T O Y S
Author's Note: Ok, here it is. A short banter between the kid and the con. Enjoy. ^_^
~The Mess--0800 hours. March 23, 2019~
"Morning, Lucas," Ben Krieg sat down with his breakfast in front of the teen, who was working intently with something in his hands.
"Hey," Lucas gave a distracted nod.
Ben tried to look past the kid's busy fingers out of curiosity, catching glimpses of multiple colors between black lines. "What's that?"
"A Ruboc," Lucas answered simply.
"A what?"
"A Ruboc. It's an eight sided rubix cube."
"You're kidding," Ben raised his eyebrows.
"Nope," Lucas said.
"I wasn't aware they made those."
"They don't. Nick invented it. He sent one to me, Sam, and Julianna to test it for marketability," he answered, though never faultering in his problem solving.
"Oh," was all Ben could respond with. He picked up an egg sunny side up and examined it disgustedly. "Think you can get him to invent real food?"
"I don't think that's humanly possible, Ben," Lucas chuckled.
Ben noticed the youth hadn't even touched his food. All he had was an empty glass of orange juice, and toast rines lining the plate.
"Yea, it was worth a shot. Hey, I could really use your help with moving some cargo. Wanna give me a hand?"
"Maybe later," Lucas' eyes never left the multicolored octogonal puzzle, "I'm due on the bridge in a few to assist Tim in upgrading the com decode program to the XL-900 version."
"Oh. That sounds painful."
"It always does when they notch it up a number just because they added four more functions, new shortcuts, and an InterNEX satelite link."
The older man smirked. "Well, call me if you get bored." Ben stuffed more food in his mouth.
"Sure, Ben."
"Have you ever solved that thing?" he gestured to the puzzle with his fork.
"Uh-uh. Just got it yesterday. I started working on it around 7:45 this morning."
"How's it going?"
"Tricky, but It's fun."
Ben nodded and both men occupied themselves with their respectives tasks--eating and thinking--without a break in the monotony until Lucas stood. Ben glanced up as he set the finished Ruboc on the table, then looked to the Ruboc itself. Every square had been neatly aranged by color on each side, and all were in perfect alignment. None seemed to have been pealed off and replaced elsewhere.
Ben scratched his eyebrow, glanced from the Ruboc to Lucas, and sighed. "You worry me, Luke."
Lucas grinned. "That makes two of us. I'll see ya around." With that, he picked up his plate, dumped the remaining food in the garabage, and walked out.
Ben watched him go, then finished up his breakfast in silence. It wasn't long before he found his eyes grazing over the innocent looking puzzle perched in front of him on the table like a taunting trophy. He reached for it, paused when he felt it was mocking his intelligence simply by sitting there, but gave in to curiosity. Benjamin Kreig picked up the Ruboc and studied it with thoughtful amusment. It didn't look that hard...
Author's Note: Ok, here it is. A short banter between the kid and the con. Enjoy. ^_^
~The Mess--0800 hours. March 23, 2019~
"Morning, Lucas," Ben Krieg sat down with his breakfast in front of the teen, who was working intently with something in his hands.
"Hey," Lucas gave a distracted nod.
Ben tried to look past the kid's busy fingers out of curiosity, catching glimpses of multiple colors between black lines. "What's that?"
"A Ruboc," Lucas answered simply.
"A what?"
"A Ruboc. It's an eight sided rubix cube."
"You're kidding," Ben raised his eyebrows.
"Nope," Lucas said.
"I wasn't aware they made those."
"They don't. Nick invented it. He sent one to me, Sam, and Julianna to test it for marketability," he answered, though never faultering in his problem solving.
"Oh," was all Ben could respond with. He picked up an egg sunny side up and examined it disgustedly. "Think you can get him to invent real food?"
"I don't think that's humanly possible, Ben," Lucas chuckled.
Ben noticed the youth hadn't even touched his food. All he had was an empty glass of orange juice, and toast rines lining the plate.
"Yea, it was worth a shot. Hey, I could really use your help with moving some cargo. Wanna give me a hand?"
"Maybe later," Lucas' eyes never left the multicolored octogonal puzzle, "I'm due on the bridge in a few to assist Tim in upgrading the com decode program to the XL-900 version."
"Oh. That sounds painful."
"It always does when they notch it up a number just because they added four more functions, new shortcuts, and an InterNEX satelite link."
The older man smirked. "Well, call me if you get bored." Ben stuffed more food in his mouth.
"Sure, Ben."
"Have you ever solved that thing?" he gestured to the puzzle with his fork.
"Uh-uh. Just got it yesterday. I started working on it around 7:45 this morning."
"How's it going?"
"Tricky, but It's fun."
Ben nodded and both men occupied themselves with their respectives tasks--eating and thinking--without a break in the monotony until Lucas stood. Ben glanced up as he set the finished Ruboc on the table, then looked to the Ruboc itself. Every square had been neatly aranged by color on each side, and all were in perfect alignment. None seemed to have been pealed off and replaced elsewhere.
Ben scratched his eyebrow, glanced from the Ruboc to Lucas, and sighed. "You worry me, Luke."
Lucas grinned. "That makes two of us. I'll see ya around." With that, he picked up his plate, dumped the remaining food in the garabage, and walked out.
Ben watched him go, then finished up his breakfast in silence. It wasn't long before he found his eyes grazing over the innocent looking puzzle perched in front of him on the table like a taunting trophy. He reached for it, paused when he felt it was mocking his intelligence simply by sitting there, but gave in to curiosity. Benjamin Kreig picked up the Ruboc and studied it with thoughtful amusment. It didn't look that hard...
