Modern Age Online

Kaleb sighed as he stared down at his workbench. The meeting had ended over thirty minutes ago and he still did not know what to do for Two Gun’s weapons. It was obvious the old cowboy favored revolvers, but Kaleb was unsure what to make the pair out of. Sure, he could make another set out of Ifrit bone. But D34d-I had told him that other than being heavy and having a slight damage boost, they weren’t a massive improvement.

The diminutive duck was in the office, still going over various bits of paperwork. He had grumbled a bit, but judging from the grin the Alien was wearing, Kaleb thought he was having fun. Nearby Claire was lifting a makeshift curling bar Daivor and Roy had slapped together in an area she had deemed the Gym. Her husband was just outside the hangar, trying to get the system to identify a shooting range. Farrah was busy filing reports for the group and getting acquainted with her drones.

Abby, Varlin, Vivienne, and Mass had all left to introduce themselves to the House of Ainsley. It was decided that the four of them would help with the Sorcerer Houses’ Ant problem while Kaleb, Claire, Two Gun, and Jar-lock would do the Magic Forest Test. D34d-I and Farrah would stay back at base and handle the paperwork.

Shortly after they had left, Kaleb had moved to his Mechanics Room, and the others went about their own business. Daivor and Roy, after helping Claire with her weights, had stuck their noses back into Kaleb’s laptop to peruse Kersait’s notes again.

Thinking about the pair, Kaleb looked around to find them both approaching him with wide grins on their faces.

“Okay you two. That’s just creepy. What happened?”

Daivor harrumphed as he wiped the smile from his face. “We found something and we think we can make it work.”

“Remember that battery design that was in here?” Roy continued holding up the laptop for emphasis.

Kaleb nodded slowly, looking at his two assistants.

“Well, it’s some kind of battery designed to hold an alien power source. Now the two of us got to talking, Boss, and…”

“We think it’s for the solution in the generators downstairs.” Roy finished excitedly.

“Or at least some kind of diluted version of it.” Daivor quickly added.

Kaleb could almost feel the pair’s excitement wash over him as he took the laptop and sat it on his workbench. The workbench seemed to identify the laptop as it quickly projected the screen above its surface. The three of them looked over the design, and Kaleb was sure they were right. His chemistry skill wasn’t that great, but it appeared that the design included some kind of non-terrestrial liquid.

“Are we sure this is the Weikacol solution from downstairs?” Kaleb asked over his shoulder.

“Oh yeah, that’s old Wolfy’s concoction alright.” Came a deep a voice. Making Kaleb jump.

He swiveled in his chair, noting the surprised looks of Daivor and Roy as he turned to face a grinning Obadiah. The old cyborg was carrying an old army duffel bag and was staring around them at the battery’s design.

“Where did you slip off to?” Kaleb asked.

Obadiah shrugged. “I’m here to work. So I was working.”

Roy glanced at his grandpa’s duffel bag. “And you went shopping? I thought all your stuff was at mom and dads.”

Obadiah gave another shrug and gestured at the screen displayed over the workbench. “Old Wolfgang could never find the correct alloy for that battery. Although, to be fair, they were much harder to come by back in the day.”

Kaleb shook his head, understanding that the old Cyberspook wasn’t going to say anything more about his ‘work.’ He spun around to look over the battery notes as he heard Daivor fwip away on his magical cable.

“We weren’t really on that part yet. I was wondering if it was made from the stuff downstairs and how much was needed for the battery.”

“I think Wolfgang worked out the correct ratios somewhere in here.” Obadiah said, leaning forward and scrolling down on the laptop.

“Half a page over.” Roy said as he leaned forward to help his grandpa.

Kaleb found himself almost pushed off his chair as the two Novas tried to use the laptop’s track-pad. Soon enough, they found the page just as Daivor swung himself back onto the workbench. Before Kaleb could ask, the Gnome dropped several small bits of metal. The metal gleamed in the light, looking slightly wet. Kaleb recognized it as the metal they had ‘procured’ from the K-Tech dumpsite.

“Think these will work?” Kaleb asked, lifting the small rectangle of metal up to his face.

The Gnome shrugged as Obadiah looked over another bit of metal. “I don’t know, Boss. But it’s the only Non-terrestrial metal we have.”

“Ole Wolfy was concerned that the metal may have an ‘exciting’ reaction with his Weikacol solution.”

