Discovering Alien Tech
Copyright© 2025 by GMet
Chapter 17
I got lucky in that the principal was happy to meet with me and congratulated me on accepting the scholarship at MIT. He agreed with me and my parents – they had sent in a note with me, that there was no benefit from either side on me attending school in Dryden for the last month while I could be working on my inventions with MIT. I went to my locker and gathered up all my textbooks and other belongings and returned to the office to turn the textbooks in. He wished me well and said that any correspondence required to terminate my schooling would be sent to our home. We shook hands and I walked out of the office a free man. I looked into the guidance office but Miss Shannon’s door was closed so I didn’t step in to say goodbye. I hadn’t made many friends that I had to say goodbye to so I left by the front door and walked over to mom’s office. She hadn’t made it in yet so I texted her to let her know I was waiting for us at the restaurant across the street from her office.
Mom always made sure I had fifty bucks in my wallet in case I needed to get a taxi or an Uber home so I ordered a full breakfast with bacon, sausage, eggs and toast and was finishing it when mom walked in. She just shook her head when she saw I was finishing up another breakfast.
“You’re a bottomless pit, Benny,” she said as she sat down across from me.
“Not bottomless, I’m full now,” I told her with a grin. “Can I order something for you?”
“No, I’m good,” she replied with an answering grin. “Let’s get you home so at least I can get some work done today.”
“Yeah, I have a few more patent filings to send to the lawyer,” I told her.
“I’m not charging you enough,” mom said, losing the grin.
“That’s your fault, you’re the accountant,” I said, shaking my head.
I got up and left a tip and then paid at the cash register before we walked back to her car parked across the street. It was a ten-minute ride home and she put the car in park but didn’t get out.
“Okay Bennie, you don’t have to go to school but you have to get things done for MIT and your patents, so don’t go rogue on us and just play games,” she stated.
“No problem, I have lots to do,” I assured her.
“No going out to cut logs by yourself anymore in the snow,” she added. “I want your dad with you so you both have a buddy if something happens.”
“Understood, we should have lots of wood for the whole winter so no issues there,” I agreed.
“Okay, cook some fish for supper and we’ll see you after five,” was her final instruction.
“Alright, drive safe and I’ll see you this evening,” I responded and got out of the SUV.
She beeped her horn as she drove off and I went inside to change.
It was the start of the last week of November and I have five weeks max up here in Dryden and then four weeks in January to get all our designs completed and into the patent office as well as build models for Model Two and Five and maybe Three and Four as well. Add to that developing full designs for various atmospheric and space ships as well as new space stations and we had a lot on our plate. Base and I discussed moving down early but wanted three weeks here to do builds and designs. I’m sure mom and dad wanted me here for Christmas but I would have to move my stuff down there earlier and then come back for that so that my final trip was only a suitcase with everything shipped earlier.
I confirmed that schedule with my parents after supper and then with the professors at MIT the next day so I could get into my personal workshop at the start of the third week of December and that it was very secure. Dad decided just to hire a truck to move everything down rather than rent a U-Haul and drive down ourselves. I wanted to be on site when it came in and start to unpack so we booked a plane for me on the Sunday before so I could be there Monday morning. My dorm room was also available for that Monday so I could pack most of my clothes and personal items onto the truck as well.
With my plans in place, Base and I got down to business and worked non-stop on designs and robot builds for the next three weeks. Mom was busy filing patent papers as well as IP paperwork almost every day and dad helped me when I needed another set of hands in the workshop.
Model Two, the industrial robot, was built and tested in time to ship down as a completed unit, while Model Five was close enough to pack up as well. Base handled the first version of the full-scale Model Three Security Robot and also packed in three smaller versions with different roles in mind, into the box to ship down. I would review them the week I was down there and then set at least one of the smaller ones to guard the workshop. Base had additional plans to set up monitoring cameras in the workshop, my dorm room and then have miniature ones survey the CSAIL and the other meeting places where I would have team meetings.
On the Friday before I was to fly down, we helped pack the truck, using the lift truck we rented for the morning, to lift up the four large boxes for the robot models, the tools and equipment I would need in my workshop and then a couple pallets with my boxes of clothes and personal items shrink wrapped onto them. It was off by eleven and I told them I would meet them there Monday morning. They had my contact info to let me know when they were showing up.
