34) --- Upgrade Path -------------------------------------------------- "More Power! Arr Arr Arr!" -- Tim Allen SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26 After Valentine's Day, the weeks continued to pass in a blur. Actually, not like a blur, but more like a cyclic stress headache. Even so, Philip somehow managed to stay on top of his homework, and Aerianne was a great help in getting him to de-stress more often. Also they _did_ manage to spend time together, even with their hectic schedules. Rahel went home each weekend, leaving Philip alone in their dorm room; Aerianne would come over and spend the night with him. (To watch _Highlander_, OK?!?) [Yeah, right. -Trevor] There were also other things to occupy their time; the Midnight Movie, for one. One of the films was 'The Princess Bride', and they went to see it. Aerianne liked the swordwork (of course), and they both enjoyed the "kissing stuff" (for obvious reasons). Even a fire drill in the middle of the show couldn't damage their enthusiasm (Although Aerianne _was_ threatening to skewer whoever it was who had pulled the alarm). Unfortunately, the PGFD, in their _infinite_ wisdom, decided to close the show for the night; but fortunately, one of Aerianne's friends from the fencing club was there, and he and his girlfriend invited them over to see his copy. TAS was another thing that alleviated the tension and stress (Well, ok; maybe not _alleviated_, more like just put it off). They showed Tenchi Muyo and This Is Greenwood, and they both got a very favorable response. Philip, for one, decided then and there that he'd never complain about his dormmates again. They had _nothing_ on the guys from Greenwood! Aerianne took a liking to Ryouko as well (it was the energy swordwork that sold her on the irrepressible demon). Finally, though, Philip could put it off no longer, and he got to work with a vengeance on his 420 project, while working on his Thet 111 project as well. Eventually, Philip's workload lightened enough that he was able to go home for the weekend to visit Blair. He invited Aerianne along, but she said that _she_ had a computer project for 330, and Philip wasn't about to cut into her computer time. He went home, stopping at Blair first, and then relaxed for about a day. He came back on Saturday afternoon, and went over to Aeri's suite. He found a note posted on the door. Dear Philip, I finally got that program done, and I've gone to Rufus' to try something out that he's invented. Come on over- I know you'll like it! ^_- Love Always, Aerianne Philip, raising an eyebrow, turned to get his stuff. Ten minutes later, Philip entered Rufus's lab. A vehicle lay in the center of it, partially disassembled. Philip had been _extremely_ lucky when he had asked his dad if he could borrow it; he had had a good day at work, and the weather outlook was finally turning favorable, so he let him borrow it for a while. Mind you, of course, Philip hadn't said for _how_ long he would be borrowing it; or _what_, exactly, he would be doing with it. He doubted that the DMV would approve of this, if they knew; but they didn't, so that was ok. "Hey, Aeri!" he called out. "You should've come to Blair! Magnet Arts Night was neat and..." he trailed off as he realized that she wasn't there, only Rufus and Gordo standing by the vehicle with puzzled expressions. "Hey, where's Aeri?" he asked. "Oh, she's out testing some power armor components for us," Gordo replied, adjusting something in the engine. "You're making power armor _now_? I thought the Cyclones were enough." "Well, they still aren't flight capable, due to the lack of a viable fusion powerplant. Besides, Gordo and I wanted to try some other ideas," answered Rufus as he came over and picked up something. "Ah." "By the way, your glasses are done," he said as he handed the brown plastic frames to him. "Cool!" He looked at them, then looked at Rufus. "You didn't do anything." "Yes I did. Put them on." He did so, while Rufus booted up his computer, and pulled a small cable towards them. "Hold on a second while I connect -- there!" Philip's world all of a sudden flashed in a fantastic range of colors ranging from dark blue to bright white, and he gasped involuntarily. As soon as it had started, it ended; and all that was left were the words [GLASSES MKII] in the upper left, and [STANDBY] in the lower left corner, glowing faintly. "What the hell was that?" "Test pattern. It did a quick neural sweep. Here, hold this; we need to do a targeting calibration next." Philip took what looked like a