The Legendary Junkmaster

Jason swirled the water around in his mouth for a few seconds as he tasted it. 'It seems fine, and I know the plants will have done their job.' Jason swallowed the mouthful of water and happily looked at what he had come up with. 

'It does the job. I just need to fix it in place now.' Captain Anderson stared at Jason in disbelief as the latter casually walked over to his workbench and checked the progress of Natural Adhesive and the BNCG. 'Good timing… They're ready!'

As Jason happily continued on with his work, Captain Anderson's expression had become pale. 'Don't tell me he actually managed to come up with a working solution!' He rushed over to the containers lined up nearby the same channel that Jason had just drunk from. His hands were shaking as he grabbed ahold of two different containers.

Jason's back was turned to the Captain as he filled both containers and held them up to inspect them. 'Nothing is floating in it, which is a good sign.' Having seen Jason drink the water without any adverse reactions, Captain Anderson could not contain himself.

He performed the same actions as Jason did but could not detect anything wrong with the water at all! 'Shit! I have to get this other sample sent over to the Colonel!' The Captain rushed to the door and excitedly explained the situation to the staff on the other side.

Jason was completely unaware of the events happening behind him as he took his time to seal up the containers and channels he had made. Fire erupted from the container that he was holding as he sprayed the Natural Gas onto a cloth torch to create a makeshift welder.

Metal slowly melted as Jason performed a rather shoddy job of welding it closed. However, that was to be expected since he had not picked up any skills in that area yet. Jason persevered through it though, the test did not require his work to be perfect. It just had to be functional. 

Or at least that was the impression that Jason was working under. Jason weaved his way around the room using what he had to hand to finish up installing the strange natural water purification system into the old existing one. 

Hours passed as he went about completing this tedious work under Captain Anderson's watchful yet excited gaze. Jason was unwittingly opening the Captain's eyes to new possibilities as he worked away on his task. Hell, the Captain was even considering studying plants since they seemed so helpful!

Jason sighed as he finished up the section that he had been working on. 'Ok, now I just have to cut out a part of the machine to fit the larger sections in. Otherwise, the water won't run through the entire system.' Jason wiped the sweat from his brow as he reached for a saw that was meant for cutting metal.

However, before he could get to work on that section, the door suddenly swung open and a team of researchers that he had met before rushed in! Jason was confused as he saw their excited expressions as they ran around like kids that had just received a new toy!

They eagerly poked at and studied the work that he had done so far. They spoke amongst themselves with some excitement as people who specialised in different fields filled the others in on what they understood of Jason's creation. 

"Um? What's going on? You're kind of getting in my way." Jason felt a little annoyed by this sudden intrusion. 

The presence of these researchers would only slow him down. However, they just smiled awkwardly at him before turning back to the water purification system. 

"Don't worry." A soft voice chuckled from the doorway as Captain Joiner made her way into the room to join him. "Apparently, you've already passed the test!"

Jason's mind went blank as he struggled to digest what she was saying. 'How did I pass? I haven't even finished it yet?'

Captain Joiner struggled not to laugh at the face Jason pulled in his confusion. "Captain Anderson here sent a sample of the purified water to us to be checked out. Linda over there used her Power to confirm that there were no problems with it."

"Even if you say that…." Jason hesitated for a moment as his forehead wrinkled from a frown. "It's not finished yet, so what's the big deal?"

"The brass don't dare to let you finish it…." Captain Anderson replied this time. "It would cost too much to put it back the way it was for the next person to challenge it."

"Mr Wright, do you even know what you've managed to do here?" Captain Joiner asked with a somewhat hesitant voice. 

Jason glanced over the machine one more time before answering her question honestly. "I've butchered a piece of Old World tech by replacing it with something less amazing?"

The pair of Captain's glanced at each other awkwardly before they turned back to Jason and said together, "No!"

"What you've done here is amazing!" Captain Anderson decided to go first. "How many working parts do you think that machine has? Not to mention the amount of electricity it burns. Whereas your system does the same job, is cheaper to maintain overall and pretty much anyone could learn how to fix it if something goes wrong!"

"Simply put, Mr Wright, it's revolutionary! You've blended machinery with a natural ecosystem to create something beyond both." Captain Joiner sighed with envy as she ran a hand through her hair. "Just be aware that you've done something great here over the past two days."

Jason nodded slowly to what they said, but he could not help but feel disappointed in his heart. In Jason's mind, the Old World technology was far more impressive than what he had made.

"They have a point." Syssie decided to chime in with her own thoughts on the matter. "That outdated machine is just complicated for the sake of being complicated. What's the point of it? Sure, it's amazing how to wonder how it works, but that's all. You've literals done the same thing, but it's much simpler."

'True, but still… I want to understand it….'