“Says here, it will blow up if the ratio is wrong.” Roy added, still hunched over the laptop. “Also, he suspected he would need to create a charging station so that the batteries could recharge. Just a simple electric recharging station, though.”

Kaleb nodded. “Makes sense. That solution recharges through an electrical current. Well, nothing to it, but to try it.” He clapped his hands together as he looked at Daivor. “Why don’t you get us some of the solution while I form the metal into some kind of battery?”

Daivor nodded as he headed off, Roy hot on his heels to help. Obadiah looked around before he stared back at Kaleb. Kaleb understood the old man’s meaning, and he gestured toward the workbench. They stood over the workbench, appearing to look over the laptop as Obadiah spoke.

“My associates in Austin dropped me off a care package. As well as some marching orders. I’m gonna need those ‘disposable assets’ you mentioned, as well as a space to work out of.”

Kaleb glanced around and picked up a piece of the strange metal before saying. “We are pretty squashed in here as it is, and I don’t see the others signing off on expansion unless we tell them what it’s for.”

“I was thinking about using the old ACT tower out on the runway. It’s quiet, out of the way, and my people have already waved off the HLO from this area. Give you some breathing room.”

Kaleb let out a sigh. “Geez. That will be a big help. We don’t want them snooping around out here. Not that we are doing anything illegal, but…”

“Better to not have bureaucratic noses in your business when there’s work to be done.” Obadiah nodded. “Now those assets?”

“I know a group of people who have no problem with questionable work. But they are down in Under-Town.” Kaleb said as he thought of the best way to work the metal into the shape they needed.

Obadiah raised an eyebrow. “New friends?”

Kaleb shrugged as he picked up a metal saw. “Amenable assets who can help me get some things I might need.”

Obadiah nodded as Kaleb started to cut the small chunk of metal in half. Surprisingly, the metal cut easily and soon he had an even smaller chunk of metal. Kaleb then moved over to his small forge and thought about melting the metal down and casting it into a smaller tubular shape. Obadiah gave Kaleb a strange look as he looked down at the small homemade forge.

“This is what you’ve been working with?”

“I’ve been broke!” Kaleb snapped defensively. “I work with what I have.”

Obadiah stuck his hands up placatingly, as Kaleb searched around the small room for something to make a mold with. Daivor and Roy returned with two small beakers full of the blue Weikacol solution. Kaleb glanced at the pair of them before gesturing at the beakers.

“Since when have we had those?”

“Since always, Doc. We had them back at the garage. They were in some of your old bins.”

Kaleb shook his head as he picked up an old bullet casing from a bin. “We really need to do an inventory at some point.”

Both Daivor and Roy shot him dirty looks, causing him to raise an eyebrow in question. Daivor humphed as Roy sighed. Obadiah gave Kaleb a small smile before he walked away from the Mechanics Room. He gave Kaleb a knowing look before he said.

“I’m going to set myself up like we talked about, kid. You can introduce me to your friends later.”

Roy gave his grandpa a wave before he turned back to Kaleb. “You had us do an inventory a while back, Doc. We’ve just gathered way more stuff since then.”

Kaleb scratched the back of his head as he put the casing down on the workbench. “Ahem. Well, how about casting clay of some kind? I want to melt down the metal and then cast it into a smaller hollow shape we can pour the solution into.”

Roy moved off as Daivor swung to the table and asked. “How are we gonna conduct the liquid, then?”

“We’ll create two custom connection points. Going from the battery and then into whatever we want. We just have to make sure they are a snug fit. Don’t want the things falling out.”

Daivor nodded as Roy came back over with some grey casting clay.

“So what are we…” Roy started before he was interrupted by a gruff voice.

“WELP!” Two Gun shouted from the front of the hangar. “I just ran my dumbass out of ammo!”

The old cowboy was red in the face and Kaleb could tell he was a little embarrassed. His wife stifled a chuckle from her position on the floor where she was doing sit-ups with a hunk on rock held to her chest. Two Gun walked slowly over to Kaleb, hands pressed together in a pleading gesture.

“Please tell me you have something for me, Doc. Please.”

Kaleb sighed as he looked down. Seeing the bullet casing he was going to make the mold out of, his brain sparked on a sudden idea. Grinning wide, he looked back up at Two Gun.

“That depends.” Kaleb said, holding up the bullet casing. “How much do you care about being a guinea pig?”