Saturday I spent the day with dad cleaning up the workshop and doing odd jobs around the property to properly winterize the place. We had some pizza for supper and the family watched a comedy movie before heading to bed.
Sunday morning, my parents drove me to the airport and put me on a plane to Toronto with precise instructions on how to get around the big airport to get to my connecting flight to Boston. Mom was weepy but dad just shook my hand and wished me luck. We had sprung for first class all the way so I boarded with the first group and found my nice window seat with lots of leg room in the third row. I people watched and just asked for a Coke Zero and a bag of pretzels when the waitress came over to offer drinks and a snack. The plane slowly filled up and I had a business man sit down beside me after he put his carryon in the overhead compartment next to my backpack.
“Good morning, my name is Peter Davidson,” he introduced himself and offered his hand.
“Good morning Peter, I’m Ben Addley,” I responded.
He ordered a coffee when the waitress came over and then settled down to read the paper while the rest of the passengers trooped by. I pulled out my tablet that Base had made for me to mimic a popular brand and opened up an article I started from MIT on their latest robot for space operations. Our Model Five was much better but I needed to know their standard so I could sell my improvements to them.
“Impressive,” Peter said to me as he looked over at the picture I was studying at the moment.
“It’s good, but not the standard anymore,” I told him.
“What is anymore?” he lamented. “Every year a new phone or computer or new software just after you or your company buys the ‘latest version’ of it. I don’t know what you’re supposed to do anymore.”
“That is true,” I agreed. “Buy the best and hope it lasts for two or three years I guess.”
I had to shut off my tablet while we took off and got up to altitude before turning it back on when they put the all-clear sign to use electronics again. My row mate got on his phone and started talking about orders and inventory, deadlines and production schedules so I did my best to tune him out while reviewing rovers for off world exploration, both automated and human driven. Most of them, whether it was Human or Telan design, used electricity stored in batteries and charged them using solar panels once they were out of the mother ship.
‘We could design the better battery based on Telan technology’ Base suggested sub-vocally as he showed me smaller but more powerful batteries that could be stacked in safer bundles that didn’t pose the same risk that current battery technology had.
‘You want to include that in our patents and IP and then give it to someone to produce?’ I asked, also sub-vocally. ‘That’s probably worth billions in so many areas. Vehicles, factories, homes, cell phones and all sorts of electronics and maybe even airplanes and beyond.’
‘Your world is getting better at them but needs another ten years or so to perfect the technology or, you can invent it and profit from it now,’ Base said. ‘It will be more profitable than your robots and it’s quite an easy change that will have everyone wondering why they didn’t think of it.’
‘Well, far be it from me not to profit on anything you want to share,’ I responded.
We went over the technology from what was current or soon to be fully developed on Earth and then showed me the difference in the chemical mix inside the batteries as well as the changes in the hard containers each battery needed.
‘Seems simple enough, how am I going to explain how I came up with this idea and how are we going to make a few prototypes of different sizes to try them out?’ I asked, still sub-vocally.
‘You needed better power sources for your robots so you put your genius mind to the task,’ Base replied. ‘You never have to explain anything more than that. I’ll get a batch of the chemicals brewed up and have it sent to your lab early this coming week. The housings can be prototyped out to any mold shop if I provide the new formula for the resin as well as the actual resin to them. That would take the longest, even if we paid for expedited timing to make the temporary molds. They could put a few of the parts on the same mold but it has to be CNC cut and then all the cooling and other lines have to be added. I will get that started as well. I’ll send a couple Telan housings to start with if you have to show someone your concept.’
‘Alright, another plan to implement,’ I stated. ‘We are certainly going to be busy.’
‘You will be busy, I’m still not what you would call busy,’ Base corrected me.
‘True,’ I agreed.
We made a note to update the robot designs to include the new batteries and also start on the patent documentation for the batteries.
All too soon it was time to land so I packed up my stuff into my carryon backpack and buckled up. The landing was decent and we were disembarking fifteen minutes later. I quickly found an arrival and departure sign on the wall and found that I needed to get to gate A12, which looked like a long walk according to the map. Twenty minutes later I arrived to find the flight already boarding and just joined the back of the line. Five minutes later I was in my seat, also in first class, and drinking another Coke Zero. My row mate was already sitting in her seat and was well dressed in a smart looking skirt and jacket combo. She seemed to be in her twenties but I wasn’t good at judging women’s ages though was smart enough not to ask. I just vegged until we were up in the air and then continued to work with my tablet and Base. We went back to the various space robots and rovers, drawing up concepts, each more exotic than the last one. It helped to pass the time and let me sneak looks at the woman’s legs from time to time. A cute waitress asked if I wanted another soda and some breakfast after already getting my row mate’s order so I said yes to both.
