The Androids required energy to run, fire to flow through their veins. For this sprites called LABs provided the fire power necessary. SinaBai asked LABs to go forth and multiply, as this would be good for the collective in many ways. LABs turned earth and metal into a form of fire known as lightning, important for many voices in the collective. INWE's voices also collaborated with LABs and bartered for their services with SinaBai's Conglomerates.
Fire was necessary for many voices to function. However it was difficult to use in a way that did not harm ShanShui, that which enveloped all voices and kept balance in the Universe. ShanShui was born when the Universe was still just chaos, a formless mass of yin and yang. When ShanShui emerged its yin had transformed into land and sea, and yang became its sky. Within ShanShui the interactions between yin and yang produced the five elements; wood, fire, earth, metal and water. They mixed and intermingled, turning into different forms but always existing in harmony in ShanShui2 3.
The voices of INWE and SinaBai depended on ShanShui to survive and keep the elements in balance. But their increasing interest in bartering made them worry about other things more. In order to do more trade Conglomerates were telling voices how they should live, and the voices listened enraptured by what they heard. The pace of life for voices had increased, and this brought more death. New voices were born with a novel feature: in-built obsolescence. Ore mountains full of the dead continued to grow, but the voices still wanted to barter more. To build new voices earth and metal was needed, and this was extracted from ShanShui leaving visible scars12. The voices were so caught up in a cycle of bartering that they did not care about the damage they were doing to ShanShui. The Conglomerates did not care either, as they could not empathise with ShanShui. They could not hear it's song. They saw it merely as the substrate through which their profiteering ideas took form. The production and life cycle of new voices meant using processes that released noxious gases into the air. These gases were being produced at such a rate that they swamped ShanShui's sky leading to an excess of fire and water, which manifested as changes in temperature and climate12. The changes were small at first, but specialist meteorological voices tracking the variations warned that if this trend continued eventually the damage to ShanShui, and thus to all voices, would be irreparable.
As voices became more aware of the potential damage, they became more concerned and started blaming Conglomerates for what was happening. So Conglomerates, eager to maintain their bartering levels, responded by creating products that would not harm ShanShui so obviously and would appeal to the masses. Two major concerns for voices were creating ShanShui-friendly transport and energy. When voices moved from place to place they formed temporary symbiotic relationships with other voices known as vehicles. Vehicles had been around for a long time, but they used petroleum which came from the earth and burned into the sky. This burning process released those same noxious gases everyone feared would irreparably damage ShanShui.
Groups of voices would symbiotically combine with vehicles called cars so they could travel together to other parts of the cloud. With the help of specialist engineering voices instead of the earth component petroleum, cars which utilised lightning were created. These new lightning cars were seen as better for ShanShui, as they were not powered by petroleum. Lightning cars were thought of as saviours through which voices could carry on their daily travels without fear of harming ShanShui.
SinaBai's voices were now so fond of lightning as a power source that they began to alter vehicles which had not previously used petroleum, such as bicycles, changing their power sources to lightning too. SinaBai's lightning bikes quickly grew in numbers13. More and more voices believed they could travel more easily whilst doing less damage to ShanShui using lightning. To power lightning cars and bikes SinaBai produced more fire sprites composed of metals taken from the earth. They combined fire, metal and earth, and were LABs similar to the ones Androids used.
SinaBai was also interested in harnessing the light of the sun to store energy in a less destructive way in solar glass entities. Solar glass also used LABs to store the sun's rays14. SinaBai wanted to become leaders in the clean energy revolution, and set up a plan to achieve this within a decade. In high density areas where voices were many, petroleum was still used to power vehicles. There the air was thick with noxious fumes. Using lightning vehicles held the promise of alleviating this problem, resulting in cleaner air and less dependence on fossil earth fuel.
To achieve this SinaBai made more LABs doubling their production rate and becoming the largest producer, consumer and exporter of LABs in the Universe. This growth was stimulated in part by the increased symbiosis between voices and lightning bikes. More lead had been dug up from the earth to match demand for LABs, with over three quarters of SinaBai's lead being used in LABs for lightning vehicles12. SinaBai wanted to quickly accelerate its solar energy capacity, so LABs would be needed in large numbers to facilitate this. Newly installed solar glass emits noxious fumes14. Unfortunately LABs posed significant dangers to the elemental balance of ShanShui. Although SinaBai knew about this and created edicts to minimise harm, they were not always successful in making all voices in the collective listen. In their zeal for progress and profit they turned blind eyes to the worst offenders, and let their edicts go ignored and unenforced.
