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Modern Age Online
Chapter 178 - Hard Conversations and Air Quality

Chapter 178 - Hard Conversations and Air Quality

Kaleb could feel Roy’s eyes on him the entire trip back down the tunnel. But neither of them said anything for fear of disrupting the astounding amount of dust that covered them both. It seemed that the K-Tech furnace, while being completely automated, had gone without general maintenance for a good long while. Not to mention all the crud the pair got on themselves when they detached the scrubbers. Kaleb felt it was an overall win, but Roy clearly felt different.

Thankfully, the boy said nothing until they were topside again and he could crack a window. Kaleb did the same as a blast of wind kicked up the soot and dust in the cabin.

“Hack… That was stupid, doc. Cough,”

Kaleb waved a hand through the air as he sputtered back an argument. “No, it wasn’t. We knew the scrubbers were going to be crusted with all sorts of gunk and trash. When we get home, we’ll clean them out.”

“Not that. Did you need to take four of them?! That damn giant furnace was already limping along. Without some of the key parts, the damn thing will probably explode or something.”

“It won’t explode… maybe. Look, if K-Tech knows anything about what it’s doing, they’ll have fail-safes in place for shit like this. If not, then the furnace starts kicking out harmful fumes and the tunnels getting a little stinkier. Either way, it looks bad for K-Tech, not us.”

“Okay. But Four, Professor?! Four? Those things are as big as my torso! What could they be used for?”

“Science!”

“Gonna need a more specific answer, Doc.”

“Oh, like you have a plan for that giant repulsor you snagged.”

“That has practical applications and can be used in several decent projects.”

“Name three!” Kaleb took to opening his door and flapping it as he drove slowly down the street.

They were still kicking up a lot of dust, but it was getting better. Roy saw what he was doing and followed suit as he fell into thought. In truth, Kaleb did not know what to do with the scrubbers. They were designed to clean toxic fumes kicked out from the furnace and spit out clean air. He could come up with far more inventions for the repulsor than he could the scrubbers. But the high-end equipment being right there for the taking was just too good.

“Non-lethal area of denial weapon, platform support, and…” Roy petered off as he tried to search for a third thing.

Kaleb grinned. “See, its applications are just as limited as my scrubbers. Ha Ha!”

“Spare parts for our more standard size repulsors.”

“Oh please, my scrubbers could also be used as spare parts for stuff.”

“Fine, then you list three things you could use those scrubbers for, Doc?”

Kaleb blinked, caught off guard. But he quickly rallied. “Okay… Um, exhaust scrubber for the workshop.”

“Okay.” Roy said, holding up one soot stained finger. “We could use one of those scrubbers to do that. But fine.”

Kaleb stopped opening and closing his door as the dust in the cab finally settled. He and Roy were still soot-covered, but at least they weren’t chewing dirt anymore. He used the moment to wrack his brain for at least a second option. Roy was already going to give him shit for having a hard time, but he had to think of something. It was either that or admit that the scrubbers had been a really stupid idea. Kaleb turned to see Roy grinning at him. The boy was about to start gloating when a thought hit him.

“Ah! Ah-ha! I got it! Those are industrial-sized scrubbers back there. That means they use a small electric current at intervals to clean their filtration nets. We could amplify that effect and use it as a defense system.”

Roy snorted. “Pfft. You mean like an electric fence?”

“Exactly.”

“The kind you created for my dad’s store with some wire and a power source from your garage.”

“Hey! The goal wasn’t to find something we hadn’t done before. Just to name three things we could build with them.”

“And you listed two.”

“So did you!”

“Yeah, but I’m the apprentice, Doc. You’re the teacher. Gimme a third invention.”

Kaleb huffed in annoyance as he tapped his hands on the truck’s steering wheel. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders and spat out the first thing his mind could think of.

“Air purifiers for the entire hangar.”

“Seriously, Doc? As air purifiers?”

“Hey, clean air has been proven to increase sleep quality and work productivity.”

“Uh-huh, sure. You’re going to install those scrubbers as air purifiers?”

“I’m just saying it could work and it would be beneficial. Besides, we also got half a dumpster full of stuff that we can experiment with, right? So the scrubbers can wait.”

“I smell like an ashtray!”

“We’ve got showers at the hangar. Besides, that’s better than smelling like blood, right?”

“I don’t have any spare clothes, though. I need to bring some in the next chance I get.”

“You can borrow some of mine.”

“Doc? What are you talking about? You’ve worn the same white T-shirt and jeans ever since I met you.”

“Dude! What? I got an entire closet full of clothes… they’re all white T-shirts and jeans, but they should fit your scrawny ass just fine.”

“Wait, so you’re saying you actually change clothes every day?”

“YES! Dude, how gross do you think I am?”

