Alright guys, I'm back and I'm exhausted.
Writing this story is more exhausting than I expected.
Alvin arrived home about at 3:34 PM. He went down to his laboratory and locked the door. He didn't want anybody to disturb him.
He sat down to his desk and slipped his paw through a screen. Then a keyboard showed up and he started to type in orders.
- Sirius, you up? – He asked with whisper.
- For you sir, always. – Said the brain of the house.
- I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two.
- Shall I store this on the Seville Industries Central Database?
- Actually I don't know who to trust right now. 'Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?
Alvin finished typing and pushed the virtual 'Enter' on the keyboard. He took a laser and using it, he put the picture of his last battle suit on the holographic emitter. The holographic picture of the suit was in front of him. He walked to the emitter and started to work on changes.
- Working on a secret project, are we, sir? – Asked Sirius.
Alvin took the energy cells and the hydraulics off of the hologram and put them into the holographic trash.
- I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands or paws. Maybe in mine, it can do some good.
He turned the hologram around the magnified it. He began to work on the moving systems.
But he was disturbed by a familiar voice. He looked behind if him and nearly gasped.
- Hey Alvin. Do you need any help? – Asked the fennec, standing there.
- Pjotr, how did you get here? – Asked Alvin with surprised voice. – Aren't you in Simon's house?
- No. I got a temporary visa so I can go wherever I want. I came to you. And as I can see you're working on the second type of out battle suit.
- Correct. Would you like to help?
- Sure. How do you want to build it?
- What do you mean?
- I mean do you want to build it in chipmunk or human size?
Alvin took his chin and thought. It was a really good question.
- I don't know. Not yet. What do you think?
- I think first we should build a chipmunk sized one. It would be easier.
- Good point. Let's work on it!
First, they began to build the boot. The technology of the rocket has been already developed; just they had to integrate it into the boot.
It wasn't so hard; Alvin was the master in this kind of things.
With Sirius's help and the little factory in the basement of Alvin's house, the frame was made very soon. They put the details inside it and started to solder the cables, the wires and the other stuffs.
Pjotr couldn't use the solder so Alvin had to do it. The fennec held the magnifying glass helping Alvin seeing the tiny wires.
- Up. – Instructed Alvin. – Okay, next.
It wasn't so interesting work, so Pjotr became bored and he didn't pay attention. Alvin almost touched the solder to his arm.
- Pjotr! Look out! – Alvin exclaimed. – Could you turn back here? If you or one of your members isn't in right place, I'll solder something to the boot which wouldn't be soldered to it.
- I'm sorry! Just I'm so bored.
- Please, try to stay with me. There are only four wires left.
- Ooo-kay. I'll try.
Alvin sighed and began to solder the last wires. But a moment later, Pjotr was in his way again.
- HEY!
The fennec jumped back in surprise.
- What? Oh. I'm sorry.
- Tell you what? I'm gonna finish it without you.
- But…
- No. I'm not angry at you. Just I don't want to hurt you. The liquid tin is very hot.
- Oh. Okay.
Without Pjotr's disturb, Alvin finished the boot and put the solder away.
- Hey bro, I need your help now.
Another hour later, they made the second boot. They were ready for the test.
Alvin had to take the boots on. It wasn't so simple.
- Ugh! It's tight. – Groaned Alvin.
Pjotr giggled.
- What's so funny?
- Nothing. – Said Pjotr and closed the boots around Alvin's feet.
- Hey! That hurts.
- I'm not the one who designed these things.
- Oh, shut up.
They walked to the cars and Alvin stood in the central of the test area. One of his robots held fire-extinguisher; Pjotr held a camera in his paws.
Alvin connected the boots to the reactor, grabbed the controllers and breathed in deeply few times.
- Okay. Let's do this right. – He said to himself. – Hey Dummy, look alive. You're on stand-bye for fire safety. Pjotr, you roll it.
Pjotr nodded.
- Okay. Activate hand controls. – Said Alvin.
The boots started to whiz like the jet engines as the energy started to flow into them.
- We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. – He breathed in. – And three… two… one.
As he pushed the start button, he flew into mid-air and bumped into the ceiling. Then he fell onto the ground with a loud thud.
Dummy, the robot doused him; Pjotr watched him with shocked face and then he burst out in laugh.
His laugh echoed in the laboratory.
Pjotr put the camera down and walked to the groaning Alvin.
- Hey, are you okay?
- Yes. I've just hit the ceiling and fallen down. – Said Alvin sarcastically. – I'm totally fine.
Pjotr helped Alvin getting up.
- Okay, what was wrong? – Asked Alvin.
