Lightforge groaned as he picked himself up off the floor of his shop. The sun was getting low outside, and he really should just close up for the day right now. But he didn't. Instead he furiously tried to wipe away the soot that covered his hands and arms. He muttered curses under his breath and walked back to the workbench to check on the object of his ire.
There on the table was a pile of slag that had once been a battery pack. He'd been trying to refine and troubleshoot his pinwheel fier, once he'd managed to fix it after its first crash.
His plans had included sensors, an ai core, and a lot of other cool bells and whistles that would have made it more useful and less likely to crash. The problem had been power; all those additions would drain power way faster than the current design. He'd had the brilliant idea to upgrade some batteries and combine them to get more juice out of them. It had been going well at first.
And then it had blown up with enough force to send him tumbling to the ground. His work space was covered in soot and char, but at least he had thought to put his spare parts away earlier in the day, so they had been spared the mess. The flier itself was safe but dirty, so at the very least he hadn't lost it too.
The giant gadgeteer let out a heavy sigh and scratched at his chin. There had been a system warning about the battery, but he hadn't expected an explosion of all things. Losing parts seemed like a high price to pay for failing the upgrade, but that was apparently the price. He found a rag and began wiping away the mess as he considered his next move.
His first thought was to simply abandon the project. The little machine could fly, couldn't it? Was it really necessary to keep focusing on it instead of moving on to better things? It seemed pretty pointless when it ran the risk of literally blowing up in his face. But then again, was that the precedent that he wanted to set for himself?
The roadmap laid itself out in front of him as he considered it. Piles and piles of inventions and projects that hadn't worked immediately, so they'd been discarded. No time to improve, only to build and move on. In other words, a useless gadgeteer who was always convinced that the next one would work this time.
No, he couldn't do that. He couldn't even have it as an option. It wasn't enough to slap something together and call it a day. He needed to know how to evaluate and improve on his own work. More than that, the more he thought about it the more he realized that he wanted to get better. He wanted to train himself, to learn to see the possibilities and improvements that could be added to any project. That meant continuing with the flier.
With the worst of the mess cleaned away, he gently picked up the machine and inspected it. It wasn't complicated; it was a motor with a propeller on top, batteries attached to the sides, and a gyroscope hanging from the bottom. It was as simple a flying machine as he could imagine. Any improvements would make it more complicated.
He shook the thoughts free and walked over to one of the windows. He studied the glass for a few moments, trying to sort through his thoughts and come to a conclusion. It wasn't working; his mind was far too quick to wander and go off track before he could settle on anything solid. He needed something to help him, something to get the thoughts out of his brain and into some tangible form.
Suddenly annoyed, he stalked out of the shop and walked to the other end of the strip mall where his shop was located. There was a small convenience store there, and Lightforge hurried through the door.
It looked like any other convenience store that you might find in a gas station. Small, cramped rows of items for sale (mostly snacks), and a back wall completely dedicated to drinks. It was the kind of place where you could find a little bit of everything, so long as you didn't mind the cheap quality.
A bell rang signaling his entrance, and Lightforge saw the owner, Lou, look up from the counter and freeze as he saw who had come in. The gadgeteer walked over and said, "Hi there, Lou. How's business these days?"
The portly man openly gawked at his guest, nervously looking out the window to, presumably, check for killer robots. It was an understandable concern, but not at the moment. The shopkeeper stared for a few more seconds before he forced a smile onto his face and said, "Well, hello, Mr. Lightforge. Business is going well, thank you. Is there a problem of some kind?"
"Nope, just here to shop. Do you have any dry erase markers?"
"Huh? You want to buy something? Of course, of course! Stationeries, aisle 8, right over there." His concern visibly changed to excitement as he realized that the player was there as a customer, not a disgruntled tenant. He pointed emphatically to an aisle and Lightforge nodded in appreciation.
He walked over to the indicated aisle and thought that he should probably be grateful for Lou's hands-off landlording. So far he'd set off an explosion and spent days loudly smashing a TV for hours on end. Not a word of complaint so far, which he suspected was unusual. Or maybe not, considering that this was a world packed to the gills with superpowered people.
The so-called "stationery section" was only a couple of feet long and featured just a handful of notebooks, pens, and similar things. It included a single pack of three dry erase markers, red, blue, and black. That was plenty for his purposes. He grabbed it off the rack and headed to the counter.
As he handed the markers and his money to Lou, Lightforge decided that he should try to be more friendly with the shopkeeper. He cleared his throat softly and said, "So, any trouble around here? I haven't seen any, but I know I might miss things."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Um, no, I don't think so. I see people wandering around from time to time, but no trouble."
"Good. Just let me know if anything comes up, alright? I'll take care of it."
"Of course. Here you are."
"Thank you."
Lightforge took the markers back and waved slightly as he marched out of the store and back to his own shop. That had been a successful excursion in his eyes.
