It wasn’t that it was all easy work, but they were the common jobs. Those jobs that, after a year of experience, you could do while half asleep. The only hard part was the lack of hands. A stick and a ratchet took care of that issue.
Still, they were the kind of jobs that helped keep us afloat. And I wasn’t going to turn down easy money. But first, before I tried to reply to each person, I needed a shower and some caffeine in the form of my mother's tea.
With a pair of pants, a short-sleeve shirt, and other necessary clothing in hand, I made my way to our shared bathroom. One twist of the knob, and a flicker of mana, caused the bathroom to practically turn into a sauna.
The warmth called to me. Beckoned me to jump in. To ignore the fact that I was still clothed and just get in.
Thankfully, the rational part of my mind was loud enough — this time. Let’s just say that I have had to deal with sopping clothes on more than one occasion and leave it at that.
As my pants slipped from around my waist, something made a tinking sound as it hit the ground. It was subtle. Almost too quiet to hear over the water. But there nonetheless.
A part of myself said to just ignore it. To get into the shower and deal with whatever it was afterward. The rest kept running through ideas of what had made the noise. Was it my pad? No, that was on the counter. Was it my belt? I didn’t wear a belt yesterday. Was it a pen?
My brain rolled through each option, and it wasn’t going to stop until it had an answer. With a groan, I knelt to look for the object. Whatever it was, it managed to get across the room to end up behind the toilet. In the one spot in this room that was going to be annoying to get to, given that the tank could not be moved.
Enough curses and grunts fell from my lips that I was happy my parents were already gone. I did not want to get a whack to the back of my head for using that kind of language in the house. According to my mother, if I wanted to curse, I had to go to the shop and do it there.
With a shout of triumph, I pulled the little piece of ceramic and metal out from its hiding spot. I didn’t even have to look for any manufacturing marks. The connector on the back was all I needed to see to know that it was a TrakTech PiezoMagical Transducer. Something they stopped selling a decade ago.
Something that was fine at the time, as every device that was tossed into the trash had at least one. But with time, the number of those found by scavengers has dropped and the prices have started to skyrocket. So much so that we have been offering people the option to put in a bypass instead of paying for a new one. They just had to be willing to live with the item running in a limp mode of sorts.
Seeing the piece here reminded me of the repair test. Specifically, all the pieces I had managed to ‘liberate’ from the pile of goodies. All of which were still in my pockets.
With a rush, I scrambled for my pants. Pulling piece after piece from my various pockets so that I could check out my haul before realizing that I needed somewhere to place them that wasn’t the sink. The small basket on the counter typically held towels, a subtle reminder that I needed to get some laundry done. Thankfully, the one from yesterday was still hanging up. Still, it would do to hold everything.
Limiters, interlocks, dampeners, mixed-rails, interconnects, and even a reference crystal. Every bit was cheap and common at one time, but now worth more than ever. And all of it had been tossed into that pile like they were trash. It made one wonder just how many materials were hidden away. Waiting for the right time to be used or for some lucky person to rediscover the cache.
To most, this pile of parts would look like some scraps and junk. To me, and any other person who repaired machines, this was a gold mine. Hell, some of this would get me closer to finishing my little project.
My mind raced as I thought about how to use each piece. Where they could be used to get the most bang for the part. Ideas came and went as I slowly turned and walked into the little shower.
Every thought and idea fled the moment the first drop of hot water hit my head. Never before had a shower’s self recycled water felt so good. The best part, so long as I fed it mana once in a while, the water would stay hot. Unfortunately, the water would get more and more gross as the shower continued. There would come a time when I would have to stop and let the system drain and refill. But that wouldn’t be for a little while.
I don’t know how long I stood there, letting the water pound at my back. All I know is that my fingers were well and truly wrinkled when I grabbed the soap so that I could finish up and get out.
In the middle of letting my conditioner sit in my hair, a light tone echoed around the small space. With fast hands, I worked the water through my three-inch locks. While I could have left the conditioner in my hair, depending on the origin of the tone, I might not have the opportunity to jump back into the shower.
Water off and towel wrapped around my hips, I moved toward my pad. The interface was alight as a notification worked to make itself impossible to miss. Given how fast it was blinking, someone really wanted to get my attention.
