“Sure,” she replies. “I just have to have the specs. I think what I’ll do is have the start up and calibration as a separate subroutine within the flight control program. When you boot the computer, mode one and mode two will load up, giving you the sliders. Then, click the icon, and you’ll go into flight mode.”
“That works for me!” I say with excitement.
“So are we ready to test my interface?” Gramps asks, beginning to sound impatient.
I look at Kylie. “Anything else?”
“I’m ready, I guess,” she says a little anxiously. She looks at Gramps’ circuit board again.
“It’s pretty straight forward,” he explains. “Your computer interfaces here,” he points to the port, “and the containment field interfaces here.”
“I’ve got the G-bits here,” I add.
“Okay then, let’s hook it all up,” Kylie says.
I watch as she attaches a cable from the computer to the module before I hand her the wires from the containment field. Jen has made the wires six feet long, which seem like enough.
“Tyler, do you mind if I screw this to your test bench here?” I turn to look at Gramps. He is holding a long scale; the kind used by fishermen. “After hearing about your last test, with the weights dropping, I thought this might be more secure.”
“Sure. I guess. How many pounds?”
“Only twenty-five, but it should be enough for today.”
“Okay.”
He begins attaching the scale, then produces four short lengths of chain to attach to the bottom of Jen’s containment frame.
“I’m loading up my program,” Kylie informs us. “It won’t send any power until I tell it to, so don’t get over anxious with those bits, Ty.”
I love the way she says ‘Ty’, which reaffirms how much I really enjoy working with her. “Standing by,” I say.
“I’m sending a little power now,” she reports, sliding the wireless mouse. “From what Jen told me, that should be enough for your phase one.”
“Okay, here we go,” I reply with zeal. I place the precautionary funnel-envelope over the top of the frame then begin pouring G-bits up into the containment field. The blue glow we’ve noticed during the first tests reappears.
“That’s pretty hard to see,” Gramps comments, peering into the containment field.
“Yeah. We usually have my computer, and that camera you gave me, hooked up and set so we can see what’s going on. I guess I forgot this time.”
“Shouldn’t we record this, too, then?” Gramps asks.
“I suppose we could, but we’re almost done.”
“Your grandfather is right, Tyler,” Kylie gently scolds me. “We should be recording this.”
“Okay,” I reply. “Let’s set it up.” I’m a little annoyed, but it only takes a few minutes to boot up my computer. Gramps helps by aiming the camera while I start the software.
“That’s better,” he quips, gazing at my monitor. “Fascinating, too,” he adds with a faraway voice.
Kylie looks up from the notes she’s making. “Ready for the next step?” she asks.
“Go for it,” I answer.
She clicks the mouse on the virtual slider and pushes up little by little. Soon the containment frame begins to rise along with the small chains Gramps has attached to the fish scale. Kylie brings the power down just a little. The frame hovers, the chains still slack. “Zero G, I think,” Kylie says softly.
Gramps looks over and grins with satisfaction. His circuit board is working well with Kylie’s program. “Cool, isn’t it?” I say. Nobody replies; we just watch, as awestruck as Jennifer and I had been during the previous tests.
“Try a little more power please, Kylie,” Gramps requests.
Kylie slides the virtual control upward a little more. The slack slowly goes out of the chains before the pointer on the scale begins to bob between three and five pounds.
“Hold on a second,” I caution, turning to Kylie. “Did Jen explain how the power to lift ratio is exponential?”
“I think I heard that, but I had forgotten,” she confesses. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“Can we try a little more power please?” Gramps asks impatiently.
We all watch the pointer on the scale move. Now it bounces between twenty and twenty-five pounds. As Kylie adds more power, it stops bouncing. I put my finger under the top of the table to try a little nudge; it’s easy to move. “We’re going to have to put some weights on the table if we go much further,” I inform them.
Gramps moves his hand to cover the circuit board. “Hmmm. That’s good. It’s not getting very hot. Tyler, sit on that end of the table.” He sits on his end. “A little more power please.”