“I couldn’t help but notice your design work on your tablet, it’s very futuristic,” my row mate commented. “Are you using those designs in a software game?”
“No, this is to show my new group at school to see if we can develop them,” I replied.
She looked over at me and thought for a few seconds before responding, “You look a bit young for college but you’re big enough. Where do you go to school?”
“Heading to MIT,” I told her.
“Impressive,” she remarked. “I gather you’re in robotics or aerospace?”
“Yes, in both and in other areas as well,” I replied. “I like to dabble in all sorts of technical areas. I’m Ben Addler by the way.”
“Sheila Porter, nice to meet you Ben,” she replied, shaking my offered hand.
“Sheila, it’s nice to meet you as well,” I said. “So, what do you do for a living?”
“I work in marketing,” she replied.
“Do you enjoy doing that?” I asked.
“Yes I do,” Sheila responded. “Its challenging and rewarding when you finally get the campaign bought off and the various modes of advertising working. It’s not easy selling certain products so you have to find unique and alternative ways to get it noticed.”
“I imagine that is true of a lot of products,” I agreed. “Some things are only used by a small subset of people of companies for specific things in localized areas. I’m sure budgets are a limiting factor in a lot of cases as well.”
“True,” she said. “You have to tailor your approach based on a lot of factors. Sometimes it works and sometimes not so much.”
We talked about some of her products and clients and I told her a bit about what I was hoping to do with robots in the future. After we landed, she gave me her card and told me to call her when I had something to sell. We split up when she had to wait for her luggage while I walked out to catch a taxi outside. I told the driver to head to MIT in Cambridge after I got into the back seat. It only took about fifteen minutes to get close and I told him to drop me off at the Maseeh Hall off of Massachusetts Ave near Charles River. After paying him with some US money mom got out of the bank, I walked through the courtyard and entered the lobby of the castle looking building. It was quite fancy with a tiled arches and support pillars and a glass doors that let you see either campus or the river through the building. I found the desk manned by a young woman in the lobby.
“Hi, I’m Ben Addler, I’m supposed to be moving into my dorm room today,” I said when she looked up.
“Hi Ben, I’m Alisha, welcome to Maseeh Hall and MIT,” she said with a smile.
“Hi Alisha, nice to meet you,” I replied, smiling back.
“We were told to look out for you so let me call Eliza and Jamie, the Graduate Resident Advisors, or GRAs for short, for the first floor here at Maseeh,” Alisha said as she picked up the receiver of the desk phone.
“They’ll be here in a couple minutes,” she told me after she hung up. “In the meanwhile, I have your Welcome Packet as well as your room key. You were given a single, lucky dog you and it’s on this floor. You just go down that hall and turn left and go through the doors and there are five rooms in there and yours is on the right facing the water, number 104. It has a good view of the river and is a really nice room.”
That sounds good, thanks,” I said, taking the packet and a key holder with two keys.
“Put one of your keys somewhere safe in case you lose the other one,” Alisha advised. “The GRAs all have master keys to get you into your room if you lose it but you have to replace any lost keys so have a spare handy. What else? Eliza will have your meal card to use in the dining hall here or at other dining rooms around campus. The map in there shows the floor layout as well as other rooms in the lower floor such as the gym and the laundry room. This is a coed dorm so you might have females in the room next door or walking around in the pyjamas or less. There are separate washrooms for males and females so no issue there. There are lounges to relax in and all sorts of game tables and things to do with other first floor residents.”
“All good to know,” I responded.
A couple walked up from the hallway she had pointed out.
“Ben, this is Eliza and James, the GRAs for the first floor,” Alisha introduced them to me. “Guys, this is Ben Addler, our newest student.”
“Hi Ben,” James said, holding out his hand.
“Hi James, Eliza,” I said, shaking both of their hands in turn.
“Hi Ben, how was your flight from the Great White North?” Eliza asked with a grin.
“Good, no issues with the dog sled or the biplane,” I replied with an answering grin.
