Chapter 102

Matt was enjoying spending time with Terry, whom he considered his father-in-law, and his girls. He knew that perhaps having a ten year old and a seven year old paint a demo derby car wasn't the smartest plan, but it sure was hilarious. Terry had purchased several cans of pink and purple spray paint once the girls had decided those would be the colors so they could all paint the car together.

"Alright girls, the first thing we are going to do is paint the entire car pink. Meggie, here is a can for you and Katie, here is a can for you,"said Terry as he showed them how to spray the cans safely and at the correct distance. "Alright, let's go!" he said.

The four of them were having a fun time until Katie accidentally sprayed some of the paint onto her father's face. As a result, Matt had one very pink cheek and ear.

I can't say I'm surprised because looking back on the plan, of course I'd end up with a pink cheek, thought Matt, as he laughed with his daughter.

"Daddy, I'm sorry it was an accident. I didn't mean to, but now you look so pretty." said Katie, laughing at her father's pink cheek.

Matt checked out his face in the mirror and laughed. "Well, it wasn't the look I was going for as the Demo Derby Driver, but at least this way, I'll match the car!"

They finished the base coat of hot pink and left it to dry while they had lunch.

Russell was feeling great. This drone had really come together. The plans he had gotten online had worked well and were easy enough to follow. He had added a smartphone to the design which gave him a computer he could program to add some useful features, especially a couple that could come in handy if he ran into trouble with it in the air, far from the remote control.

He looked around the yard to see if anyone was around. Seeing no one, he brought the giant drone out of the shed and set it on the ground. He turned the controller on and raised the lift joystick. The drone began to rise!

"Yes! Yes! I did it! Fuck yeah!" He announced to no one as he jumped up and down and fist pumped the air. He flew the drone for a couple minutes testing it's lift and other controls. He checked that the cameras on the drone were connecting back to the tablet attached to the controller. He could see everything the drone could see on the tablet!

He tested a few more things and brought it back down and landed the drone. His landing was a little bumpy, but nothing was damaged. He put it back in the shed and headed to lunch to announce they could have the test flight right after lunch.

Russell was the last person to make it to lunch. It was lively to say the least.

"I painted Daddy pink! Katie proudly proclaimed. Matt's pink ear and cheek proved she was telling the truth.

"How is the derby car going?" Russell asked

'Well, it's very pink. The pink base coat is drying now, then we get to paint on the number and some decorations with the purple." said Matt.

"Maybe I'll end up purple to match Matt." said Terry as he laughed.

"We should have a grand unveiling tonight when everything is all finished and dried." said Jodi.

"I think it's a great idea." said Tess. "You guys have worked really hard on that car."

"I can't wait to see Uncle Matt destroy it tomorrow!" said Claire.

"I'll be scared for him the whole time," said Jodi.

"I'll be having so much fun! Especially with Stevie and Dave in this thing too." admitted Matt.

"I feel like there needs to be a side bet there." said Kate as she had her second bowl of ice cream topped with chocolate chips, "At least with Killarney. Keep the rivalry alive, you know."

"You're right." Jodi thought for a moment. "I'm not sure what we need to wager though. Anyone have any ideas?"

"What about fixing border fences?" Claire suggested

"Beers for the next couple months?" suggested Matt

"Not bad, not bad, but I think we could do something better. Let's discuss it at the unveiling tonight." Jodi said

"Speaking of unveilings, Russell, do you have something for all of us to see?" asked Meg.

"Yes! It's ready! I can do the test flight as soon as everyone is finished eating." Russell announced proudly.

"Mate, you built a giant drone in like three days, while still pitching in at the farm. That's really impressive." said Matt.

"Well, Terry helped me with some of the fabrications. I wouldn't have been able to do that on my own," Russell explained.

"Russell, I did like three small things for you. This is your baby. You should be proud of what you've done." Terry countered

"Well I'm all finished, I don't know about the rest of you,'' said Meggie. "But, I want to see that thing fly!"

"I'll go get ready, the rest of you guys finish up." Russell said as he shoved half a sandwich in his mouth.

As everyone else came to join Russell in the shed, he gave them a run through of the drone.

"Okay, so I started with a design I found online in a drone enthusiast forum. For the aeronautics portion, I played it pretty straight to the original design, but I have added a few things that were my own. First of all, I added some solar panels to the frame. It will extend the battery life a bit while it's in the air, but the real purpose is to provide minimal power in the event of a total battery system failure. Another feature I added was this smartphone hard drive and operating system. I was able to add a gps tracking system within about five meters, so if we do have a system failure, I can track it to recover the drone. The solar panels should allow enough power for that system to function. I also added a voice activated alarm in case it's lost in the bush or stuck in a tree or something. It should respond to my command of 'Okay drone: Where are you?"

