Modern Age Online

"Absolutely nothing about this is salvageable."

"What's the verdict overall?"

"Your electric rat blew out the energy converters and melted the cylinders into solid blocks."

"What if we bore out the…"

"No. No. No. There is no getting around it, Doc. We need a new engine."

Kaleb rubbed a gloved hand down his face. He was standing outside, in the setting sun, next to the remnants of his old car. The ancient cop car that he had already outfitted with a new engine and carefully restored was a now in pieces. Its destroyer sat on a warm piece of metal paneling nearby. Oblivious to the world. Sleeping peacefully. Bored after watching him and Daivor catalogue what could be saved from the wreckage. Which was very little.

"So that's a new engine, new tires, and a new instrument panel. Am I missing anything?"

"You forgot new shocks, and all new interior." Daivor grunted. "Basically, boss. Buy a new one."

A wave of stubbornness welled up inside of Kaleb. After Karick's bounty, they'd have the money to get him a new vehicle. But that would mean some of his workshop upgrades would have to be put off. He was an inventor, damn it. He had brought this old beast to life with his own two hands once before. And that was without a full-on workshop and Builder Gnome! Sure, it was clunker from the damn stone age. But it was his.

"Boss…" Daivor said slowly as he watched Kaleb's face.

Kaleb shook his head as he pointed a finger at the ruins of his old car. "No. I refuse! I will tell you what I'm going to do. We're going to find the same car again and put some of these parts in it."

Daivor rolled his eyes. "Professor, please! This thing was a relic! It was built to run on gas, for goodness sake! Literal fossil fuels! What are the odds you are gonna find another one?"

"I don't know. But I'm at least going to try. Throw nothing away, use what you can! That's the Professor Pack Rat Credo!"

"Since when?!"

Kaleb checked his wrist. "Two scales ago."

"You haven't had your coffee today, have you?" Daivor groaned as he ambled over to the hangar door.

Kaleb ignored him as he whistled for Milly. The marmot took a moment to wake up. But once she was awake, she groggily followed the two of them inside. Immediately turning right, Kaleb entered D34d-I's empty office and approached his terminal. The upright panel controlled all the functions of the hangar and also allowed for net access. Kaleb swapped tabs until he found what he was looking for. There was a fwip sound as Daivor swung himself up to one of Kaleb's shoulders. Milly sank into his cybernetic arm and went back to sleep.

"Oh, lord." Daivor whined.

"What? Roy's dad got the car from a junkyard. Where better to look?"

"It's ancient, boss! I've told you. You're not going to find-"

"Found three of them. Well, two broken, one restored and retrofitted with a modern engine. I don't need that one. The two broken ones will work nicely and, look, they're cheap as hell."

"Okay, but you'll still have to buy new tires and a new engine!"

"Piece of cake and I won't have to touch the guild funds to do it. Just the workshop ones and it'll still be cheaper than buying a whole new car."

Daivor placed a hand on the side of Kaleb's face and groaned. "This is madness."

"Come on, Master Gnome! Think about the challenge of it. We'll be retrofitting and modernizing an ancient vehicle. Not to mention Milly-proofing it."

The gnome summoned his pipe to his hand and took a long drag. Kaleb waited for some indication that the gnome was on his side. But it wasn't coming. So instead, he just spent the money and ordered the stuff shipped to the hangar. After calling the front gate to let them know about the deliveries, Kaleb marched back outside and started collecting the loose bits of metal. Large sections of metal had fallen off the car after Milly's over-boost. They could do something with that metal. In fact, almost the entirety of the old car could be scrapped.

Dragging the first large piece inside, Kaleb got a few brute clan lizards to help with the rest. Daivor was still angrily puffing away at his pipe as Kaleb entered his workshop. Marie and Terrance were shutting down their workbenches for the evening as he entered. He gave them both a wave as he started searching for the tools he would need. Daivor even leapt about, grabbing his own tools. Both teens noted the gnome's surly countenance. But Kaleb waved their questions away and wished them both a good night. Meanwhile, Roy was tinkering away at his own station.

"Car?" the teen asked, not looking up from his work.

"Yep."

"The fool went and bought two more broken ones."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Hmm. Makes sense. The Professor brought that first one to life just fine."

"We could've upgraded." Daivor argued.

"We can still upgrade, you surly gnome. Trust me."

Daivor's response was to glare at Kaleb for a few long seconds. Shrugging his shoulders at the angry gnome, Kaleb picked up his tools and headed for the door. Daivor swung up to his shoulder, his own tool belt strapped on and ready to go. Roy bid them both good luck and they went to the front of the hangar to wait. Normally deliveries were handled by speedsters, but two broken sedans were going to take flatbed trucks. That was fine. Kaleb also needed to wait for the engine and tires he ordered.

Soon a red-orange blur speed up to their front gate and then was let in. He could see the tired-looking alien hauling two large boxes in his over-sized arms. Finding a speedster with the requisite super strength meant he had to pay a bit of a premium, but Kaleb still thought it was worth it. Signing the surly Super's paperwork, Kaleb had the guy drop the boxes around the side of the hangar. Then he settled in to wait. His mind was a-whirl with ideas that he could implement in his new car. His skills had grown since the first one. Not to mention now he understood the basics of runic work.

"Stop standing here with a goofy look on your face. Let's go check out the engine. If it's the same as last time, it's going to need some upgrades, anyway." Daivor grumped.

