Chapter 14: Welcome to the Party

We drove to Chicago instead of flying. I’d have to seriously consider either making a new shuttle or building a unique vehicle.

Make a new shuttle, I decided. Moria stole my last one under the guise of needing a secure transport after the nth assassination attempt in two months, eleven years ago.

Bored, Cat looked around and asked, “All right buster, where are the specs for the car?”

“2016M8”

Laughing, “Really?”

“Go ahead, look it up.”

“No way ... were you expecting World War Three?” she asked, boggled at the inclusion of the list of Devices.

“Well the North Koreans were saber rattling.”

“Yeah right. And you just happened to think that they might drop an ocean on top of you too?”

“That one was collecting dust,” I replied defensively.

“And the bio-filters are in case Pestilence rode its dying horse across your path.”

“Can’t be too safe.”

“Uh-huh ... have you decided what your next project will be?”

“This trip gave me a good idea.”

“What?” she demanded impatiently.

“A shuttle.”

“Like for going into space?”

“If needed, I was thinking more on the lines of an atmospheric craft.”

“Like a plane without wings or propellers or jets. Wait, doesn’t SI have one?”

“Yes, Moria stole hers from me.”

Heheheh, “There is no way she stole it from you.”

I revealed the story behind the ‘borrowing without intent of returning’ of my shuttle. Moria, in her Lady Strife armor, had earned the ire of too many underworld opponent organizations at the time, as well as some not so underworld. The number of assassination attempts became ludicrous, so she commandeered it to save on vehicles and drivers.

“She always did love that thing. NASA was pissed the first time she took it in low orbit without leaving a clear energy trail.”

“What did they do?”

“Fined her, then asked politely for a tour. Begged really.”

“Did she?”

“Oh yes, Moria is very good at getting compensation for her good deeds.”

“I imagine. Why didn’t she build her own?”

“Why do you think?”

“Cuz it was yours,” she grinned, knowing all too well she would do the same.

“Last year, she completely remodeled it and gave it an overhaul. The only thing left untouched were the shields.”

“The engines too?”

“Definitely. Moria is exceptional when it comes to propulsion.”

“Better than you?”

“Different. Device making is like painting a landscape. No two are ever alike. You will see.”

“Tell me about Device creation.”

“Imagination, Intelligence, and Intent. Imagination is the core idea. Without that you just have a box of parts. Intelligence provides the foundation that gives your Intent a chance to succeed. Without Intelligence your foundations will be destined to collapse. Even if all you want to do is make an axle with wheels, it will still fail without the spokes and bearings needed. Intent is the creative force that lets one make the leap of faith binding your Imagination with the Intelligence, creating something not quite alive but no longer just a machine.”

“And you think I can do that?”

“I know you can.” I assured her. Catherine would worry about it until the time arrived. There was nothing to prevent that.

“You make it sound as if the Device is alive, not almost.”

“To the creator, it is alive. To the rest of the world, it’s not. Perspective.”

“Is it like a super power?”

“As much as your intellect and soul are super powers.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t give it much thought. If I wasn’t sure you could do it, I wouldn’t have chosen you.”

She still worried.

...

We stayed at the Duke on Michigan Avenue. So, of course, we had to go shopping and dine out. Dining out became Cat’s favorite pastime when we left the estate, since we relied heavily on the ladies’ premade meals, which were normally bland and too fattening for her tastes.

Colleen had been assigned to decorating the house and couldn’t join us that evening. Of course, she also warned everyone not to touch Catherine’s leash unless given permission. Cat’s tall blonde friend didn’t want anything bad to happen to her new sisters ... except maybe for June, the pledge officer...

The young eager teen with me decided that we would do an early run the next day to the haunted house followed by the real purpose of visiting the Sorority house. The party. We would eat dinner and then dress up, since the party didn’t start until 8:30 that Saturday the 31^st.

Cat the steampunk inventor, wore a heavy brocade rust corset, with detached sleeves and an asymmetrical skirt. Very short in front and very long in back. The knee high laced up boots she found and ordered from Ebit. The little steampunk teen also came loaded with tiny portable Devices which were stored in pockets specifically sewn into the bodice with matching fabric ordered from the Institute. The weekly visiting elderly ladies were more than happy to do the sewing once they had the reasons explained on why she wanted them. The pockets were all custom measured for the Devices chosen. A few I had to modify or just plain shut down before they could be taken in public to a party.

Me? I went as Frankenstein’s Monster. My neck bolts even sparked at the precocious teen’s request. The dual pair of shoes, I practiced walking with in the yard before we left for Chicago, just to please her.

Coerced, I brought a gift for Cat to deliver, supposedly as a prize for the best costume. I had never been in a haunted house before. It was cute. Not having anything to compare it with, I didn’t know how to react but Cat did. Her muffled screams and jumps, accomplished the goals of the dressed up monsters. I did admit that Cat had chosen well for my costume template, the solid illusion she used as a base was the exact one from and old 30s movie. Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein. I repurposed an old Device to create an Image and then tinkered with a forcefield to fit the mold.

