"Inventing the Future"

Author's Note: "Heeey, I thought this was supposed to be a story about Dr. Jaming! Why are you focusing so much on your OC lately!" Now, hold on a minute. It's a story about how Dr. Jaming ended up having a grandson in the future, among other things. It sort of bothers me when a canon character ends up with their non-canon love interest 'just because', so I feel that a bit of background is necessary to keep an OC from being a 'cookie cutter girlfriend/boyfriend'. I plan to focus more on Jaming himself and his interactions with other characters for the next couple chapters or so.

"Chapter 28: Voyage"

It came as a pleasant surprise to Jaming when Cap approached him with the news that every vendor who worked on the old man's shop boat not only agreed to give up one business day, but that they had also offered to help Jaming in his effort to retrieve his damaged property from the far beach of Shigura Village. The final details of the expedition were hammered out rather quickly, and it was a fine, calm morning when they set out to round the coast.

As Jaming stepped aboard the shop boat, Cap waved him over and held out a small packet with a conspiratorial whisper. "In case ya get seasick. Take it."

Jaming read the label aloud. "Huh? 'Nausea-Be-Gone'?" He felt rather insulted, and folded his arms. It was true that he had never been on a boat at sea, but he remembered having no issues with motion sickness on the Death Ark, and being offered a pill with the understood assumption that he needed one almost felt like a blow to his masculinity! "No, thank you. I don't need it."

Cap, who had far more experience with such things, smirked as if he knew something Jaming did not. "Son, I'm tellin' ya, even the most seasoned sailor occasionally ends up leaning over the side. It's up to you, but let me offer you some friendly advice; you never hurl in front of a woman."

The old man pointed with his chin at where Meredith stood, chatting with a few of the others as they got things more or less in order for departure. Jaming felt his cheeks heating up as he remembered two occasions where he had done just that, occasions that he had almost forgotten about. 'I'm afraid it's a bit too late already.'

Sighing, Jaming quickly took the pill from Cap and swallowed it dry. Why should he let two become three?

"What was that?" came a voice from Jaming's elbow, causing the inventor to jump.

"Donny?" Jaming raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have tourists you should be overcharging?"

"Well, that's not very nice! I'm here to help ya!" Donny planted his fists on his hips, squarely facing Jaming despite the height difference.

Seeing that he had been unnecessarily brusque, Jaming slipped the empty motion sickness pill packet into one of his many pockets. "My apologies; you startled me. Won't you lose a lot of business if you join us?"

Donny grinned up at Jaming, already over it, and shrugged. "Aw, one day won't hurt anything. Besides, you gave us all a safe place to crash when the weather turned bad, so I kinda owe ya one."

"You don't owe me anything."

"Well, like it or not, I'm in." Donny sat down rather suddenly on a crate as the shop boat began to leave the docks. "Say, if this thing you're going out to get is broken, I don't suppose you'd be willing to sell it to me, would ya?"

Jaming shook his head as he leaned casually against the rail. "I'm afraid not. I need it as a basis for comparison. You see, I'm trying to recreate my previous success, but so far..."

"No soap, huh?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"No luck," Donny clarified.

"Oh. That's correct." Jaming nodded. Seeing the disappointment on the boy's face, though, Jaming felt a pang of something he couldn't put a name to, and he thought about it for a moment. "However..."

Donny's head lifted abruptly, and if he were a dog his ears would have been perked.

"If I were to succeed in duplicating the device, I would no longer need the old one. Normally I would recycle the parts, but if you truly want them that badly..."

"You serious?" Donny was grinning now.

"Well, I would rather see it put to good use, and I'm sure you can think of something." Jaming replied.

"Gee, that's great!"

He tried not to smile at Donny's reaction. The boy could be annoying as hell sometimes, and in this regard he was similar to Pau, but Jaming had to admit that he was a pretty good kid.

Unfortunately, Donny had to follow this up with an obnoxious remark. "You're not so bad after all!"

"Thank you...I think." Jaming rolled his eyes and turned away. There wasn't much to do now but wait until they arrived at their destination, which, as Cap said, was likely to take at least an hour. He had almost forgotten that Donny was there, until the boy groaned pitifully. "Are you all right, Donny?"

"Mngh...I don't feel so good..."

Oh, wonderful.

Before Jaming could ask Cap if he had anymore motion sickness pills, poor Donny was leaning over the side. Jaming made a face and gave Donny a sympathetic pat on the back before waving Cap over.

"Well," the old sailor smiled wryly as he approached, "That's one."

Jaming muttered out of the corner of his mouth, hoping that Donny wouldn't hear, but he needn't have bothered. The boy was quite occupied at the moment! "Would you give him one of those pills, please? I'll have to move off before I join in..."

"Squeamish, are we?" laughed Cap.

"Extremely."

No one was happier to disembark than Donny, but he forgot all about his physical discomfort when he saw the wreck of Jaming's old floating platform. "Whoa! That thing is sooo cool! You mean you actually made that?"

"I did," Jaming said with a hint of pride. "But don't get too close just yet. If it still has a charge, you could get shocked."

One of the vendors looked confused. "How are we supposed to get that thing on board if we're not supposed to touch it?"

"Once I've checked it and disconnected the power source, it will be quite safe to handle it," Jaming explained, pulling on a thick pair of industrial rubber gloves to act as insulation against electrical shock. "Just give me a moment."

Meredith came up behind Donny and offered him a peppermint to take the nasty taste out of his mouth. "Feeling any better?"

Blushing, Donny took the piece of candy from her and nodded. "Yep. That pill worked pretty fast. Um...'preciate it if you wouldn't mention this to Pau, okay? I'll never hear the end of it if he finds out!"

"Promise."

Jaming disconnected a few wires and withdrew a waterlogged battery, which was quite dead after all this time. Nearly eight months had passed since he had left it behind on that beach. Aside from being covered in seagull droppings, which Jaming sneered at as soon as he noticed, the platform was in no worse shape than before. "It's safe. Now, it's going to be heavy, so I'll need as many of you as possible. Whoever can fit in and get a handhold."

"You're not going to help lift the thing?" Cap demanded.

"Of course I am. But I can't very well do it alone."

After they had gotten it on board and set off for Veniccio once more, something occurred to Meredith. "Jaming, how are you going to get it into the garage? It won't fit through the door, and we can't lift it down through the roof..."

Jaming's eyes widened, and he stared at the platform as he realized he hadn't thought of that. "Blast it..."

"Y'all can stash it at my place," Donny offered, and it was unclear if his offer was completely selfless.

Jaming scratched his head as he pondered the matter, and he could come to only one conclusion. "It endured the weather this long. I suppose I can keep it just outside the garage. I have a few plastic tarps; that should keep the rain from doing any further damage. I suppose I'll just have to make do."

"Well," Cap shrugged, no longer interested in the platform now that they had it, "mission accomplished, eh?"

"Indeed," Jaming nodded, turning to Cap and saying something that really included everyone on that boat. "Thank you for your help. I couldn't have done it without the use of your boat. Or everyone's consent."

There was a chorus of good-natured replies of 'no problem', 'you're welcome', and 'sure', and Jaming had to admit that he felt pretty good!