Chapter 18

I had set my alarm for four am and hit the button after the first couple of seconds of it’s buzzing. I decided to just work out in the gym as I didn’t have a spare set of clothes or shoes to run in. I had the track pants and a tee shirt I wore to bed so I just put on my shoes and grabbed my ID card and my key before heading out of my room. After locking the room, I took the stairs to the basement floor. All the lights were dim but the ones in the gym came on when I swiped my card to open the door. I slowly did three sets of ten for each body part, ramping up the weights for each of the ten reps as I found out what weight was right. The equipment was fairly new and was beefy enough to get a good workout. I started with the chest and back, then did arms and torso before ending with legs. I did leg presses with the full weight of five hundred pounds for each of the three sets of ten reps and then moved to the standing calf raises machine. I did twenty with the full weight of five hundred and then added two forty-five-pound weights to the shoulder bars on either side and did another twenty. For the final twenty, I added another two weights of forty-five pounds and struggled on the last five reps.

“Jesus, man, that’s a lot of weight,” a guy said from behind me as I let the machine take the weight off my shoulders.

I shrugged my shoulders as I turned around and said, “The last couple are a bit difficult; I must admit.”

“No shit,” he said with a grin.

“That’s why I leave it to the last,” I said. “Have a good workout.”

“Thanks,” he said as he sat down on the chest press.

I walked out and went back upstairs. After grabbing my shower caddy, my only change of clothes and my towel, I walked to the washroom and had a quick shower. Fifteen minutes later I was dressed and ready to go, unfortunately with no place to go as it was only five-fifteen. Breakfast wasn’t served until eight am, the truck didn’t arrive until at least seven and the dean wasn’t in his office until eight either. Base reviewed his designs for the robotic limbs with me and they were impressive, with blown-up sections for the nerve to wire junctions that could be made with some new technology that I would take credit for inventing. I asked him about the attachment to the joint or the bone and he let me know that they liked to attach to the joint with the titanium ball if possible but could use the stump of the bone if not. We ordered some of the material needed for the attachment end for the shoulder and while we were at it, got enough to build a forearm unit and a hand unit to attach to the wrist. We had to double that for each side and then did the same for two sets of legs, two sets of knee attachments and then two more for feet. We talked about the outer covering, first going with titanium and then we would work on mimicking human skin. The sensors for tactile sensation and location would work on both types of outer covering.

Base and I talked about how to get Sage involved in it so she could be on the team and get some credit for her degree and even monetary benefit from it. The human attachment phase would be the obvious first thing and then the ‘skin’ and sensors. I would ask her what she was studying and then ask her to help in developing the human side of things. That set, we continued on with our space robots designs and ordering of material until it was quarter to seven. I saved our work and shut down my laptop and left it in the room for now. If I needed it, I could bring a load of clothes back to the room and retrieve it.

I locked my door and walked past Sage’s closed door and into the hallway. Only a few people were around in the lobby as I walked through to the exit leading to the university rather to the river side. As I walked across Massachusetts Avenue to get to building One so I could walk inside to building seven and beyond, I checked my phone but nothing yet from the movers. I texted them the location to unload at the back of building 31, adding a map on how to get there from Vassar Street off of Massachusetts Avenue. I got a quick response, saying that they were in Boston and could be on the road from their motel room in a half hour and probably be there in another half hour, which would be around eight am. I decided to wait at the Dean’s office in case he came in early so I could lock and unlock the workshop door. I found his office and slid down to sit on the floor beside it while leaning on the wall. I pulled my phone out and pulled up a design while sub-vocalizing with Base. Time went by quickly and Base informed me that the Dean was walking down the hall towards me. I stood up and put my phone away before he arrived.

“Dean Broderick, it’s nice to finally meet you in person,” I said, holding out my hand.

“Ben Addler, it’s nice to meet you as well,” he said with a smile as he shook my hand. “I see you’re early, it’s a good way to live your life.”

“Yes, it’s saves apologizing and disrupting other people,” I agreed. “Besides, my movers will be here any minute now so I’d like to be there to help unload and get my stuff into the workshop and to my dorm room.”

“Of course, let me open my office and get the key,” he said with a grin. “You’re certainly raring to go already, aren’t you?”

“Yes Sir, no time to waste,” I replied. “Life is short and all that.”

He chuckled as he led the way into his outer office and then he went into his office while I waited.

“Alright, here is the key, your school schedule for February classes and a list of teams and potential dates to meet with them in January of the new year,” the Dean explained as he handed over the key and an envelope.

“Thank you sir,” I responded. “Can you set up another team for battery research, I’ve made new designs for my robots that will revolutionize batteries of all sizes, including much more robust containers with unique closing properties.”

“Certainly, you’re certainly have kept busy since we talked,” he said, making a note on a stick-it note on the nearby desk. “Anything else?”

