10) --- Upgrade Path -------------------------------------------------- "And now just a tiny little adjustment..." -- The last words of J. Random Techie THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 ABOUT 2 IN THE MORNING "Grmphmbl," was Philip's coherent reply. In the darkened room, he got himself up to answer the phone before the answering system took over. The guy on the other end had better have a *very* good reason to call him at... 2:15 in the morning. > "Yeah, this is Philip Moyer, whaddaya want?" he yawned. "Hey, Phil, how's it going?" an unusually cheery voice answered. "Rufus?! What the heck are you doing up at this hour? It's about 3 in the morning!" "Well, I've been working on a few things. I need the time alone to get them to work right." "So that's where you've been nights! Gordo and Aeri were getting worried about you, with you not being in your room at normal hours." "Look, I'd love to stay on and chat, but I really gotta finish something. Just meet me in Engineering this afternoon at about 3 pm, and I'll have it done by then. I guarantee that you'll like what I've cooked up!" "Well, I'd better...I'll be missing Sesame Street." "Don't worry! You'll LOVE it! Goodnight!" "Goodnight," and Philip hung up the phone and slumped back into bed. he thought as he fell back to sleep. Rufus hung up the phone and, smiling, set himself back onto the task at hand. "I guess they can always use another engineer up in heaven," he chuckled to himself as he leaned over the workbench and tweaked a connection in the middle of the pile of wires and components before him. It was just another standard Thursday for Philip. He woke up, took his medicine, got his breakfast, survived his Stat class, endured his Compsci class, made a dash for the Union to see Erasable Inc. and perhaps get lunch in the bargain. However, this daily routine was lightened by the fact that he had managed to snare Rufus, Gordo, and Aerianne to come to the shows. Even though Rufus wasn't there that day, Gordo, Philip, and Aerianne laughed aloud at the improv antics of Inc. After the one hour show ended, the three got up and gathered up their stuff. Waving goodbye to Philip and Aeri, Gordo left the Atrium for a class. Philip and Aerianne left in the other direction, since Philip had no classes for the rest of the day, and Aerianne didn't have one until two. "Oh, where was Rufus? I didn't see him at Inc," commented Aerianne as they exited the union and crossed Campus Avenue towards the mall. "Actually, where _has_ he been the past week?" "Oh, he's over in the engineering building, finishing something up. Beats me what it is, though..." "Oh, so that's where he went," she nodded to herself. "That makes sense. Sort of..." She shrugged. "Whatever," she changed the conversation in a manner similar to Philip's usual method. "So, what's up? And don't give me Vaughn's answer!" she admonished him with a smile as he opened his mouth to respond. "All right, all right," he laughed, changing gears. "Actually, not much. Just a lot of reading to do, which I can handle, plus studying for THET 110. Speaking of which, are you ready for it?" "Yeah, pretty much. At least that outline Dr. Tocci gave was helpful." Philip nodded. "And Romeo and Juliet _is_ going to be on the exam?" "Yeah. I'm glad I got a ticket for tonight," he answered smugly. "When are _you_ going?" "Oh, tonight," she replied. "I want to see what this 'major's night' is like..." "Really? Where are you sitting?--" A loud explosion was heard coming from the eastern side of the campus. A large, black, mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke slowly rose up into the sky. "Whatthehell?" breathed Philip. "What happened?" "Well, I'm not sure," she answered, "but it seems to have come from... the...engineering...building..." She looked at Philip with a meaningful glance. "Rufus!" they said at the same time, achieving a nice stereo effect. They set off across the mall at a dead run. Ignoring the oncoming traffic around the UMD circle, Philip and Aerianne darted across Campus Drive, nearly being run over by some of the less attentive drivers. But they made it across, and panting heavily, they made it to the engineering building. The black smoke cloud was still rising, and it blocked out the sun quite effectively. "Come on!" yelled Aerianne, as Philip panted for breath. "Yeah, I'm comin'," he managed to pant out. They climbed the stairs three steps at a time, and entered the Engineering Classroom building. "Everything _seems_ to be normal here," he commented as they passed hastily-evacuated classrooms. "But what about the Lab building?" "Good point." They turned a corner and ran across the connecting bridge to the Lab building. And then they stopped. "Well, I think we've found our problem," he muttered. "Yep." The problem that Philip was commenting about was mainly the fact that the upper floor of the lab building was now missing. The bridge, which usually