I know the little scale is way past its capacity. I’m not sure what Gramps is hoping to find out with the additional power. Then I hear a soft pop, followed by a sizzling sound. A puff of smoke shoots up, catches in Gramps’ hand as he is checking for heat again. He jerks it away reflexively.
The containment field, scale and chains, all flop onto the table. The envelope over the top of the frame quickly jettisons up towards the ceiling, the G-bits abruptly released from containment. The room has an acrid, burning smell.
Kylie quickly shuts down the program, pulling the interface wire from the computer, before shutting it down. “Whew! That stinks!” she exclaims, walking over to open a window.
I look at Gramps. There is a sheepish grin on his face. “Guess I shouldn’t use those old components,” he says quietly.
“Do you think new ones will take care of the problem? I mean, I’d hate to be up a hundred feet and have that happen to me.”
“That won’t happen. I was just using some old parts I had laying around. They had to be ten years old at least. New stuff will take the heat. But I think I’ll add a heat sink and small fan to the boards. I didn’t expect the feedback frequency to be so great either.”
I have no idea what he is talking about. “But you think the next one will be okay?”
“Sure, sure. This was a good test. I found out what I needed to know.”
“But it failed!”
“Of course,” he replies, quietly. “But we, I, learned something, which makes it a success. You can always learn from your failures.” He looks directly at me with a wink and a nod.
“Well I know what I have to do,” Kylie interrupts. “Addressing and modes. When do you think we’ll be able to do another test?”
“Maybe Monday,” Gramps replies. “I’m going to have to get some new parts and reconfigure the board a little.”
“Good. What about with two boards,” she presses, “so I can test the addressing?”
“Probably Tuesday. It’s not so hard to put the parts together once you have the circuit designed.”
“Two boards?” I exclaim. “That means I’ll have to wind another containment field!”
“Then you better get busy, mister,” she jokes.
“I’m going to go make some calls to find these parts,” Gramps says, heading for the stairs.
“I’ll help you clean up and retrieve those bits,” Kylie offers with a smile, pointing at the envelope on the ceiling.
Twin Tests
My phone wakes me early. I had forgotten to turn off its audible switch before I went to sleep the night before. Usually it doesn’t matter since I don’t get many calls anyway. I roll over and look at the time; 9:08.
“Kylie Charles calling,” the phone announces in its robotic voice a second time.
“Answer,” I instruct the phone. The hand set pops open.
“Hi, Tyler? You up yet?” Kylie’s sweet voice asks.
“Not really,” I reply. “I was up late finishing the last winding on the second…”
“Tell me about it later,” she interrupts. In my sleepy haze, I have forgotten our rule of phone silence. “I was wondering if I could come over later. I’d really like to see you.”
“Yeah, sure,” I answer, my brain waking up a lit
tle more. “Why don’t you come over for lunch. Gramps made some great BBQ pork last night. You can help me polish it off.”
“Sounds good. 11:30 okay?”
“See you then,” I confirm. “Bye.” I hear her disconnect. “Phone off.” It chirps twice in response. Rolling onto my back to stare at the ceiling, I calculate that if the next couple of weeks go this slow, we’ll never be ready in time for the parade. The start of school is only four weeks away, followed by the Labor Day weekend.
I wonder how Kylie is going to get here as I get dressed. She hadn’t said anything about needing a ride. Maybe she wants to ride her bike over. It will be pretty hot by that time though.
I quickly put some peanut butter on a slice of toast for breakfast and head out to the shed to see if Gramps is out there. He looks up from the bench as I walk through the door, a wisp of smoke rising from his soldering pen.
“How’s it going?” I ask through my last bite of toast.
“Pretty good. I finished the second module a little while ago,” he says, setting the pen aside. “I see you got the second set of windings done last night. Is your girlfriend still coming over for the test today?”
