"Inventing the Future"

Author's Note: This has got to be my shortest chapter to date. To anyone who is following along, thanks for sticking with me!

"Chapter 10: Back to Work"

Construction on a second floating platform had begun. It was still in the early stages, and Meredith thought it looked a bit like a child's jungle gym, or a turtle made completely out of scaffolding. She tried to keep the uneasy expression from her face as she carefully asked, "Jaming, why do you need another one of those?"

Jaming easily read between the lines, but he wasn't at all offended. "I don't specifically need another one to use, just to have. The original design was my first success. Incidentally, it was also my only success," This was mostly true. He'd had many successes, but the first floating platform was the only Aeroharmonics prototype that hadn't literally blown up in his face. "As flawed and imperfect as it was, it worked. If I can successfully recreate it, I'll be able to improve on it." He drew himself up to his full height and held up a finger as if making an important declaration. "My dear, you are observing the genesis of the world's first flying vehicle."

She liked it when he got on his inventor's soapbox, because it was the only time he was almost manically animated. His enthusiasm was contagious, and she found herself picturing what she thought the results would look like. "And then?"

He chuckled, in one of his rare cheerful moods, and tightened a nut on the scanty framework that lay half-assembled on a tarp in the middle of the floor. "I learned a long time ago that planning too far ahead results in my doing nothing at all."

"Racing thoughts?"

"Hm?"

"Well, that's what happens to me when I think too much about future projects," she explained, feeling no need to elaborate on the sort of projects she tended to work on. She had carved out a little niche for herself as a trinket vendor, selling seashell jewelry and mesh bags for beachcombers whenever the Blackstone One passed through. "I'll get bored and jump from one project to the next, and before I know it I've got ten unfinished pieces cluttering up my desk. That's probably not the same thing..."

But he was nodding in agreement with her. "The only differences are the projects themselves. Keeping one's mind on the task at hand is essential. I could sit and sketch out blueprints for days, but that's only part of it. If we never move beyond the beginning steps, we've got nothing to show for it."

"That's it exactly!" she grinned.

There was a knock at the door, followed by the jiggling of the door handle as someone tried to come in, but Jaming had locked it out of habit. He had learned pretty quickly that Pau had a habit of just walking in without being admitted, and Jaming guessed that this was because the cave he lived in had no door. Without bothering to peek through the curtains, Jaming called out, "Pau, we've talked about this."

Pau's voice filtered through the closed door as he asked, totally oblivious, "What? I knocked. Can I come in?"

"Meredith, would you mind?"

Meredith got up from the bench she had been sitting on, and opened the door. "Hey, Pau. What's that you've got there?"

Pau strolled in with what appeared to be a small, round tin. "Cookies. Donny sent them."

Jaming raised an eyebrow, looking both skeptical and touched by this. "That was nice of him. I didn't know he knew how to bake..."

Pau shrugged his shoulders and set the tin down on the table. "I think he's trying out a new hobby."

"Well, you two go ahead. I want to finish this first," Jaming gestured for Pau and Meredith to help themselves.

Pau opened the tin and pointed at the mangle of scrap metal that lay before them. "What is that? A jungle gym?"

Feigning offense, Jaming shook his wrench at Pau like a scolding finger. "No, and if I catch you climbing on it I'll tie your ears together."

The Moon Person was not impressed, and laughed disdainfully. "You'd have to catch me first, slowpoke." Helping himself to a cookie, Pau took a large bite, but his chewing slowed as the ears in question shot straight up before twisting around themselves. "Mgh!" he began to cough.

Alarmed, Meredith pounded him on the back. "You okay?"

Pau spat the mouthful into the trash can, causing Jaming to curl his lip in disgust. Still grimacing, Pau held out the cookie to Meredith. "This is disgusting, taste it."

Meredith quirked an eyebrow, accepted the cookie, and took a bite out of the other side of it before making a slight face. "Gaw...why did I taste that?" Unlike Pau, she forced down the mouthful. "Poor Donny...I think he might have used vinegar instead of vanilla."

Pau, who was wiping his tongue with his paws, stopped long enough to ask, "Couldn't he smell the difference?"

"Not when his hay fever's acting up," Meredith put the lid on the cookies, which, if they had been made properly, would have been coconut macaroons. It really was a shame! Other than that one glaringly obvious mistake, she could tell that they would have turned out perfect. They weren't even burnt!

Jaming felt an odd combination of sympathy and amusement over Donny's little mistake; he knew what it was like to be so excited over something only to see it end in failure, but he had to admit that Pau's reaction had been funny! "Let's not tell him. I'm sure his next effort will be a success...provided he can get his hands on some nasal spray."