The Exchange Teacher - Welcome to Dyntril Academy

As soon as class was done and all the students had left, Basque went out to the Tinkerer's shed. Basque didn't want to rush the man, except for the fact that he wanted to rush him. He needed those cores.

The Tinkerer's shed came into sight and, once again, Basque thought about how "shed" was a misnomer for the large building where the fiery-haired man lived and worked. Music permeated the air around the shed. Its windows shook and rattled with the basslines. As Basque approached the Tinkerer's work area, off-pitch, off-tone, and slightly off-timed wailing joined in the upbeat tune. Basque knocked on the door to the lab area, the very door from which the pleasant melodies and not-so-pleasant accompanying squawking originated.

There was no answer.

Basque banged again. Still nothing. Pushing his way in, the volume of both sounds amplified without the door muffling it. The Tinkerer rocked his head and sang along while his hands connected parts of the core.

"Tinkerer!"

Basque thought the Tinkerer heard him when the fiery-haired man raised his tools above his head, but he just spun his tools before air-drumming along with the song's drum solo. His eyes never looked up from the core.

"Hey! Tinkerer!"

The main melody kicked back in, and the Tinkerer returned to work and squawking. The music cut out, and the Tinkerer carried on with the lyrics for half a bar before he realized it.

The Tinkerer slammed his tools down and glared at the doorway leading into the living quarters, where a cute, short woman stood with her arms crossed.

"Oi! Why you killing keys, prawn?"

The woman's face turned red, and she jabbed her open hand in Basque's direction. "You deaf alley-cat! I turned off your music 'cause you can't hear you got company!"

The Tinkerer's eyes went wide, and his scowl turned into a wide, toothy grin. "Well! If it isn't the interesting fellow!"

The door to the inner house slammed shut, and the Tinkerer's expression fell back into a scowl. "Ah, Yani. Looks like I'm having prawns tonight."

The thumping beat came back, and conversation became impossible. The Tinkerer turned back to his workbench, grabbed a remote, and the room quietened, though it didn't fall silent.

"What can I do for you today, Biscuit?"

"Biscuit?"

"T's yer name, innit?"

"You mean Basque?"

The Tinkerer clapped his hands. "That's it! Basque! The missus was the one calling ya 'Biscuit'. Something about you being scrumptious looking."

Basque was at his limit for understanding; he felt like he was talking with Arion. Basque recognized the Kruamian words, but not their meaning when put together. "Anyway, I came to see how things were progressing."

The Tinkerer smiled, grabbed a large, thick prism with rounded corners, and shook it. "Got the physical aspect up. Still a bit to do on the programming that you want."

"Is it just the one?"

The Tinkerer nodded and set the core down. "It'll be easier to spit more out once I get this first one set. I tell you, this is just a genius idea. Creating dimensional pockets to launch things? How did you come up with it?"

Basque smiled. The device had been in use in Hianbru since before he was born. "Just came to me one day."

The Tinkerer looked at him. "You sure you ain't a tinkerer too?"

Basque laughed. "I'm sure. I've got four swords when it comes to tech."

"Four swords? What the hell does that even mean?"

"You know, like I've got swords instead of hands and feet?"

The Tinkerer just stared at Basque.

"It means I'm more likely to blow us all up than build something functional. Anyway, how big is the space?"

"Five squares."

Basque's eyes widened. "Five?!" Considering cores in Hianbru only had four slots that could hold five balls, a whole extra slot increased the core's efficiency by 25%. The Tinkerer was truly gifted. "You're good."

The Tinkerer waved his hand. "Nah, if I was good, I'd've been able to code the random launch velocity better." The Tinkerer stepped back to his workbench and grabbed a different remote. It was a small circular remote with a button in the middle and a rotating dial around the edges. "As you requested, a non-interface controller. Never thought I'd meet someone else who preferred not to use the thing."

"Oh, I use it, and how do I. It's for the students. I've only got one who can."

"'How do I'? You talk like an eighty-year-old grandma."

"What should I say then?"

"I use the shit out of it."

Basque frowned. "I'm not sure that would please Krill."

"Who?"

"Deputy Headmaster Krill?"

"Oh, that Yani-gobbler."

"Yeah, that's the one. I don't care about pleasing him, but I'd prefer not to give him extra ammunition. If you get what I mean."

The Tinkerer rolled his eyes and made a mocking face as he said, "'Extra ammunition'? Really, did you learn your Kruamian from 200-year-old dead guys?"

"I learned what we were taught."

"Well, I guess it's better than my Hianb. Anyway," the Tinkerer waved the conversation off. "Check it out."

The Tinkerer pushed the button in the middle, and a ball shot out from the left side of his workbench, passed over the prism-shaped core, and vanished. A second ball appeared on the working side of the bench, went flying across the desk, and bounced off the wall.