I smile at girlfriend. “Yep. She called a little while ago to say she’ll be over around 11:30. I invited her for lunch.” Then pointing at the frames of coiled wire, “Boy, those sure are a pain.”
“You’ll figure out an easier way to do them soon. Maybe Kylie could help you.”
“That would be nice. With two people, the unwinding and winding could be done at the same time.”
“See,” he reassures me. “You’ll figure it out.” I’m flattered by his confidence in me.
I pull the box with Jennifer’s parts over from the corner of the bench and begin assembling the cross-bracing to transform the windings into containment fields. She has been really thorough in getting all the parts together.
“So how’s everything going over at the hangar?” Gramps asks. I look up as another wisp of smoke curls around his thinning gray hair.
“Pretty good, I guess. Willie is helping Jared get the cockpit in place. Then they’ll start mounting the fuel cells from the hy-ped.”
“Did the second one you ordered come in yet?”
“Yeah, a couple of days ago. I had it shipped directly there.”
“Are they going to use the tank from your old cycle, too?”
“No. Nobody thought it’d be big enough to hold enough hydrogen. Willie was able to salvage some tanks from his dad’s shop though.”
“Any idea what your range is going to be with Willie’s tanks?”
“I’ve thought about it, but there’s nothing to gauge it by,” I reply frankly. “Everything we’re doing has never been done before, so there’s no way of knowing what to expect.”
“That’s the nature of experimentation,” Gramps suggests. “It’s never without its risks.”
I tighten up the nuts on the first set of bolts. It gets quiet in the shop, except for the occasional soft sizzle of flux on the soldering pen or the clank of a wench. One of the greatest things about working alongside Gramps is never feeling any pressure.
“It’s still amazing to me,” Gramps says after a while, looking up at me now, “that you guys have been able to do what you have with salvaged material. Just goes to show you how much useful stuff gets thrown out.”
“It’s not all salvage.” I set the mostly finished containment field on its feet. “Jennifer has spent some money to fabricate these pieces. Willie’s donated the welding supplies, but I’m guessing his dad’s making him pay for them. Eventually, somebody’s going to have to buy the tubes and mounting clamps to secure these to the saucer.”
“Do you know if your partners are content with the division of tasks and their costs?” He sounds pretty businesslike now.
“Nobody has said anything about it.”
“Maybe you should,” he suggests. “I’ve seen more than a few relationships ruined by the perception that not everyone is contributing equally to a project. It can cause problems.”
“I think we’re all focused on the end result and the prospect of having some sort of company at the end of it all.”
“Well, it’ll be a partnership and the partners all need to get along, which means defusing concerns before they become problems.” It seems like good advice.
“I’ll talk to them,” I reluctantly assure him.
I finish tightening the bolts. Now I need to attach the power leads and connect all of the coils together, but I need the other completed assembly from upstairs as an example. “I’ll be right back.”
Looking at the original coil assembly, I copy the configuration for the coil leads, attaching wires to the second containment field in the same way. Then I carry the new assembly over to Gramps. “Could you solder these for me?”
He is busy fitting the leads of more components into a new breadboard that will become the third module. He looks up at me. “Do I have to do everything?” I see humor in his eyes as he nods towards the soldering pen. “You’ve soldered before.”
“Okay,” I say, picking up the pen and the coil of soldering wire. The resin sizzles as I coat the lead with solder. Then, holding the coil wire against it, I heat it a second time to join the two together.
I’ve always liked the smell of resin solder. It’s not acrid like the filler rod flux we’d been using on the frame of the saucer. It’s almost sweet. I finish the leads and set the pen down. Gramps is looking over my shoulder.
“Good job,” he offers as I set the pen aside. “I’m taking a break.” He claps his hand on my shoulder as he passes behind me towards the door. Without another word, he heads out towards the house.
I look at the second finished containment assembly, glad to be done with it. “Only sixty-two to go.” Probably the wrong thing to say. I review the amount of time it has taken to put this one together and realize I am up against a difficult task. I breathe a heavy sigh and carry the two completed containment frames upstairs.