small pistol with a laser sight and held it in his right hand. The pistol had a cable connected to the computer as well. "Aim for the targets," Rufus said, activating a targeting sequence on a projector screen nearby. Philip did so, using the laser sight to aim. As Philip fired "shot" after "shot", he noticed that after a while, it became easier to do so. Also, a curious targeting reticule had appeared in his glasses; and before long, he began to use that more than the laser sight. Eventually, he stopped. "So, what was all that for?" he asked as he handed the gun back to Rufus. "Aim calibration. The glasses now will be able to read your motor impulses to determine where you're aiming." He unplugged the glasses and the gun from the computer, and handed the gun back. "Try it now." Philip tried the targeting sequence again, this time only using the crosshairs in his glasses, which followed his eye movements to find targets, while another followed his hand movements to indicate his aim. He finished the sequence, and looked at the kill ratio. 75 percent. "Cool" was all he had to say. "Glad you like them," Rufus said with a smile. "I added some other things as well, but you can worry about them later. Here, I'll show you how to tie them into the Citation." The two moved over to the red-brown car, whereupon Rufus gave Philip a run-through of how to connect and how to interpret the new displays. Philip thanked him as he powered up the Citation, and went off in search of Aerianne. Once Philip was airborne, he found that the HUD in his glasses was easy to get used to; and before long, he was cruising around over UM in search of Aeri. Curiously, she was nowhere to be found. Philip was about to pack it in, assuming she had already gone back, when his radar began to ping. Immediately, his HUD brought up a radar display while also giving vehicle status and direction indicators. He looked around --nothin-- Something _was_ coming, from alongside, and he turned. He blinked as a vision in dark purple, red, and pink pulled up next to him and waived. He slowed to a halt, and the person next to him did so as well. He entered a frequency, activating the radio. "Aeri, what the heck are you doing up here in _that_?" "What, you don't like it?" she replied over the net, mock- accusingly. "No, I like it a _lot_, it's just that... aren't you worried that people will see?" "So, who cares? We're a thousand feet up, anyway." She laughed, and pirouetted in place, giving Philip a good view of what _little_ armor she was wearing. The main body armor, quite frankly, didn't leave much to the imagination, looking more appropriate for the beach than a battlefield. It sported twin winglets that extended from behind her shoulderblades; Philip assumed there was a flightpack there as well, but he couldn't see it due to her freeflowing red hair. She wore twin forearm gauntlets which had weapon housings (presumably empty), as well as knee-length high-heeled boots, which he assumed were armored as well as doubling as maneuvering thrusters. A purple-tinted facebowl helmet completed the ensemble. Philip could tell she was enjoying this enormously, grinning like a maniac. "You're _reeeely_ enjoying this, aren't you?" he asked bemusedly. Aerianne nodded and smiled, then did a mid-air flip that landed her on the hood of the Citation. "You better _believe_ it, buster!" she said as she leaned forward and winked at Philip through the windshield. "You know..." "Hmmm?" "We really ought to be getting back... I've got--" "Homework to do," they chorused. "Oh, all right, Philip," she said as she hopped off the hood. "Race you back?" "Sure!" Philip revved the engine as Aerianne turned towards UM. "ready, _set_, *GO*!" For the first part of the race, it looked like Aerianne was going to win the race, but Philip's superior thrust caught him up soon. It then became a contest of Philip's velocity versus Aerianne's agility. Aerianne flew through the window of Rufus's lab just as Philip landed the Citation through the ceiling gate. "Hey," she beamed, "We tied!" Philip had a hey-you-cheated look on his face as he said "Well, you had an unfair advantage!" "Like what?" "Like the fact that you took a shortcut! RIGHT THROUGH THE MATH BUILDING!" Aerianne had one of her Innocent Looks (tm) on her face. Philip couldn't keep a smile off his face. Philip looked at Rufus' original flightpack prototype. It looked like the base of an art-deco lamp. He shook his head, and changed topics. "Well, if you all are working on power armors, can you build something for