On Day 103, Nick went back to the power menu, trying to see if there was something better than solar panels available now that he had more options. When he chose the next item on the menu, Petra printed out a solid cylinder that was made out of some weird material that looked like flexible stone. It only had one marking on it, a plus sign on one end. It kind of looked like a giant AA battery, but it wasn't in the battery menu. Nick turned it on, and Petra showed that it was making zero units of energy. Trying to find some kind of status or properties for it, he got two numbers that matched. That was it.
He could make different sizes and proportions, but they all came out a blank cylinder with a plus on the end. The biggest one he made was about an inch thick and about eight feet long. He couldn't figure out what it did, though. He left it outside during the day, and it still made no power. He shook his head, staring at it that night. “This thing is useless, Petra. Why is it in the power menu?”
A few days later, he was fiddling with a bunch of different experiments and gadgets outside in the dawn light, getting some fresh air and trying to figure out what they did. Among other things, he stared at a little moving contraption that seemed to be one of those active toys like swinging marbles that high-powered executives kept on their desk to look impressive. While he was staring at the gadget, he was startled by his alarm going off, warning him of sunrise. He blinked. Man, I lost track of time.
He looked at the horizon, and saw with alarm that sunrise was even closer than his clock indicated. What the hell? The Death Star is rising earlier than it's supposed to! For a second Nick was baffled, but then remembered that it happened on Earth too, and why. I guess BigBall has seasons? Hell of a way to find out!
He hurried to bring everything inside, and left the “power cylinder” in the stairwell in his haste, caught on one step and sticking up partway up out of his tunnel. Nick forgot about it while putting other things away in his workroom he had dug out on Level 2. He wasn't the most organized of people, but every once in a while he cleaned up so that he could find things again.
It was a while before he noticed that Petra was gaining energy faster than usual. Huh. Is the Death Star getting brighter? Nick felt a chill despite the warm air. That...could be problematic.
When he went to the network details, though, he found that the solar panels were giving the same amount as always, but the power cylinder was now generating power as well. Calling up the specs, he found that the two numbers were now different, there was a small percentage listed, and a power rating. The rod was making about as much as two solar panels. However, the output was dropping even as he watched.
Stolen novel; please report.
What the hell? Nick walked up to the rod and stared at it, half in the sun and half in the shade. What is it doing? If it's making power, why doesn't it make more when the rod is lying out on the surface?
Nick stared at it for a long while, but just drew a blank. It was frustrating. He was sure he was missing something.
He set it aside for the moment. He had a dozen gadgets like that now—things he had printed out but still had no idea what they did. Every so often he would look at the cylinder, baffled.
Eventually, he noticed that when the two numbers matched, no power was generated, and both numbers were higher in the daytime, lower at night. Nick frowned. It can't be a thermometer, can it? Is that showing the temperature?
Nick played with the interface some, trying a new trick. He asked Petra to print a small amount of water, but copied the high number from the power cylinder. The water came out hot. When he put in the other number, it was like usual. Then Nick deliberately set it to a smaller number and tried again. This time, Petra made ice.
Nick cheered and labeled the number Temperature. Then he picked up the ice cube. That was a mistake.
“OW! Motherfucker! Leggo! OW!” The ice cube was so cold, it had stuck fast to his fingers, which were getting numb almost instantly. Working left-handed, Nick put a high number in—and stopped just before he might have killed himself with superheated steam.
Warily, he set the number to the first high value he had tried, and got hot water, which he used to somewhat violently remove the ice cube from his fingers. “Ow. Motherfucking ow.” They still stung badly, and the pain didn't go away after a few minutes. “Fucking hell! How cold was that thing? Petra, what the fucking hell kind of temperature scale are you using?”
Still distracted by pain, it took Nick a while, carefully making only a tiny amount at a time, to figure out that any number below 1005 or so made ice, while any number above 1373 made steam. On the plus side, this meant that Nick could set up a hot shower if he wanted, or even a spa if he wanted to put in the work.
As a result of his mishap, Nick got remote thermometers, hot and cold water, and after a bit of work, both heating and air conditioning in his home. His fingers kept hurting for days, and Nick tried to take the lesson to heart. He had to keep trying things, and sometimes that would be dangerous, but he shouldn't ever be sloppy when telling Petra to try something new.
It would only take one bad mistake to kill him. And even if he were only injured or crippled, there was no one to come help him if he needed it. He could not afford to have accidents like this.