I took the lift to the roof of my house where my car was parked. Although it was still early, the sun was already up, and the humidity was rising. It was going to be a hot day. I got into the car, and after a quick check of the system, started the vehicle. The anti-gravity engine of the car lifted the vehicle off the ground, and I hit the accelerator. The car began flying towards my workshop along Alexandra Road.

I could have just punched in the coordinates of my workshop and let the autopilot do the driving, but I had always preferred to do the driving myself. When the flying car first came into mass production, there was some question on whether we should still call it ‘driving’ when the vehicle was flying in the air, but old habits die hard. The drive was relaxing as usual and I felt better when I finally arrived at The Fat Tinkerer.

I hadn’t been here for six months, but others have. As I landed in my private carpark outside the workshop, a security drone flew over to do a quick scan of my vehicle. It flew back to the workshop as I got out. I looked around and saw that Howard Djajadi, my security consultant, has been busy in my absence. There were several cameras situated on the outside of the workshop and I noticed a slight blip in my cybernetics as I came to the entrance of the workshop. A constant white noise filter?

I wasn’t sure about that. White noise filter was a program that blocks and jam electronic signals. Most companies used them but in the past, I only activated it when I was in the workshop. Having it on even when no one was around was a drain on energy. I need to speak to Howard on the necessity of it later. I used my cybernetics to unlock the door and entered the workshop.

The workshop sensors detected my presence and the lights turned on immediately. I keyed my cybernetics to the workshop AI and ordered it to turn off the lights. The workshop turned dark, but not for long as I ordered the double door to be opened.

Like most workshops, The Fat Tinkerer was designed to be able to accommodate big vehicles so one side of the workshop had a huge double door instead of a wall. As the doors opened, light entered the workshop again. I saw the workshop in its full glory.

The Fat Tinkerer was well-lit, spacious, and had a separate office area with a full Dive setup inside. It was just as I remember it, with some new additions. Howard had installed some turrets at strategic places within the workshop and the door to my office looks new. Still, it feels good to be home.

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Something bumped into my foot and began beeping at me furiously.

I looked down at the cleaning bot at my feet and remembered it. It was an old cleaning bot that I owned. When I first got The Fat Tinkerer, the place was a mess and I brought this cleaning bot from my house to the workshop. It had done such a good job, I decided to keep it around and bought another cleaning bot for my home. I had totally forgotten about it existence till now.

It was reminding me of the error as it beeped at me furiously. I believed it was angry at me for letting the dust in.

“Keep up the good work!”

I walked towards the office and left the cleaning bot behind. It began beeping at me even louder. I guess the AI of the cleaning bot was better than I thought. It actually understood that I was ignoring it.

The door of the office opened automatically as I got near and closed after I had entered. Unlike the workshop, my office was bared with only the Dive console and a wide office table where my computer was placed. Outside a few chairs, and a hidden safe, the office was empty. Maybe I should get an interior decorator to look at the place. The office could do with some sprucing up. That was something for the future though. For now, I headed straight to the Dive console.

The Digital Interface for Visionary Enhancement was the most exclusive simulator in the solar system and the company that runs it, Digital Flash Corporation, prided itself on making the digital environment of Dive as realistic as possible. Every company and mega corporations used it for scientific research and development, and it was a place to showcase your latest products.

I smiled as I laid down on the soft leather cushions and boot up Dive Designer Platform. The three screens of the Dive console lit up and I used the keyboard to access the Dive. I was on a tight schedule but luckily, I knew what I wanted to do. A good thing about being in bed for six months was that I had a lot of time to think. I could have used the time to design a brand new battlesuit of course, but I didn’t feel ready for that. Getting shot doesn’t give you a burst of inspiration; it just gives you time to think. It also gave you time to doubt yourself, and the reason for your existence, but drugs did wonders in chasing away negative thoughts.

I didn’t gain any enlightenment in the hospital, but I did think a lot of how my life had changed since getting the System. Before getting the System, I was a nobody. Now I was an up and coming battlesuit designer with a reputation of designing variants of old battlesuits and making them viable again.

Why mess with a good thing?

As I was laying in bed, I thought of all the famous old battlesuits that came before and had a lot of ideas of how to improve them. I made a list of old famous battlesuits that deserved a new lease of list, and now used the Dive search function to look for the first battlesuit on the list; ‘The Fuming Minotaur’.