Impactful Compacting
“We are winning this science competition this year. I’m not letting Figberg High win again. We only have two years left” Thomas wrenched hard on the large machine. It stood seven feet in the air, light bubs, satellite dishes and tubes protruded from the side in all directions. A couple of Tesla coils lined the side.
“We barely lost last year, we got it, there is no way they come close to what we have. I mean look at it, its glorious, its fantastic, it it -“
“Even work?” A girl emerged from the shrubs and entered the backyard where the machine was being assembled “You have been building it for weeks, but you haven’t turned it on, once”
“Sadie, trust us, it works” Sam nodded “Right Thomas?”
Thomas wiped the sweat with his sleeve leaving a smear of black grease on his forehead.
“Yeah, it works.” He stepped back and nodded to himself “I think. Where’s Carl, he was supposed to be bring the power unit that we needed”
Right on cue a boy on his bike barreled past them and around the machine. His brown shaggy hair curling above his large glasses which he pushed up the bridge of his nose as he parked.
“Some one call on me?” He smiled and gave Thomas a high five followed by Sam. He looked at Sadie, she rolled her eyes but gave him a high five as well. Carl threw off his backpack and pulled out a small metal box.
“Okay, we got the mother of all energy sources in here.” They crept forward all looking down at the small metal box which now rested on the ground in their circle, Carls hands holding the lid. “Ready?”
His hands flipped up the lid of the box.
In the middle sat two AA battery.
“What the hell is this” Sam yelled breaking the circle. He stomped over to the large device “There is no way, our Tesla circle navigation device is going to be powered by two AA batteries, I thought you said you had the perfect thing for it?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, plutonium or something”
Carl smiled and pulled the batteries from the box, slowly and gently. He then grabbed a module from his backpack and made his way to the back of the device right under a Tesla coil. He fumbled a minute and attached the module to it and then inserted the batteries.
“First, they might look like normal AA batteries, but I assure you, they are not. Second, here we go!” With that he flipped the switch and hit the large green button next to the module.
“Wait” Thomas and Sam yelled in unison, but it was too late. The machine whirled to life, lights flashing, Tesla coils spitting lightning and the satellite searching.
Thomas circled around the devices, his eyes searching up and down “Carl, you idiot, there isn’t an off switch. Dammit”
The machine then stopped making noise and became quiet. The satellite had locked onto something and the coils of lightning remained steady. The laptop that sat on the outside table, made a dinging noise.
“That was extremely dangerous” Carl gave Thomas a concerned look.
“We haven’t configured it at all, we don’t even know the calibration, capabilities, we haven’t even done a single test… Oh shit” Thomas stood in front of his laptop looking at the dashboard.
The others moved and crowded around him.
The screen held a bunch numbers and readings, most which only Thomas and Sam could read, but one stood out. In bright red letters, “Locked On” flashed at them from the top right corner.
“What does that mean?” Carl backd away and looked up into the sky.
Sam went to work on the keyboard, flipping through screens and nearly pressing his face into the glass.
“It’s clearly tracking something” Sadie stepped next to Carl and joined him observing the sky.
“Yeah, something. I don’t know what it is, the signature is odd, a meteor or rock? But I think we hooked it on accident.”
Thomas turned to Sam who stopped typing.
“That’s not good” Thomas said “But, you know what that means?”
“It works!” Thomas and Sam high fived and jumped. “Take that Figberg, you think your going to beat us this year? Bring anything you want, your stupid nuclear generater in the size of a backpack, that dumb rain machine, we’ve hooked an object from space”
“Does hooked mean, its coming for us?” Carl pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose as he tore himself form the sky.
There was silence among them for a moment.
“I mean the object isn’t even that big, it would burn up in the atmosphere. We have to turn this off, hand me those gloves. I’m going to rip out the batteries” Sam threw Thomas some thick hide gloves. He stepped up to the electrical module and sprang it open. “Here it goes” Collectively they all took a deep breath, he gripped one of the AA batteries and with a small mechanical ping, it sprang out of the machine. The coils fizzled out immediately. The satellite at the top spun to its default position and froze.
