Dreams of Jupiter

Dak Bennett's Birthday Surprise for the Governor's Daughter

"You two stay where you are," one of them ordered in a hard, flat voice, favoring them with a steel-eyed look that warned of mayhem if Chin and Dak chose to disobey as another pulled some sort of scanner from a hidden pocket.  He calibrated it then held it up in front of him for a moment before looking at the speaker.

"It's clean," he reported and the speaker lifted a wrist comm to his mouth.

"We've secured the workshop, sir.  You and your daughter can come in now."

A heart beat later a tall, handsome, broad-shouldered man with silvering hair, bright green eyes and a square jaw stepped in, his weather cloak well-made and expensive.  He immediately pasted on a photo-perfect smile upon seeing the two young engineers sitting at their work stations.

"Ah, and here are our two young innovators now!" he boomed in a parade-ground voice, obviously speaking to a hidden video recorder.

"Dak Bennett and Chin Lo, master engineers and members of our esteemed Tinkers Association!"

As the man spoke, a slender young woman slipped between two of the dark cloaked bodyguards to come to stand just behind the tall, silver-haired speaker.  With her head mostly covered by her weather cloak's hood, they couldn't tell what color her hair was.  But those bright green eyes and flawless beauty made her this man's daughter.  And considering his level of personal protection, this man could only be Governor Thad Crail.  He confirmed it a second later.

"Allow me to introduce myself, boys."  He stuck out a large, powerful hand.  "I'm Thaddeus Crail, Governor of Honeywell."

"Governor," Dak gravely replied, taking the big man's hand and doing his best not to wince when he found his fingers getting crushed by an iron grip.  "Welcome to Dry Well Station."

"Thank you, Dak," Crail said with a well-practiced smile.  He dropped the young man's hand to take Chin's in another crushing grip.

"It's been an interesting visit so far," he said, giving Chin's hand a shake before dropping it to look back at his daughter.  "Jela wanted to see the western stations for her birthday and I was only too happy to oblige.  Especially when it meant coming here and meeting you, Dak."

Chin glanced over at his friend and wasn't surprised to see the young man dumbfounded by Crail's blunt announcment.  Sincere or not, it was the exact thing that would trigger the kid's social awkwardness.  But before he could move, Dak was turning stiffly back to his work bench to scoop something up with his hands.  As he did, the young inventor spoke.

"As you know, governor, Dry Well Station was built to mine the rare earth we call 'rhombidium', a discrete metallic molecule that retains the properties of a metal even though it lacks the covalent bonds allowing it to form a lattice."

'No, man!' Chin silently shouted, barely stifling the impulse to put a palm to his face.  'Don't talk science!!'

Indeed, Crail was looking somewhat confused by Dak's quickfire explanation.  Jela, however, was peering intently forward, her eyes wide as she followed the young inventor's every movement and word.

"Honeywell was the metallic heart of an ancient gas giant before cataclysmic events stripped away most of the atmosphere, leaving just enough behind to make it breathable."  He turned and began to walk back towards the mystified Crail and an intent Jela, cradling the object from the work table in his hands.

"Being mostly metal, the planet continues to be subject to powerful magnetic and graviometric forces that create unpredictable planet-wide weather that, like the metallic mist storms, are quite dangerous.  However, those forces have also granted strong intrinsic properties to the rare earths found here.  Like how easily rhombidium is manipulated by a focused magnetic field."

Alex held out his cupped hands.  Nestled in his palms was a small creature that looked like a large-eyed gecko made out of silvery metal, its gleaming purple orbs solemnly regarding the two Crails.

"With the proper field strength and application, I can use a magnetic field to force rhombidium to assume the shape of almost anything.  Like my little friend here."

Stepping forward, he extended his hands towards Jela, who had stepped around her father to get a closer look at the small creature.  When she looked questioningly at him, he smiled and reached out and took her hand with his.  Then he was letting the creature walk into her palm before letting go.

"Guided by a Titan pico-AI and a Bennett mag field projector, it can reassemble its rhombidium body into whatever you need," Dak said.  "Like a comm bracelet."

With a silvery blur, the gecko became a gleaming bracelet on Jela's wrist, its eyes the control studs.

"Or PCD." Another silver blur and it was a smart device in Jela's hand.

"Or even all-weather armor."

This time the silvery blur became a fog that, for a moment, hung around Jela's entire body before, in a shimmer of light, it formed head to toe body armor, complete with built-in air filter.

"Amazing!" Jela breathed, looking at Dak with wide eyes out her suit visor.

Dak smiled and bowed his head.

"My gift to you, Ms. Crail," he said.

 "Now that's a birthday surprise worth having, Jela!" Governor Crail broadly declared with a smile.