The three-hundred-meter Taichu Golden Sky-Cruiser hovered silently in the morning clouds above the Port of London.
Golden light rippled smoothly along its aerodynamic hull plates, perfectly masking its massive presence from civilian radar and satellite cameras. Down on the Thames estuary, the ten sovereign cargo arks sailed into the North Sea, accompanied by the joyful cheers of thousands of celebrating citizens lining the stone embankments.
Inside the central command bridge of the Sky-Cruiser, the atmosphere was busy, precise, and filled with quiet anticipation.
Panels of glowing crystal monitors curved along the metallic walls. Soft musical chimes echoed as flight controllers calibrated altitude, barometric pressure, and atmospheric spirit-vectors. Through the massive panoramic viewport, the gray clouds of the northern hemisphere stretched endlessly toward the horizon.
In the center of the navigation deck stood an ancient pedestal carved from pure white spirit-jade.
Tang Xiaomi carefully lifted the Kunlun Star-Compass Fragment from its silk-lined cedar box. Her delicate fingers moved with practiced reverence as she set the octagonal bronze disc into the central depression. The cold bronze hummed with twenty-eight stellar trigrams carved deep into the metal.
Beside her, six-year-old Little Guo’er stood on her tiptoes. The little girl reached into her embroidered medicine pouch and pulled out the Geneva Chronos Spirit-Core. The amber crystal hummed with soft, warm time-ripples, smelling faintly of mountain lotus and morning dew.