me?" "Sure! What is it?" "Well," he said, pulling out his sketchbook from his backpack, "if you could build this, I'd be very happy..." Rufus looked at the picture, and the description alongside it. He got a gleam in his eye. "Yeah," he said with a mischevious smile, "I think I can build this." This was the first "mischevious smile" anyone had ever seen from Rufus; it was a truly frightening concept. "When do you want it?" "Just be sure you get it right." Philip held Rufus's latest design for an ion drive in his hands. There was still something wrong with the design that Rufus couldn't quite fix. "Any smaller," Rufus was explaining, "and the thrust-to-weight ratio becomes fractional and the power source becomes a major problem. It'd need to be stored in flat capacitors or the like-- it wouldn't be able to have an onboard generator." "But you _can_ get them smaller?" "Yeah, but why?" "Oh, I'll think of a good reason," Philip smiled. Rufus's facial expression suddenly changed, as if he had just remembered something, and he started rummaging through his various pockets. "Also, I finished something else that you might find interesting... I was working on a prototype repeating nanomachine, and I finally finished it." He handed it to Philip, who took it. "a LEGO?" he asked as he looked over the golden 2x4 block. [When the word LEGO is used, it is _not_ being yelled. That's just how it's spelled. -Ed.] "Well, it's more of the housing for them. Unfortunately, I don't have enough LEGO's on hand to make more, or to do a field test, so I'm just giving it to you." "Which leave just one question: 'Why?'" "Well, Aerianne said that you liked LEGOs." "Ah..." Philip turned to look at Aerianne, who shrugged. "So, how do you make it work?" "You just press the knobs on top, and it does the rest." "Well," Philip looked at his watch, "I'd love to try it, but I have a meeting with Sharon about my Everyman project. Gotta run; see you guys later!" The next day, it was back to the same old grind. Everything needed to be done _now_, and of course there were only so many hours in a day. However, this time was different. Not because of the assignments, which were as hard or harder than before; and not because of their due dates (which were all on the same day); but because in two weeks, it would be Spring Break. 35) --- Road Trip ----------------------------------------------------- "...It's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses" "Hit it." -- Jake Elwood (and I forget the other) THURSDAY, MARCH 10 Philip looked at the brown and tan vehicle that sat in the lab. If he got on his tiptoes, he could see over it clearly, and he noted with satisfaction that from where he was standing, he couldn't tell that this vehicle was unlike any other of it's class. Coming closer, he saw what looked like patched-over sections of bodywork, but he knew they were more than that. Philip kneeled to look under the frame to see what Rufus had done. He could see the first stage launch units, but three long objects with fins were underslung, blocking his view of the other side. "Um, Rufus?" "Yeah?" "Where did you get these?" he said, indicating the underslung objects in question. "Don't you know there are some things you just _don't_ ask around here?" Rufus replied with a smile. "Ah." He stood up again, and turned in time to see Aerianne enter. "Gweepings, Aerianne!" he said, bowing. She just whapped him with her baseball cap. "Who do you think you are, ReRob or something?" Philip grinned. "Don't answer that," she said with a trace of a smile. "Never, m'lady," he said, getting up and kissing her hand. "So, where are we going again?" asked Rufus, who was adjusting something in the back of the vehicle. "And why?" "Pennsylvania. I've got an uncle up there whom we can bunk with, and he'll be able to tell us where we can go where people _won't_ notice several people flying around in power armor." "Where else are we planning to go?" asked Aerianne. "Massachussets," he said with a smile. "Why there?" asked Rufus, as he continued to work. Aerianne just shook her head. she thought with a smile. "Don't worry about it," he brushed aside the question with a smile that held countless secrets. "I just want to do some visiting." "Ah." <_Actually_, speaking of visiting,> Philip thought to himself, This would be _fun_. "Rufus?" Philip inquired as the perpetually tinkering engineering major made the finishing touches on the... Ahem... 