Oli, A Very New Moon by Carl Derham

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  The search above came up with nothing. The sensors revealed solid rock beneath the floor of the passageway, as they had done many times before. Oli had been transported down through the rock in a matter transform bubble, transforming the rock into empty space and back into rock as it passed through. The Annenians had used the same technology to build the pyramids. The machines transformed blocks of limestone into air, placed over a grid on the floor and as each layer of nothing was complete they would transform it back into limestone. It was the hardest that any Annenian had worked for Millennia. It took ninety eight of them four days, working flat out to build the three pyramids. The other two couldn’t work because they had begun randomly forgetting how to control their bodily functions and were no longer welcome inside the cabins of the machinery.

  Jaff apologised to Stephan and with a parting gesture of open hands meaning what the hell can I say, he left the pyramid. Stephan reluctantly went back to his apartment to try and get some sleep. He would return in the morning; to do what? He wasn’t yet sure.