They laughed at that for a couple seconds and then she said, “Okay, Alisha has given you your welcome packet and your keys, let’s get you into your room so you can unpack and get situated before Monday morning. Is that all you have?”
“Yes, I shipped my clothes and other personal items on a couple skids along with my stuff for my workshop so it’s coming in tomorrow morning early over at the building 7,” I informed them. “I’ll get everything into my workshop and then carry my stuff over here later tomorrow.”
“Who did you bribe and how much did they want to give you use of a workshop and a single room?” James asked.
“Nothing, it was part of the deal for me to come here,” I responded.
“You got a deal to come here?” Alisha asked. “What gives? There are lots of really smart people here who had to pay to attend here and live in the dorms. What makes you so special?”
“Look up my companies,” I said with a smile before turning to the GRAs, “Shall we see the room? I don’t want to take up too much of your Sunday; I’m sure you’re either trying to relax or have work you want to catch up on.”
“Sure, let’s go,” Eliza said and led the way.
“See you later Alisha, thanks for the welcome,” I said with a smile before following the two older grad students.
“See you around Ben,” she replied.
They led the way down the hallway to the junction.
“Alright, we both live here in GRA housing,” Eliza said, pointing to the doorway at the end of the hall. “We’re obviously not there much during the day but you can try knocking, after eight am. Our contact info is in your welcome packet so you can reach us by cell. Leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can if you tell us its urgent.”
“Understood,” I responded as we turned left.
There were several open doorways and a few shut on either side of the hallway.
“Alright, all of these are doubles,” James said. “Here is one of the lounges, then the bathrooms for men and women. They get busy in the morning obviously so either get up early, say six or so, or take a shower in the evening.”
We approached a set of double doors and pushed through to find a line of five doors across the end of the hallway.
“Alright, you have room 104, second to last one on the right,” James said as he pointed it out. “These five rooms have our younger students in them. There are doubles at either end as well as three singles in the middle. As per the parents’ request, we do extra wellness checks on everyone from time to time and we request that if you’re going to be out late you let us know where you’re going and when you’ll be back. We encourage you to participate in all of the floor activities and we try to call study breaks to get something to eat or do a quick fun activity during the various exam weeks.”
“Got it,” I said as we walked to my room.
I pulled out the key and opened the door. There was a three-sided window at the end of the room with a half-mooned shape alcove to put things on at the base. It made the room look longer than wider. A single bed was on one side with a desk on the other side, near the window. A closet was set into the wall nearer the door and there was open space from the door to the bed on the other side. I walked over to the window and looked out at the grass and then across the street to see a bit of the river and then Boston on the other side. I turned around and checked out the closet and it was pretty big and there were drawers under the bed for the rest of my clothes or I could buy a closet organizer to make some shelves in there as well.
“Alright, looks good,” I told them. “I’ll move the rest of my stuff over in the morning.”
“Okay, you’re easy to please,” Eliza said with a grin as she held out a card. “This is your meal plan card, it’s good at any of the dining halls on campus. The Howard is the name of our dining hall on this floor behind where we met you. Your card is an all you can eat one so just eat what you want, when you want. Three meals a day are served and brunch on weekends as well as supper. You won’t go hungry unless you miss the times but each meal is served for at least two hours. What else?”
She looked at James.
“MIT ID Card,” he said.
“Yes, you have to go to a kiosk to get it printed out, but you need to get the QR code from the MIT Atlas App first and then go to a kiosk, the closest is in building 11 I think, right past the dome in building 7,” Eliza explained. “That gets you into all the other athletic buildings and lets you use them for free when they’re not being used by the teams. Do you play any sports?”
“Hockey and I run,” I told her.
“The Johnson Ice arena is open now until March,” James informed me. “We no longer have a division three hockey team but I think some guys get together to play games. There is a MIT Run club as well you can join and we do have a track team.”
“Good to know, I’ll look all of that up after I get my ID card,” I responded.
“Okay, we’ll leave you to unpack and to explore and meet your neighbours,” Eliza said. “Call us if you need anything and we’ll help you out if we can. There are all sorts of shops on the outskirts of campus and the packet shows a bunch of them on the map. Good luck and we’ll see you at dinner in about three hours.”
“Thanks for showing me my room and giving me all the information,” I said. “I’ll see you around I’m sure.”
“So, we do have a master key but we will knock first if we’re doing a wellness check,” James said. “We are obligated to do one per week so hopefully we catch you in when we do it.”
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