'Vehicle' that sat in the middle of the lab. "Hmm?" he asked as he turned away from it and wiped his hands. "Yes?" he continued as he put the towel down. "Do you think you could get on your computer and finger an account for me?" "Sure... what for?" he asked as he turned towards Ouroboros, his personal DECstation 5000/25, and logged on. "I need to get a phone number," Philip smiled. With a sigh of relief, Trevor walked through the open door of his dorm room and threw his bookbag onto his chair. It was March 10, a Thursday. Thursday was the day that he got out of class early, and he was glad to be done. Neel Vibhakar, his roommate, was (as usual) hard at work behind his desk. His desk light was on and his head was cradled in one of his hands. A frustrated sigh emanated from his otherwise-unmoving form. "Hard day, Neel?" Trevor asked. Neel turned around to face Trevor. His glasses were hanging halfway down his nose and he looked exhausted. "Homework. Oh, by the way, there was a very, um, interesting message on the machine for you." "Like...what?" "Well, he didn't identify himself, and the only message he left was 'We're coming. Be ready.'" Trevor thought for a minute, then rifled through the papers on his desk, emerging with the Post-It(tm) pad that read "Two large, ugly men were here to see you. They said something about 'kneecaps' and will call later." With a whimper of "Gee, and I thought Lindsay was just joking," Trevor apprehensively approached the answering machine and hit . The tape rewound and started playing. That voice. If Trevor lived for a thousand years, he would never forget that voice. Phil. And here he thought his life was going to get easier... FRIDAY, MARCH 11 Philip walked into Rufus's lab. His last class had ended just a little while ago, and he had come directly here, just brimming with anticipation. The attendant duffel bags of clothes sat next to The Vehicle, as well as the other accessories they would be taking along on this 'little expedition'. He waited for a little while, and Aerianne entered in her standard attire: sweater and jeans, trenchcoat nicely hiding her katana, all in various shades of blue to contrast against her purple earrings and her long red hair flowing freely down her back. She walked over to him and they kissed. Having done that, they talked about life, the universe, and general computer stress until Rufus showed up, who began to do a final check of the Vehicle. "She's ready to fly," Rufus said with a smile as he finished the check five minutes later. "Now all we have to do is get Gordo, and we can go," Philip stated. He looked at his watch. "Where _is_ he, anyway?" he thought out loud. "Oh, he's getting his armor ready for transport," Rufus said as he began to load the vehicle. "Oh yeah, you haven't seen _his_ armor yet, have you?" Aerianne asked with a smile. "Well, I saw him working on parts of it, but, no, I haven't seen the final product," Philip admitted. "Just you wait, Philip Moyer, just you wait," she said with a cockney accent reminiscent of Julie Andrews. Philip attempted to raise an eyebrow at this, and Aerianne laughed, whether from Philip's failed attempt to look like Spock or from his piqued interest he couldn't say. A low electric piston sound caught his attention, and he turned towards it. He stared as Gordo entered in his new armor. "You're. Wearing. That?" Philip asked, dumbfounded. "Yes," Gordo said with a smile. Philip couldn't see his eyes, but he was _sure_ that they were twinkling with glee. Philip shook his head. "Whatever. Let's get loaded and get out of here!" he said with a smile. <<>> For once in a long while, it was a sunny day at Carnegie Mellon. Trevor was walking between classes when he heard a roaring sound coming from... somewhere. For the life of him, he couldn't place it, but he knew he'd heard something like that before. A shadow hid him from the sun momentarily. Trevor looked up. A Suburban. A Chevy Suburban. A *flying* Chevy Suburban. he thought to himself. As he looked a little bit closer, he saw...no. Those couldn't be...Sidewinder missiles? Then again, he was dealing with Philip. Those could very well _be_ Sidewinder missiles. "Be afraid," he warned no one in particular. "Be *very* afraid." Students turned their heads in amazement at the Chevy Suburban that had just, um, parked in the middle of the Cut at CMU. Philip got out the driver's side door, wearing a jacket and jeans. In that totally unassuming voice, he beamed and said "Hi Trev!" "Philip," Trevor said with a nervous smile. "How...wonderful to see you again. I see you're still tinkering." "Well, actually, that's Rufus's job." "Right. You just fly the blasted