Hours later, and I was stuck. In one hand, I held the central body, and in the other, I had the outer arm. Both were connected, barely, but they needed some more connections to make the connection solid enough to hold its own weight.
My current situation stemmed from the fact that I needed to let one of the parts go so that I could grab the parts I needed. Unfortunately for me, if I did that, the one connection I had managed to finish would break. Now, I could live with that if there wasn’t a chance that it would take the pad and a part of the board with it. Could I fix it, yes, but why fix what wasn’t broken? I just needed to think.
Yeah, I had nothing. All of the stands and such were on the other side of the worktable, and there was no way I was lifting this thing in my current position. It wasn’t heavy, just awkward as all hell. My only option was to slowly let the thing go and hope for the best. I mean, there was a chance that it could hold up perfectly, right?
Just as I positioned the parts against each other and started to add tension to the thin wire, a voice called down from upstairs. “Honey? You downstairs?”
“Yeah,” I called up to my mother. “Do you mind helping me for a minute?”
“Sure,” her voice grew louder as she made her way down the stairs. “But afterwards, I need to get some dinner going.”
“You're making it?” Oh, god, what was my father thinking? Did he want to die of poison?
“Eli Manuel Richardo Tazlin!” A light slap to the back of my head accompanied the words. “Are you saying that I cannot cook?”
I was in trouble. In more ways than one. So, taking a page from my father's book, I changed the subject. “Hey, can you hold onto these for a minute? I need to make the last couple of connections.”
“Forgot the stands again?” What can I say, I was nothing if not consistent. Her face popped up next to mine as she reached out to grab the two pieces. “It looks like you are just about done.”
“Yeah.” I stepped to the side to grab the last connector plates and the micro welder. Sure, the joint wouldn’t conduct as much mana as a true magisolder joint, but there were eight of them, so it didn’t have to. What I needed was the strength provided by the welds.
Plus, most of the signals would go through the small self-connecting wires connecting the two sections. Now that I thought about it, I probably should have welded the two parts together first before making sure the wire would work. Live and learn, I guess.
My hand shook slightly as I maneuvered the tool around the tiny wire I had installed to test the circuit. The same wire that I had been agonizing over only a couple of minutes ago. With a few light taps and pulses of mana, the first of the welded joints stabilized the frame.
Before I could say anything, my mother started for the stairs, only to stop when I asked a question. “How did your meeting go?”
“Good. It looks like we will be heading out next week.”
“So soon?”
“They need the outpost up and running for the academy's second years.” Oh, right. There was a rumor that second years were required to spend some time in the wilderness. Too bad they couldn’t use the previous locations. Something about the students being allowed to continue farming the area they had been assigned throughout their education. Thankfully, that would never be me. Her next words caused my heart to skip. “Speaking of which, your father and I received an odd message today.”
“Oh,” I tried to make my voice sound as devoid of emotion as I could. Especially since I was fairly sure I knew what she was about to say. I just hoped that I was wrong and the government didn’t violate my privacy and reveal my test results to my parents without my permission. “What was it about?”
“The message was to let us know that you had received at least one offer from the Academy.” Her excited words would have been infectious had the topic been about anything else. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
At least I could take the fact that she didn’t know the specifics as a good sign. Maybe I could twist the truth a little. Just enough to keep her from trying to shove me out the door. No matter what I did, it wasn’t like I was going to be able to follow in her or my dad's footsteps.
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I waved a hand before using it to grab the next piece and working it into position. She took the opportunity to move to the side so I could work without her crowding me. “It was an offer to go learn a bit about repairing some equipment. Apparently, the person running the repair test was impressed with my work and put in a recommendation for me. And I didn’t tell you because I got it earlier today. Both of you were already long gone.”
“Oh,” her excitement dimmed a bit. Such an offer would have been great if we had the funds to follow through with it. “Did you get any other offers?”
“A few job offers, but I ignored them after seeing the first offer,” she perked up, but I didn’t hesitate to shoot down the idea I could feel forming in her head. “Work contract with suspicious terms. Likely a scam or similar.”
“Really.” She scoffed. “Going after high school graduates.”
