Chapter 3: June

Age 749, June 2nd

Each week I will be writing about the different items that I found this past weekend. Although I don't think I need an entire week for each item, it will allow me time to help my dad on some of his projects, especially his radar-system. Anyway, on to the first item: The original Hoi-Poi capsule. This was in my dad's office and we sat down to discuss its manufacturing timeline as well as how the initial idea came about. Below is the transcript of some of the questions I asked him. Double bonus, for another assignment in another class I had to conduct an interview. Two birds, one stone! Bulma, you're a genius.

Me: So, dad, what made you want to be an inventor?

Dad: Well dear, ever since I was a child, I was always inventing new things and working with contraptions to try and make things easier. It just seems to be an instinct I have – to find a problem and work out a solution. I'm sure you can relate to that.

Me: How did the idea for the original Hoi-Poi capsule come about?

Dad: All my life I've been dreaming about ways to make things more compact and easier to carry. In my younger days, when I was traveling a lot for business, I kept thinking how much easier it would be if I could simply shrink my belongings down and take them with me in my pocket as opposed to lugging several suitcases around. Then one day I read a science article on shrinking technology for medicinal purposes. It was very primitive, and the authors ran into some problems, but it was promising work. I built off their method, and perfected the technology, but ran into some problems of my own. Almost as soon as I shrunk an object down, it would expand back to its original size. I then determined that I needed encapsulate the object and thus the capsule was born.

Me: How long did it take you to perfect the prototype?

Dad: Oh, from the time I read the article to the time I got a fully functional prototype, it was about 2 years. Lots of long hours and hard work.

Me: Did you imagine at that time how revolutionary this invention would be for the world?

Dad: Heaven's no. But it's really been exciting to see it take off and the many uses that capsules bring to people.

Well that was an except from my interview with my dad. And that's how my family came into possession of the first Hoi-Poi capsule – by inventing it.

Age 749, June 9th

I have a feeling the rest of these items won't be as interesting as the original Hoi-Poi capsule but I digress. The second item is a flux capacitor. It's supposed to work as an energy source using nuclear energy. It was provided to my dad by the military to aid in his research on the radar system we are working on. Supposedly, with enough power, the flux capacitor has the ability to send objects back and forth through time but that's up for debate. But hey if I ever need a time machine, I could probably figure it out. Maybe I could go forward in time to when I actually have a BOYFRIEND! Ugh, sorry diary. The struggle is still on going.

Age 749 June 14th

Success! Dad and I have a working electromagnetic pulse detector up and running. This is a huge breakthrough for his project with the radar system.

Age 749 June 16th

I don't even know where to begin today. The third object I had was 'a wooden idol of a woman with very long legs'. I thought it might be some artifact from a long-lost civilization or a religious idol from some tribe that my parents might have come across in their travels. I was hoping for at least something along those line. No, instead when I asked my mom about it, she giggled. Without saying a word, she grabbed a walnut, put it between the woman's legs, and cracked the walnut! The thing was a nutcracker! I asked where on earth they got such a thing, hoping that she would say something like "oh it was in an antique shop your father and I went to once" or something to give it more character. Once again, no, it seems that they got it at a crude novelty shop downtown. Ugh, I feel like I need a shower after writing this.

Age 749 June 23rd

The fourth item I came across was a game-board with 30 blue, red, and green pieces. When I asked my parents about it, they said it was a game from a village they once visited outside of East City. Really? Of everything so far, the one that's rooted in cultural relevancy is a game. Ugh, I guess it beats the 'nutcracker' from last week. Anyway, yesterday evening the three of us finally got to sit down and they taught me how to play the game. The name was something long and complicated but the rules were actually quite simple. It was essentially a three-person checkers. I may do more research on this later. Hey a brilliant scientist such as myself can have hobbies, can't she?

Age 749 June 26th

Dad and I are almost done integrating current GPS systems into the radar system that we are utilizing. It's a bit tricky because this system utilized both above ground and below ground detection and therefore, we need more advance GPS capabilities. Progress can sometimes be slow but it seems to be coming together.

Age 749 June 30th

The last item on my list, an orange ball with two red stars in it. Oddly enough this one has provided me the biggest challenge in finding out where my parents got it or what it even is. According to Mom, she thought she remembered picking it up in a flea market several years ago and got it because it looked pretty. However, according to Dad, he thought he remembered getting it as a gift from a business colleague as a thank you for a project he worked on. The one thing both of them could agree on is that they didn't really know what it was for. Is it simply decorative or does it have some other purpose? Also, why are their two stars? Is there another one with one star that make up a set? And what material is it made out of? It looks like glass but feels lighter. Perhaps I will also look into this more. For now, however, it serves as a nice paperweight in the lab. With all the machines we have going on it's sometimes like a wind tunnel in there.