Cat accused me of cheating. I, apparently, was supposed to use makeup.

Silly girl.

Colleen was in an Amazon Woman costume from the 50’s. I remembered the actress and she was never in as good as shape as Colleen looked, nor did she show as much skin. Catherine’s friend met us at the door when Cat handed the tickets to an older sorority sister. The two yammered amicably while the young sorority pledge led us to the main room. My Pet did garner some looks of recognition, but all seemed good on the surface. I was mostly ignored which pleased me.

Early in the evening, the house was still decent in terms of overall volume and boisterousness. When Colleen introduced us to the one in charge of the party and delivered Cat’s gift with a short explanation, shock filled the room. I told my student that it was a bit much, but noo...

“Shut it.” She warned me, before returning to chatting to her friend without me saying a word.

The two of them wandered off leaving me to my own devices, I wanted a word with the party mistress anyway. i.e. Little miss riding hood. “Please make sure that neither Catherine nor I win any prizes.”

“You’re the Smith, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Janice Davis, I am doing a paper on you in my class. Can I ask you some questions?”

“Which class?”

“ME 405 Design Mechanics.”

“That is acceptable.”

Miss Davis looked around. “Marci take watch. I am going to get an A on that stupid paper. A curvy 5’0” footballer, in an outfit that was smaller than most of Cat’s swimsuits bounded over and accepted the clipboard.

“Is that Smith?”

“Yeah,” the Senior gloated at her luck.

“Lucky bitch. Remember he is taken.” The short blonde called out as we left the kitchen which was too tiny for a house of this size and number of occupants.

I was escorted to the basement past an obvious guard in a pink tutu. He had to weigh at least three ten, but was smiling and drinking a beer chatting with a thin girl a third his mass in a Wicked Witch costume with dark green face paint.

I tapped my watch and sent a message, “Giving an interview in the basement.”

“A phone watch?”

“No, just a two-way communicator.”

“You don’t have to answer anything but everything helps,” Miss Davis opened after I found a large quilted chair.

“Go on.”

“How old are you?”

“Over a hundred, that is public record.”

“Are you immortal?”

“There is no such thing, some people live longer than others.”

“How long have you been Smithing?”

“Over a hundred years.”

“How long have you been building Devices? What and when was your first?”

“1939, I created a forcefield that would keep the bootleggers from using my estate as a hidey hole and escaping the sights of the local Feds. Revenuers they were called back then.”

“That’s like eighty years ago. That means you were one of the first Golden Agers.” Since it wasn’t a question, I passed on responding. “What is your favorite Device that you made?”

“Created. Devices are not made, they are created. My favorite is a hummingbird drone that I created in January. It is optically controlled. With a subvocal link and a built in camera.”

“How long did it take you to design and create it?” she took notes, but the interview was being recorded. I had given permission.

“The design was very complicated; the overall time was somewhere around four months. The miniaturization was particularly difficult. Fabrication needed three weeks alone.”

“How big is it and how does it work?”

“Hummingbird 2 is three inches long including the beak, it flies by gravity induction, the eyes act as a camera which relays the message to my left lens and the subvocal commands relay the vectors in which it travels.”

“Power source?”

“Magnesium alloy battery. Rechargeable, good for three hours of flight time.”

“Range? Top speed and acceleration.”

“Two-mile radius. Thirty miles per hour fifteen feet per second^2.”

“Do you have any pictures of it?” I pulled out my phone and showed it to the brunette.

“Can you send me that image please?” I did when she offered her phone for the instant connection.

“So, in four months you created a remote-controlled bird that defies gravity and has a range of two miles with near instantaneous acceleration and a top speed of thirty miles per hour. May I ask how much one of those would cost if you were to sell it?”

“I haven’t considered selling it. Probably twenty-five million.” She whistled.

“What is a Device in your own words?” I repeated what I told Cat on the way drive here.

“Can anyone build a Device?”

“Theoretically, yes. Realistically no.”

“Explain please.”

“The intelligence requirement for the foundation is greater than you or the inventors with too little training and foundation who try and make the leap in technological levels and end up paying a harsh price or ‘Maddys’ believe. (Maddys or Mad Scientists were a scientist that can enter a super intuitive mode which surpasses current levels of technology to create advanced tech. Creating anything beyond current technological levels damaged their souls caused them to age themselves.)

For example...” I rambled off the minimum requirements of what I believed was necessary for the lowest grade of Device.

“So, anyone one that builds or wants to build a Device needs to have multiple doctorates?”

“Or the equivalent. But there are exceptions. Maddys can and are willing to bypass some of the requirements at the cost of lifespan. It’s well known that Maddys damage their bodies in order to go beyond their capabilities. Most Device makers initially fall into this category and it is not recommended.”

