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.Stuart had never been a strongly religious man.In fact, he hated the timeswhen his aunt used to force him to attend services at the Church of ModernChristian Discipline.The sign right next to the "Repent" sign had been a ballet advertisementproclaiming, "Dance All You Can Be," but Stuart felt certain God hadn't beentrying to tell him to become a dancer.But there was no denying what had happened to him.God had intervened in anunmistakable way.God had cut off his hand to say, "Sin no more," but God hadleft Stuart alive and had shown him the "Repent!" sign for some reason.Stuart didn't feel he knew a lot about God, but he did know from AlbertEinstein thatGod didn't play dice.God must have a definite purpose forStuart.But what was it?#Rudy Sanchez looked over the Pier 17 pumping installation with satisfaction.A hose ran from the bird-feeder into a generator-driven pump, which sent asteady flow into a nearby fire hydrant.The hose vibrated with the rush ofliquid.The"sun" had traveled about 180 degrees around the city since it had come on, andabout six hours had passed.Unlike the real sun, this one provided no radiantwarmth.Moving from shade to"sunlight" made no change in the temperature, which was a steady twenty-fivedegrees C everywhere air moved freely."That's good," Rudy said to Victor Krunkale, a water works supervisor, a bigman with hands so large that Rudy imagined he had a hard time buttoning hisshirt."Can you get your team to install at least another ten setups likethis? Then we'll make some measurements and see if we've got enoughcapacity.""It might take me three shifts," Victor said."We had lots of no-showstoday.""Whatever it takes.Maybe the fire threat will be lower since no one's usingnatural gas, but if we get a bad fire, people are going to need water evenmore than they already do."Rudy turned to Nicholas Dunte, who had been waiting for the last few minutes."Okay, let's go see this thing you're talking about."Nicholas gestured toward the cherry-picker.They got in and the driver tookthem southwest past a few severed piers.Before they reached the placeNicholas had told him about, Rudy suddenly asked the driver to stop.He gotout and approached a discolored spot at the base of the bubble."Just a sec."Page 28ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlRudy knelt in front of the patch that had caught his eye.For a moment he just looked through the clear bubble at the flat plain beyond.From here he used to be able to see Squibb Park inBrooklyn.Outside the enclosed city, the featureless gray surface wasunbroken except by other domes.Rudy couldn't see signs of motion in thenearest dome, one with scores of multicolored spires.The plain itself hadthe texture of matte-finish paint.It showed no reflections, just a uniformgray surface that could have been diamond hard or bubble-gum soft.Thesurface of the plain was roughly even with ground level, so the subterraneanportion of Manhattan had to be embedded in the gray stuff.Rudy looked more closely at the base of the bubble itself.In most places the clear surface extended straight into the slit between thecity and the flat gray plain.Here, however, the bubble gradually blackenedas it approached the ground.Level with the concrete Rudy knelt on, thebubble was black.Between there and the clear section seemed to be a boundarylayer, where what looked to be two kinds of materials flowed together,establishing a strong bond.The seam reminded Rudy of tinted sunglasses, the kind that were clear at thebottom and dark at the top, but when he ran his fingers over the surface hecould tell the texture change was more significant than mere tinting.Abovethe boundary layer, the dome felt perfectly smooth and slick, like cleanglass.Just above ground level, the black surface was slightly rough, and itfelt like wrought iron.Next to him, Rudy saw that Nicholas had found a loose piece of packingmaterial to kneel on.Nicholas was one of the most capable city workers underRudy, and he was also probably the most fastidious.Rudy got his knife from his pocket and applied the blade to the black surface.He pushed hard on the knife and drew the blade along the surface.When helooked closely, he could see no sign that the blade had made any impression."Got any theories?" Rudy asked.Nicholas ran his fingers over the clear part and then over the black section.He pulled a handkerchief from a pocket and cleaned off his fingers as hethought.Finally he said, "Two possibilities occur to me.One, this sectionof the bubble has been damaged somehow.Two, the bubble doesn't go all theway down to bedrock.They must have supported the section of earth theyexcavated to ensure the island wouldn't fall apart when they lifted us.Perhaps the black material is what was used below ground, and what we see hereis the region where it was fused into the bubble material."Rudy stood up and realized they had attracted a small crowd of curiousonlookers."Okay," he said to Nicholas."How much farther is this othertube?"Nicholas got back up and looked southwest."Not far.We're halfway therealready."They traveled a minute or two in the cherry-picker, then the driver stopped,and they got out.Nicholas pointed up at a large silvery circle where asmaller opaque hose met the side of the dome.Rudy and Nicholas rode the cherry-picker cage upward to the spot.The cagehung in the air, vibrating slightly as Rudy took a closer look.Inside thelarge silvery circle were four more circles, two medium ones side-by-side ontop, each with a small circle directly below it.The large circles were asomewhat darker shade of silver.The two smaller circles seemed to be controls.Around the perimeter of eachof the smaller circles was a series of dots, a little like minute marks on ananalog watch.In the "clock" on the right, the dot at two o'clock glowed.Inthe "clock" on the left, a dot near three o'clock blinked on and off
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