This one's mostly an update on what Alphys is making with hologram technology, so it's not that long. Next one will definitely be longer though.
Hope you all enjoy.
ProtectorTale, Life Above Ch.37
"Alright, Alphys, we're here!" AJ greeted as he stepped down into the lab of Dr. Alphys.
"Hi, Alphys!" Frisk greeted as well as she came down alongside the teen.
"Hey, guys!" Alphys greeted back, waving to them as she stood near the center of her testing area.
As the two humans walked further into the lab, they noticed the female monster was standing next to a large metal crate. That metal crate had a camera placed on it that was facing towards where Alphys was standing.
"Don't you have a tripod?" The boy asked.
The scientist's eyes widened for a moment. "I do. What am I doing?" She deadpanned as she walked off and went into sans' portion of the lab. The two Dreemurr's chuckled.
Now that they had a tripod and camera where the crate used to be, Alphys hit the record button before turning to face her friends. "Okay, we're ready to go?"
"Yeah, but, why are we already recording?" AJ asked, confused.
"Oh don't worry, I'll just edit in the parts we get right." The monster answered. "Although, I want your reactions to be real, so whatever happens when I first show you what I've made for the presentation is going to be part of it."
"For better or worse?" The teen asked.
Alphys let out a sigh. "Yeah... Let's just try to not mess up too much then." She requested.
"We'll do our best!" Frisk said passionately.
The scientist smiled at that. "Well, the less time we take, the less chance for a mess-up, right? I'm not going for some over the top announcement, anyway. I just want to show them what I'm working on is all."
"Well you should probably be the one to start, then." AJ pointed out.
"Right." Alphys said with a nod and turned to the camera with a determined expression. She took a breath and prepared herself. Things like this made her tense, anxious, but also a bit excited.
"Hello, everyone." She started with a simple smile. "As I'm sure you already know, I'm Doctor Alphys. I made this video because I've been working on how to combine magic and modern technology to create items that would be useful to all, and during these months, I've made both something useful, and something that is useful, but also kinda cool, so I wanted to show them to you all! Let me be clear though that this is just to show what I'm working on. I am not satisfied with their quality yet, and more importantly, they aren't being mass produced yet. This is just to let people know these things exist." She started looking just a bit embarrassed. "And uh, also if you want to support me so these can be sold to the public someday, there will be a link to go do that at the end of the video." She then regained her composure. "Anyway, which do you guys think we should show first? Cool new stuff, or the useful stuff you should be familiar with?" She asked the humans.
"Cool stuff!" The child answered immediately.
"I think the idea is 'best for last'?" AJ suggested.
"Alright." The monster said with a nod before walking out of frame.
"What!? Don't you wanna see the cool stuff!?" Frisk asked, tugging on his sleeve.
"Of course I do, but that's not how you get people interested." The older human explained as he shook his arm to get her to let go. As easy as it would be to ask for the cool stuff first, he was trying to think in Alphys' best interests. Though what did he know about advertising?
"In that case, here." The scientist said as she casually tossed the hilt-shaped device to the teen. Now back in frame, she looked to the camera. "This device allows a human mage to shape their soul energy into whatever forms are programmed into it. Just have the dial set to what you want, press the button, and push your soul energy into the device."
The boy did each step as she spoke them and soon, green energy came out of the end of the device and took the shape of a simple nail hammer. He turned the dial a few times and watched it become a handsaw, a wrench, a spatula, a cutting knife, a really big spoon…
"Not gonna lie, still don't have a good name for them!" AJ commented.
"Yeah, we aren't the best with coming up with names…" Alphys agreed with him before looking back at the camera. "With things like this, less metal would be spent on a variety of tools that eventually break. You'd just have to make these and then you would have everything you'd need. The reason I'm not trying to make this available to the public yet is that I want more variety with them. Going through a lot of options is never fun, so I wanna make one for work tools, one for kitchen stuff, and things like that. Of course, one that's just a crazy multi-tool would be an option as well. Can I have that back now?"
"Mhm." The taller human handed the device back to his monster friend and she walked away just a bit faster than usual. She found what she was looking for and hid them in her coat pockets. On the way back they realized she was moving faster because she was excited. "So what's the cool new thing?" AJ asked.
"Yeah! Show us, Alphys!" Frisk requested excitedly.
"In a moment, guys, be patient." The doctor requested. She held up her arm so the pad wrapped around it was clearly in view. "Well, uh… there's no real other way to say it…" She pressed the on button and a screen appeared in front of her. "I made holograms a thing." She announced to the world. "And the best part is, you don't have to be a mage to use them, as you can see! They need so little magical energy to create a hologram out of, but they just take it in from the air around us. And that's exactly what this is, by the way, just magical energy made to take shape like this. I've been working on this the most, trying to design many different variations, which I think I'll make videos on those later. Anyway, here is the cool stuff, you two!"
From within her pockets, Alphys pulled out two dark grey, circular disks that were flat on one side. "I had a sudden moment of inspiration, and I decided to design some hologram generators that were purely cosmetic." She handed one to Frisk. "Here, put this one on your arm, right about here, where you'd put an armband." She pointed to her upper arm.
