Hello readers!
Surprise! A new story!
Yes, so as I progress through the Aviation Maintenance Technician course at my college, I am always thinking about ways to incorporate the technical terms into my stories (in order to make them as accurate as ficticiously possible). Sadly, Leo is one of the few POV's that allows me to write that way, and he's not as prominent in my other story 'When Worlds Collide'.
The answer? Write occasional one-shots featuring the building of the Argo II based on real-life aviation concepts and terminology!
Enjoy!
-Ardoa88
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, sadly... and the cover image is not mine either (I bow down in reverence to artists who are so talented).
Entry #1: Breaker Breaker
"They're ready to test the system."
Leo glanced up from his work to see Jake Mason's head of shaggy blond hair poking around the corner of the doorway. Despite the grease and epoxy that stained the former head counselors clothes, Jake was grinning excitedly. He waved his hand in a 'come here' motion. "Everyone's waiting for you to start 'er up."
Leo rolled his eyes. "It's not like they need me there to do an ops check." But nevertheless, the Son of Hephaestus stood, stretching out his cramped muscles. Sitting hunched over a desk for the better part of five hours was certainly doing nothing to help his posture.
Jake huffed out a laugh, leaning against the doorframe. "'Course not. You're just the guy who drew out all of the schematics and wiring diagrams and designed the connectors to be idiot-proof. Why on earth would they think you'd want to be there for the first official test run?"
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Mason." Leo retorted, sticking out his tongue at his older half-brother. But despite his outward guise, Leo's heart warmed at the words and he smiled. The other demigod reciprocated the expression, slinging an arm around the smaller hispanic as they walked out into the workshop.
Bunker Nine was a mess: and that was putting it kindly. Sheets of Celestial Bronze, all in various stages of assembly, were scattered around the workshop. Toolboxes and rolling workstations piled with papers, mounting hardware, and system components had been clustered in corners and along the edge of the walls. Dominating the cramped space was the Argo II. Or, at least, the bare bones of what would soon be the ship of Leo's dreams. The ribs of the keel curved upwards like the remains of a decaying animal in the Sahara, one of it's two masts supported by an overhead crane while it was being attached at the base. Work platforms flanked the bow of the ship, where a small group of equally sweaty demigods cluttered around a control board lashed to the railing with duct tape.
As Leo and Jake made their way up the ladder, one of the smaller demigods spotted them, waving his hand in greeting as they approached. The moving appendage caught the attention of the others and as one, their heads swiveled to stare at the newcomers.
Leo grinned at his half-siblings, spreading his hands and saying in a loud voice, "The fu-un has arri-ived!"
Half of them laughed. The other half groaned.
Still smiling, Leo rubbed his hands together, letting his eyes rove over the control console. It too, was a haphazard mess of parts; having been thrown together with whatever they'd had on hand. The Son of Hephaestus ran his hand along the keyboard keys, fingertips catching on some of the missing letters. An X-box controller lay flush with the headboard and an old red Gameboy Advance was welded to the upper right corner. It was beautiful.
"Who's ready to give it a whirl?" Leo asked, looking up at his fellow demigods. There were cries of 'Me!' and general cheers of encouragement. "Well… here goes nothing!" And with an over dramatic flourish, he flipped the Gameboy power switch to 'ON'.
There was a low whirr as the electrical system came to life, the lights on the control board flickering into existence. Leo looked around, seeing the navigation system boot up while the oars twitched in their sockets. After a long moment of nothing sparking or exploding, the children of Hephaestus released a simultaneous sigh of relief.
Pride swelled in Leo's chest, but he forced it back for the moment. "Good job, guys! You can run wires from the bus bar to the console. Now let's see if you correctly connected them to the components."
Turning back to the controls, he swiveled the X-Box joystick, watching the stabilizers rise and fall in the proper sequence. Next he rolled the trackball mouse left and right, looking over his shoulders to see the rudder respond in kind. A couple of the demigods high fived. After running a few more tests, Leo couldn't hold back his grin any longer. He wanted to kiss each and every one of his half-siblings. Encouraged by the success, he then turned the electric guitar volume knob up to eleven, hearing the engine's alternator respond instantly as he put more power through the system.
Pop!