Urgent Academic Notification
Yeah, I doubted it. It was probably a scam of some sort. And even if it was a real notification, it wasn’t for me. It was meant for someone with a power, any power. And if that was the case, it wouldn’t be right for me to look at something like that. So, with a flick of my finger, the notification vanished, and the screen turned off.
Even as I moved to it on my clothes, the notification came back. Another swipe and it vanished. Whoever it was for, I hoped they tried to get to them a different way, as this wasn’t going to work.
The sound of the shower clearing its tank and going through the cleaning process followed me as I carried the basket of components and my pad into the kitchen. I was still a bit surprised that I managed to get away with so much. My new collection nearly filled the little basket. With a soft thud, I placed the basket onto the counter and slipped my pad into the slot for the main room's projector.
A silent hum reverberated out of the vents in the center of the room. I ignored it as I turned to fill a small pot with water. The soft light of the projector flickered to life, filling the room just as I twisted the stove knob. I waited to make sure the heating coil came to life before I turned to face the projection.
Set into a tree, my files sat to one side while the rest of the screen was filled with my music player. It took a simple tap of the air with my hand for the music to resume. With The Jester and their magic powered ensemble playing in the background, I pulled up the list of jobs we had sitting downstairs.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
The Haskins’ motor was done. All that was left was to set it to the side and message him. If I was lucky, he could get someone over here today to pick it up. But in all likelihood, he wouldn’t be here until sometime next week.
As for the rest of our backlog, while there was quite a bit, almost all of it was still in the hands of their owners. For the ones that had to be repaired on site, they were already on the schedule. None of which was today.
Which meant I was pretty free to work on my project. Neither of my parents could fault me for it either. Not that my dad would. My mother, on the other hand. She would nag my ear off.
It wasn’t that she had anything against personal projects. Her issue was in the fact that the entire project was a waste of time in her eyes. That there was no need to waste materials on it. Not when I wouldn’t ever get a chance to use most of the functions I was trying to work into it. And that was even assuming I managed to get it to work at all.
Of course, after all the nagging and the time she spent pointing out issues, she would jump right in. Helping me redesign and build various parts. Hell, while I may have been the one to build all the circuitry, she was the one who designed most of it.
Whenever I finished a piece, she would take it and go over it with a fine-tooth comb. Before yesterday, the level of perfection she demanded was annoying. With the story from last night, it made more sense.
Still, this project was a couple of years in the making, and I wasn’t going to let the story hold me back. It would work. I just knew it.
I took a second to pour the hot water into a mug along with a little mesh ball of tea leaves. Letting the mixture steep as I looked over the project folder. All of the peripheral systems were done. So was the body. Even the brain was done. The only thing left was to tie it all together. To wire the brain to the peripheral systems and connect the body to both.
Which is where all the new parts came in. While the center of the body had a decent number of redundancies packed into it, the rest needed to go a bit old school so that it could handle the load even after months of inactivity. Was it overboard? Sure. But better overboard than not when you consider that this thing was designed to take on monsters.
Mostly as a last resort, but the capability was there as a last resort. Unfortunately for me, the weapon I managed to get for this thing was small. Akin to poking a monster with a stick than shooting them with a gun. So it wasn’t going to be able to kill much, but it would annoy them enough to allow me time to get away.
As I sipped at my tea, I worked the parts into the available space. Switching one part out for another when the space proved to be too small, or the simulated circuit proved to be too unstable. To my surprise, I managed to fill in the rest of the empty holes with a decent chunk of the looted parts. If I worked through the day, I might even be able to give the thing a startup test before I was too tired to work.
Of course, just as I thought that, the notification popped up. This time superimposing itself over the entirety of the holographic window. “Oh, come on. Can you all not get the hint?” I called at the thing, not caring that I was the only one able to hear my voice.
Before I could close it, the window forced itself open.
Eli Tazlin,
The Olympic Academy Administration has gone over your test results. As a result, you are now free to view them here. You can now view your recommendation results here. Please go over them with your family. We await your response.
Other than the two links, that was it. The entirety of the annoying notification boiled down to someone handing me what I should have had about twelve hours ago. But, better late than never, I guess.