“Other exceptions?”

“Extreme understanding of power supplies and circuitry. That is what the rest of the non-Maddys use except for a few.”

“You are saying that there are only a few people on Earth that make Devices with complete understanding?”

“Correct and no, I will not name them.”

“Lady Strife is one, isn’t she?”

“I believe so, for specifics, you would have to ask her.”

“Have there been any others?”

“Very few and one is dead.”

“Can you name him?”

“Ometron.”

“How did he die?”

“He failed. That is all I can say on the matter.” It still saddened me.

“Do you have any suggestions for those that want to become a Device Creator?”

“A doctorate in Calculus based math is a start. Physics, Power Systems, and Circuitry at a masters levels for the simplest of Devices; such as one shots, and others with rudimentary effects are required. If that scares you off then choose a different path.”

“Would you be willing to help people that meet the minimum requirements to pass the initial hurdle of creating their first device?”

“I have a student who takes priority right now. Maybe in the future if the applicant showed enough promise.”

“Your student, Catherine Larkin. Why was she chosen?”

“If you haven’t figured that out by now, you haven’t been paying attention.”

“Fair enough. Will she be able to completely follow in your footsteps?”

“I wouldn’t have wasted my time unless I believed so.”

“Have you had any other students since you started Creating Devices?”

“Yes, I will not comment on them though.”

“Was one named Andrew?” I hid my reaction. That name was known to only a select few.

“I will not comment on them.”

“Any Devices planned for the near future?”

“I have one. An alternate means of transportation.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Not at this time. But it will be fun.”

“Just a few more questions, then I have to get back to my duties. Why did you sell the Wave Breaker so cheaply to SI?”

“Startup costs will be in the hundreds of millions, maybe as high as five hundred million. Manpower numbering in the hundreds of skilled workers, distribution, marketing and post production issues are all more than I cared to handle at this time. As I have stated earlier, my student takes priority.” Fifteen more minutes of similar questions including some personal ones such as food, beverages and of course, ‘What was it like to live forever?’

“When I do live forever, maybe I can answer that question. For now, I can only answer that people are mostly the same, only their situations change.”

“Thank you, Smith, you were a big help. Can I publish this interview after I hand in my paper?”

“As long as it is unadulterated. If you have any questions regarding that email me. Colleen has my contact information.”

“WOW. Okay I will do that.” Her pleasure was quite apparent.

“Good luck, Miss Davis.” We shook hands, recognizing the quiet crowd that had surrounded us that we had been ignoring.

“I thought you didn’t give interviews,” a little steampunk princess asked with a smirk.

“Hush you,” feeding back her own words. “Having fun?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. ‘Not really.’

The rest of the party went smoothly, for college parties. The winner of the costume contest was the big guy in the pink tutu and ballet shoes. I guessed that they gave it to him out of embarrassment for the poor guy. He was a second-string junior lineman for the football team. The five-minute forcefield watch Device with a one-time charge, was a crowd silencer. Then it was revealed that it would stop anything short of a nuke for those five minutes. That tidbit completely staggered the crowd.

Colleen returned to the Duke with us for the night and the two were up until dawn. The trip was a very successful stress reliever for Cat.

...

On the return home, Cat was listening to some of her strange music while reviewing her homework that she had complained about missing during our little vacation when the alarm went off and the car jumped in the air, trying to roll. The inertial stabilizers prevented our vehicle from losing its orientation but at that time we were several meters in the air traveling faster than the posted sixty-five miles per hour. Traffic halted on the Saturday morning southbound I-67.

The converted M8 landed just outside the crater with the assistance of one of the built in Devices.

“You okay?”

“What was that?” the shaken teenaged girl demanded. Mortars and rockets teamed with a laser from the air were raining down on us. The explosions rocked the car as the ground underneath blew apart.

“We are being attacked. Fight back or sit and wait for help?”

“How long before someone will come?”

“Ten to fifteen minutes.”

“How long will the shields last?”

“At least fifteen minutes.” An hour was at least fifteen minutes...

“What can we do?”

“Change into your top from last night. And grab the gun too.”

Quickly pulling her blouse over her head, Catherine reached in the back seat and opened the suitcase slipping into the Steampunk corset. I gave the laces a quick jerk in three places before knotting them. “Put your goggles on before exiting.

“I’ll go out first.”

After a quick look around. The snipers started. “See that flying guy over there in blue and gray?”

“Yeah.”

“Ignore the rest. They can’t get through our barrier and I am here. Trust me?”

“Yeah.” She was focusing on the flying man in blue as he spiraled and fired an almost continuous blast of lasers from his finger. That and the sniper’s rounds were sparking off her shields.

“You have twenty-five shots. The first couple are for ranging. You will miss. Remember aim for the center of mass and slightly ahead of where he is flying.”

“It’s not doing anything.”