“You know that they go after anyone and everyone.” It was so bad that our school had given a short lecture about the tactics at the start and end of every academic year. “Though there was an apprenticeship offer that looked decent.”
“Oh, who from? Any decent terms?”
“Stellar Industries—” Almost as soon as I said the words, mana flared from her, and my pad shot out of the wall mount. It flipped through the air twice before landing in her outstretched hand. “MOTHER!” I admonished. “You cannot just go through my pad without permission.”
“Should have removed my permissions then.” Yeah, like that would have done anything. Something told me that with her knowledge and status as my parent, she would have found a way in with or without my permission.
The worst part was that there was no way for me to physically stop her either. Not when she was faster and stronger than me. The woman was twice my age, and she could run circles around me. At least she wasn’t as bad as my dad. He would kick my ass, yet have time to lecture me on my form at the same time. My only hope was that she ignored the academic part and focused on the stuff related to the apprenticeship.
That hope went up in a blaze of glory as I watched her mouth practically drop open. “You said you got only one offer from the academy. What the fuck is this?” The words came out in a hissing whisper that I had to strain to hear. Especially with the sharp-edged waves of mana that flicked off of her.
But it wasn’t what she said that caused me to freeze; it was the single curse word. My mother, for all the fighting and mechanic work she did, never cursed. Even in the shop, she used other, more creative words to get her point across.
“Hey, love.” My dad’s voice echoed in the silence as he came out from the stairs. “Did you ask him what that message was about?”
Even with her shaking hands, she didn’t hesitate to toss my pad at him. “Our son got offered, not one, but two full-ride academic scholarships.”
“Damn.” He let out a shrill whistle. “So, when are you leaving?”
His question finally broke me out of my curse-induced stupor. “I’m not.”
“What do you mean you’re not?” Their voices overlapped as they asked the same question. My mother was the one to continue. “We will not allow you to turn down this opportunity.”
“You never know,” my father nodded. “You might enjoy your time there.”
“I am not going.” My voice was firm.
“Why not?” My mother demanded. “What could be more important to you than your future?”
“Our shop?” I snapped back using the one argument that I knew would work. “If I go, who will take care of the jobs we have already agreed to? One of you? You will be outside the wall for who knows how long this time.”
“We can…” My mother started, only to stop when my father shook his head.
“Let him be Janet. He has made up his mind, and there is no changing it. After all, the boy is as stubborn as you.” That was too easy. Not that I was complaining. But there had to be a catch.
“Fine,” she huffed as she stalked toward the stairs. “I have to go get dinner started.”
Neither of us said a word until we heard the sounds of pots banging against each other. “You know she won't let this go.” My dad, oh so helpfully, pointed out.
I sighed. “Yeah. But no matter what, I am not going.”
“We will see.” Yeah, this conversation wasn’t done. It was merely put on hold for now. He gestured at the slowly condensing mess on the work table. “Looks like you are just about done with this. Any idea of how you are going to test it?”
“I didn’t really think that far.” Neither of us spoke as I welded the last of the parts together. “Give me a hand.” With an ease that showed his strength, he used a single hand to lift and push the two halves together. Holding them aligned as I installed a few screws to keep the parts attached.
Done, we took a second to look over the device. For all intents and purposes, it was done. All it would take to bring it to life was a bit of mana. But it might be prudent to wait until I was in a place that could handle anything the device did. Just in the off chance that the thing didn’t work and went berserk.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know if the test chambers at the school are available for use by the public?”
“No, but the ones on Main Street are available for rent.” That wouldn’t be cheap. Still, if I was going to do this, I needed to do it right. No shortcuts. Especially those that could end with my death. “Are you thinking of taking this over there tomorrow for testing?”
I nodded while still trying to figure out where to get the credits. I had a few saved up, but I already knew it wasn’t going to be enough.
“I am sure I can convince your mother to help pay for it.” The protest was on the tip of my tongue, but he continued. “The only thing I ask is that you give the academy offers a second look. And this time, focus on what you want to do, not what is good for the shop.” With those words, he vanished up the stairs. Leaving me to mull the offer over.
