s rings, something never before possible without contemporary technology. The specimens collected included a Saturnian diamond. This diamond is the most powerful superconductor humanity has ever had in its possession.’
‘You are a liar. Saturn is a gas giant, and probes cannot land on gas planets. And probes never return — they stay on their trajectory until they are damaged or out of range.’
‘Your Majesty, the probes were designed to be able to gather samples while in motion during…