- The thrust capacity was too much; you couldn't control your position in mid-air and the mass of the hand control took affect on your poise.
Alvin took the boots off immediately and kicked them.
Pjotr giggled. Alvin went to the fridge and took out a cooler block; he placed it on his head.
He sat down on the couch and watched forward without a word.
Pjotr sat next to him and thought.
- Do you have any ideas? – Asked Alvin.
- I'm not the genius one. You should have idea.
Alvin mumbled something.
- I'm lucky; my body isn't as sensible as the humans'.
- But your tail looks damaged. – Said Pjotr pointing at Alvin's tail.
- Wha… Ouch! Don't touch my tail! It hurts. – Whimpered Alvin.
- Al, I operated a magnet into your chest and you're still alive. Don't you think I can examine a broken tail?
- Broken?!
- Hey, 'till I don't examine it, I can say anything. Just lie down.
Alvin obeyed and Pjotr began to examine his friend's tail.
But they were disturbed by Brittany. She stepped into the laboratory and froze as she saw what the boys were doing.
Then she covered her mouth with her paw, because she smiled at the view.
- I saw your smile, Brittany. – Said Alvin.
- Okay. But I can't help. What are you doing?
- Alvin broke his tail and I want to examine it. – Answered Pjotr.
- And how did he break his tail?
- There was a little… accident. – Said Alvin. – Anyway, what are you doing here?
- I just came to say I'm going out.
- Where? – Asked Alvin curiously.
- You have nothing to do with it. Anyway I'm going to Simon's.
- Why?
- Alvin, don't be a jerk. – Frowned Brittany. – If you want something, ask Pjotr.
- He isn't my servant.
- I'm not your servant either. – Said Brittany and walked out.
Alvin watched her for a while; then he felt a pain from his tail.
He exclaimed and frowned at Pjotr.
- What the hell are you doing? My tail is the third most important part of my body.
- I guess what the second and the first one is. – Whispered Pojtr.
Brittany lived with Alvin so she had everything what she wanted. For example she went to Simon's by her light blue Porsche.
Unlike Alvin, she didn't overrun the speed limit.
She wanted to go to Simon's, because she needed to speak to Jeanette about Alvin.
Simon and Jeanette lived in San Diego, when they weren't on the USS Renegade.
Brittany arrived there two hours later. They have been waiting for her.
The gate opened automatically; Brittany parked in front of the house and got out.
She stepped to the door and it opened. Jeanette showed up and smiled at her sister.
- Brit, how surprise. Come on in. – She invited.
Brittany stepped in; the feeling of the warmness hit her. The house was filled by happiness. She missed this feeling from Alvin's house. Alvin always was happy, but Brittany wasn't at all.
Jeanette led her into the living room where Simon and another admiral were talking.
The admiral turned around and looked at Brittany. She nodded and greeted.
- Admiral.
- Ms. Miler. Nice to meet you.
Jeanette spoke up.
- Simon, we'll be in the guest room.
- Okay, Jean. – Said Simon and continued talking with the admiral.
Brittany loved to be in her sister's house; but in this evening, the whole house was somehow different.
Jeanette led her into the guest room and they sat down on the couch.
- So Britt? Why did you come here?
- Do you remember when you said I had to told Alvin what I felt for him?
Jeanette nodded.
- I can't. He doesn't look like he loves me.
- How do you know it?
- Well, he is happy as always; he works as always… So nothing changed.
- Brittany, don't hit me, but I think you don't know him.
Brittany didn't expect this answer. She came here for comforting and her sister doesn't help.
- How do you mean it?
- Brittany, do you know anything about Alvin?
- Yes. He is an egoist, genius.
- I mean something personally. For example his favorite drink.
- Ginger ale, but it's obvious.
- No it isn't. He offered us all of his set. And we accepted it. As you know I love it.
Brittany was surprised. She has never known Alvin didn't like ginger ale anymore.
She had to admit, she didn't know anything about the love of her life. She just knew the negativities of his personality and the capacity of his brain. But nothing else.
Brittany laid her face into her palm. Jeanette gently lifted his sister's hanging head up.
- Britt, you have nothing to worry about. You live with him. You don't need to do anything, just talk to him.
- But he always works and he is always with his friend.
- All day?
- Of course not. But I won't go into his bedroom.
Jeanette giggled.
- You pretend, you don't want to have his child, but I can see it.
Brittany froze again. It wasn't her sister. Jeanette was shy and she never spoke about… that.
But the auburn furred chipette had to admit, the world changed. Her sisters were mothers and they were more mature than she was. Also, Jeanette was right.
- Jean, I'm an idiot.
- No. You're just… You just made mistakes.
