General Disclaimer

Again. Suggestions are welcome....

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The next day was not any cooler. Holmes was more bored than ever and it was clear that the hot weather had affected the Irregulars as well. Tennyson had holed up in his home working with his computers. Wiggins had been comforting a rather red Deidre whom had burned rather than tanned the previous afternoon. Dr. Watson was busy attempting to apply some aloe to Deidre’s flaming back as she twisted away from his fingertips.

'STOP IT!!! THAT’S COLD!!!!'

'Come on, Deidre. You need aloe on that back. It has got to be hurting,' comforted a concerned Wiggins as he allowed her to squeeze his hand. It always seemed to help when you had someone’s hand to transfer your pain to. And there seemed to be a lot of pain to transfer.

'Miss Deidre, you need this aloe on your back pronto. It will temporarily relieve the burning and provide moisture for your back. Perhaps it won’t peel,' said Watson as he made another attempt to spread the aloe.

There was a sharp breath and more squirming. 'It wouldn’t be so cold if your hands weren’t metallic. As if the aloe isn’t cold enough.' Deidre grumbled as she began to crush Wiggins' hand. It was just so cold and the pressure on her back made it hurt even worse.

'Well, Deidre. It appears you have survived your first sunburn. Any comments on your experience?' asked a bored Holmes as he leaned back into his armchair.

'This is only temporary relief?' she managed to shiver out. 'I never used to get sunburned this badly before. What’s up with this weather!?'

Holmes glanced out the window and wondered, 'Where is Lestrade? No crime today. Normally she would have shown up by now.'

The half-cleaned police cruiser glided across town. Today she wasn’t headed for Baker Street. She was headed for Kathleen Drive. The buildings on that particular street were built so that a shop of some sorts could be stationed on the first floor while the owners of the business could live in the space above. It was generally a good setup allowing the owners to cut back costs of owning so much separate space.

The recent lack of crime had given Lestrade more time than she could possibly use. And she was more than willing to find something to do. Weeks ago, Grayson had thrown an immigration list in her face and give her the checkup responsibilities. She would have to handle their immigration status if they ever had any charges placed against them. And since most of them were Americans, she had to make certain that none of them were ever crypnotized if there were any such charges. America, her home, had never passed any act that would allow for cryptonizing felons. It all led back to the basic freedoms and rights of Americans. The freedoms she enjoyed before she moved to New London.

However, upon closer examination of the list, she found one name that she had never expected in New London.

Turning the corner, she set down in front of 600 Kathleen Drive. The business was called A Messy Fix.

---

News Channel: Over 67 people have been hospitalized due to heat stroke and 132 have been hospitalized due to dehydration today. If you have the following symptoms, you may be experiencing these conditions. If so call 1-700-THIR-STY for information and possible help.

Moriarty flicked the monitor off as he set about to his new creation. This was working nicely. If he could raise New London’s temperature like so and cause so much misery, he couldn’t wait to try natural disasters. However, with Fenwick retrieving the materials to power the machine further, he was growing bored of all of this water. Just water. He still remembered the water as he fell off of the falls of Reichenbach to his first death. Cloning had ways of instilling memories much more vivid than normal ones, almost pressed into the consciousness as if to instill the original personality. ‘How cloning had advanced over the years.’ But this water. How he hated it. He would kill Holmes the way that he had died the first time. It wouldn’t take Holmes too long to find him.

---

Jumping out of the cruiser, Lestrade opened the shop door and stepped in as a bell rang some friendly melody out of tune, turning it into something more of a Halloween song. Funny how most of the things in the 'fix-it' shop were broken. As she began to look at her surroundings, a familiar voice shouted, 'Be right there!' Some things never change.

Soon, a young man about her age appeared at the back door dressed in jeans and a lab coat, with a disheveled mess of hair upon his head. He had the classic mad scientist look but the mischievous twinkle in his eyes let on that he was only in it for the knowledge. Dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. An engineer, an inventor, and a friend.

'So, how’s everything going, Josh? I see from your immigration record that you had a speeding ticket last week.' Lestrade commented as she looked him right in the eye. 'Or should I be more worried about any new inventions you might have come up with since last time I was here?'

'Beth. Would I invent something that could possibly hurt anyone?' he laughed off. Of course there was that time when he put a 'self-destruct' button on a watch just for fun. He hadn’t meant to give it away....

'Gee, I don’t know. That self-destructing watch was pretty painful.' She smiled. She might have been mad at him when it had happened if they weren’t such good friends. 'Mind if I hang here for a while? Crime’s low and I could use some inventing and chemistry by the looks of it. How has business been?'

'Oh, the norm. Been inventing, and that’s keeping me with a steady money supply but the shop is just for fun. Not much today or since this weather turned hot. And I thought North Carolina had hot summers.' He said as they picked their way through the mess of spare parts and various tools to the back of the business where the chemistry supplies were. 'Got some news from Ben last week. He’s planning on visiting next month. He’ll meet up with Erika in New London and then fly back to America. You wanna join us for the day?'

'Just tell me when.'

As they began to set up the supplies and go over the chemicals and procedures, the room began to quiet. The humming of the air conditioning seemed to have eliminated itself as they began the experiment.

As Beth glanced at Josh, she noticed his eyes had become shaded over, as if he were in deep thought. She hadn’t seen him like that since their high school physics class where they would sit and crack the hardest problems the teacher could find. 'What are you thinking about, Josh?'

As he looked up, he began to put away the chemicals and reached for his notebook. 'Ever since this weather started, I’ve been trying to figure out how cold, dank New London has turned into Palm Beach, Florida. And after a lot of thought, I realized -- the air is so dry. The Thames is drying up. But the moisture isn’t staying here. There has got to be something sucking the water out of the air and that is allowing the air of New London to heat up....'

Beth added, 'Because water has a high specific heat and that is what has always kept New London at cooler temperatures. Air with its low specific heat is just warming up too fast and....'

'Even with the Thames drying up and all of that water vapor entering the air, the rate that the temperatures are increasing has stayed the same. Something has got to be messing with the atmosphere. But what?'

As he looked at Lestrade and Lestrade at him, questions weren’t answered. Only theories on how this could happen were suggested.