POWERLESS

by Antony W. F. Chow

  "Permission granted," the voice returned on the intercom. *Click* The right metal door squealed open.

  Lance waited until the door was open all the way outward and then entered.

  Schmendrick followed him. He was surprised to see tools and spare parts for hovercrafts including the frame on the floor of the tower. There was a set of stairs made of cobblestones that hugged the inner wall of the tower all the way to the top. Four sets of ladders also hugged the walls as a faster means of reaching the top. There was a platform high above the teenager. But he was astonished to discover that there were no other floors inside the tower!

  Lance grinned at the boy's reaction. "So, would you prefer the staircase or the ladder?" Without waiting for a response, the pilot started climbing the ladder to his right.

  Schmendrick decided to climb the ladder to his left. As he climbed, the teenager saw faces peering down at him from the gap between the platform and the wall. When he finally pulled himself to the platform, someone said, "3 minutes 42 seconds."

  A few men booed and cursed as they exchanged shekels.

  A squat-looking man with a pockmarked face and a potbelly approached him. "I'm Jenks, Commander of the Eastern Tower. Please come to my office." Commander Jenks turned and walked toward his desk near the center of the open floor.

  Schmendrick saw a computer terminal and knew what the commander was going to do. There was also a red circle on the ground near the terminal. The teenager surmised teleportation was how personnel was transported to the control tower and left it. After all, he couldn't imagine these folks making a daily commute through the farms and then the beach to reach the tower. He sat in a chair in front of the desk and waited patiently for Jenks to ask the question.

  "What is your name?"

  "Schmendrick."

  The commander entered the name on his keyboard and pulled up the newcomer's file from the system. His brows rose upon seeing the unexpectedly high character level on his status screen. At the bottom was a list of open quests: "Wind turbine maintenance." Under that was a list of completed quests: "Weevil extermination at the granary." Jenks was perplexed. "Kid, how did you reach level 7 after completing just one quest?"

  Gasps could be heard in the room. No one expected this little shrimp to be so high in his character level already!

  Lance grinned at the reaction of his coworkers. Through Jenks, the pilot just received an official confirmation from the system. He was glad the kid was telling the truth, however unbelievable the truth was.

  Schmendrick took note of the reaction from the Reborn. He saw the grin on Lance's face and shrugged slightly. The teenager hated the attention he was getting from the people on this platform. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before responding to the commander. "I received a bonus for graduating from The Noob Academy on the first day of attendance. It was enough to push my advancement to Level 6. During my first quest, I killed an adult weevil by myself. The experience reward from the kill pushed me to Level 7," he explained.

  "Bullshit!" someone blurted aloud. The word was spoken by a tall man wearing a white, sleeveless shirt and green camouflage pants. He crossed his thick forearms across his chest and tightened his bulging biceps. "Adult weevils are nasty motherfuckers. I don't believe a kiddie like you beat one solo. Either you're lying or the system made a mistake."

  "Benais, stand down!" Jenks ordered.

  Schmendrick slowly walked up to the large man. "I'm telling the truth," he said calmly.

  "Prove it!" Benais challenged.

  "Prove it!" his cohorts repeated.

  "How?" the teenager asked.

  Benais offered a wicked smile. "We all know that a weevil's weakness is the eyes. Let's have a demonstration. I'll pretend to be a weevil. And you try to take me down," he suggested.

  "I don't want you to be blinded," Jenks objected to the proposal.

  Benais looked at his commander incredulously. "Fine. Let's modify the demonstration. This kid will have to keep his dagger sheathed. He needs to hit me in the face 2x; once on the left side and once on the right side. I will use my fists to defend myself. And let's make this more interesting, shall we? I want this to be a formal duel with 1,000 points at stake."

  "What does that mean?" Schmendrick asked as the crowd started hollering its approval.

  "You're betting 1,000 experience points," Lance said in a loud voice. "If you agree to this duel and you lose, the system will reduce your experience by 1,000 points and give it to Benais."

  The boy looked at Benais and shrugged. "Why not?"

  The crowd started cheering and placing bets.

  Schmendrick untied the two pouches from his belt and gave it to Lance. "Please bet 200 shekels on me. You can take a 10% cut when I win."

