Nassor Doyle, D9- 17
"Hey Acee," I called after following her around until I caught her alone in a hall. "You're good at making stuff, right?"
"You might say that," she said, smiling in a way that made it clear she wanted very much to be asked more. We found a seat in the Three lounge and fired up the computer screen on the wall.
"I'm trying to work on something to make things easier in Nine," I said, pulling up a picture of a factory. "A lot of us work in these huge granaries. There's dust and specks everywhere, and we breathe it in all day long. If you work there more than a few months, you cough the rest of your life."
"Interesting," Acee said, her lit-up expression referring to the coming challenge and not the diseased lungs. I could see the solutions already starting in her head.
"I want to design a mask that will keep the dust out. We're supposed to have them, but they wear out and they never want to buy new ones. It has to be cheap, durable, and preferably something we can make at home. Think you can help?"
"Do I think I can help?" Acee scoffed. "Of course I can help." She shoved a stack of magazines off the coffee table in front of us to clear room. "What do you got for materials?"
"Corn husks. Barn wire. Dirt. The old shoes the overseers throw out once they get holes. A lot of flour," I said. Acee pulled one magazine back and started to scribble numbers on the back page.
"I'm gonna run to the lab and ask Beetee and Wiress about some numbers. Meet me tomorrow and bring all the stuff you'll have in Nine," she said.
The next day, I spread out my supplies. Acee grabbed the handful of cornhusks and started to weave them together, creating a masklike shape. She held it up to her mouth to test its shape.
"Gas masks have two barriers: physical and chemical. There's the physical one," she said. "You probably already have a chemical one in mind, don't you?"
"That's what the charcoal is for," I said, pointing at the pile. "I think I found a way to affix it to the husks closely enough that you won't breathe it in when you inhale."
"Let's test it out," Acee said. She snatched the husks and darted out the door as I tried to keep up.
The next week was spent using ourselves as guinea pigs for various different weaves and shapes of husk masks. Beetee and Wiress developed a flour-based adhesive porous enough to let in air but sticky enough to filter out most particles. I designed an aglet opening for the string that meant one size would fit everyone. Seven days later, we had a workable prototype. For no cost at all and only a few hours' labor, a factory worker in Nine could protect himself from asthma, respiratory functions, and anything else that didn't involve actual airborne bacteria.
"Pretty cool," Acee said about the finished product. "Sort of makes me wish I worked there just so I could use one."
It is pretty cool, I thought. It was probably the best part about being a Victor. I wasn't the only one to win. I brought my whole District with me.
This looks way longer but is actually only a little longer. It just has a lot of dialogue. Also a cameo from Acee, who quickly snatched a bigger part.
Nassor also has a picture on the wiki.