"The goal is to eventually reach a ginormous size, like, I don't know… 400 pounds?" I said as I prepared to amaze Tadashi with a glorious chemical reaction that I had been working on since middle school. I mixed various chemicals together to create a chemical compound essential for the reaction.
"Where on earth are you going to get that much tungsten carbide?" Tadashi asked, focused intently on my experiment.
"Well…" I looked up at him as I placed the compound over a burner and heated it to 500 K. "The school is waiting for me to come up with an actual use for this. They said if I could come up with a real-world use, they would be happy to provide me with as much TC as I need. Problem is, I have no idea what something like this would be used for."
"Hmm…" Tadashi placed his hand on his chin.
I took the combined superheated chemicals, poured them into a spray can and sprayed the ball with a tiny pink puff. Then, I attached two a copper clip to the ball. I flipped a switch and a zap of electricity was sent directly into the ball.
"Go on," I said excitedly. "Touch it."
Tadashi hesitated and stuck out one finger, giving me a side-eyed smile. He placed his finger on the now pink ball, and it burst, sending out a small cloud of pink dust.
I giggled uncontrollably. "Isn't it awesome?!" I grabbed his hand and pulled it up to my face, examining the after effects of the reaction, then let go as Tadashi examined it himself. "Ah, the wonders of chemical metal embrittlement."
"Yeah," Tadashi said. "It's pretty sweet, actually. And pink."
"Oh yeah, the pink… it should come off eventually."
"Should?" Tadashi's eyes widened as I simply laughed.
"I'm joking, Tadashi! Just go rinse your finger. It comes right off."
Tadashi chuckled and shook his head as he walked toward the sink. "So," he said over his shoulder. "Your experiment basically changes the molecular structure of the tungsten carbide—"
"—Causing it to become brittle and explode! Uh huh!" I interjected. "Imagine what it would be like with a gigantic mass."
"I'd hate to be the guy who tests that out," Tadashi joked as he watched the pink dye run off his finger and down the drain of the sink. He imagined himself covered head-to-toe in pink. "I could see this type of reaction on a larger scale being pretty useful with the amount of energy it generates."
"Right? I know I can do something with this. I just don't know what." I sounded discouraged, but I couldn't help it.
"You think you could replicate it with a larger mass?" Tadashi asked, turning off the sink and walking back over to me.
"I mean, I'm sure I could. If it works with this size, I don't see why a larger one wouldn't do the same thing, just on a larger scale.
"Theoretically it would," Tadashi said, picking up another small ball of TC and rolling it around in his fingers. "What do you plan to do with 400 pounds of this stuff, though?"
I sighed. "That's just the thing. I think it would be neat for my final project in a few moths, and I know it could be useful somehow… I just don't know how. You know?"
Tadashi agreed with a nod. "Come with me." He grabbed me by the hand and led me through the lab and down the hallway. He opened the door to his office and took me to to his desk, pulling out his chair. "Go on," he said with a smile.
I sat down hesitantly, unsure of where this was going. "Thanks," I said so softly it could have been a whisper. Tadashi grabbed a folding chair from the other side of his office and sat down next to me.
"Alright," he said, picking up Baymax concept drawings and moving them out of the way. "Let's get to work. This is a pencil."
I giggled. "I know what a pencil is!"
"Then why aren't you writing down ideas?" he said, returning the laugh. I took the pencil from his hand slowly, and unsurely placed the graphite on the paper. Chemical equations, formulas, drawings, and elements soon covered the paper. Tadashi didn't interrupt me until I had filled up the entire sheet.
"There," I said, holding up the paper. "Ideas."
"These are things you already know, Honey," Tadashi said, pointing to various things I had written down. "You need something more. You need a reason for the school to support you."
I placed the paper down on the desk and grunted. "You're right, but my stupid brain's got nothing."
Tadashi leaned closer and placed his finger to my head. "Your brain is not stupid. Your brain is capable of so much." He pointed to the paper. "Look at all this. I don't think I could even come up with half of this stuff."
I smiled. He was right. I did have a lot of talent whether I wanted to admit it or not.
"Alright," he said, standing up. "It's time to look at this from a different angle."
"Do you expect me to sit upside down on this chair?" I asked with a questioning look.
"That's exactly what I expect you to do. Come on, I'll make sure you don't fall."
I stared at him for a few seconds. "You're kidding, right?"
"Does it look like I'm kidding?" Tadashi crossed his arms and smirked. "This will help. I promise."
"Fine," I said curtly. I stood up and took off my platform heels—it might be kind of hard to do this in those. I looked at Tadashi and pushed up my pink glasses, pursing my lips. I placed my back on the seat of the chair, with my legs up the back and resting on the top of the chair. My head hung over the seat as I looked around the room. I felt Tadashi grasp my legs to make sure I didn't fall. I felt safe and secure with him there.
"What am I supposed to see?" I asked. My hair hung down and brushed the ground as I looked in each direction.
"Nothing," Tadashi said. "You're not supposed to see anything. Just let it come to you."
We're gonna be here a while, I thought. I looked around the office, examining every detail. There's a robot poster… A couple of computers… a toy car…
"A car!" I shouted and tried to sit right-side up again. I ended up falling off the chair instead.
"Whoa, whoa!" Tadashi said as he tried to catch me. He didn't quite succeed, though. I fell on him and knocked him over and we both ended up on the ground. This was kind of awkward, as our faces were pretty much inches away from each other.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, Tadashi! Are you OK?" I scrambled to my feet and grabbed his hand, helping him up.
"Ah," he laughed, rubbing his head. "Yeah. I'm fine. Are you?"
I grabbed my glasses that had fallen off and placed them back on my face. "Yeah, I'm good."
"So, I'm guessing you had an epiphany?" Tadashi smiled and wiped some dust off my shoulder for me.
I looked down at the car I spotted. "I guess you could say that. I'm thinking about vehicles. Maybe not regular, every day vehicles like cars, but maybe something larger like a tank, or… a spaceship?"
Tadashi looked interested. "You think you could use the TC reaction to harness energy…"
"…to power the vehicles! Yes!" I finished his sentence. "I'm not exactly sure how I would go about doing it, but I think that with enough TC and some reworking to the formula, I could cause a reaction that produces enough energy to power a vehicle for a long time."
Tadashi smiled patted me on the back. "Looking at things from a different angle always helps me out. Now we have to see if your theory actually works."
"Thanks for the help, Tadsahi," I said.
"Of course. That's what I'm here for."
Without thinking, I leapt and hugged Tadashi, not realizing what I had just done. He didn't seem to mind, though, because he hugged me right back.
"Uh, sorry," I said, awkwardly stepping back. I realized I was still barefoot, so I bent over to put my shoes back on.
"Why are you sorry?" Tadashi laughed. "Hugging is a good thing."