As soon as he crossed the threshold into his shop, he tore the package of markers open and discarded it onto the floor. Without missing a beat he took the markers and walked over to the window, which he started to use as a whiteboard. Just like that, his thoughts snapped to attention as he began to write.
Notes, lists, sketches and even idle thoughts quickly began to litter the glass as he considered the problem in front of him. How to improve a little flying machine? Well, what did he mean by "improve?" That was an important question to answer, wasn't it? Well, he wanted it to fly without crashing.
Without crashing or without breaking? Those two things were similar, but not necessarily the same. His initial, high tech solutions had all been about making the machine smart enough to not crash in the first place, but what about just keeping it in one piece? That had to be simpler, right?
So what pieces were most in danger? The propellers were obviously the weakest point, and the gyroscope just dangled from the bottom in a way that was probably dangerous. If the batteries were being hit hard enough to break, the whole thing was probably already broken. Same for the motor.
And there it was: propeller and gyroscope. He just needed to protect those two. He couldn't just enclose them in a shell, since it wouldn't fly if that were the case. But maybe…
He went to the pile of scrap metal on the floor and started picking out any thin strips that he could find. With an effort he summoned a welder made of light and a set of cutting tools before setting to work.
#
After more time than he would care to admit, he had the next version on the pinwheel flier ready to test. He studied his work one last time, inspecting the little welds and the overall shape and workmanship of the thing. He nodded to himself and came to his conclusion.
"Yeah, you look like [BLEEP] now."
The simple machine was now surrounded by a rough cage of mismatched metal pieces that almost approximated a sphere. It was a little bigger than a softball, at least from most angles. It didn't look good, but it would hopefully protect the equipment inside well enough.
He took a few deep breaths and braced himself. If he was wrong, then it would probably drop like a rock or shatter into lots of little shrapnel that would come back to bite him. He was prepared for that, or at least he thought he was. But maybe he'd forgotten something? Maybe he should recheck his work again?
No, he was just stalling now. He stuck a finger through the cage and turned the device on. The motor whirred to life and it slowly lifted out of his hands. It hovered in the air, gently swaying as the gyroscope worked to balance the uneven load. His mouth was dry as he moved on to the real test.
Gently, he pushed the device towards one wall. It moved about a foot before stabilizing and stopping itself. Lightforge's shoulder sank at the sight; he would have to be a little rough with it. Probably better to just get it over with. He reached out and slapped the little machine hard, sending it twirling away in unsteady flight.
It was nearly turned sideways when it hit the wall, and Lightforge held his breath. It bounced off the wall, and then the floor, and then the wall again before finally righting itself. Slowly, it gained a little bit of altitude and began to hover gently as it stabilized itself. It was completely undamaged.
Lightforge smiled from ear to ear and pumped his fist in the air. He walked over to the device and cradled it in his hands, raising it up to eye level where he could inspect it. He checked the mechanism and the protective cage; neither had any noticeable damage. He could undoubtedly crush the thing easily if he wanted to, but this model would be enough to stand up to minor accidents. That was enough.
As he stood there beaming, the doorbell for the shop rang and he turned to look at his guest. He blinked; it was Sunbird, but she looked like a mess. Her blonde hair was matted and tangled, her costume was somehow wrinkled despite being skintight. She was blinking hard in the late afternoon light and something was glistening on her cheek. If not for the late hour, he would have guessed…
“Did you just wake up?” he asked incredulously. She shied back slightly from his raised voice and motioned for him to be more quiet. She straightened and blinked a few times before she replied.
“Yes, I did. Had a rough morning and took a nap. Don’t judge.”
“Ok, I guess I get it. How can I help you?”
“You can craft things now, right?”
“That’s right. I’ve been working on this little beauty so far.”
He indicated proudly to the machine hovering in the air beside him. Sunbird looked at it hard, studying it with a look that made him want to hide the device behind him. After a moment she shook her head and turned back to look at Lightforge.
“Sure, neat toy,” she said, “But I need you to make me something.”
“No problem, what do you need?”
“I need the game’s HUD. I tangled with a guy earlier who I’m pretty sure is higher level than me. It was an ok fight, but I honestly got my [BLEEP] kicked. If I’d known his level and alignment beforehand, I probably would have just run.”
“Ah, I get it. Of course, I’ve never heard of an item like that in the game.”
“Of course not, dumb[BLEEP]. It was part of the basic settings; it just happened. But now it isn’t, so there’s got to be a way to reproduce the effect.”
“Alright, I’ll look into it. Give me a few days and I’ll see what I can manage.”
“Awesome. I’m gonna go back to sleep now. Thanks for the help, buddy.”
She turned to leave and he called out to her, “You know I’m gonna charge you for this one, right?”
She didn’t say a word, or even turn her head. She just raised a hand in a rude gesture before turning it into a half-hearted wave. She took to the sky as soon as she cleared the doors.
Lightforge shook his head as he watched her go. Clearly she wasn’t a morning person. Or a nap person. But now he had his next project lined up. The first project that would actually be useful to the people around him. This was going to be fun.