[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Pull the override, Beatrice! Don't look at the screens, just pull the lever! The Aegis is venting its heat directly into the city’s structure, and if we don't decouple the nursery's gravity well now, we’re going to be welded to the floor before the ship even levels out! Can you hear me, baby? Focus on my voice, not the screaming in the wires!"

Sofia’s voice was a jagged rasp of command and terror, barely audible over the groaning of the Spire’s primary stabilizers. She was hunched over the main diagnostic terminal, her silver-gold eyes reflecting a waterfall of cascading red error codes. The Glass City, now revealed...