“How was I supposed to know? If it’s not covered by the lab coat and armor, it looks the same. White shirt, faded blues jeans, and black boots. Change it up a bit, Doc!”

Kaleb winced, as he hadn’t ever really cared about what he was wearing. Claire, Two Gun, and the others of the Super Group were always changing their clothes when they logged in. Claire and Abby moved in entire wardrobes into their rooms. But Kaleb had always preferred the t-shirt and jeans that came with his original house. They had served him well and looked good with his white lab coat. Eventually, he simply glared over at his young assistant as Roy looked sheepish.

“Ah, whatever. We can get you some clothes, kid. Afterward, we can figure out what we grabbed.”

Roy nodded slowly and went back to trying to wipe the soot from his body. Their cab was still smoking slightly as they drove away from the city and deeper into the countryside. As they crossed the Colorado, Kaleb briefly thought about stopping. Instead, he stepped on the gas and hurried along toward the isolated airport. The sun was getting low and Kaleb imagined more calls were coming in about gangs and other such incidents. But so far, Farrah had been quiet over their radios.

Halfway home, Roy stretched his legs up and put them on the truck’s dashboard. The metal shine of repulsor housing on the boy’s calf made Kaleb think of something.

“Hey, why weren’t you stuck with your legs to the ceiling?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Roy looked confused. “What?”

Kaleb waved at the boy’s leg and the metal housing that held the repulsor to his shoes. “Those are metal, right? I’ve held them, examined them. They shouldn’t have worked.”

“Ha! We can thank Daivor for that one. The first problem he brought up when I mentioned jet boots was electromagnetic pulses and magnetism.”

“So you shielded the repulsor itself. Which would take care of EMPs. But what about magnetism?”

Roy reached down and tapped the thin-looking housing on his leg. It made a metallic thunk noise and Kaleb tried to figure out what the kid was saying. When his brain didn’t catch up, Roy chuckled.

“It’s titanium, Doc. It was a pain in the ass to make and we burned up a lot of it, but it worked.”

“Shit. I didn’t know the new furnace could ge that hot.”

“It can’t.” Roy said, looking shy. “I had to go to Marie’s family shop and use their forge.”

“Aw man! What the hell?!”

“Sorry, Doc. But our workshop just isn’t up to snuff yet. We need better equipment. What we’ve got is good for garage science. But…”

“Garage science!? Then why do Terrance and Marie stick around all the time?”

“Because her dad’s shop is always so crowded. Besides, they rarely work with metal. The Hunters are big on using what the kill to make their new equipment. So mostly it’s leather-working and stuff like that.”

Kaleb huffed, mildly insulted. “That’s outrageous. We just upgraded!”

“Yeah, but you’re not a professional workshop yet. We need better materials and less dumpster-diving.”

“Says the kid that just went dumpster-diving with me!”

“I like dumpster-diving, Doc. It’s how we started. Besides, look how far you’ve come. I’m just saying that Marie’s dad has a more professional shop.”

“Betrayal. This is a betrayal.”

“No, it’s not, Doc. You're being over-dramatic.”

“OVER-DRAMATIC?!” Kaleb shouted over-dramatically.

Roy stifled a laugh as Kaleb continued to recount the number of way the boy had betrayed him. Inside, Kaleb was only half-joking. He had been meaning to go to the Hunter’s Forge in order to see their set-up first hand. But things had gotten away from him, as always. Sure, it stung a little that his own workshop wasn’t yet up to a decent standard. But he was hoping to rectify that with some things they had acquired. He continued to jokingly berate his young ward all the way to the airport.

The Brute Clan lizard waved them on through easily enough, and Kaleb sent his traitorous young friend inside to open the doors. The others should’ve still been out and about, and he doubted anyone else had logged in just yet. It was still within the second day, so unless they all took time off from work, they shouldn’t have been in yet. Which is why Kaleb was surprised to spot Vivienne and Abby clutching their ears as the noisy hangar doors slowly opened. The NPCs went about their business as normal, though. Although Kaleb thought he could see Farrah in the back of the room shooting him an evil look. Which meant the real Farrah was back.

Shrugging his shoulders, Kaleb moved the dumpster into position and then dumped their horde next to his workshop. Next, he returned the truck to its proper place and prepared to receive a severe dressing-down from his player friends. He was barely through the side door before Abby charged at him, looking pissed.

Kaleb immediately held up a hand. “How was I supposed to know you were here?”

Abby pointed a finger in his face, but remained silent. She looked back at Vivienne for help. But the Elven woman simply shrugged her shoulders. Kaleb grinned as he quickly escaped into D34d-I’s office and walked to the Hangar’s terminal. Or he would’ve if he didn’t stop at what he saw. D34d-I was seated at his desk, pen in hand, looking over a stack of paperwork.

“Jesus! Why are so many of you here today? Usually, I have every other day to myself in here!”