Kaleb couldn't deny the gnome's words, so he hurried back to the hangar's parking lot. The two boxes were set down next to the pile of scrap that was his old car. The brute lizards were still moving hunks of metal inside, so the light for the hangar helped illuminate their work. Giving both boxes a quick kick, Kaleb was able to discern which one held the engine. He carefully opened the large box and grinned down at the silver engine sitting snug in its packaging.

"Y'know, getting it out of there is going to be a pain in the ass, right?"

"You're just taking the nuts off everything today, aren't you?" Kaleb said, giving his familiar a dirty look.

Daivor shrugged while blowing smoke. "That's a heavy bit of merchandise, boss."

"Nothing a pulley system can't handle. Hell, if we need to, we can get Claire or Mass to help."

The gnome shrugged as Kaleb looked over the sleek new engine. Even if it was brand new, it was an older model, really. Designed for conversion jobs like the one they were planning. Last time, Kaleb had let the system install the engine while he worked on the rest of the car. Now he planned to upgrade the thing entirely and then install it himself. It would surely take longer, but he'd be more familiar with the car's inner workings.

Daivor knocked the ash off his pipe as he waved a hand down at the engine. "Let's pull the energy converters. We'll have to modify those first, anyway."

"Good idea." Kaleb said, reaching down into the box and unlatching one of the cylinders that transferred power from the engine to the rest of the car. He pulled the other five and carefully wobbled his way back inside toward his workshop. It took some maneuvering and pleading to get Daivor to help. But once inside, Kaleb carefully set the cylinders on his bench. Immediately, the bench's screen came alive and Kaleb felt a rush of excitement flow through him.

"So, what were you thinking?" Daivor asked.

Kaleb glanced down at his new cybernetic arm before giving the gnome a pitying look. "What do you think?"

"You can't be serious. That stuff would fry the engine's internals. Even if it did work, you'd have to reinforce the entire frame."

"Oh no! More work? How sad for me." Kaleb whined sarcastically. "Daivor, this is the fun part for me."

Daivor tried to look annoyed, but Kaleb could see the Builder Gnome's mind coming up with ideas already. The Weikacol solution had been their ace in the hole for a while. Now it was time to implement it on a larger scale. Sure, a car upgrade probably wasn't the best use. But they had plenty of it and he needed a car. Kaleb cleared space on his bench, leaving the one cylinder in the center. Using the system's interface, he began deconstructing and redesigning the converter.

He was halfway through the disassembly when Daivor smacked his shoulder.

"No, no. Remove the coils completely. We don't know if they can handle the solution. It's better just to make our own contact points."

"We'll have to machine the interior of the cylinders."

"I can handle that. You just find us something that can handle the transfer of power. This thing is going to be a beast. In fact, I recommend we only use two of the converters."

"Two?!"

"Think about how powerful your new arm is. We're going to do that to your car."

"Do what now?" Roy's voice said from Kaleb's other shoulder.

Daivor and Kaleb turned to see the teen staring at what they were designing. They both shared a grin before reading the boy in on what they were trying to do. Roy shook his head as he thought about it.

"Well, it'll be harder for Milly to overcharge, that's for sure."

"We think so. But we're still going to reinforce the shit out of it." Kaleb said, swapping Holo-screens and bringing up a schematic for the new car.

Roy snorted. "You actually found two more busted up Turins?"

"Monacos." Kaleb corrected. "They were cheap and close. Also, I like the look."

"You do have your own sense of style."

"Thank you."

Daivor chuckled. "I don't think that was a compliment, boss."

The gnome and Roy shared a laugh, as Kaleb did his best to glare at the pair of them. "Just for that, we're working all night on this design. No breaks for either of you."

"Pfft! Twist my arm." Roy joked. "I can't wait to see what happens when we put generator fluid in a damn car. If it doesn't explode, it'll be epic."

"We should probably do the testing farther down the airstrip." Daivor added.

Kaleb nodded as a loud horn blasted from outside the hangar. The three of them rushed to the door and stuck their heads out. The flatbed was here and Kaleb's busted up sedans were ready and waiting for him. More than half the hangar crew were staring at the rusted up junkers before, as one, they all turned toward Kaleb's workshop. Kaleb did his best to wipe the smile from his face as he heard the steady cadence of footsteps coming his way. He stood up in his doorway as Farrah's voice echoed in the now quiet hangar.

"Professor? Why are there two busted up cars outside our hangar?"

Daivor leapt over to Roy's shoulder as the boy squeezed past and headed for the truck. "I'll tell him where to drop them off, Doc. You take your time."

"Traitors!" Kaleb called as the shorter rabbit-woman glared at him.

"Well…?"

"Hey, they were purchased from my own funds. I need them for a few tests and to repair my original vehicle."

"So your answer to the junk sitting outside our hangar was to add more junk?"

"You say junk. But I call it treasure. Have I not made a decent job of being a Super using unusual parts and ingenuity? I'm a DIY Garage Scientist baby!"

"Yeah, never say that again," Farrah said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Just make sure that the parking spots are clear for the others. Also, make sure to perform your experiments…"

"Away from the hangar." Kaleb finished. "Don't worry, boss. I will, and we'll try to keep the explosions to a minimum."

"No explosions, Professors!"

Farrah's eyes were locked on Kaleb's, but he just couldn't bring himself to promise no explosions. They were working with volatile substances after-all. Farrah searched his eyes for a full minute before she sighed loudly and walked away. Unsure if he had won or lost something, Kaleb rubbed his hands together happily and rushed outside. There was shit to build and experiments to run.