The cheers cut off. Twenty pairs of eyes snapping down to stare at the numbered key pad; twenty pairs of eyes that saw the number seven had popped up from the keyboard. Leo's smile wavered.
As an added precaution, he'd included a set of circuit breakers that would pop open if too much current was passed between the wires in certain systems. It was a common practice, used to protect the interconnects and loads from overheating and breaking open. The entire right third of the computer keyboard had been designated for that purpose. And one of them had just popped. Heavy groans filled the air as the other demigods came to the same conclusion as Leo: something had just broken.
"Now now," Leo said, making placating motions with his hands, "It might be nothing. Does anyone remember how many times the breakers are allowed to open before we inspect the system?"
There was a beat of silence before the small demigod from earlier piped up. "Once?"
"Bingo!" Leo snapped and pointed finger guns at Harley, the kid beaming at the praise. With swift fingers, he then recentered the circuit breaker, snapping it back into place. A second passed. Then two. After he had counted to ten, Leo turned back to the others. "See? What'd I tell you. Everythings-"
Pop! Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
Shit. Leo whirled around. "Jake!"
But the former head counselor was already on it, jumping forwards to slam his hand on the emergency stop. The ship hummed as it shut down, the oars sagging back to the floor with a defeated thunk. A heavy air settled over the Children of Hephaestus and Leo cringed as he surveyed the damage. Twelve. Twelve breakers had broken open before Jake managed to cut power to the system.
He heard someone sigh behind him, muttering, "The Curse of Cabin Nine strikes again."
"Nah-ah-ah, none of that now." Leo tsked, folding his arms across his chest as he looked over the dejected expressions of his fellow cabinmates. "There is no 'curse', there are problems, and there are solutions. And when we run across a problem, what do we do? We fix it."
"But-"
"No 'buts'." Leo continued, barreling over the interruption. "We don't make excuses here. Or did I accidentally walk into the Aires cabin?" There were a few snickers at that, the tension loosening. Leo smirked. "I didn't think so. So what if the system didn't work the first time? Even Edison didn't create the lightbulb on his first try. Now let's troubleshoot the issue, find the problem, and get it working again!"
"Yeah!"
"Hear hear!"
Leo nodded as his half-siblings scampered off, grabbing multimeters off of the tables and crimping tools from the racks. They spread to various sections of the ship, inspecting the wire bundles and testing the conductivity of the wires. Soon it was only Leo and Jake remaining on the bow, the latter placing a hand on the hispanic's shoulder.
"That was a good speech."
"Was that what that was?" Leo asked, cocking an eyebrow at his cabin mate. "It felt a lot like scolding unruly toddlers, to be honest."
"It's practically the same thing." Jake admitted with a light laugh. "But they need to be scolded every now and again."
Leo let out a long breath, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah... I blame you, by the way. You made this whole 'head counselor' thing look way easier than it is."
"It's a gift." Jake shrugged with a smirk, then frowned when his poor attempt at humor failed to pull a smile from the younger demigod; or even a snide remark. "C'mon, Valdez, give yourself some credit. You took over the mantle in the middle of a war, and are overseeing the largest undertaking by Cabin Nine in the history of Camp Half-Blood."
At that, the hispanics lips quirked upwards. "I am pretty awesome, aren't I?"
"Sure ya are." Jake rolled his eyes fondly. "Just don't let all of that 'awesomeness' go to your head."
"Found it!" The two half-brothers looked down at Harley, the kid brandishing a handful of burned wires. "Looks like one of the wires was too big and shorted out."
Nyssa moved over to the damaged section, cursing as she drew near. "The whole wire bundle needs to be replaced." She informed them with a scowl. "My guess is that the shorted wire caught fire and burned through the shielding on the other ones. The insulation's melted all along the length of the bundle."
"Great!" Leo called down. "Now let's get to work!"
Fin! Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this little story please let me know down in the little comment box below :) I have a few other ideas for one shots that I'll be working on.
I should note that these stories will not be updating along any set schedule. It's just a little side project that I started in order to take a break from pounding my head against the in-conquerable wall that we authors call "writers block" for my other story.
Let me re-emphasize: 'WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE' IS NOT DISCONTINUED!
That story will still be updated as planned :) Never fear!
That's all for today! Have a great day!
-Ardoa88