Chapter 3 – Techno Clash
The door to the AV room swung open as Devra pushed a laden trolley out into the hall, she had to get a special request ready for the student council's assembly in a hurry. The trolley trundled along as Devra kept peering to either side to make sure she didn't hit anyone. This went well until she rounded a corner to a cry and the sound of metal and plastic hitting the floor.
"You idiot," came a voice from the other side of the trolley as Devra peered round to see who'd been stupid enough to stand in the middle of the hall not paying attention, "Do you have any idea how expensive that phone is?"
Devra finally spotted who she'd nearly hit, it was the schools newest student Randall. He was annoying, always having to have the newest and best of everything, the newest phones, laptops, games consoles, etc.
"Oh god," muttered Randall, "More examples of how backwards this schools technology budget is."
"Hey!" yelled Devra, "This technology is far more reliable than your latest smart phone."
Randall poked at the devices on the trolley, whilst it was all recognisable for its function, most of the things on the trolley were pieces that Devra had tinkered with to keep working, in some places mixing and matching parts to get things working. Principal Parson loved it, not just because of the money she was saving the school by not having to purchase new AV equipment all the time, but because he said it gave the equipment a unique feel that was uniquely Sentinels High.
"Please, you could get a far crisper image by replacing the projector with a rollup screen," bragged Randall, "Besides, all sorts of schools are getting increased tech budgets to transfer over to enhanced learning facilities."
"That's nice," said Devra sarcastically, "But Felicia's asked me to help get this set up before morning assembly, so if you could just move out the way."
Randall scoffed and scooped up his phone before storming past Devra, she shook her head and pushed the cart into the assembly hall where Tyler was waiting for her, he looked up from his drone controller as she entered.
"You are 2 minutes late Devra," he barked, "It's really not good enough, we need to get this set up and I need you to check on some of my drones."
"Relax," said Devra cracking her knuckles as the trolley began unpacking itself, "I just bumped into Randall in the hall, besides, it'll only take a few minutes to set all this up." She carried a laptop onto the stage as cables snaked up following her and plugging themselves into the relevant ports and the laptop as she set it down. The microphone set itself down and speakers set themselves up around the edges of the hall. She pressed a few buttons on the podium and the laptop expecting something to happen, and it failed to happen.
"You got drone 4C on you?" asked Devra almost spitting the sterile, utilitarian name.
"Of course," said Tyler putting down the drone control he'd been working on and picking up another, "What do you need me to check?"
"There's a problem with the projector," replied Devra pointing to the black box hanging from the ceiling, "It's been playing up for a week or so, and I just want to check it's not something we can fix quickly before getting Slim in here with his ladder."
Tyler nodded and flew the drone up to the projector, Devra walked over and looked at the screen on Tyler's console.
"Just a lose cable," she muttered.
"Can you fix it?" asked Tyler, "We don't want to delay the assembly."
Devra looked up and took a deep breath before walking underneath the projector, she stood on the seats and reached up pushing her powers to her limits, she swayed as Tyler ran over to catch her and the projector hummed to life. Tyler left her sitting on the seat to catch her breath and walked over the laptop getting things ready for Felicia's presentation.
Devra slowly stood up and walked over to the backstage area to work on Tyler's newest drone, this one had a short claw attachment on the end, useful for grabbing stuff. She smiled as she picked up a screwdriver and leaned over the chassis marked 6G. "I'll call you Mr. Chomps," she whispered as she began to work.