Free Signs from Heaven by Phaedra M. Weldon Page B

“Don’t want to suddenly jump altitudes—might be damaging to the city’s structure.”
    Fabian nodded before lowering his head. He removed his hands from the podium and spread his fingers over his face. The holographic images faded from all three centers, though the team was certain the last instructions would be carried out.
    Sarjenka ran her tricorder over him again. He was starting to hate that little machine. “Your temperature’s up another half degree.”
    That much he knew. He felt flushed, his skin warm to the touch. But he was also cold and had put his own jacket back on when everyone else discarded theirs.
    â€œAnd your heart rate keeps fluctuating.” She closed the tricorder.
    He kept his eyes closed. It would be so easy to just lay down on the floor and take a nice long siesta. But he couldn’t. Not yet. “They’ve grown again, haven’t they?”
    He didn’t need to look at her to know she nodded.
    Scott said, “Lad, you’ve done good. Take a rest. The city’s no longer in danger of falling—the generators are happy as pigs in mud.”
    â€œBut the shield…” Fabian shivered.
    â€œThere’s an idea I had…” Pattie spoke up.
    Opening his eyes he turned to his left. “Shoot.”
    â€œDo what we did before when you reset the dampeners. There was a one second or so window there where the power was shut down. Why not do it again and have Poynter beam us back to the da Vinci ?”
    It was feasible, but not what he wanted to do. He wanted to turn the shield off completely. What good was a floating city when no one could get in or out? Taking a shuttle in was highly dangerous because of the winds—Stratos had no docking ports at all.
    Completely self-contained.
    Fabian looked at Scott and Tev. The latter spoke. “That would only be acceptable as a last resort. The power required to hold the city in place was taxing on the da Vinci ’s engines, which are currently only at seventy percent efficiency.”
    Pattie made a bell-like noise that Fabian knew meant she was crestfallen.
    Fabian put a hand on her carapace. “I think it’s a sound idea—as an alternative if something goes wrong.” He smiled. “So let’s hope nothing goes wrong.”
    â€œFaulwell to Scott.”
    â€œGo ahead.”
    â€œWe’re still waiting on those tools.”
    Fabian laughed. Just as his roommate had called in that he’d found something of interest, Fabian connected again with the engine’s map and found out how and where to increase and reset the generator speed.
    Bart had wanted some cutting tools—apparently what he needed had to be taken down. “I need to see the whole picture,” he’d said.
    Fabian tapped his own combadge. “I’ll be right there, Bart.”
    â€œYou still alive?”
    â€œYeah. Hold tight.” He stood and moved slowly away from the podium to the satchel of tools they’d brought with them.
    â€œLad, maybe someone else should go. You look like death warmed over.”
    Fabian made a lopsided grin. That pretty much described how he felt. “No—I need to see what it is he’s found, in case these buggies in my head can tell me something about them. If there is a way to move the city, I’d feel much better about it. In case the Band-Aid doesn’t hold and it comes down anyway.”
    â€œBut that’s exactly what you need to avoid,” Sarjenka said. “More stimulus. You need to rest.”
    â€œI will as soon as we get that shield down.”
    Sarjenka tucked her tricorder into the medical pouch over her shoulder. “Then I’m coming with you.”
    â€œFine.” He looked at Scott, who now stood at the transmat platform. They’d discovered the technology still worked within the city. “Just get us to Bart’s location.”
    â€œAll right, lad.” He turned to the