  Lance smiled at the boy's bravado and slapped him on the back. "Good luck! I'm rooting for ya."

  The crowd formed a circle.

  Schmendrick removed both sheaths from his person and held a sheathed dagger in each hand.

  "Ambidextrous," the crowd murmured. Some bettors started entertaining doubts that Benais will win.

  "Shut it!" Benais yelled in anger. He raised his fists and adopted his fighter stance. He bent his back slightly and kept his elbows close to his chest. His fists were held close to his face to protect it. His feet were planted slightly beyond his hips with his left foot leading.

  Jenks stepped into the makeshift ring and stood in between the two fighters. "I'm judging this fight. I will call out 'left' or 'right' if I see Schmendrick make a successful hit to Benais' face. If Benais is able to knock out his opponent, I will stop the fight immediately. Is this acceptable to the two of you?" he asked.

  "Fine," Benais replied.

  Schmendrick nodded.

  Jenks skipped back and yelled, "Begin!"

  The larger man rushed in with a power punch aimed squarely at Schmendrick's face!

  However, the boy ducked in time and caused Benais to overswing. Schmendrick quickly counter with a left jab with his dagger. It struck the right part of his opponent's face! *Smack* Even worse, there was enough force behind the jab to cause a welt on his opponent's cheekbone. This way, there was no doubt that Schmendrick had landed a successful blow nor its close proximity to his opponent's eye.

  "Right!" Jenks called out.

  Benais roared with fury and began to swing his fists wildly. He could feel the burning sensation under his eye. It made him furious. Nobody was allowed to humiliate him! Especially not this little boy!

  Schmendrick wisely backed away. He ducked and bobbled like a dancer. But he began to lean his face forward, taunting the man and inviting another swing at the boy's face.

  Three minutes and over 100 swings later, Benais was starting to breathe heavily. His arms began to drop. Perspiration was dripping down his face.

  It's time. Schmendrick taunted Benais again by leaning his face closer to the man's fists. When his opponent swung his left fist, the teenager took a big sidestep to the right. Schmendrick immediately jabbed at the man's face, leaving a red mark on his left cheekbone. *Smack*

  "Left!" Jenks called out. "Match over!" The commander rushed and stepped between the two combatants.

  However, Benais refused to concede defeat and threw his fist at the little shrimp. His punch finally connected. Albeit with the wrong person. *WHAM*

  The commander dropped to the ground, stunned by the punch to his cheek. "Benais, I'm ordering you to stand down!"

  However, the man refused to obey and went after the teenager again.

  Finally, Jenks lost his patience. He pulled out the gun from the holster at his hip and fired.

  An energy pulse struck Benais in the chest and his body started convulsing! Benais's body shook uncontrollably for three seconds and then he blacked out.

  "Someone put a parachute on him and push him off the platform. When he wakes up, give him a shovel and tell him to dig a hole for a latrine," the commander ordered. Jenks then turned toward Schmendrick and crooked his finger. "Come to
my desk."

  The teenager obeyed the commander and sat in a chair before Jenks.

  The commander typed into his keyboard and entered the result of the duel between the two. Jenks transferred 1,000 points from Benais' account to Schmendrick's. "I just entered the result of your duel into the system and distributed the 1,000 points that you're owed." He then stood and turned toward the spectators. "Schmendrick has demonstrated how he took out the adult weevil solo. Is anyone else willing to challenge him?"

  There were no takers.

  The commander clapped his hands. "Get back to work!" he barked.

  Lance approached the teenager and gave Schmendrick 4 sacks. "You won 1,000 shekels. I took 100 for my cut. Three of the sacks carry 300 shekels each. The last one has your original 200 shekels," he explained.

  "Thank you," Schmendrick said as he took the sacks and tied them to his belt.

  "No, thank YOU!" Lance grinned.

  2.6 - The Wind Turbines

  A thin-looking man with a grey mustache wearing thick glasses appeared in front of Schmendrick. He wore blue-gray overalls which were heavily stained with oil spots. "I'm Pell. I'm the chief mechanic in this control tower." Pell offered a handshake and the teenager took it. "Jenks ordered me to get you up to speed on how to maintain the wind turbines. Before you head out to the water and climb the turbines, I will need to teach you some things about them first. Please follow me to my desk."