The machine had ceased.
They all deflated.
“Shouldn’t we do some more tests?” Sadie said.
“Yeah, I will get an official off switch built in it tomorrow and we can run tests this week until the competition. Really dial it in.” Thomas turned to Sam “You staying the night? Midnight oil is waiting to burned”
Sam bit is lower lip and ran his hand through his black hair. “Can’t tonight. My Dad needs some help with his computers and I’ve missed homeroom to many times, Mrs.Tailor is threatening to let my parents know if I miss one more. After school, I’m locked in.”
Thomas smiled and knocked on Sam shoulder “You got it”
Sam and Thomas had been best friends their whole lives. A fateful meeting in the sandbox where they planned and built a whole town to spec. Both of their minds whirling with ideas. As they grew, Thomas leaned into the mechanical, while Sam into the digital, but both understood each other’s disciplines well. The perfect combination. Sadie and Carl had somehow found themselves linked into their planing when they had attempted to build a solar paneled motorbike. Carl was obsessed with power, literally. And Sadie had an eye for design, efficiency and making sense out of all the chaos. They were a small rag tag team of builders exploring the outer reaches in their summer neighborhood.
“Sounds good” Carl picked up his bike “We can make sure that is has sustained power from those batteries, should be fine.” he nodded to him self, his neck craned to the machine as he walked the other way “Should be, see you tomorrow”
Sam waved and cycled away as well.
“You’ve done a great job Thomas” Sadie said pressing her hand against the warmed steel.
“Thanks”
“I’ll make her look pretty, I know you have some schematics somewhere too, you always do. I’ll make sense of them.”
Thomas stared at her. The pipes and steel, coils dwarfing her, but it was one of the prettiest scenes he had ever seen. He averted his eyes.
“I will bring them to school tomorrow, I know you will make it look more presentable then this. Only half way there.”
“Half way, but almost there to kicking Figbergs ass. See you tomorrow” her face lit up as she passed him, grabbing her bike and waving good bye like the others.
Thomas looked at the machine. He was tired, but his well seemed to never dry up. Something was driving him this time, more then the others.
There won’t me many more High School science fairs.
One more after this one.
What happens after that?
He packed up his tools and pulled the rip cords that drew up a large canvas around the machine to protect it form the elements. He would figure it out later. One more week. Focus.
Thomas finished up his dinner and entered his backyard. As soon as he stepped outside wind whipped him and the temperature shocked him.
“Thomas, come back inside before the storm gets here” his mom called out to him.
“I didn’t know there was a storm coming tonight” he took off his shoes.
“Freak thing, seemed to catch everyone off guard. ha that weather man, whats his name, James? He’s really jazzed up about it right now.” his Dad chimed in from the living room. Thomas looked out at the machine. A flash of lighting lit up the sky and casted it’s shadow on him. It had survived past storms. It would survive this one.
Or at least he thought.
A crash woke him from a dead sleep. Rain pelted his window with just veracity that he thought it might be hail. Thomas peeked out his window that over looked the back yard. Torrents of rain slammed in multiple directions as the wind howled and tried to blow their house down. The machine some how stood weathering it all. He would thank Sam tomorrow of the idea of rigging in the protective rope under the ground instead of scaffolding. Lighting flashed across the sky and for just a moment he thought he caught something fall through the clouds, not in blinding speed, but smooth, un-bothered motion. The thunder erupted and the whole houses shook. He squinted trying to catch anything else, but the rain grew heavier and created a sheet of white. He gazed at his machine one more time, then returned to bed. The rain died down and the storm passed.
I was listening to Aldrch - Wait and I saw this trailer for a movie to that song. I often imagine in scenes or more like movies. It would be a coming of age, horror. A suburban neighborhood caught up in an accident brought by naivety and exploration. I pictured it taking place in the mid 90’s, Internet isn’t out there completely yet and technology is gaining new ground. It’s funny how ideas take hold in my mind and will never ever let go.
Our rag tag team will have to figure it out and survive.
Cheers