"Find Me" by Kings of Leon began playing out of the smartphone's speaker.

"It just seemed fitting if we're searching for something on a massive property." explained Russell. "I also added this playstation controller to make the controls a little more comfortable since it will take several hours to cover the whole property. The camera will give a live feed to the tablet attached here and will also record both to the hard drive on the drone and to the hard drive on the tablet, so we have a backup in case one thing fails or if the drone is lost or severely damaged, we can at least access the video it took. So finally, I added some commands to the software the camera runs on. We can remotely pan it back and forth or up and down or have it zoom in up to sixty times. We can also have it take snapshot photos while still filming video. This is a high end hd camera, so the clarity should be very good, even from way up in the air. I also added a motion sensor camera on the top of it, so if it gets stolen while it's on the ground, we will get a photo of whoever takes it right on the tablet controller."

"It really seems like you thought of everything, Russell. I'm truly impressed!" said Jodi.

"I told you he was the brains in the relationship," Kate said proudly.

"None of this matters if it doesn't fly though," said Ruseell. "I wanted to make it bigger, but according to the FAA standards, if I made it any bigger, I had to register it and get permission to fly it with the FAA, so I kept it this size. But shall we?" he said.

"It seems awfully big to me already," said Claire.

Russell picked up the just under two meter squared device and carried it out of the shed and laid it on the ground in the open space behind the house.

"I dub thee, the Kate Squared, or K2 for short." Russell winked at his wife. He pointed to the name he had painted on the base of the drone with a heart around it. "Okay, moment of truth." Russell took a deep breath, turned the drone on and turned on the remote control.

He took a deep breath and then attempted to take off. There was about a one second delay, and then K2 began to rise!

"Yes!" cried Russell

"Wow!" said everyone else.

Russell brought K2 around the front of the house and attempted some impressive dives and loops. The controls held and the K2 floated through the air. Russell worked through all of the camera operations to be sure everything worked.

"Okay, Ironman, Can you have it take an aerial selfie of our gang?" asked Jodi.

Russell smiled. "Ironman eh? I love it. Sure, let me bring it around so I can get a good angle for the shot. Everyone smile and 3-2-1 cheeeese!"

Russel used the controls to snap the photo making sure to get everyone in it.

"I'm totally posting that to my instagram. declared Claire. Then laughing, she added, "#Ironman #DroversRun #DroneSelfie #BigHappyFamily!"

"It would seem, you're not Russell any more, you've gotten your official country boy nickname, Ironman." Tess said with a smile.

Russell blushed, but was totally excited about the new nickname."Thanks guys, I wish I was as cool as Tony Stark, and as rich."

Ironman is so much better than the nickname I had back in Queensland, I hated being called stringbean, thought Russell.

"Okay, so it looks like everything works. I"m going to bring K2 down and hopefully have a smooth landing. The landings are really difficult," said Russell nervously.

"I'm sure Ironman can handle it." Jodi said

Russell brought K2 to a hover over the crowd. "Okay guys, just take a step back if you could, I'm not sure how good at this I'm going to be." He killed all the power to the propellers and the K2 just dropped. When it was about two meters off the ground, he hit the power again and brought it down with only a slight bump.

"Bravo, Ironman!" Matt cheered.

"That was awesome!" said Meggie.

Kate was so proud of Russell. She grabbed her husband and gave him a big kiss in front of everyone. She turned back around, smiled and said. "Sorry ladies, Hands off! Ironman is mine. Find your own superhero."

Jodi kissed Matt hard on the mouth. "Oh I've got mine!" Matt took her in his arms and dipped her as though they were dancing.

Meg held Terry's hand and looked into his eyes. "I found mine too!" She smiled at him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Finn. I wish he was here with me right now. I want my Captain America here with me, thought Tess. She was surprised by the feeling that struck her. She wanted to be sharing that moment with Finn. He would have liked seeing the drone. The thought of him standing there with her suddenly didn't scare her, she was just sad he wasn't there with her.

"I'll find a superhero who can handle me being Wonder Woman someday." Claire decided.

"Well actually Wonder Woman is from the DC universe, so she would never run into Ironman. Ironman is a Marvel character." Kate explained. "They never cross over."

"Well maybe I want a Superman, or The Flash." Claire responded. "I know my comic universes, don't you worry! I'll take the Justice League over the Avengers any day."

"A fellow DC comics enthusiast! We should talk later." said Kate as she smiled at Claire