Issue 1 Downtime

There are some things that can, on paper, seem like very good ideas. You can run the numbers, make your plans, crunch your budgets... everything can make complete sense.

However, no matter how much sense it makes, and how simple a matter it is in cyberspace, the reality is that buying out multiple lots of surplussed technology is a much easier matter than getting it up to your dorm room and figuring out what to do with all of it.

So that's what Cal found himself pondering as he looked at the shipping pallet that was sitting on the delivery dock with his name all over it. Shit. Make a note: Next time run the shipping dimensions, if not part dimensions.

Code: Select all

Noted

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Muttering under his breath, Cal started cutting through the shipping plastic to see what had been delivered. Dammit, I bet this isn't even half of what I bought...

"That is a lot of stuff." Aisha said "Is it all for you?"

Unlike many people, Cal didn't jump when she spoke since, well, he could see her coming as clear as day. "Yeah, the question is what I'm going to do with it," he said. "And what it is," he admitted. He ripped the packing plastic off of the pallet, catching a small box on the top as it fell off with it.

"Why did you order it if you didn't know what you were going to do with it?" Aisha asked, confused.

"Because this," he said, opening a box and pulling out something that looked fairly high tech, "Is the next best thing to Stark tech right here. Roxxon's not Stark... but they're damn good. ANd you never know what you're going to need, so if it's cheap..." He shrugged.

"How cheap?"

"'We're being sued into oblivion and have to get rid of this stuff fast before the tax people see that we had it' cheap," Cal said. "Thirty percent of market value. Although part of that was depreciation, I guess. So... ummm.... I think this pallet was about fifteen k?"

Aisha blinked in surprise "And you got 15K from where? I mean, no offense but that is a lot of money."

Cal smirked. "You think that I'm going to get turned into a vegetable and let my parents have all the lawsuit money? Please. Hacking their bank account was the very first thing I did."

"You stole money from your parents?" Aisha asked, sounding aghast.

Cal looked over at Aisha. "Do you know how much they got from that stupid laboratory for me to get tested on? And then from that lawsuit after those assholes destroyed me? Sixty million. All to them, they didn't even raise my goddamn allowance." He went back to going through the packages. "They're happy and living the high life. Fuck them."

"But.....they're your parents." Aisha said "I know they were...they didn't do what they should have but...that doesn't mean you can steal from them. Or from anyone."

Cal shrugged. "Who stole? I just gave myself a raise in my allowance. With hazard pay for all the... well, y'know," he said, waving his cybernetic hand demonstratively.

"I'm pretty sure that is still stealing."

"So what should I have done instead? Gotten emancipated like everyone was telling me to do, drag them through the mud in a court battle, and leave them with nothing?"

"You could have talked to them, tried to forgive them....I mean, they're your parents."

"Well, see, there's the problem. There's kind of a general order to things. Such as... if I'm going to forgive someone? They need to be sorry. I mean, I'm not going to hold a grudge or anything. It's not like I'm fucking their credit rating or doing something to mess them up. I just took what I was going to need from the money from my lawsuit and left for school. And won't go back. Fuck them." He stopped and thought for a minute. "Okay, a little bit of a grudge," he admitted.

"It isn't good to hate people that much."

Cal shrugged, packing up the box again and reaching for another. "It's not like I want to, or anything. It's just... how it is, I guess."

"It doesn't have to be."

Cal looked her over for a minute, then opened a larger box that was on the side. "You know, it must be really reassuring to be that sure about things like that."

"It isn't." Aisha said "Having faith takes work."

"I don't have faith," Cal said. "It sounds nice... it really does." He looked down the edge of a long cylindrical device that he pulled out of the box. "Mmm... they surplussed this out? That was dumb." He shook his head, turning his attention back to her. "I ran out of anything to have faith in a while ago."

"God is always there." Aisha replied.

"Debatably," Cal said, diplomatically for him. Shit. Didn't want to go somewhere that's going to get her pissed off at me...

"One day, you'll understand, God willing." Aisha said.

"How did we get on the God subject again?" he asked.

"Sorry, I'll try to find a new one." Aisha said "Any idea what you're going to build with this stuff?"

"No, that's not what I mean, I mean... how? I don't see the connection." He closed the box up, then started picking up an armful of boxes. "Can you get the door for me? And... I don't know what I'm going to do. I... crap. Okay, I've got some ideas. Stupid computer brain, takes everything like a search string. I don't know what one I'm going to try, though."

"Try the one that seems the most epic." Aisha said "and its like....when you have faith, its easier not to give a crap about people being jerks."

"Is this one of those... 'keep your mind pure, because they're going to get theirs in the end after everyone's dead' things? Or is there really something to make things not seem infuriating right now?" he asked. He... probably wasn't wording things all that well, but he did seem to legitimately be asking in a non-sarcastic way.

"Not exactly." Aisha said "Its more having faith that whatever happens, its God's will, and he has a reason. Even if we can't see it, and even if its hard. So instead of holding on to anger, we should let it go, and trust God."

"Hm," Cal said, deciding that for the sake of not pissing her off and being a complete dick, he was going to leave alone the whole 'if there's a god' thing. "But what if God's will is that they piss off someone who's going to give them what they have coming for it?"

"We don't always understand what God wants." Aisha said "But, well, its usually a pretty good guess that God doesn't want you to act like an jerk."

"Well, I don't think he should want us to be victims, either," Cal pointed out.

"Not being a victim doesn't mean that you should hurt other people." Aisha said "You're really talented with electronics. I bet that you could have earned that money honestly."

"Earned th- I did earn that money, Aisha! Every fucking cent of it! That wasn't their money!"

"Did they say that they were never going to give it to you?"

"They convinced the court to award it to them because I was 'permanently incapacitated.' Then they went on a cruise. I had lawyers lining up to take me for an emancipation case and get me all of the money from them legally. I told them all to fuck off because I wasn't going to drag my parents through the mud, even though they deserved it, and just took a chunk of it. How am I being a jerk here?"

"Ok, yeah, you could have been more of a jerk." Aisha said "But still...can't you just let it go? All this hate isn't good for you."