- I screwed my whole life up, didn't I?
Jeanette placed her paw on her sister's shoulder.
- Brittany, I could suggest going to Simon and asking him about Alvin, but nobody knows Alvin. You're the only who lives with him.
Brittany didn't answer. She was deep in her thoughts. The only thing in her mind was Alvin.
She tried to find anything about him in her memory, but she had to realize: she spent only two hours alone with him.
She just did her job and acted like an ordinary assistant.
Brittany Miller hasn't had anything to do with Alvin so far.
- Jean, I don't want to go home. – She said.
- You don't have to go home. You can sleep here. Simon will inform Alvin.
- He doesn't have to know it. I think he will notice I'm not there, when his newspaper isn't on his work desk.
- Britt, it isn't true, is it?
- Actually is more than likely.
Jeanette sighed and hugged her sister warmly.
Brittany was totally right. Alvin noticed the missing of Brittany's presence when his newspaper wasn't on his work desk.
But he wasn't angry and hadn't been sad. He noted it as a fact.
When at 10 o'clock Pjotr woke up, Alvin had already finished the stabilizer which they had developed.
- Morning, Alvin. How's the work going?
- Awesome. I've dropped the laser energy cell onto my feet and closed the boot on my tail.
Pjotr giggled.
- Despite these… accidents, is everything okay?
- Yeah. We can start the first test.
Alvin put the stabilizer on a holder, opened it and placed his arm into it.
Pjotr closed the first part on Alvin's forearm and the second part onto his upper arm.
Alvin lifted his arm up; the stabilized was heavy but he could hold it.
- How does it feel? - Asked Pjotr.
- It's irrelevant. It works.
- We haven't tested it yet.
Alvin shook his head and turned away from Pjotr. He didn't want to hurt him.
The thruster began to let out a high noise; Alvin sent energy into it and… Nothing happened. The thruster shut down.
- What the hell happened?! – Asked Alvin with incredible anger. – I can't take if something isn't working.
Pjotr get the stabilizer off of Alvin's arm and took a look at it. During, he searched for the problem, he calmed Alvin down.
- Just breathe in and out. Calm down; think about nice things.
- For example?
- I don't know. Imagine that Brittany is standing in front of you totally naked.
Pjotr laughed, but Alvin didn't get the joke. He grunted and went to his work desk. He opened a secret box and took out a little, white stick.
He lighted it with a lighter and breathed in deeply.
Pjotr looked at his friend with shock and scare. He spoke up with stammer.
- A-Alvin, d-do you s-smoke?
- Of course I don't. – Answered Alvin turning around. – It's just a special plant mixed with some mint. It calms me down instead of alcohol or drugs. It's fully natural and fully healthy. I tried to sell it, but the humans like to destroy their system too much.
- Yeah. I agree with that. – Pojtr Said. – Also I think I found the problem of the stabilizer.
- What's that?
- You didn't connect the secondary energy tube to the reactor.
*Facepalm by Alvin*
The problem wasn't as simple as they thought. They had to work on the stabilizer very hard.
In evening, Alvin was in his laboratory alone, because Pjotr had had to go to the Russian embassy. So Alvin had to test alone.
He closed the frame around his arm and (this time) he connected all of the energy tubes to the reactor.
Brittany arrived; she brought a brown file in her paw. She put it onto the table and turned to Alvin.
- I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?
- Yeah, everything's… What?
- Quinn is upstairs.
- Great,
- What would you like me to tell him? – She asked.
- I'll be right up. – Said Alvin and lifted his arm up.
This version of the stabilizer wasn't as heavy as the last one was.
- I thought you said you were done making weapons. – Said Brittany.
- It is. This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless.
Alvin activated the thruster and it worked. It flown Alvin back and hit him against the wall.
- I didn't expect that. – Groaned Alvin.
After his headache disappeared he went to the upstairs.
There was Quinn, sitting on the couch and drinking a cup of tea.
He looked calm but he wasn't calm at all. Just he could hide his emotions.
Alvin walked to him and jumped up on the couch, next to him.
- Hey Quee. How'd it go?
Alvin noticed a pizza box on the table.
- It went that bad, huh?
- Just because I brought pizza back from New York it doesn't mean it went bad.
Alvin jumped on the table and opened the box.
- Oh boy. – He said. – Why didn't you bring a chipmunk sized one? You must know we can't eat even a human sized slice of pizza. Okay, maybe Theo can.
- Alvin…
- Okay, okay. You how'd it go?
- It would've gone better if you had been there.
- You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing. I lay low and you take car of all.
- Come on Alvin. In public. The press. This was a board of directors meeting.
