City Kid

One

"Youknow, the crazy thing is, I don't feel anything right now. No remorse. Nonothing. I feel remarkably empty." I say, as I swallow my pill. My dadchuckles. I set down the voice recorder, as I start swinging my dangling leg,just 'cause I'm jittery. I look around the pod boredly. I see the sights I'veseen for a while now. From my place on the couch, I see the recliner acrossfrom me, I see the small kitchenette on my left, and I see the beige carpet onthe ground. The two side tables on the sides of the couch, and one on the rightside of the recliner. They're made out of cherry wood, I think. Snapping me outof my trance is someone pounding on my pod door. They sound desperate. "Pleasesomebody let me in! They're coming!" This finally takes me out of myemotionless state of restlessness, and I vaguely see my dad get back in hisworkshop. Finally having something interesting happen to me. I put on my mask,and head to the door. I take my baseball bat from its spot behind the couch. Iopen the door, and step back quickly, holding my bat up as the person stumblesin. He's got wavy red hair, jeans, and a really bright green half-sleeve. Hescrambles up, and close the door quickly, locking it afterwards. I stand there,silently watching as he hyperventilates. He turns around, then slides down thedoor, and sighs in relief. I can just make out a hint of a tattoo around hisneck. It's part of a chain link. Hetakes off his mask. Then he opens his eyes, looks up, sees me and jumps up,letting out a small noise of shock as he does so. It's really high-pitched. Isnort a bit, and put my bat so I'm holding it up by my shoulders, and restingmy wrists on it. "Have you been standing there this whole time?" He says, witha clear Scottish accent, and I nod in response. He seems a bit dismayed that Icaught him so off-guard. "Well, do youtalk?" He asks. "Only when I want to." I say cheekily. "Oh, so you're a Brit."He says with a hint of surprise. "And you're a Scot." I half retort. "Wellexcuse me for existing, mister." He says dryly. I quirk an eyebrow, and take mybat off my shoulders, deeming him safe enough. "Are you the only one here,then?" He asks. "Yes." I say as I take off my hood, and get back into theposition I was in before this guy got here. "Can I sit down, or...?" I sigh. "Dowhat you will." I respond in a wistful tone. "Thanks..." He says cautiously. Hesits in the recliner across from me, and sits with one leg on top of the other."What's with the bracelets?" He asks, curiously. I realize that I startedmessing with my bracelets. I stop immediately. "There's nothing wrong withthat, I'm just a curious little buggar." he says with a half chuckle. I crack aminiscule grin. I pause, before responding. "I used to go to a lot ofconcerts." I say, remembering them each, one by one. I pull out myMagicMinstrel, and spin it around in my hands as I talk. "What's that?" Heasks. I toss it to him as my answer. "Did you do this yourself..?" He asks, indisbelief. I nod, sitting up, but still slouching. "It's solar powered." I say."The entire backing is a solar panel." He shifts it around so he can see theback. "How'd you keep it from burning?" He asks in wonder. I point to the blackpanels I have left over from the construction me and my dad did in this place."They moderate how much sun this little thing gets." After a moment, I add"It's made of heat resistant material. Meant to be used on the operation ofrocket engines." He touches the side as he reads the name. "Huh...MusicMinstrel..." He mumbles. He looks up at me, clearly impressed. "You're asmart kid." he says. "What's your name, anyways?" I ask him. He hands me backmy MusicMinstrel. "Lukas. Lukas G. Irian." he says with pride. I nod. I pausein thought for a moment. "Call me City Kid." I say with conviction, confidentin my choice. He grins lop-sidedly at me. "City Kid it is, then. Call me Luka."He says back. I grin a bit, back at him. "Alright, Luka. What do you want todo?" I say, cheekily. "Teach me how to do this?" He asks hopefully. I snort."Sure, we've only got the rest of the world." I say, a tad dryly. He shakes hishead in mock disappointment. "I can't exactly fault you, but why such a grimoutlook?" He says as he walks over to me so he can be taught. I shrug. "Justdon't need to be optimistic, I guess." I say quietly. "It never hurt anyone tobe optimistic." He says to me. I shake my head, a small, despairing smile on myface. I wipe the back of my hand over my face, to clear my face back to itsoriginal stoical state. "What've you got on you in the way of electronicitems?" I ask him, getting back to the original point of this. He sticks hishands in his pockets, then pulls out an old Gamma Guy. I gawk at it for asecond, then take it from his hands, and shift it around to the backing isfacing me. I take off the cover, and take a look at the batteries. They've gotsome dust caked on. I take out one of the batteries. I grab and extra coppercord out of a box on the small side table next to the arm of the couch. Icarefully put it down on that table, with the Gamma Guy. Then I take off a partof the solar panel from my MusicMinstrel. I take a quick glance outside, to seethe sun is out, full force. I blink a few times to get rid of the sunspots thatappeared in my vision. Luka watches as I take the heat-resistant cloth, andpull open the metal blinds from the window, put the cloth over the panel. Iwalk across the room to a stool. I take it, and put the panel plus the cloth onit, and set it down in the sunlight, making sure that my skin doesn't getburned. Finally, I turn back to Luka, and sigh out of satisfaction. "How longwill this take?" He asks, turning back to me. "About a minute." I say, turningback to the panel. As we wait in silence, my mind wanders a bit. I startthinking about what made me so dismal. Then I shake my head violently, tryingto rid my head of these thoughts. I step over to the stool, and drag it back towhere I was standing. I take off the cloth, and use it to grab the panel. Iwalk back to the couch where Luka waits, to see what I'm doing. I sit down, setdown the panel, open the drawer to pull out some gloves that have rubberlining, put them on, and grab the spare cord, attaching it to the panel, thenopen the side table drawer, and grab out some electrical tape. I secure thecord to the panel. I take out the other batteries, and give them back to Luka.I weave the cord through the battery springs, then pull it tight to the back ofthe Gamma Guy. I secure it to the backing with more electrical tape. I hand itback to Luka. "Here. It should be getting some power by now." I say quietly. Hetakes it, a giddy smile on his face. "Thanks, Kid." He says with a hint of awein his face as the screen lights up. I hear the chipper little tune that saysit's powering up. I smile, content with my handiwork. He starts playing ago-cart game, and I watch over his shoulder as he gets thrown off the track bya drifting npc competitor. I snort a bit. "Wow, you're great at this." I saysarcastically. He rolls his eyes as he sits back, relaxing as he turns off theGamma Guy. I sit back in time with him. "So then "City Kid" tell me more aboutyourself." He says lazily. 

Just going to preface this now, I have a bit of knowledge as to how electrical engineering works, but not as much as to tell you that it's totally safe to try any of the things you might see in the future of this story. Stay safe.  - sincerely, me.