led into classrooms, offices, and an observation deck looking over the large mechanical lab, now ended abruptly at the outer wall of the building. Looking out at where the upper floor used to be, Philip and Aerianne had a clear view of the destruction that the explosion had wrought. Tangled machinery and twisted metal lay everywhere. The large windows that viewed the parking lot no longer existed. Every pane of glass had been blown away, leaving the frames, which were badly twisted. The floor that used to be there had collapsed, breaking apart into large concrete-cinder block segments. Hopefully, no one had been in the downstairs rooms, Philip thought to himself. "Come on, we've gotta find Rufus!" he said to Aerianne. "But how are we going to get down?" he muttered to himself. "Jump," she replied, as she got ready to drop down to the ruined floor. "Watch that first step, it's a doozy," Philip quipped mirthlessly. With a short jump, Aerianne arced through the air, landing in a crouch on an intact piece of floor. "Okay, your turn!" she called up to him. "You sure about this?" he gulped. "Ahh, come on! We don't have all day!" "Ohkay...." With that, Philip moved back a bit and made a flying leap into the middle of the rubble. He made a perfect five-point landing, hitting his hands, feet, and rear at the same time. "OOOWWWW!!!" Aerianne ran over to him. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked with concern. "Oh, no, not much. Just some bruises, lacerations, and broken bones. Nothing that being carried wouldn't solve." Totally missing the sarcasm, Aerianne picked up Philip in her arms, and carried him across the rubble. "Hey, wait a second!" he cried out. "What?" "I'm not _that_ hurt." "Oh." Aerianne put him down again, and they began to search through the rubble. The two friends spread out, and began calling out Rufus's name. The search was slow going, and no response to their hails was forthcoming. They were just about to give up when Aerianne spotted a piece of green fabric sticking out of a demolished wind tunnel. "Philip, over here!" she called out. "Coming!" Philip made his way over some collapsed ceiling beams, and came closer to where Aerianne was. He could hear some groans emanating from the ruins. Could Rufus still be alive? "Help me get this off him!" Philip grabbed onto the piece of wind tunnel and lifted as Aerianne asked. After a few moments of straining muscles, the piece of wind tunnel moved more freely. They lifted it off the green fabric and placed it to one side. Shifting some smaller pieces of debris, Aerianne uncovered Rufus' lime green lab coat. "He's here!" Aerianne helped Rufus into a sitting position and dusted him off. Rufus moaned softly. "Rufus, are you ok?" asked Philip. "Unnghhhhh...Huh Wha?...Who's there?" "Philip and Aerianne, who else?" "But then why can't I see you....AAUGH, I'VE GONE BLIND!!" Rufus began to flail about. "Rufus, calm down, _Calm Down_!" Philip reached over, removed Rufus' soot covered glasses, and cleaned them off. "Here you go. It's just soot." He hand them back to Rufus. "Oh. AH!" He blinked. "Sorry about that..." "No problem, useless panic is my stock-in-trade. Here, let me help you up." Philip grabbed hold of Rufus' hand and pulled him back up. "Now, for the 64K question: What the Frick happened here?!?" Rufus looked around as if seeing the devastation for the first time. "Wow. I didn't realize that it had caused *this* much destruction! This is great!" "Huh? what do you mean, 'Great'? The place looks like a bad remake of 'Highlander'! How can that be *Great*?!" As if to punctuate what he was saying, a piece of glass fell out of its ruined frame and hit the ground, shattering with a pleasing . "What caused this?" "Well, it's kind of like this," Rufus began to search among the rubble. "That thing I wanted to show you? Well, I finished it. And it performed much better than I expected!" He stooped down and picked up a frisbee-sized metal object. "And here it is. Thank the egg it's still intact!" He handed it to Philip. "It looks like a frisbee. And may I ask again, what is it?" "You may ask," he chuckled. "What is it?" Philip repeated, getting impatient. "Just watch." With a grin, Rufus reached up and grabbed a cable from the ceiling, one of the few things that hadn't been all-out destroyed. He plugged the cable into the top of the disk, and then pressed a switch on top. A low hum began to emanate from it, and a dull glow started. He let go of it, and it stayed there. Philip stared. "Good God!" he excitedly whispered. He turned to Rufus. "Antigravity?" "Well, technically it's a repulsor field generator, but yes, I guess you could call it that." "Cool!" Philip reached towards the disk and nudged it; it shifted and began to drift over the debris field. It didn't even notice the fact that the land beneath it was strewn with rubble. "Hey, it's staying level!" "Yep. Special innovation that I added..." "Excuse me," Aerianne