things." "Well, actually --" Philip stopped and tossed the Suburban keys at Trevor, who caught them. "This time, that's *your* job." Trevor turned once again to his invisible companion. "As I said... be afraid. Be *very* afraid." Turning back to Philip, he asked, "Um, are you sure that's such a good idea. I mean, it's not like I have my pilot's license or anything." "Neither do I." "My point is therefore proven." Philip mumbled under his breath, then said "Just get in, would ya?" "Then where are you going to sit?" "Simple. Passenger seat." "Aeri's sitting there." Philip grinned ear to ear, and Trevor said to himself, "Gee, walked right into that one, didn't I?" With a resigned sigh, he situated himself in the driver's seat of the world's first flying Multi-Purpose Vehicle. As Aerianne settled herself onto Philip's lap, Trevor thought, [Yes, I switched girlfriends. Again. For those of you who know me, this should not come as a surprise. -T.] Trevor put the key into the ignition, and the Suburban roared to life. "I assume there's something, um, special to get this puppy off the ground." "But of course," was Philip's reply. "Wouldn't expect any less..." Philip flipped open the ashtray cover, revealing a keypad, ("Nice touch," Trevor commented) then punched a series of buttons and then the flashing [star] and [infinity] buttons at once. Trevor felt a rumbling underneath him, and shot a questioning look at Philip. "VTOL." "Ah." Trevor settled into the driver's seat, gripped the steering wheel (flight stick?), and got an energetic gleam in his eye. "I *like* it!" 36) --- Pilgrimage --------------------------------------------------- "He's got a road map of Jupiter Radar fix on the stars All along the highway" -- Rush, "Dreamline" "You got any music for this thing?" Trevor asked Philip. "Actually... I do." With a smile, he opened a tape of his, and slotted it into the tape deck. Pressing , he turned up the volume. "Oh yes. This is good. I like this. Oh, this is *very* good..." <<>> It is important to remember one of the first rules of driving: Always check your rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, this thing didn't seem to *have* a rear-view mirror; it was more like a wide-screen TV! Trevor took a chance and glanced backward. It is not everyday that one sees Robocop sitting in the back seat of one's flying Chevy Suburban. "Oh Philip..." "Yes Trevor?" said Philip after he had managed to untangle himself from Aerianne. "What's the walking pile of scrap metal in the back seat?" Philip glanced backwards and, matter-of-factly, answered, "Oh. That's Gordo. You two met, right?" From the back seat there arose a muttering of "Scrap metal? I'm offended." "Eh heh" was Trevor's answer. Here he was, driving a flying truck, and he was concerning himself over someone in a suit of armor? he thought. "Oh Philip..." "Yes Trevor?" said Philip after he had managed to untangle himself from Aerianne. "Where are we going? Just out of curiosity, you realize..." "WPI," Philip answered. "I assume you're going to be a bit more thorough than _that_." "Oh, sorry. Worcester Polytech -- " "I know that much. I mean how were you planing to get us there?" Philip didn't quite understand the question. "Flying." Trevor put on his best game-show-host voice and announced "Philip Moyer, that question was worth 400 obvious points! Care to give me *directions*?" Philip got a very sheepish grin on his face, muttered "Sorry," and handed Trevor a road map. "You've. Got. To. Be. Kidding." "Not really. How else were you planning to get there?" "Philip," Trevor said in one of those I-really-want-to-kill-you- now-but-I-won't-because-I'm-busy tones of voice, "WE'RE NOT ON THE ROADS!" "Your point?" "Besides, I'M DRIVING!" "You want me to do it?" "Can you get that thing unfolded ... wait, let me rephrase that. Can you deal with unfolding *that map* with Aerianne on your lap?" Philip and Aerianne both snickered, and with a huge grin on his face, Philip said "I'll find a way." Once Philip _finally_ unfolded the map (with a little help from Aerianne), the "road" to WPI was actually quite simple. Starting from Pittsburgh, the merry band of adventurers flew east towards Philadelphia. From there, they flew northeast along the Delaware River until it suddenly turned northwest before Trenton. Instead of flying along it, they continued straight on in their original direction until they approached New York City. They flew along the outskirts of the city until they hit Long Island, and then followed it until it ended. At the end of the island, they