*Quack*

“An international half-day was declared as one of our ships toward the outer galaxy made a discovery.”

“Another habitable planet?”

*Quack*

“So they say.”

“Hot damn! That is good news.”

“They still need to do environmental surveys and such, but it is exciting.” Vivienne said as she stepped inside the office with Abby.

The shorter woman still looked pissed, but she nodded along. “I’m sure they’ll start offering seats on the next ship off-world again. I’m happy where I am, but my parents are interested.”

“What about Jar-lock?” Kaleb asked.

“He’s stationed on the U.N.S Righteous. It’s currently moving position so he can’t connect right now.”

“It’s moving? So does that mean?”

“Oh, no. His ship wasn’t the discoverer, but they are moving to assist if anything goes wrong.”

“Damn, that means Jar is going to be too busy for a while, huh?”

Abby shrugged. “Just till they figure out that nothing dangerous is in the sector. Then it’ll be back to drifting in boredom.”

Kaleb gave a mirthful snort and moved to the terminal. He wanted to see if anything they’d collected was good for making new rooms or upgrading. Even if the item broken, the system would tell him what he could do with some of the stuff. Such as the Diagnostic tank, it was broken and needed repair. But the system informed him it could be thrown into a med-bay to enhance the healing process.

“Holy shit, Professor! You found a Med Tank?!” Vivienne shouted in alarm, looking over his shoulder.

“WHERE did you find a medical tank?” Abby asked.

“Under-Town.” Kaleb said simply as he heard D34d-I get up from his seat and walk over. “It needs to be repaired, and its stock of chemicals resupplied. But once it is, we can make a Med Bay.”

*Quack*

“Most of the medicines required for the tank are available on the market. If you can get the thing repaired, I can buy the various solutions.”

Kaleb slapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Perfect. I can get that done.”

He swiped back to the first screen and checked the rest of the bits of junk he found. Roy’s giant repulsor could be modified for a cheap gravity chamber. Making training that much more efficient. Abby slapped the screen and waved her hand imperiously.

“NO! No, none of that! Gravity chambers are hell on your bones. Even in the game. I bet that thing will strengthen us but give us brittle bones or something.”

“Alright, alright. I gotta find a use for the damn thing, though.”

“Why’d you even grab it?”

“Roy did. It was part of a failed hover-chair prototype. It was supposed to float, see?”

Kaleb pointed at the screen, which displayed a real-time image of the repulsor. Its top was covered in melted metal as it lay in the pile of junk. Vivienne and D34d-I hissed and quacked at the sight. But Abby narrowed her eyes at Kaleb.

“Whose prototype?”

“Huh?”

“You said that was a failed prototype. Whose prototype was it?”

“K-Tech’s” Kaleb said unapologetically.

*Quack*

“I didn’t hear that.” D34d-I said, already heading back to his chair.

“Damn it, professor. Don’t rob the biggest company in Austin! Please! If they catch you, it’s all our assess.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s all legitimate… by Under-Town standards.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “You mean the city run by criminals?”

“Yes, Abby. The criminals who live below our feet and who the government is sure to know about. But they do nothing. Cause they know that a central area for crime is better than having it spread all throughout the city. It’s an open secret that everyone knows about, but no one mentions. So as long as we stay quiet, we are in the clear.”

“Professor, we are about to be audited next week. If they find anything that ties you to Under-Town, we’re fucked!”

“Actually,” Farrah’s voice said from the office’s doorway. “We just received word today that the auditor is coming from Alderman Madden’s office.”

Kaleb did a fist-pump of victory and tried not to smile too smugly at Abby. He didn’t think he was successful with the scowl she gave him. But he tried.

“Don’t celebrate just yet. This could be good and bad.”

“How is this bad?”

“We still haven’t given Madden an answer, Professor. This could be a more heavy-handed way for the Alderman to show off his power. We’ll need to be careful.”

“HA!” Abby yelled in triumph.

“But not as careful as before. At least this auditor will be slightly on our side.”

“Farrah, quit flip-flopping. Are we screwed or not?”

“I think that depends on how we respond to Mr. Madden’s offer. We’ll need to discuss it again later. For now, I’ve got reports coming in from our area and we need responders.”

Kaleb waved at Vivienne and Abby. “Take these two. I need to do inventory on all the stuff we just brought in.”

Both women made annoyed noises at Kaleb, but he simply shrugged his shoulders. He was back to swiping through the terminal screen. “Hey, did you not want to play the game you just logged in to play? Besides, it’s not like I will not be working.”

“And what, pray-tell, will you be working on?”

Kaleb did another fist-pump as a blue image appeared on-screen in front of him. Turning back to the three women staring at him, Kaleb swung the holo-screen toward them.

“How do you ladies feel about Air Quality in the hangar?”