The child stuck the disk onto her left sleeve as directed, and the monster pressed the on button for it. Frisk gasped as it projected a flat, pixelated version of a human soul. "Whoa! That's so cool!"
"Oh! That's certainly one use for them." AJ commented, surprised.
"Yep!" Alphys agreed with a smile. "I just program a single shape for one of these and you can use them for personal emblems, or just for your own bit of flair. Oh! Also, I made these ones capable of taking in soul energy if you want to change the color for them."
The girl's eyes lit up when she changed the color of the hologram to match her own soul. "This is awesome!"
"Ha! That fits perfectly for you!" The teen commented as he admired the little pixelated heart in front of the kid's arm. 'It's like her own little emblem!'
"It sure does!" Alphys agreed. "Just a small pulse of soul energy should let it keep that color for awhile. I haven't actually tested that feature yet, but my calculations basically guarantee a half an hour at the very least."
""Cool!"" The humans both responded.
The monster scientist turned to the older human. "You think that's cool, wait till you see what I have for you."
"Oh you made one for me, too?" AJ asked.
"Yep. Just hold still for a moment." Alphys requested, holding the other small hologram generator. She walked behind him and stood on her tip-toes to put the device on his upper back, right between his shoulders. "Eh! Got it!" She said as she just managed to press the on button.
The boy looked over his shoulder and tried to see the emblem, and when he did he went silent aside from a long gasp. Rather than a flat emblem, it was a hologram of a small wing, no bigger or longer than your forearm, appearing to come out from his back if you weren't behind him. It was still a static image though. "Aesthetic…" He whispered in awe. "Alphys you are AWESOME!" He shouted with a big smile.
"Hehe… I thought you'd like that." The lizard said with an embarrassed smile. "I was going to make full wings to surprise you, but then I found out holo-tech of this size can't make a projection that long, so I had to settle for smaller ones. Do you want me to get the other one for you?"
"Uh, no thanks. One fits me better." AJ answered.
Alphys looked confused at that. "How so?"
The teen looked embarrassed. "Well, as much as I love the look of angel wings and stuff, I have this dumb thought that two wings are reserved for really powerful beings, and I'm not that, so I only want one." He explained.
The monster was now looking at him like he was just being silly. "That's not dumb. If anything, that sounds like some anime concept."
"Actually, its… it's more for the stories I think up in my head." He answered hesitantly.
"Oh yeah, I have a ton of those, too!" Alphys responded with a chuckle.
AJ's eyes widened for a moment in realization before looking back the camera. "Oh! Uh, we should, probably…"
"Hm?" Alphys hummed, before figuring out what he meant. "Oh! Don't worry, I was already going to edit this out."
The collective world pretty much lost it once all of Alphys' preview videos on her magic hologram tech had been posted. Emblems, devices that were like phones themselves (which the human Dreemurr's were familiar with), devices that displayed your phone's screen, the holo-pad that went on your arm, even holographic smart home systems. There was plenty of positive letters from the scientific community for her, as well as a few angry jealous ones. The internet was especially all over the news of holograms, and many artists sent in emblems they wanted to see her make someday. Some artists even made drawings of themselves and friends with their own holo-emblems, since they couldn't buy any of their own yet. It would still be awhile before these would be released to the public, but the positivity and excitement of the next few days was a nice change of pace from the norm. It was encouraging for Alphys, and she worked especially hard then as she dreamed about her holograms someday being as normal a thing as smartphones are now.
Yeah that's all I have on that for now so we'll just end it here.
I'll continue doing my best to not take a month to write the next chapter. In the meantime I hope you all have a good time.
Also as a silly thing- I decided to expand the list of things you can make with the magic shaping devices. Obviously not canon XD.
If you don't get any of these references we can't be friends
I'm kidding you're awesome have a great day.
…handsaw, a wrench, a spatula, a cutting knife, a really big spoon, a slightly bent really big spoon that definitely isn't a ladle, a small cup, a salt shaker, a mouse pad, a head that won't stop screaming, the world's smallest violin, a blanket, entrenching tool, avionics trawl, troll smasher, stellar sextant, compass aligner, flare gun, water purifier, global positioning system, encyclopedia arcana, personal flotation device, a big cup, a soul gem, a voodoo doll, a straw, a selfie stick, a keyboard, a wifi router, your TV remote, the launch codes, a handheld fan, Determination, a doorbell, a bone, a pillow, a smoke detector, world peace, The Philosopher Stone, a collection of memes, an extra pair of jeans, the next chapter, a portal to the underworld, a spoiler alert, a CD, a USB cord that plugs in the first time, the rest of the skeleton, error 404, a hat, good teammates, DEMOCRACY!, a pepper shaker, my future, darn it it's gone, the secret to immortality, a black hole, happiness, a temmie, why tho, a door, a gift for you, Christmas lights, The Sun, a bird cage, a phone charger, a tree, a soft pillow, a bed, I'm tired, goodnight.