Crystal energy and discharge
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Crystal energy is the energy of the Crystal-plant hybrid, which a few people can absorb and later release. It is the survivors' answer to the lack of energy after the crash, and the origin of Kurt's lightning and Wang's fire.
In Descent (2258)
How it works
It was discovered when a researcher's equipment melted after hours studying a crystal, while she and her clothes were unharmed. She has a rare combination of gene expressions in the cells of her amygdala, a difference in its physical structure rather than its chemistry, which lets her transfer the crystal's energy to her temporal lobe by staying near it. She can later release it as heat, and with practice as flames and light. A second researcher with the same profile releases it as magnetism. Both say it takes a "feeling": absorbing is a breath-induced calm; releasing, for one, a continuous effort like a mental struggle or a prolonged light pain, for the other a communion with her surroundings.
The effect seems safe. Inducing the gene expression in others would be possible but slow.
In the story
Kurt's search finds nine candidates among the crew who are awake, exactly three in each group; eight join the expedition to the The crystal cluster. Back at the wreck, the heat researcher stores almost 2% of the ship's capacity through a recovered thermal shield, the magnetic one 1.5% through an inductor made from a gravity rotor, and six of the eight together reach 6%. Wang and another guardian release heat, an engineer magnetism, and the youngest researcher low-frequency electromagnetic waves when she touches someone. Kurt and one guardian produce nothing.
Wang later raises a wall of flame against a Vaghadata, his hand on something on his chest. Kurt's discharge comes at the end, driven by rage: electricity crawls over the ground towards his hands, his eyes turn white, and a lightning bolt strikes the clearing.