"Well, it needs a bit more space to operate," the Tinkerer said, retrieving the ball.

"Mind if we take it outside, and I can give it a go?"

"I've not built the platform you asked for yet."

"That's fine. I don't need it."

The Tinkerer picked the core up and handed it to Basque. Basque took it from him and headed outside. The Tinkerer followed him.

"What's it set to?"

"Just a meter at the moment."

"Speed?"

"One-hundred-k."

Basque nodded. It would be fine for his test, but the travel radius and speed were a bit extreme to start the students on. "I'm assuming it's just for testing purposes?"

Once they were away from the Tinkerer's shed, Basque put the device on the ground. Pulling up Devices in his interface, he connected to the core. The option screen for the core was a mess of glitched text and boxes. He could move the option arrow through the mess and even found some sliders, but Basque couldn't read what any of it did.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"I told you, I'm not the biggest fan of the interface, so I've not done nothing with that." The Tinkerer held the remote out. "Outer ring is speed, inner ring is distance."

Basque nodded and took the remote. There was no display on it. "How do you know the speed and distance with this?"

The Tinkerer scratched his head. "Yeah, so I've not added the markings to that, either. If you swing it to the right, it'll speed up and shrink, respectively. As you've asked, the max speed is 160 and the lowest is 40. Each click of the outer wheel will add or subtract 5k. The inner will add or subtract twenty C.M."

"Max three meters, min one meter?"

"Yessir."

Basque pushed the button in the middle and watched. Once again, a ball shot out from nothing, traveled a meter, and vanished. Five seconds later, a second one did the same from a different degree on the circle around the device, but at the same height. Every five seconds, a ball flew out, each time its exit point rotated slightly around the center, but that was all. All shots were at the same height and the same flat, horizontal angle.

"Like I said—"

"I know. Not finished yet. That's fine. The main thing is it's working." Without stopping the core, Basque went and stood with the device between his legs. No sooner had he taken his position than the core launched a ball in front of him. Basque made no effort to dodge, and the ball slammed into his chest.

There was a slight sting, but nothing serious. The ball bounced off him and rolled away. When it reached the meter mark, it vanished. Basque nodded. "That was perfect."

The Tinkerer's chest puffed out, hooked his thumbs into the straps of his overalls, and smiled. "Of course."

Basque shot his left hand out and caught the ball that flew at him from that direction. He transferred it to his right hand, then turned and readied himself for the next ball. He caught it and set the two on the ground. He repeated it until he'd caught twenty-five balls. "Incredible."

"Did you think I was lying?"

Basque shook his head. "No, I just had to see it for myself. You're a genius."

"Of course, I am!" the Tinkerer huffed and stomped over to the pile of balls Basque had made. His stubby leg kicked the pile. His aim was off, and a cloud of dust rose up. The balls dribbled away, only a few of them making it to the barrier to be absorbed back into the device's storage.

Curious, Basque grabbed a rock off the ground and threw it at the barrier. It passed through without being absorbed.

The Tinkerer shook a finger at Basque. "Look at you doubting me again! I made it so you have to register what goes in the storage."

"Calm your snails. Better safe than sorry."

"'Calm you snails'? Whatever that means." After giving another harumph, the Tinkerer snatched the remote from Basque's hand and stopped the balls from being thrown. He then kicked all the remaining ones back into storage and picked up the machine, pushing a button on the core itself.

"What did that do?"

The Tinkerer didn't look back as he walked to his workshop. "It's the power button."

Basque trotted to catch up with the man. "Power button?"

The Tinkerer stopped and looked up at Basque. "Don't tell me you guys waste that many crystals?"

"I don't understand."

The Tinkerer shook his head and gave a derisive snort. "Wasteful sonsa…It shuts it down so that the only power usage is maintaining the storage subspace. Try accessing it from the interface again."

Basque did as he was told. The core was greyed out in his device menu. "That's…"

"That makes the crystal last ten times longer, which practically means this device's power will outlast the both of us."

"You're a genius."

"I know! I already told you! And find a new word. I'm sick of hearing that one."

"You don't mind if I take this home with me, do you?"

"You can make pancakes out of them if you want! Just keep bringing me more fun things like this, and we're good."

The two men stepped inside, and the Tinkerer's wife was waiting for them. Her hands were on her hips, and she held a ladle in one of them. "You!" She said and pointed the ladle at her husband. "Be nice! And you!" She turned the ladle to Basque. "Don't bring any more ideas to my hubby."

The pink-haired woman walked over and wrapped her arms around the Tinkerer. She pecked his lips with hers. "He's been so obsessed with this, I've not seen him properly in two days." She pulled away. "And I can't take listening to that racket on full blast no more!"

