Crystal Keepers Read Online Free PDF Page B

city.”
    â€œPost 121 isn’t the city?” Cole asked.
    â€œIt’s an outpost of the city,” Joe said. “There are currently one hundred thirty-eight outposts in operation, connected to the city via monorail. Sometimes the outposts grant access to resources like mines or forests. Sometimes they serve as a way station when traveling to other kingdoms.”
    â€œWhat does this outpost do?” Cole asked.
    â€œIt isn’t far from a salt pan where minerals are harvested,” Joe said. “It’s also near Elloweer, obviously, and the small town of Eastmont. I suggested this outpost to Hina because it’s farther north than necessary. From the Lost Palace, the nearest outpost would have been 93. We could have strayed a little to the south to Post 88, or north to 76. Or even farther north to 84. Keep going northeast after 84 and you end up here—Post 121. Not the most likely destination.”
    â€œIs there any sense to the numbers?” Jace wondered.
    â€œIt’s the order the outposts were added,” Joe replied.
    â€œI don’t get something,” Dalton said. “Is Zeropolis the city or the kingdom?”
    â€œBoth,” Joe said. “The city is the kingdom. The outposts are extensions of the city. When people in Zeropolis talk about the city, they mean the huge cluster of buildings in the center of the kingdom where most people live. I think the intent is for the city to one day fill the kingdom. The city is huge, but nowhere near that goal. Maybe someday. For now, using the monorails can get you to most areas of the kingdom.”
    â€œWhen you say monorails . . . ,” Cole said.
    â€œI mean monorails like we have back home,” Joe said. “But more advanced than any I know about. More like bullettrains. Zeropolites do amazing things with magnetics. And they can store energy in crystals. It’s so efficient. No fossil fuels required. They energize the crystals with shaping, and create many of their materials using shaping as well, so the majority of their technologies aren’t transferable to other kingdoms, or back to Earth, either.”
    â€œI’m not from Outside,” Jace reminded everyone. “What’s a monorail? What do you mean by magnetics?”
    â€œHave you seen a magnet?” Joe asked. “It sticks to certain metals?”
    â€œI’ve fiddled with magnets,” Jace said. “They had some at Skyport.”
    â€œSo you know they can attract or repel each other,” Joe said.
    â€œRight. Sometimes they snap together. But when you face them a certain way, there’s a spongy invisible force that keeps them apart. You can push them around.”
    â€œExactly,” Joe said. “Now imagine a vehicle like the autocoach, except much longer, suspended on a magnetic cushion, and propelled by magnetic forces as well. It rides on a long, elevated track. That’s a monorail.”
    â€œSounds slick,” Jace said. “Is it fast?”
    â€œLike you’ve never seen,” Joe assured him.
    â€œWhat now?” Cole asked. “Do we just walk over to the outpost? You said something about patrolmen. What’s Zeropolis like?”
    â€œYeah,” Jace agreed. “Give us the lowdown. I knew some stuff about Elloweer. But I don’t know much about Zeropolis.”
    â€œI still have my slavemark,” Dalton reminded everyone. “Will that cause trouble?”
    â€œWe’ll all need identification cards,” Joe said. “The government in Zeropolis loves IDs. None of you have been to Zeropolis before, am I right?”
    Everyone but Mira shook their heads.
    â€œI went once as a kid,” Mira said. “I might have been five. I remember riding the monorail. And the tall buildings.”
    â€œWere you issued an ID card?” Joe asked.
    â€œI don’t think so,” Mira said. “I was with Mom and Dad.”
    â€œNot letting your identity