interrupted, "Not meaning to interrupt your techie revelry, but there is still one question left unanswered." "Huh?" they both replied. "Namely: *What Caused This*?!" "Oh! Ah, erm, sorry Aerianne, you're right. I do owe you two an explanation." Rufus again started over the ruins. Philip and Aerianne kept pace with him. "You see, I finished the Repulsor much earlier than I expected. So I started on another project that I had waiting. And that one worked a bit *too* well." They climbed through a large hole in the end wall. "How's that?" asked Philip. "See for yourself," gestured Rufus, pointing towards a dark hole imbedded in the adjacent Chemistry building. From within came a bright glow, much brighter than that of the disk's. Philip moved to look, but Rufus held him back. "You probably shouldn't do that. The exhaust would fry you in seconds." "Exhaust?" asked Aerianne. "Gentleman, Lady; What you are looking at is the prototype Rufus- Brown Ion Thruster." "ION THRUSTER?" exclaimed Philip. Aerianne covered her ears. she thought to herself. "So this one thruster is what caused all the destruction?" she asked. "Yep. Like I said, it worked too well. I was expecting just some modest thrust of perhaps a few pounds, but instead what I got was about Mach 2." "Good god...But now what?" she continued. "What do you mean?" he asked, wondering where she was heading. "Now that you've reduced the lab to a smoking war zone, what are you going to do?" "Go to Disney World?" interjected Philip. He was met with two stares, one confused, from Rufus; and one annoyed, from Aerianne. "Ha, Ha, Philip. It is to laugh. Seriously, Rufus, what's next on your technical agenda?" "Actually, I don't know... I guess I'll need a test platform to see if they'll work in the 'real world'. But where can I get one? Maybe if I went over to..." "Um, Rufus?" Philip asked. Rufus paused and turned towards him. "Yes?" Philip Grinned Evilly(tm). "Would a Chevy Citation work?" 11) --- Test Drive ---------------------------------------------------- "I'm not driving too fast, I'm just flying low!" -- Bumper sticker THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7 BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ "Grmblmbrbmls....Oh, seven o'clock. Another day, another headache." Philip dragged himself out of bed, and the day began. After the usual startup routine, Philip went over to the EPSL lab to get some computer time before Stat. As he entered, he saw Aerianne. This was unusual, since she usually had later classes. She was at one of the stations, typing away at something. Feeling playful, he snuck up behind her and stood still. Sure enough, a few seconds later she yawned and stretched back, hitting his chest. Startled, she looked up. "Good morning," he whispered. "Oh!" She jumped and turned around. "Hi Philip! How's it going? I didn't see you come in last night." "Well, I ended up getting involved in a production that goes up tonight. _Fortunately_, I'm done with it now" "What were you doing for it?" "I was making Michael Douglas." "?" "Believe me, you *don't* want to know. Trust me." He logged onto the station next to Aerianne's. As the NeXTstation booted up, he turned to Aerianne. "So... How are *you* doing?" "Oh, okay, I guess..." She yawned. "Although I have a paper due this afternoon, that's why I'm up this early. Gordo's sleeping in, as far as I can tell... His history exam was rough, though...." "How's Rufus doing?" "Rufus?" She laughed "He's just fine... well fine for someone who has a linear algebra exam today and didn't study. He was up all night finishing the Citation..." She glanced over at Philip, who smiled sheepishly. "Well, it's not like I *forced* him to do it..." he apologized. "That's alright... Just *don't* do it again!" she worfed. They giggled, and they went back to their respective tasks. Philip checked his mail, read r.a.a, and then brought up a terminal window and logged onto IRC. rac3> ~highway/bin/mips/irc Philip-M *** Connecting to port 6667 of server pepsi.eng.umd.edu *** Welcome to the Internet Relay Network Philip-M *** *** There are 1985 users and 629 invisible on 143 servers *** There are 66 operators online *** 734 channels have been formed *** This server has 40 clients and 2 servers connected *** - pepsi.eng.umd.edu Message of the Day - *** - Welcome to the University of Maryland IRC Server. *** - *** Philip-M (pmoyer@rac2.wam.umd.edu) has joined channel #Blair! *** Topic for #Blair!: Come on in and find out! *** Users on #Blair!: Philip-M B-Paladin RevXmos @DrYeh +@Penguin > Hi, everyone! PHILL!!! Hi, phil! * RevXmos waves at Philip * Penguin waves a flipper at Philip :) > What are you guys doing on so early? Early? This is late! ;) Well, I just finished a project due for +tomorrow. Yay. So, how's it going? > Ah, the question of the day... Oh, everything's pretty calm. What? Impossible! :) > Well, In a nerve-wracking sort of way ;). The last couple +of nights I spent making