She stomped off and slammed the door closed again. "Dinner's ready in ten!" came her muffled scream from the other side. "And Mr. Sexy's more than welcome to join us!"

"Hey!" The Tinkerer yelled. "I'm sexy, too!"

The door cracked open. "You know you're the only one for me, love." It clicked shut again, and the Tinkerer's wife's cackle seeped through the cracks.

"Anyway," Basque said, "When do you think you can finish these by?"

"Well, it might take me a day or two to get the programming done. Like I said, I'm not a fan of the interface."

"A day or two?" Basque scratched his head. Could he wait that long? "Would it hamper you if I took this one with me and coded it myself?"

The Tinkerer pursed his lips and shook his head as he muttered, "Would it hamper?"

Basque rolled his eyes. "Would it slow you down from reproducing more?"

"You can code?"

Basque nodded. "I'm pretty good with the interface."

"And here I was thinking those muscles went all the way through your head. Nah, I've got the one built. Won't be too hard for me to pop more out. In fact, it'd make things quicker if you did do the programming for me. I can spend my time making the other eleven instead."

The Tinkerer shoved the device into Basque's stomach. "Bring it back and I'll copy it over to the others. Don't come back till then."

Basque gave the Tinkerer a mischievous smile. "I don't know. Dinner sounded pretty appetizing."

Spinning him around with both hands, the Tinkerer pushed Basque towards the door out of his workshop. "Shoo, you. Shoo!"

Basque let himself be pushed towards the exit and left. He waved bye to the Tinkerer, who also waved and wore a big smile.

"Like me that much, Tinkerer?"

"No, I'm happy you're finally leaving!"

"See you, genius!"

"Bah!" The Tinkerer slammed his workshop door closed.

Basque chuckled and put the core in his inventory. To say he was impressed with the Tinkerer's work would be a disservice to how highly he thought of the creation the man made. If Basque didn't so desperately need to start the students on their defensive skills, he would have rushed it over to the tech ambassador, who probably would want to spend the rest of his six months in the Tinkerer's workshop.

His steps were light as he walked back to the dorms. The excitement of having a working core and the promise of more soon gave Basque hope. Given the speed with which his students had become proficient in basic literacy, he believed in their talents. They would train, and they would train hard. Basque would give them the skills they needed to survive. After his visit with the Tinkerer, Basque was feeling the most optimistic he'd felt since the school year had started.

Sophia was waiting for him when he returned to his room. Her fake smile pulled him out of the clouds and reminded him that he and his discrepancies were partially to blame for his student's difficulties.

"<Welcome to the back, Gerenet-Shr>"

"<I don't want to talk to you.>"

"<Are you doing the pouting?>"

"<Yes, I'm "doing the pouting"! What is that dreck that you're making Reaggie serve me?>"

"<So, he's not the best cook—>"

"<That's not what I'm talking about! I've not eaten his cooking yet. I'm talking about that sugary slush that he gave me instead of breakfast!>"

Sophia laughed. "<Just desserts.>"

Basque narrowed his eyes. "<What? What does that mean?>"

"<In Kruamian, we have a saying that means you receive retribution, and it is sweet to see the person receive it. It is your 'just desserts'.>"

"<How long will it last?>"

She put her hands on her hips, cocked her head, smiled, and blinked rapidly. "<I'd give it to you in Hianbru after you go back, if I could.>"

"<Are you that resentful?>"

"<You've had Reaggie's meals twice.>" Sophia opened the lid of the platter on the table. "<Soon to be a third time.>"

Basque squinted again. "<When?>"

"<This morning and again at lunch.>"

Basque searched his memory. He had a vague impression of eating, and he didn't feel like he'd skipped any meals throughout the day, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what he could have possibly eaten. He looked at the steak on the table and remembered the meal he'd eaten with Julvie. He took a sniff. There was a distinctly meat-flavored scent.

Still holding the domed lid, Sophia walked over to Basque. She pressed the lid into his chest and pushed until he fell back onto the couch. Leaning over him, she said, "<I'm still not happy with you, but you suffering Reaggie's cooking helps.>"

She straightened up and put the lid on his head. "Put a cap on it." Sophia switched back to Kruamian. "Enjoy your meal, Master Basque. Please call if you need anything."

With the lid covering his eyes, Basque couldn't see her go, but he heard the servants' door open and close. For someone who claimed not to be upset about his tryst with Natt, Sophia sure acted a lot like someone upset with him over his tryst with Natt. Though she claimed that it was over concern for the students and the danger Julvie's jealousy would put them in, the way she stressed "anything" at the end made him feel it was more than that.

He took the lid off his head and set it down. He stared at his meal. Was he really going to be subjected to five more years of forgettable meals and sugar water? Basque picked up his silverware, cut off a slice of steak, and sighed. Perfectly average. Ahh, Dinner time, I guess?