“Robotic limb replacement is what I’ve just started working on and I’ll have something to show people soon,” I told him.

“Let me know when it’s ready,” he just said.

“Alright, I won’t keep you from your busy day, Dean,” I said. “Thanks for getting this all set up. I guarantee you won’t regret the time spent.”

“I’ve already seen the benefits so welcome and good luck, Ben,” he replied. “My door is always open to you.”

“Good to know, thanks,” I responded before heading out.

It took five minutes to get to the workshop and open the door. I tested the key and it did lock and unlock the door so I just locked the man door and then went back and opened the back doors. I walked down the hallway and took the stairs up two floors, exited the stairway and found the shipping area, now with a couple guys working on unloading a truck of its supplies.

“Hi, I’m Ben Addler,” I said. “I’ve got a truck coming in with my stuff for my B2-150 workshop any minute now.”

“Yes, I’ve seen the work order,” the older guy responded. “You have the back doors open?”

“Yes, all ready to go,” I replied. “Can I borrow a cart or one of those pallet movers?”

“Sure, if you’re in a rush, but we can move your stuff there,” he answered.

“I’ll at least help,” I told them.

There was a light knock on the garage door beside where they were so I went over and opened it up. The truck was already backed into the loading dock so I lifted up the dock door and then the truck’s cargo door to find all my stuff waiting for unloading. I grabbed a hand cart for pallets and pushed it onto the truck to get the first pallet. I was pulling it out when the moving guys showed up on the dock.

“Hey guys, how was the trip?” I asked.

“Good, didn’t hit any bad weather and made good time,” one of them said.

“That’s good to hear,” I said as I pulled the first pallet off the truck.

I looked over at the pair of workers and asked, “Shall I put everything somewhere and then move it down to the lab or take them one at a time?”

“Unload the whole truck and put it over there for now,” the older man said, pointing to a nearby area.

“Okay, thanks,” I said as I changed direction to unload the pallet where he wanted it.

The two truck drivers each grabbed a hand cart or another pallet mover and we quickly had the truck unloaded. I signed their paperwork and wished them a good trip back before they shut their back door and then we shut the dock’s door to keep the heat in. It took the three of us another hour to get all my stuff down into the elevator and then into the workshop, making five trips in total. I thanked them for their help, handing them each a twenty before they took the carts back so I just had to lock the back doors and everything was in. I was hungry so I grabbed a box of clothes, locked the man door behind me and walked up the stairs and then through the various buildings towards the river. Once I was across from the road leading to the back of the Maseeh Hall, I left the building, crossed the road and went inside the back entrance. After putting the box into my room and using the bathroom, I joined the line for breakfast.

It was Monday, the sixteenth of December and the second week of exams for everyone. Anyone writing this morning was already in the room for the exam so those here in the dining hall either had one later today or later in the week. I was a bit surprised on how casual everyone was dressed, some in pyjamas, most of the rest in sweats or leggings and hoodies. I had eggs, sausage, toast and hash browns for breakfast and ate quickly, wanting to get back to the lab. I saw that a lot of people were having cereal or yogurt and fruit, keeping it light, but I had expended a lot of calories this morning and planned to work all day so I needed the extra food. Besides, I was a growing boy that liked to eat so I dug in.

When I was done, I spent the rest of the morning unloading the various robots from their boxes and assembling their frames to hang them if they had them. Those that didn’t just were put on the floor for now. The smaller components stayed in their boxes until I got some shelving purchased and delivered. The hand and power tools went on the work bench and the empty boxes were broken down into their individual wood panels and piled in the far corner. I might use the larger wooden sides of the crates to make another bench or table or could use them to make some shelving with.

At noon, I grabbed a couple more boxes for the room and walked back to the dorm. After placing them in my room, I had lunch in the dining hall, going with spaghetti and meatballs with a side of garlic toast. Instead of going up for seconds, I grabbed a couple of cookies and a bottle of coke zero and went back to the workshop. Base and I made a list of things we needed in the workshop before I started installing the tiny cameras in various places around the room. They were small and you had to be right up in front of them to see them. They blended right into the walls and didn’t have any lights showing that they were on.

Next, I attached an alarm panel to the wall behind where the door would cover it if the door was open so it wouldn’t be seen right away by an intruder. I wired it up to power pulled from a nearby plug but also installed a backup battery so shutting off the power didn’t shut off the alarm. I attached a simple contact sensor to the top of the door and wired it back to the panel. The sensor would be triggered if the door was opened that had a fifteen second delay so I could key-in the code into the alarm panel. The secondary check was my DNA, read off the panel at the same time as I was keying in the code. We then added a secondary lock on the top of the back doors to the frame that would need a key to unlock from the inside. One of the cameras was focused on the back doors and another on the man door for extra coverage with motion triggering the system to send separate text messages to my phone and to Base.