Alternating Current Chapter 35

by *LittleRedToyota, Feb 19, 2012, 1:34:50 PM

Literature / Prose / Fiction / General Fiction / Short Stories

A/N: I do not own any characters from the Pixar movie Cars. I do own my own characters; Rafael, Fluke, Linda, Agneta, Voltz, Titania, Fahrenheit, Maximo, Sleipner, Galvani, Faraday and Louis.

I do not own Sønnico, I just work for them. Any likeness to real persons or events are just a coincidence, and a product of my imagination; NOT REAL.

Alternating current

By: Little Red Toyota

Chapter 35:

Voltz approached the buildingsite the next morning, stopping to take in the sight. The new school sure was a great building, an architectural pride. Then he spotted Sleipner by the entrance, parked at the bottom of the ramp, not looking very happy.
Voltz drove over and parked beside him, giving him a short nod as a greeting. Judging by the red, sore eyes of the young Hiace, it was easy to see that he had been crying.
"Ok... spill it." The L200 mumbled.
Sleipner motioned towards a brochure laying on the ground in front of him. It was a brochure for an apartment. Voltz studied it, it wasn't fancy or over-priced, but it was located in an area near a park and seemingly nice neighborhood. He handed the papers over to the Hiace again.
"...and?"
Sleipner sighed. "You know... I don't plan on living in the storage-room at the HQ the rest of my life. I've always wanted a place of my own, and I saw this apartment... and I just knew it's the place!" he looked down.
Voltz waited for him to continue, but it didn't seem like Sleipner was going to say anymore.
"And this makes you cry because...?"
Tears formed in the Hiace's eyes again. "I went to the bank, asking for a loan. But they told me I couldn't get a loan as I didn't earn enough with the job I have today, and since I don't have much money saved up, they say I am not able to handle a loan."
"Oh..." Voltz nodded, he knew how hard it could be to get a loan these days, on going financial crisis and everything. "But the money you got from the treasure we found...?"
Sleipner blushed. "I donated it to "Gatebarna's far ("father of the homeless children" is an organization taking care of beggars and homeless people living on the street by giving them shelter, food and clothes.)"... all of it. I know I said I was going to buy an apartment for it, but I wanted to help those who don't have any home at all... after all I DO have a place to live... I just didn't expect to fall so badly in love with that apartment. I just have to try to get over it... and stay at the HQ for God knows how long."
Voltz didn't know what to say. "Wow... you have a heart of gold, pal. You sacrificed your own dream to help those who have nothing. That's… so unselfish and kind, I have no words. You're an example to follow, Sleipner."
"Thanks... but right now, I am not able to feel any comfort by thinking of that..." Sleipner turned and drove inside, followed by the older Mitsubishi. "Let's get to work, it's easier to forget then..."
Voltz nodded. The young Hiace had sure matured a lot lately, proving to be an effective worker with lots of knowledge of his profession. He was leading the group firm and smoothly. Voltz smiled a bit, Sleipner sure didn't know how skilled he was himself.
"Fluke is coming to help you out with the basement fuseboard today, right?" he asked, following the Toyota to the lunchroom where all the workers gathered in the morning for a short briefing before the day started.
"Yeah, I asked him since I have another job for you. Both have to be finished today, so..."Sleipner grabbed a cup from the table and filled it up with coffee.
The sat down by the table, greeting Maximo which had come early to read the newspaper before starting the work. Fahrenheit came in, having a cigarette in his mouth, blowing a cloud of smoke into Sleipner's face.
"You're not allowed to smoke inside the building." Sleipner remarked.
"Bite me!" Fahrenheit blew more smoke at him while parking beside Voltz, clearly showing total lack of respect for his co-worker.
Voltz shot out his tire, knocking the cigarette out of his mouth, then crushing it under his tire.
"Respect your leader, bitch."
Fahrenheit snorted and rolled his eyes. Today it was going to happen, he decided in the same moment. Sleipner was going to work alone in the basement power-room today. He looked at the others around the table and grinned. Today…
"What are you smiling at?" Maximo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Fahrenheit shrugged, not bothering to answer.

*

Sleipner and Fluke had carried all the stuff they needed into the basement power-room. Everything was ready.
"Ok. We're ready?" Fluke asked.
"I think so. I have turned off the mainfuse to the building." Sleipner looked around, all they had to light up the room as a flashlight and a lamp getting power from a diesel-generator outside. The rest of the workers also had to use power from the generator until Fluke and himself was done with the fuseboard here.
"You remembered to lock it with the security padlock, right?"
"Of course! I even took the fuses out and put them on the floor before I locked it. We don't want anyone to turn the power on while we're working." Sleipner nodded.
Fluke nodded satisfied. "Ok, let's start. Just watch for a while, I'll teach you how to do it, you can try the next one. Everything has it's first time, right?" he blinked to Sleipner.
Sleipner nodded with a smile. "Thanks for doing this, Fluke. I really appreciate you taking your time to teach me."
Fluke picked out the tools needed, to be sure that the lines were not live, he measured the voltage. It was dead. "Good to know..." he started to disconnect the leads from the old, worn high-current fuse. Carefully he cut the edges and pressed them in shape, putting on a thin layer of grease on the aluminium. "This is important, Sleipner. The grease prevent the aluminium from oxidizing and cause poor contact."
"Mmm... it's not necessary on copper, right?"
"Correct. But for cables this thick, using copper would be too expensive. That's why we use aluminium. You have the new fuse?"
Sleipner nodded as he picked the new high-effect circuitbreaker out of the box, handing it to the older Hilux.
Fluke placed the component into place and was about to grab one of the leads to put it in place, he didn't know what made him stop. Maybe it was the weak flicker of the light in the ceiling… or the light humming from the transformator inside the fuseboard. The power was back on! A little too late he realized that he had dropped his pipewrench by the surprise. It was like slowmotion, when he watched it fall, he reached out a tire to grab it, but was shocked by a loose lead.
Then... the wrench connected all three leads with it's metal.
Sleipner's scream rang in his ears before it drowned in a loud explosion which blacked out the whole buildingsite and it's nearby surroundings.

To be continued...