“The gems are blue!” Kaelen sputtered, “The light is blue, right?” He held them out closer as if Renik couldn’t already see the bright blue light emanating from them.

“You are supposed to be the smart one?” Renik joked, his half grin faded quickly though. “Seriously though, what did you just do?”

“I don’t know.” Kaelen pulled the gem core from the half-disassembled lamp. He glanced up to Renik then with a deep breath drew in a couple chips worth of the blue light. The room seemed to grow brighter. The hair on his arms and neck stood on end. The dank smell of oil and seared wood filled his nostrils. The soft, pat, pat of Renik’s feet on the hardwood as he drew near tickled Kaelen’s ears.

Kaelen’s breath whooshed out as he pushed the blue light into the half charged green shard. The green shard as long as his pinky flashed once then turned to a deep blue. The blue light flooded the room sparkling off the walls. The rush of extra sensory perception remained. Kaelen was sure he could hear the hum of the light in the crystals.

“You have to take a draw off the crystal.” Kaelen held the shard out for Renik to take.

Renik narrowed his eyes then took the crystal. He sucked in a deeper breath than Kaelen had, perhaps a full sleeve. Then his eyes grew wide. He turned and looked at the door downstairs and tucked the blue shard into his inner coat pocket next to his green shard.

Kaelen followed his gaze down over the balcony just as the front door popped open and Jarleel stepped in. In a flash Kaelen closed his fist over the small remaining blue gems and shoved them in the inner pocket of his leather jacket.

Jarleel had yet to look up from the front entrance. Renik flashed a glance over his shoulder at the sleeve and glove then a commanding stare into Kaelen’s eyes. Kaelen turned to grab up the new gear and Renik turned back to walk down the spiral stairs throwing both hands out to the sides, “Jarleel.” He announced the foreman’s name with vigor and enthusiasm.

Jarleel snarled as he looked up. “Renik, what are you doing in my shop this early?” His tone was filled with nearly as much accusation as his eyes.

“I brought coffee, but we drank it all waiting for you to get here.” Renik mocked.

“You don’t work here.” Jaleel dropped off his street jacket in the closet by the front door and slipped on a cleaner, pressed Master Artisan jacket with flashy buttons and a high collar. He pulled his long shard out of his inner pocket of his street jacket and slipped in into the new coat. Then he proceeded to pin his glowing cufflinks on his black and white jacket. The pinstripes running straight down the back of the jacket lit up. He turned his head to raise a brow at Renik as he finished his sentence.

Renik grinned wide as he walked down the steps. “Ah, Foreman Jarleel,” his overly honorific tone was thicker than butter, “but I’m here more than you are.” He said it just to see the angry twitch in Jaleel’s eye.”

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“Should I search you before you leave?” Jarleel said through clenched teeth.

Renik gave him a look of you don’t want to know, “you would only find the stuff I stole for your shop, then how you gonna feign ignorance?”

“Get out of my shop, gutter thief.” Jarleel pointed firmly at the door and refused to look in Renik’s direction.

Kaelen heard the front door shut then walked out to the balcony to look down at the shop floor. “Morning Jarleel.”

Foreman Jarleel straightened the steamed seams of his jacket and slicked back his hair with his palms before looking up at Kaelen.

Renik walked out onto the streets and sucked in a breath sharp and intentional to draw light from his breast pocket. Green and blue Noxflare flooded in through his chest. The green filled him with life and the energy to move. The blue rocked his senses in a way he had never known.

Everything seemed more vivid, more pronounced. The auroras in the sky were brighter and more vibrant. The smells of hot meats cooking in carts at the corners made him want to drool. Kids laughing and playing, gamblers rolling dice on the sidewalk, and marketeers’ calls assaulted his ears.

There was more though Renik had to stand still a moment to take it in. He glanced up the road in both directions as he tried to place this new sensation. He spotted a constable leaning against a lantern post with thin rimmed shimmer glasses on his face. Beater on his hip, likely about three sleeves of Noxflare in his coat and his bow leg stance meant he rode a pulse cruiser.

The guinee players in the alley rolling dice had rolled two sevens, a pair of fangs and a five in the past three rolls. The man in the orange leather coat was coaxing the younger player into a trap and the big man watching from across the street was planning on rolling the winner, whoever it turned out to be.

Renik could see the fastest path of escape with each step. He could figure the most likely direction to secure a weapon. He could size up a fight from the swagger of a walker and the glint in his eyes. Envisioning the fight from initiation to conclusion in a flash of imagination. He memorized the flash in the palm of a shop owner as he unlocked his gate.

Renik stopped walking again. It all came crashing in on him at once. The blue light heightened his senses that was evident but its most potent effect was increased intelligence.

Kaelen finished cleaning off his worktable, as Jarleel closed up shop below. Kaelen had not only caught up with his work from falling behind in the morning. He had already completed several projects for days ahead. He began to hide some of his completed work in the afternoon. He didn’t want to draw too much attention to his increased productivity, and he might just need some extra time to tinker with his own project the next couple days. It wasn’t that he was more energetic than any other day. It was just that all his work was just so simple.

When Jarleel closed the front door, Kaelen pulled out his sheet from beneath the bench. He had scribbled notes out on the sheet throughout the day. He glanced over the diagram of the sleeve and the glove. The page was flooded with notes but trying to tie the complex and various trails of thought together became increasingly difficult throughout the day. Whatever he was scratching the surface of, it was years ahead of his own understanding.

He took out the watch gem chips and pushed more green Noxflare into them from his main crystal. They flashed bright blue as they filled with about a sleeve a piece. He would need larger gems. Jarleel would notice quickly though if he began to snatch up gems from the store. He would need to find a way to get a larger gem, then he would need to work out how this device worked. He would have to employ Renik’s special skills to secure the gem, he chewed his lip, then he would figure out how to make a new color.