a puppet for a show, so I'm a little +behind. "Oh, so *that's* what you meant!" commented Aerianne. Philip looked at her, shrugged, and returned his attention to the terminal. Don't wanna know..... ;) So what are you planning to do today? >Well, other than the usual stuff, I plan to see Erasable Inc. +this afternoon... I also invited people from Blair over, +since they have the day off.. Oh, them! They were good :) Wish I could see them again... Can't, tho. "Hmm," mumbled Philip to himself. An Idea(tm) was forming.... >But other than that, things have calmed down. I don't have +any _major_ projects due, so it's just homework to catch up.. Well, I just finished a program, so I'm just +hanging out. >Oh, BTW Trev, where are you (building wise)? And how long do +you plan to be there? I'm at Wean Hall, and I should be there for most +of the day. Whyfore you ask? >Oh, Just wondering.... Philip giggled. Aerianne turned to look at him, caught the grin on his face, and then turned back to her terminal. >Well, I'll see you guys later... I've got classes to go to... *Philip-M packs up his stuff* Bye Phil Bye Philip Bi Phil Cya l8r >Bye, All. Seeya ;) ;) rac3> By now, Philip had a Maniacal Grin(tm) on his face, and was giggling uncontrollably. Aerianne had a confused look on her face, as well as the rest of the lab. Turning, Philip caught the full force of the combined stares of the lab; and embarrassed, returned to his terminal. rac3> mail rufusb@wam.umd.edu Subject: Citation Query. Rufus, would it be ok if I could use the Citation today? I heard that the conversion was finished.... P.S. Did you manage to change the radio? --Philip . CC: rac3> logout Philip logged out. "Um, Aeri?" "Hmm?" "Would it be ok if you took notes for me during 311?" "I don't think it would be a problem...Why?" "Well, I'm going to be picking up a friend of mine to come see Inc...Would it be ok?" "Sure. It's not like I've got anything better to do." "Thanks! See you later!" And with that, Philip rushed out of the EPSL lab. 12) --- Flights Of Fancy ---------------------------------------------- "I was born to fly. The air is my home" -- From the book "Invincibility made Easy" The Statistics class was the usual: One teacher who went on and on about his subject matter, and about 25 students who tried to vainly keep up with him. Philip sketched in his notebook whenever the teacher started on another tangent. But finally, it was over, and Philip exited the classroom with nervous anticipation. He left the Math building, and instead of crossing the road to get to the CompSci Classroom building, he turned and entered the rebuilt Engineering Lab building. Philip looked around. The rubble had been removed and the walls repaired by the overeager civil engineering students; a few scorch marks gave testament to what had happened a week before. The roof was also rebuilt, although a large sliding door was now installed where the hole had been. Rufus was nowhere to be seen, but an object covered by a tarp was situated in the middle of the large lab. "Hello?" he called. No one answered. He shrugged, and proceeded towards the tarped object. He pulled off the tarp, and revealed the dingy red 1982 Chevy Citation that was underneath. It looked just as it always had, and there was no sign of modification, technical or cosmetic. "What the frick? What gives? I thought he would be done by now...Hullo, what's this?" Philip reached for the piece of paper stuck under the windshield wiper. He read it: Sorry I can't be around for your maiden flight; I've got a linear algebra exam and you know how they are. The controls are still the same, but I've installed a keypad where the ashtray was, and there's a small manual on the seat. Good luck! Rufus P.S. I wasn't able to replace the radio. Philip groaned. "Oh well. Guess I'll have to do this alone. But I don't have any champagne..." He went over to a soda machine and bought a Coke. He opened it, and poured its contents on the Citation's hood. "I hereby christen thee the 'Citation-From-Hell'. Seems appropriate," he chuckled. He unlocked the door, got in, and closed it. The inside still looked as well worn as it always had, but now there was a small book placed in the compartment between the seats. He picked it up and opened it; inside there were columns of numbers and small descriptions next to them. "Hmm... Ok, this would seem to be the reason to replace the ashtray." He popped open the ashtray compartment. The lighter was still there, but the tray itself had been replaced with a phone-style keypad. "Now then..." He turned to the front page: Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a Rufus/Brown Model 2C Flying Citation! We would like you to take the time to familiarize yourself with the following features... Philip read on for a few pages more, and then closed the book. He had all that he needed for now; he would read the rest later. He put his key into the ignition and started the