Novel Full Chapter 615: Revelations (3)
Chapter 615: Revelations (3)
While the Molecular Assembler worked on the diamond, Liam turned back to the camera.
"I know some of you are worried about Nova Technologies flooding the market with metals and minerals. There’s no plan for that." He glanced at the machine behind him, then back at the feed. "As for the Assembler itself — it’s not something any entity can afford easily. I was only able to buy it at a discounted price of $5B thanks to my family connection. If I remember correctly, the actual price is around $70 Trillion minimum."
The comment section didn’t process it cleanly. It fractured.
*$70 TRILLION*
*that is larger than global GDP*
*THE DISCOUNTED PRICE WAS $5 BILLION*
*his family got him a 99.99% discount on a machine that costs more than the entire world produces in a year*
*family connection. FAMILY CONNECTION. first it was a family trait and now family connection*
*who is this family I need to meet this family immediately*
*the actual price is 70 trillion and he called $5B a discount like that’s a coupon*
*so no one else can buy it. that’s the calming part. no one else can buy it.*
*Nova Technologies: here’s a machine that ends material scarcity. Also don’t worry we’re the only ones who have it. Sleep well.*
*the family connection thing is doing something to me. What family has access to a $70 trillion machine*
*he said if I remember correctly like he might be off by a few trillion*
Liam read the thread about his family and smiled, then let it run without adding anything. He had said what he intended to say.
He turned slightly toward the Assembler, checking the display without moving to it. The process was running. He had time.
"Fun fact, everyone," he said, turning back. "Nova Technologies’ first product should have been a room-temperature quantum chip. But after I thought about it, I decided it wasn’t going to be worth the stress. I looked at what happened to others and saw how they were hit with national security classifications. I wasn’t willing to go through all of that." He paused. "Yes, the company operates off-world. But adoption would have been slow and chaotic regardless. And I didn’t want anything to do with the military dimension. A chip like that would have been militarised immediately. That’s not a version of Nova Technologies I wanted to build."
The comment section didn’t wait for him to finish.
*room temperature quantum computing*
*HE HAS ROOM TEMPERATURE QUANTUM COMPUTING*
*WAIT*
*every encryption standard on earth just had a very bad second*
*I work in cybersecurity. I need to sit down. I need to sit down right now.*
*he said it like it was a product he decided not to launch. like a feature he cut from the roadmap.*
*every nuclear authorization system. every classified network. every financial security protocol. all of it is built on the assumption that certain problems are hard. they are not hard anymore.*
*he chose not to release it because he didn’t want the stress*
*THE STRESS*
*every intelligence agency on earth is watching this livestream right now and they all just updated their files simultaneously*
*the NSC is not okay*
*GCHQ is not okay*
*every signals intelligence operation on the planet just became theoretical*
*he said that’s not the version of Nova Technologies he wanted to build. meaning he had options for which version to build. meaning he made choices.*
*I need everyone to understand that he casually disclosed the existence of room temperature quantum computing between making gold and making a diamond. between the gold and the diamond. between. the gold. and the diamond.*
*the quantum chip is sitting in a drawer somewhere on the moon because he decided the paperwork wasn’t worth it*
*I have a PhD in quantum computing. I have been working toward this problem for eleven years. He decided not to bother.*
Liam watched the physicist thread develop and said nothing. He had let the disclosure land and had moved on, which was the correct approach. The comment section would process it or it wouldn’t.
The Assembler’s soft completion tone sounded and he moved to the output section and reached in.
The diamond sat in his palm. It was small. Twenty-four carats was 4.8 grams, not large by visual weight, but dense because of the compressed carbon, and it was green. It wasn’t the pale green of glass or the yellow-green of peridot, but the deep saturated green of old forest light, the color that took millions of years of radiation exposure to produce naturally and had taken the Assembler approximately four minutes.
He held it up to the camera without speaking.
The comment section went quiet for exactly two seconds.
*oh*
*oh that’s beautiful*
*the COLOR*
*I’m a gemologist. That color saturation is exceptional. I cannot explain what I’m looking at.*
*the Hope Diamond is somewhere feeling personally threatened right now*
*he just held it up and said nothing because he knew he didn’t have to say anything*
*it’s refracting the light in his hand. you can see it. from a branch.*
*I would like to note that we have all forgotten about the quantum chip because of how beautiful this diamond is. He did that on purpose. He absolutely did*
Liam examined it once more, turning it slightly, watching the light move through it. He was genuinely satisfied with the output — the color consistency was exact, the clarity total, the cut precise. He lowered it.
"Twenty-four carats," he said. "Structurally identical to a natural stone. The only difference is how long it took." He looked at the comment section. "This one’s going to someone too."
*PICK ME*
*I have been awake for sixteen hours*
*I watched the whole thing from the beginning I deserve this*
*I commented on every single post*
*PLEASE*
*at this point I would accept the gold bar or the diamond I’m not picky*
*StarfallNomad got gold. Someone is getting a green diamond. The universe is distributing correctly.*
*if he picks me I will frame this livestream*
He scanned the feed at the speed he always read it, names moving past without blurring for him. He let it run for a moment longer than he had with the gold bar, reading further down the stream.
"HorizonThreads," he said. "Green diamond. Same process — your Lucid AI or the LucidNet email. Delivered within the hour after the stream ends."
*HORIZONTHREADS*
*CONGRATULATIONS*
*I need to find HorizonThreads immediately*
*HorizonThreads received a green diamond made from a branch on a Tuesday*
*wait does this mean HorizonThreads has to declare this on their taxes*
*the IRS is going to have an incredible year. How do you value a diamond made from a stick on a molecular assembler for tax purposes?*
*HorizonThreads if you’re reading this please livestream the delivery*
Liam set the diamond beside the gold bar on the surface of the Assembler. The two objects sat together — one warm yellow, one deep green, both having been something entirely different twenty minutes ago.
He looked at them for a moment, then at the camera.
"That’s the manufacturing section," he said. "There’s more to show you."
He lifted off the floor and flew toward the far end of the manufacturing section, the entrance to the assembly area standing open ahead of him.
*HE’S FLYING AGAIN*
*the gold bar. the green diamond. the quantum chip that probably exist in a drawer somewhere. and now he’s flying to the next section.*
*he said there’s more*
*THERE’S MORE*
*I genuinely don’t know what else there could be but I said that before the suit became a watch and before he made gold and before the quantum chip and I was wrong every time. I have stopped having expectations. I am simply present.*
The assembly area doors opened as he crossed the threshold and the camera followed him through.