  The mechanic turned and walked across the platform until he reached a desk at the back. He sat at his desk and typed into the keyboard. The computer terminal showed a diagram of a wind turbine.

  Schmendrick sat down in front of the desk.

  The chief shook his head. "I need you to come around the desk and see the screen," he said.

  Chagrined, the teenager got up from his seat and stood behind the mechanic.

  Schmendrick studied the diagram carefully. It showed a cross-section of the wind turbine and each part of the diagram was labeled. The wind blew on the turbine, causing the blades to turn. The blades were connected to a long shaft. The shaft was like a long piece of stick which connected to the gearbox and then the generator. Power cables connected the generator and snaked down the tower and then connected to a transformer. The gearbox and the generator were located inside a nacelle.

  "I highlighted the relevant sections in red. What you will need to do is to apply a lubricant. You'll have a giant-sized eye dropper to squeeze the oil around the gearbox. Even though the turbines are built right on the water, sometimes the shaft becomes too dry due to the higher elevation. And then it becomes 'locked' tightly in the gearbox. So we need to apply a lubrication to the shaft around the gearbox on a monthly basis. Secondly, there is an air vent on top of the nacelle to keep the generator from overheating. When you open the nacelle, you'll need to clear any debris blocking the vent. During maintenance, the turbine will be taken offline and turned off. We developed a schedule to take them offline two at a time in order to minimize disruption to the generation of electricity," Pell explained.

  Schmendrick looked out the window. He saw the turbines over the water. "Will I need to swim to reach them?" he asked. Someone laughed from behind him. The teenager turned and saw that it was Lance.

  "No, we're not THAT cruel to noobs," Lance chuckled. "I asked Jenks for permission to use my hovercraft to take you there. But I should note that the hovercraft can't elevate very high because of the extra weight. With the two of us onboard plus your equipment, the vehicle can rise to a height of twenty feet above the ground. That's halfway up the tower. You'll have to climb the rest of the way up," he explained.

  "While climbing the ladder, you will be wearing an oil tank on your back and the oil dispenser. You'll also carry some towels to wipe the oil runoff and clear the air vents," Pell added. He looked at his clipboard and said, "The next two turbines up for a maintenance service are Turbines 7 and 8. My assistant will give you two flares. The first one will signal when you're done with the first turbine. Lance will return and take you to the second turbine. Use the second flare when you're done. Lance will take you back to the tower. The oil tank and the towels are downstairs. Now, hurry! You don't want to be up on the wind turbine after nightfall," he warned.

  Schmendrick started climbing down the ladder. When he reached the ground floor of the tower, the teenager was accosted by another man in blue-gray overall.

  "I'm Alond, the assistant chief mechanic," the gangly looking man with a short ponytail introduced himself. "Chief Pell sent word that you're helping us to service Turbines 7 and 8. Now come over to my workshop to get your equipment." The man turned and started heading to a storage section.

  "I'll wait for you at the door," Lance called out.

  Schmendrick followed Alond pass workstations where people were busy welding and hammering parts or making repairs to the circuitry. Smoke and sparks greeted the teenager as he walked by. Finally, the assistant chief stood in front of a shelf. He pulled out a cylinder-shaped tank with straps. A hose connected the tank to an elongated nozzle. There was a trigger at the handle attached to the nozzle.

  "You'll need to carry that on your back," Alond said.

  The teenager grabbed a strap and, with a grunt, wore the tank on his back. The tank was very heavy and it impeded his mobility.

  Next, the mechanic passed a messenger bag to Schmendrick. "This bag is full of towels, cleansers, and other cleaning tools. Additionally, there are a few glow sticks in case you can't see because of the shadows or if the sun has set. There are also several flares to signal Lance to take you to the second turbine and to bring you back to the control tower. Finally, I'm giving you the key to open the nacelle." The man passed a brass key.

  Schmendrick put the bag on his right shoulder and the key in his shirt pocket.