engine. It started, but it sounded more.. powerful? "Hmmm...," Philip hummed to himself, "We got the touch, We got the power..." Sitting back and making sure he was buckled, he revved the engine. Yep, it was definitely more powerful than before. "Now, let's see what it can do." Holding his breath, he entered the six-digit code that the book said would trigger the transformation. Nothing happened. "Huh? What's going on?" He looked at the little display; the digits were exactly the same as he had entered them, but nothing was happening! "What gives?" It was then he noticed the two buttons on either side of the zero. One had a star, the other one had an infinity loop, and both were flashing. "Okay..." He shrugged, and pushed them both. <<>> Immediately, the car began to shake. Philip pulled himself back into a fully upright position as his car did things it had never done before. Beneath it, four thrusters sprung forth blue flame, lifting the one and a half ton frame of the Citation a foot off the ground. Then the wheels began to shift outwards and pivot down; once fully deployed, their hubcaps began to glow blue. The thrusters shut off, and the car was now *floating* under its own power. Looking back, Philip could see the hatchback begin to open, but then his view was blocked as the twin ion thrusters raised up and locked into position, filling the trunk. Looking forward again, he saw the HUD system come on line. "Oh boy," he grinned. He felt the onset of an adrenalin rush. But now there was a little problem: how was he going to get out? He opened the book and flipped through it. He found the page he wanted, looked at one code, and then entered it, this time making sure to touch the and . Although nothing happened to the car, he could hear the very familiar sound of an automatic door opening. After 30 seconds it stopped. Philip sat for a little bit longer and thought, He pulled back on the wheel. The car's humming increased, and it began to rise. Within a few seconds, the car was out of the ceiling door and hovering in the sunlight. Philip laughed. This was incredible! Now for a mood setter, he thought. He reached over to the backpack on the passenger seat and opened it. He pulled out an old portable tape player that he had brought with him and put a tape into it. Fast forwarding, he found the music he wanted. He turned the car north, pressed the acellerator, and he was off! <<>> The car, if it could still be called that, handled beautifully. Philip had to admit, it wasn't the Daytona-From-Hell, and it _certainly_ wasn't the UPSTruckfromHell(tm); but they were fiction, and this was most certainly real! That and the fact that this was *his* car. The acceleration was incredible, to say the least, and soon Philip had flown over the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania. Never mind that he had no idea where exactly Carnegie-Mellon *was*, but he guessed he could find it. "Sir!" "Yes, Ensign?" Korzon drifted over to the ensign's station. "What is it?" "Long range sensors have picked up trace ion particle emissions, heading on a northeast bearing, sir. The delta-v on the emissions would indicate a non-natural origin, sir!" Korzon glanced at the readings. "It would indeed. Contact General Petty. He should be overjoyed, to say the least, that he'll be able to put his new ships to work. Hold your post, and keep me informed." "Yes sir," replied the ensign. Korzon floated away in search of Ray. "Yes, what is it, Korzon?" replied Ray in a bored voice. "Sir... We have detected an ion particle source, heading north, at a delta-v of over 100 mph. We believe the emissions to be non-natural in origin." "Excuse me," said Ray smoothly, "but did you say over 100 kph?" "Yes, sir," gulped Korzon, which was an impressive trick on his part. "It's believed that the vehicle must be of unearthly origin." "Alright..." He thought for a moment. "Inform General Petty that he is authorized to pursue the unidentified bandit." Korzon turned to go. "And Korzon?" "Yes sir?" "Remember that it is *I* that makes the decisions here, and not you, no matter what your position had been before you joined the organization." "Yes sir." Korzon left, sulking. If only he was still on Planet Gleep! Philip made final approach on CMU. Admittedly, he had gotten lost for a little while, but a stop at a gas station had set him straight. Although the look on the gas station attendant's face had been one to die for! Philip wished he had brought a camera with him. But that was in the past; he had to pick up Trevor in the next few minutes. Philip leveled out the Citation and hovered a foot off the ground. He entered the landing code, and was rewarded with the feeling of tires touching the pavement and the body settling back onto the suspension. Getting his bearings, Philip drove towards the parking lot next to Wean Hall. He parked, fed the meter, and made his way to the building. Once inside, he began to search for Trevor.