- This was a board of directors meeting? – Asked Alvin with fake surprised face.
- The board is claiming you have posttraumatic stress. They're filling an injunction. – Said Quinn.
Alvin used his personal, 'What the hell' face and looked at Quinn with opened mouth.
- A what?!
- They want to lock you out.
- Why? 'Cause the stock dipped a little? I told you it would happen.
- Actually the stocks dipped more than sixty points. – Corrected Brittany and she looked at Alvin like a mother.
- It doesn't matter. We own the controlling interest in the company.
- Alvin, the board has rights, too. They're making the case, that you and your new direction isn't the company's best interest.
Alvin crossed his arms, curled his lips down and looked like as a peevish child.
- I'm being responsible. – He mumbled.
- Alvin… - Said Quinn.
- That's a new direction for me, for the company. – Alvin realized he said silly thing. – I mean, me on the company's behalf... being responsible for the way that…
- Alvin, you have to admit, you're still as irresponsible as you were seventeen years ago. – Said Brittany.
- Awesome. I'm the topic again. I'm leaving right now.
- Alvin, Alvin. – Quinn stopped Alvin grabbing his tail gently. – Listen, I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them.
Alvin turned toward Quinn and looked up at him.
Quinn pointed at the reactor in Alvin's chest.
- Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs.
- No. No, absolutely no.
- Alvin, I need to give something to them. If I don't give anything they won't shut up.
- I told you. No. This one stays with me. I need it. If it comes out of me, I'll die. Got it?
Alvin didn't wait for the answer. He turned toward the stairs and began to walk down to his laboratory.
- Hey Alvin, you mind if I come down there and see what you're doing? – Asked Quinn.
- Of course I mind. Good night Quee. And good night Britt.
Alvin and Pjotr continued the work and the rockets were getting better and better.
They did so many tests, but neither of them was successful.
The thrust capacity was too much, or Alvin couldn't control the flight.
Once, the stabilizer almost ripped Alvin's arms off.
They had to stop working, 'till Alvin's shoulder recovered from the injury.
But finally they made the perfect (looking) construction and began for the test. Pjotr rolled the test.
- Okay, here we go. – Started Alvin recording the work log. – Day 11, test 37, configuration 8.0. *Sigh* For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety. Hey buddy, if you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a college.
The robot gave out a high, disappointed voice. Pjotr laughed quietly.
Alvin moved his numbed members (the iron boot and the stabilizer were incredibly heavy.) and took a deep breath.
- All right, nice and easy. Seriously…
- Alvin, are you afraid of flying? – Asked Pjotr with a wide smile.
- If you had hit the ceiling for nine times, you would be afraid of too right now. – Said Alvin. – So just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity.
And three, two, one…
The thrusters were fired and they lifted Alvin up. Alvin literally levitated in mid-air in 1.5 meters altitude.
But he had to stay still, because only one, accidentally movement could've ruin the test. (And he would've hit the ceiling or the floor again.)
A few seconds later, he slowly turned the thrusters off and stood on the ground again.
He sighed in relief.
- Okay. – He looked back and the robot was following him with the fire extinguisher. – Please don't follow me around with it either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously.
- Just stand down, Dummy. – Instructed Pjotr. – If something happens, then go in.
- Thanks Pjotr! And again, let's bring it up to 2.5. Three, two, one…
Alvin took off again, as a helicopter, just he didn't use rotors.
He was levitating in mid-air in 3,5 meters altitude. Everything was perfect; but accidentally he moved his paw in wrong way and he started flying back and he wasn't able to stop.
The rocket-chipmunk was adrift toward the back gate of the house. He tried to control himself, but he couldn't. Soon he was flying over the cars and the hot plasma wasn't good for them.
- Oh no, no, no! This is where I don't want to be.
He held his left paw out and maneuvered far from the cars. Then he was over his table and the papers flow apart.
- It could be worse; it could be worse. We're fine. – He told to himself.
Pjotr tried to hold his laugh in, but he felt it was going to burst out very soon.
Alvin held out both of his paws, stopped and flew backward.
Then he found his poise and stopped over the test area.
Turning off the thrusters he landed (almost falling onto his face.)
He sighed. The test was finally successful.
- Dummy, douse him, now! – Exclaimed Pjotr.
But the robot knew his owner would be angry. So it didn't obey Pjotr.
- Good try, Pjotr. But I built Dummy and I can destroy him. For your order, he won't do anything.
- It was worth a try. – Said Pjotr.
- Yeah. – Said Alvin and looked at the boots on his feet. – Well, I'm officially impressed. The scientists were wrong. Chipmunks can fly.