turned north and flew straight ahead, passing over Rhode Island on their way to Worcester. DC and Cor were headed to the Memorial Onion at URI, for a little pizza and Mortal Kombat. For his part, DigiCom was bubbling with ideas for his new fanfic idea, which he was working on instead of attending classes. The being known as The Corinthian generally ignored him, save for the occasional snarky comment. As DC continued to babble, however, it soon became obvious that there was another sound beginning to drown him out. DC paused, and the two of them turned towards the sound as it approached from the south. Before either of them could say anything, a brown and tan flying... _thing_... flew over the campus faster than such things should even be _able_ to move. As they stared, the brown vehicle flew north at high speed, not worrying about the two dumbfounded students left in its wake. "Jon" DC mumbled, "Please tell me I didn't see that." "You didn't see that, Mario." The pair shrugged, and moved on. The Suburban-From-Heck (which is what Trevor had christened it-- Hell was already -way- overused... there was even talk of it charging for the use of the trademark) made the approach on Worcester. And as they looked at the urban sprawl, one thought entered their minds at once. "Well, at least now I know why they nuked it twice," Philip snickered. Aerianne joined in, while Trevor just looked clueless, not understanding the reference. Meanwhile, at FOWL HQ, Petty, Tigris, and Ray were in conference. Needless to say, Ray was doing more observing than speaking, while the two commanders vocally slugged it out. "He has too much confidence in his pilot's abilities. His troops can't capture a simple CAR!" yelled Petty. "Well, _I_ wasn't the one who rammed his cruiser into a BRIDGE!" Tigris retorted. "Mr Ray, Sir!" exclaimed a gleepian tech as he rushed into the conference room, interrupting Petty and Tigris's argument. "Yes, tech?" asked Ray as he took the stack of papers that the tech had 'carried' with him. "Sir, we picked up another set of ion particle emissions, stronger than before. It stopped at Pittsburgh for a few minutes, and then proceeded on a northeast heading with several course corrections before going to ground again." Ray looked at the tech's report, which gave the vehicle's final destination. He frowned slightly. "And you _have_ confirmed that they have stopped there?" asked Ray nonchalantly. "Yes, sir," the tech gulped, not knowing what was coming next. Petty and Tigris watched as well. As long as the heat was off _them_, they figured, the might as well welcome this new diversion. "Very well, technician, you are dismissed." The tech left hurriedly, glad to be still alive. Ray turned towards the two commanders. "It has been determined that our little 'problem' has decided to take a trip to Worcester, Massachusetts. Now, seeing as Worcester is a historical trouble spot, I have decided that _this_ time, the strike force will be placed in more _capable_ hands." Both Petty and Tigris blanched at this announcement. They were apparently still _not_ in favor here. Ray pressed a button on his desk. A voice from a hidden speaker spoke. "Communications department, sir. What is your request?" "Get me in contact with the _Zibellina_. It should be currently in the middle of the Atlantic ocean by now." "Aye, sir!" The Suburban-From-Heck landed at the first parking lot they came across. One would think such an occurance would draw attention, but it didn't. Namely, because no one was there. Philip looked about. "Where _is_ everyone?" "Philip, have you considered the possibility that perhaps they have spring break the same time that we do?" asked Gordo. "Well, I was hoping they didn't... Maybe I'd get a chance to meet Zoner, or Vaughn, or maybe Gryphon or ReRob would stop by..." "Phil, it's SPRING BREAK! Did you actually expect ANYONE to be here?" exclaimed Trevor. "Well, _I_ didn't know when their spring break began!" he retorted. "Actually, Trevor, your hypothesis may be partially in error. It it is a known fact that some students stay on campus during spring break. Philip here is one example." "Well, _that_ figures," Trevor snorted. "Hey, it was the Henson workshop! Do you think I was about to pass that up?" "Come on you two, let's go to the Wedge. There might be _someone_ there," Aerianne offered, taking Philip's hand and tugging him along. "Ok, Ok!" Philip said, yielding willingly. "The first thing we have to do is _find_ the Wedge," he muttered under his breath as they began to walk. Trevor groaned.