  Alond nodded. "Okay! You're all set! Good luck!" The man gave a thumbs up.

  The teenager reciprocated the gesture and slowly headed for the exit. As he walked, he heard people whispering.

  "That's him," someone said aloud and earned an elbow in the ribs.

  "Can't believe a little kid beat Benais."

  "Yeah, I lost a lot of shekels because Benais wouldn't take this kid seriously."

  When Schmendrick reached the door, Lance punched in the security code on the keypad on the wall to unlock the door. *Click*

  The heavy door slowly swung outward. The hinge groaned with effort.

  Lance walked out and Schmendrick followed closely behind. The two returned to the hovercraft in Landing Pad Gamma.

  Schmendrick threw the messenger bag into the back of the vehicle and slowly removed the heavy oil tank. He gingerly set it down in the box and then climbed into the vehicle.

  Lance took his seat behind the wheel. He turned around and asked, "Ready to fly?"

  "Yes," the teenager replied.

  * * *

  The boy sat in the sheriff's office. All attempts by law enforcement officers to ask him questions were met with stone silence. His mama had taught him not to talk to strangers because bad things will happen if he did. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw his mama laying in the pool of blood. To avoid seeing it again, he kept his eyes wide open and avoided blinking.

  Finally, the boy saw a familiar face. "Grandpa!" His emotional dam finally broken, the boy ran up to the old man and hugged his leg with all the strength the boy could muster.

  Grandpa had dark brown hair that began to gray. However, his body was still firm and trim. The man knelt before the boy and returned the child's hug just as fiercely. "I'm going to protect you. I'm going to train you. And together we will go after the folks who killed your mama," he whispered.

  The boy nodded.

  * * *

  "Hey, kid! We're here," Lance said. He leaned over his seat, stretched his arm and shook the teenager.

  Schmendrick opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep. The dream reinvigorated him and gave the teenager a renewed sense of purpose. He quickly put the oil tank on his back and the messenger b
ag on his shoulder. He felt the key in his breast pocket. He was ready to climb the stairs.

  Lance circled around the disabled wind turbine and then positioned the hovercraft as close to the ladder as possible.

  Schmendrick stepped to the edge of the box and grabbed hold of the ladder with his right hand.

  "Good luck!" Lance said.

  The teenager put his foot on the ladder and started climbing. As Schmendrick expected, the heavy weight of the oil tank was affecting his balance. The teenager had to climb slowly to ensure that his grip on the ladder would not slip or loosen. The wind constantly swirled around him, threatening to blow him off the ladder. After a good ten minutes of climbing, Schmendrick finally reached the nacelle of the wind turbine. Carefully reaching into his breast pocket, the teenager took out the key and unlocked the panel on the nacelle. Once he returned the key to his pocket, Schmendrick grabbed the handle and slowly pulled up the panel.

  Peering inside the nacelle, the boy saw that the space around the shaft was empty. Schmendrick immediately climbed inside the nacelle. It was an impromptu shelter from the howling wind and he took a moment to flex his hands and regain sensation in them.

  Since it was already late afternoon, sunlight was barely reaching inside the nacelle. The boy was covered in shadows and he could barely see. Schmendrick pulled out a glow stick and bent it. The stick immediately glowed in neon green and illuminated the interior of the nacelle. He switched the stick to his left hand. He held the oil gun with his right hand, placed the nozzle in front of the gearbox and pulled the trigger. Oil started squirting out and dripped around the shaft. Schmendrick aimed the nozzle all around the front of the gearbox. When he was satisfied that it was sufficiently lubricated, the teenager then leaned his chest on the gearbox and aimed the nozzle at the area behind the box. He pulled the trigger and squirted oil behind the box. After a few squirts, he released the trigger.

  Carefully setting the dispenser on the ground, Schmendrick retrieved some towels from his messenger bag and started wiping the air vents on the ceiling. They had been clogged with dust and dirt. It took a few towels to finish the job. When he was finished with his maintenance work, over a half hour had passed already. Schmendrick returned the dirty towels to his bag, retrieved the oil gun from the ground, and then carefully set off the flare away from the wind turbine. It burst into the air with a green color.