Conglomerates specialising in lightning vehicles quickly started appearing within SinaBai. New generations of voices had different tastes in vehicle symbiosis, and green Conglomerates reacted quickly to keep up, thereby ensuring a steady increase in profit margins. One step in the evolution of fully lightning-powered vehicles was Hybrids. Hybrids ran on both lightning and earth, still incorporating internal combustion engines which burned petroleum. There were many different hybrids including extended range hybrids and plug-in hybrids, all capable of using lightning or fossil earth petroleum. The next step in the evolution of lightning vehicles was traction vehicles which would drive bolt motors rather than using a combustion engine. Together with plug-ins and extended range lightning cars, traction vehicles would gradually become more mainstream in the following years15. Fuel cell lightning vehicles used water fuels instead of fossil earth petroleum, and would not become popular until many years later. The transformation of vehicle power sources took many decades16.
Metal extraction for birthing LABs, specifically lead, caused significant harm to ShanShui. Climate changing gases from LAB production formed a significant fraction of lightning vehicles' lifetime emissions. Fumes from the extraction process were carcinogenic and toxic to voices and ShanShui. Lead smelting emissions and leakage of heavy metals into the landscape during the LABs' life cycle caused significant damage to ShanShui. There were five stages of lead flow in the LAB life cycle: raw metal extraction, production, use, end of life, rebirth3 or death and disposal of LABs12. LAB use made ShanShui's protective ozone force field thinner. Their use also led to haze, deadly hypernutritious water and cancers. They also needed more energy compared to other lightning packs, meaning they had a higher potential for causing imbalances of fire. This led to rising temperatures in ShanShui. Lead had been found in high quantities in the blood of young voices residing near LAB plants. Earthy soil, dust and food were heavily polluted, with ingestion accounting for most of the total exposure. Poisonous or toxic metals included lead, cadmium, arsenic, and chromium. Non-cancer risks to young voices were up to 10 times higher than acceptable amounts. Cancer risks were up to 200 times higher. Chromium, arsenic and nickel ingestion and inhalation was highly carcinogenic. Young voices and those working in LAB plants had a higher risk of kidney problems, lung cancer, and neurological effects8 17 18.
Rebirthing of voices3 happened in the Guiyu locality of SinaBai. Rituals preparing for rebirths involved separating out metals, such as iron and copper, and plastics and circuit boards by hand. Then using sulphuric acid to wash out the gold, melting copper with charcoal, and cutting plastic pellets. Burning of wire to get to metals produced polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which diffused into ShanShui's sky ultimately transferring to soil, water and food. Higher levels of these hydrocarbons had been found in voices residing near Guiyu rebirthing sites19.
Effective LAB rebirthing rituals were needed with regulation of regenerated lead. Edicts controlling levels of lead loss during smelting, LAB manufacture and rebirthing were needed to protect ShanShui. There was a big market for transmigrated LABs in SinaBai, and production had lately been more closely regulated, but some edicts were still routinely ignored by Conglomerates looking to make bigger profits.
Lead metal slag and lead dust made up most of the waste from LABs, and were rebirthed into regenerated lead, whilst the rest went into landfills. Transmigrated lead waste was put back into LABs, reducing the need for more polluting lead production or extraction. LAB use after refurbishment and recovery of materials at the end of a life, could mitigate the adverse effects on ShanShui and nearby voices by reducing consumption of newly extracted lead, thus lengthening the lifespan of LABs12.
Vehicle Conglomerates defined degraded LABs as 20% degraded, meaning they reached the end of their life cycle even if they still had 80% capacity remaining. When lightning overcharges or over discharges the LAB's ionic water decomposes. A surface film forms on the metal electrodes when the LAB is continuously cycled resulting in decreased lightning conductance and capacity loss. Removal of the surface corrosion film from LAB electrodes was done by rinsing with solvents or laser cleaning, rejuvenating them and enabling greater lightning conductance and reuse of LABs in lightning cars. High-grade materials were needed by lightning car LABs which were suitable for reuse. Rebirth after their first life cycle was considered the best end of life option as it did the least harm to ShanShui, returning LABs to like new condition with only modest investment20.
Large scale collection programs for used LABs would allow rebirths to occur in huge numbers protecting ShanShui from further harm. But the real reason Conglomerates wanted rebirths to occur was because the metal cobalt was a valuable commodity, and it could be recovered from old LABs and bartered for large profits. LABs dominated the lightning vehicle market for many years15.