Curious if there were any changes, I looked over the test results. Most of it was the same as before, but there were a few notable changes. The chasm and medical sections were no longer blank. They both read as standard now.
Another surprising change was the ability to open the notes. Given how well I did in Salvage and repair, it was the first one that I opened.
Tester displays advanced repair skills equal to or above those of a first-year. They display a high aptitude for salvage and recovery work. I recommend that they be brought to the Academy so that they can be taught how to enter the wilderness safely, so that they can recover materials they will need in any future endeavor.
As a side note, I noticed that this tester has no power listed, yet they have full access to their mana with no control issues. As such, I highly recommend that they have a full scan to determine if they have an untapped power.
Yeah, no thank you. There was no way I was going to go outside the city unless they forced me. I was perfectly fine to stay here, thank you very much. Though the fact that they think I might have a power is laughable. Sometimes I wished I could drag a few of them down here and show them just how many unpowered people had access to their mana.
Anyway, as I finished that note, I moved on to the note attached to the negotiation section.
The tester is both extremely passionate about the repair and maintenance of various equipment, and their knowledge of the obscure pieces is impressive. I recommend that this tester be brought in for a few classes and allowed to work in the Academy Machine Department.
While the negotiation test was fun, I didn’t think I had shown all that much knowledge. Most of what we talked about was what they did at the academy. Still, no matter how they came to this conclusion, there was no way I was going to the academy. If the place did offer me a place, which was as likely as a Jagged-Spined Wolf allowing itself to be tamed, I wouldn’t take it. Not getting on the train and traveling across a large chunk of unprotected land to sit in a classroom for days on end. Nope.
Of course, that brought me to the last link in the message. The recommendation results from the various groups. The various offers they might have tossed my way. Yeah, I wasn’t expecting much.
Which was why I was surprised when I opened the document.
Citizen: Eli Tazlin
Recommendations:
- Power likely suppressed. Pay for full testing and training to bring your power forward.
- Work on endurance.
- Work on flexibility.
- Work on strength.
- Work on the use of a long-range weapon.
Secondary Education Offers:
Olympic Academy – The Machine Department would like to extend a sponsored enrollment into our program. If you accept this offer, your enrollment will be re-evaluated on a monthly basis based on your performance inside and outside your classes. You may be required to work on various Academy projects in conjunction with the Machine Department.
Olympic Academy – The Technical Department would like to extend a sponsored enrollment into our program. If you accept this offer, your enrollment will be re-evaluated on a monthly basis based on your performance inside and outside your classes. There will be some salvage material quotas that you will be required to meet. These quotas will vary depending on class load and events.
Apprenticeship Offers:
Stellar Industries – We would like to offer you a minor apprenticeship for our outer wall repair center. Pay and benefits can be negotiated. You will be required to meet a quota based on said negotiations.
Government Offers:
Lionsguard Outer City Government Office – Full testing and training of any powers. Required return: 5 years on the outer wall after training.
Olympic Academy Government Office – Full testing and training of any powers. Required: accept any other offer from the Olympic Academy and graduate. Failure to graduate: 100,000 credits.
Job Offers:
Plasmatic Inc – Full-time employee. Contract term: 2 years minimum. Full pay. Full benefits. Flexible schedule. Overtime allowed.
I stopped reading after the first job offer. Mostly because it looked like a scam. No company in their right mind would offer a rando like me a job without first training us. Then there was the flexible schedule and overtime allowed. I had heard enough stories from various customers about how that was corporate speak for ‘work overtime every day, including weekends’. Yeah, no thank you.
Though I will say the various other offers were quite interesting. Especially the fact that the Olympic Academy Government Office added a specific failure condition. From all the literature we were given in school, those that failed to uphold their end would end up negotiating on how much they would owe or end up in court.
Of course, the number they picked was a bit high in my opinion. But maybe that was the point. They didn’t want anyone to accept such an offer without being fully committed. Still, the offer was a bit tempting. Too bad I was never going to take them.
Of all the offers, the only one I was going to inquire about was the minor apprenticeship with Stellar Industries. If it worked out, cool. If not, there was always the shop.
Speaking of which, it was time for me to break out the little project and get the thing finished.