Kylie arrives around twenty minutes after eleven. Jared has brought her over. From the porch, I wave for them to come into the house. Jared seems to be in a foul mood as he walks up the steps.
“Hey guys. How’s it going?” I ask tentatively.
“Oh, he’s in a snit, but what else is new?” Kylie answers, sounding a bit cross herself.
“Shut up!” Jared spits.
“Shut up yourself!” Kylie shoots back.
“What’s the problem?” I press gently as we pass through the door into the kitchen.
“Nothing,” Jared says brusquely, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
I look at Kylie to silently ask what is wrong. She shrugs her shoulders. Handsome is rubbing up against her ankles so she squats down to acknowledge his welcome.
Gramps walks into the kitchen. “Afternoon, kids,” he crows joyfully. “Anybody want some lunch?”
Nobody responds. Gramps looks at Jared, who seems to be trying to look through the table at the floor. Kylie is quietly conversing with Handsome. Finally, glancing at me, he makes a face as if to say ‘Oops’, and steps lightly over to the refrigerator. As he opens the fridge, he glances at me seriously and nods towards Jared.
Normally, I would just let Jared stew. Eventually he cools off, either forgetting his problem or deciding it isn’t worth the turmoil. But I can’t this time. I don’t want to let Gramps down.
“Jared,” I begin sternly, “if this has anything to do with our project, you ought to let me know about it.”
He grumbles a bit and I think I hear him say “Forget it.”
“Not this time.” I take the edge off my voice before continuing. “Jared, we’re partners in this thing; you, me, Kylie, Jennifer and Willie.” I hear Gramps clear his throat. “And Gramps. If you have a problem, we need to figure it out now.”
He grumbles a little more and looks up, kind of sheepishly, I think. Kylie stands up after Handsome realizes there won’t be any treats, and walks around the tab
le to take a seat. Gramps raps the fork he is using to transfer the barbeque to a pan. I look at him. He is smiling this time, encouraging me to continue with another nod.
“So what’s going on?” I ask again.
“Fine. It’s really not that big a deal,” Jared begins reluctantly. A few seconds pass. “Willie’s dad wants to be paid for all the stuff we’ve been using. Otherwise, he says Willie will have to bring all of the welding equipment back.”
“Hmm.” I gauge my response, trying not to overreact, though I do feel a bit riled. That would effectively end our project and he thinks it’s not a big deal. “How much do we owe him?”
“Four hundred and fifty bucks right now. Willie’s already paid him some, so the total was more.”
“I wonder why Willie didn’t say anything before.”
“I don’t know,” Jared answers.
Except for the sound of Gramps stirring the barbeque on the stove, the kitchen grows quiet.
“Maybe we should let Willie’s dad in on what we’re doing?” Jared suggests. “Maybe he’d see the potential money we could make and wait until we could pay him.”
“I’d rather not,” I reply. “I’ve got a little over two hundred and eighty.” Kylie looks over at me with surprise.
“I can make up the difference,” Gramps offers quickly. I turn towards him. He looks over his shoulder while stirring the pan. “I’m a partner in this too, don’t forget.”
“That would be nice,” Jared says, his mood brightening just a little.
Ignoring him for the moment, I respond to Gramps’ offer. “But you’ve already put a lot of your money into the control modules. I feel like we should pay you back, too.”
“I’m a partner in this,” he reiterates, “and I fully expect to make back my investment. Jared, when do you need the money?”
“Well, I’m heading over to Willie’s when I leave here. He called earlier to say the clamps for attaching the containment fields were delivered this morning, so I was going over to pick them up. They were ordered on his dad’s business account, so they have to be paid for too.”
“We should pay Willie’s dad today then. That way he won’t have any reason to question what’s going on,” Gramps suggests. He sounds genuinely concerned, and I feel he is right. “Are you staying for lunch?”
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