Rebel Heart

With their hands. Lana glanced at her own palms, which were soft and slender. She knew the manual labor class worked with their hands, but she didn't realize they used them to do more than serve the elite. Warmth crept up her face as she thought how stupid she'd sound to someone like Kelli.

"Here it is."

Lana looked from her hands to the massive, seven-foot-tall Tesla generator. It sat between the boardwalk and one of the buildings where the people had dragged it. Much like her, the generator sat useless. Yet it was the only familiar thing to her in the town. Lana's hand went instinctively to the pocket with her micro before she dropped it.

She circled the generator. It was the size of a greencar-large enough to power the town. Aside from the chunks missing along the edges from the townspeople dragging it, it looked like it was in good shape.

"Don't worry if it's too much," Kelli said. Lana couldn't help feeling irritated at the assurance in Kelli's voice, as if the town had already decided she wasn't likely to hold her own.

She was tired of feeling that way.

Lana went to the side opposite Kelli and pressed her thumb against the keypad. The control panel opened. Though hibernating, the Tesla generator displayed no error messages. She flew through the options on the command panel. The metal panels on top of the generator opened like a flower, automatically adjusting themselves to catch the most sun. Lana looked around to make sure no one was watching then pulled her micro free. She set it on top of the control panel and assessed the results, then activated the generator's artificial intelligence so it would adjust as needed to power the town. She returned her micro to her pocket.

"There's nothing wrong with it," she said, returning to Kelli. "It'll take a couple of days to charge. There's no energy stored in it right now. Once it's charged, it'll power the town for two weeks without a new charge or indefinitely, if I set it to recharge as needed."

Kelli was quiet for a moment in surprise. "We'll have to check the Tesla receivers in all the buildings," she said. "I can't believe you know what to do. The Harvard guy didn't!"

"I was a good student," Lana said, afraid to say more. Without her micro, she doubted she could do much more than turn it on.

"Now we know what to tell Mike!" Kelli said. "You can check all the receivers."