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Randy beamed with pride. "I
fix you up with an aircraft, but your mom does a better job
fixing me up. When are you going to get me a date with one
of your hot students?"
"I don't think today's student is looking for anyone.
She's still not over her ex."
"That's what I'm for. I'm her therapist. I'm a rebound
type of guy. Send her my way, and I'll get her over her ex,"
Randy said rocking on the heels of his cowboy boots.
"Look, I added your favorite safety device - the rocket-deployed
parachute. It's only useful above 300 feet, but it opens two
to three seconds faster than a regular parachute." Randy
pointed, "I rebuilt the flight pack just like the NASA
specs. The drawings you hacked from NASA's website had some
parts I couldn't find, so I substituted some redneck engineering."
"I didn't hack the drawings from NASA. I hacked them
from a Chinese website that hacked them from NASA."
"Same difference."
"I didn't dare go near the government websites,"
Scott said. "The government already has my name on their
watch list, especially since we lost all of our privacy from
the Patriot act. If I hacked NASA, we would have had spooks
all over this place. The key point is all the engineering
has been done by the best and the brightest the NASA could
hire. All we had to do is find the MMU parts and put it together."
"I bought space-rated parts at government auctions,"
Randy said. "What I couldn't find there I found on eBay.
Too bad we're too late building it to compete for the Ansari
X-prize to be the first civilian spacecraft. This thing could
have won ten million dollars if you dared to enter it in the
competition."
"It wouldn't have qualified anyway," Scott said.
"It's not civilian designed, just a bunch of surplus
government parts."
Randy flipped open a bright red cover to reveal a shiny metal
toggle switch. "What's this for? You insisted I install
it for one of your fancy software programs, but have never
told me what it's for."
"It's called a MIG switch."
"What does it do?"
"The pack has so much power that I need to limit the
thrust. I added vertical thrusters to the NASA design. They
provide the extra thrust needed to fight gravity. If I didn't
add the MIG switch, the pack would have so many G's that I'd
black out and get a bad case of hemorrhoids."
"Where did you get the name 'MIG switch'?"
"It comes from a switch on the F-15 fighter. The MIG
switch is used during training missions to limit the pilot
from overstressing the engine and airframe with too many G's.
However, during combat if there is a MIG on your tail, you
want to override the computer and throw everything into winning
the dogfight, so you can go home alive."
"You hunting for MIG's?" teased Randy.
Scott snapped the red cover back over the shiny toggle switch.
I wonder what Amber is thinking right now. I bet she wishes
she had a magic switch to get home.
"On this flight pack, you flip the MIG switch only when
you've tried everything else and have nothing left to lose."
"Hey, you were saying this fusion reactor puts out 250
watts for every watt put in."
"450 is what the equations predict, but I'm happy with
two hundred and fifty," Scott said.
"If it's so simple, why isn't everyone doing it?"
Randy asked.
"The oil industry pulled strings to get the government
to stop the funding at the University. The fusion reactor
could decimate the energy industry and take oil away as a
source of electric energy."
"Was this thing worth getting expelled from Princeton?"
Randy asked.
"Yeah. We found we could do it, and make the reactor
small enough to fit in a suitcase."
"Ever since then you think there's boogiemen chasing
you. You're always spouting off about the Patriot act. You
need to think about therapy."
"Next thing we know," Scott said, "the key
research professor mysteriously dies, we're all expelled or
laid off, and our entire team's research and education careers
are ruined. I hacked the files before the data was destroyed."
"When a bush moves, you think it's a special ops sniper
when it's really a deer."
"Have you ever seen this technology, anywhere?"
Scott asked.
"The plasma thrusters were a real pain to get working,"
Randy said.
"I hacked that design from Houston's Johnson Space Center."
"So you did hack NASA."
"Actually, I got the design from the Russians, who gave
it to NASA."
"I figured out how to make it work," Randy said.
"We need to test it to make sure it's safe. Speaking
of safety, we've never tested the software, or this thing
as a system. How reliable is this?"
"By copying NASA's design, I also copied the space-rated
software that controls their flight packs."
"You have a lot of trust in test flying this?" Randy
asked.
"The space shuttle's software is considered error free.
Typical software has 12 errors per 1,000 lines of code. The
shuttle's software has 0.11 errors per 1,000 lines of code.
That means it's virtually error free. NASA did all the hard
work. All I did was add a subroutine to factor in gravity,
and the MIG switch."
"I could impress the ladies with that crotch rocket,"
Randy said.
"Knowing you, you'd crash and burn it while showing off."
"Women like that. Its called being macho."
"I can't wait to take it out for a flight," Scott
said. I need to do something to get my mind off of Amber.
"You said you would only fly it at night, to keep it
a secret," Randy said. "Are you getting some therapy
you're not telling me about? Get laid last night?'
"I sleep fine." I do miss Amber.
"You're young, dumb, and full of cum if you think you
can fly in this wind. Aren't you concerned the government
boogiemen might see you in daylight?"
"We've got the hydrogen peroxide powered flight pack
in the hangar, just like the one that flew in the Olympics,"
Scott said. "If anyone sees me fly this MMU, we'll claim
it was the jet pack." Scott saw an image of Amber on
the TV screen. I need to do something to get my mind off of
her.
"Those thrusters are noisy, like two cats going at it.
The whole valley will hear you."
"It'll sound just like the old jet pack. I'll fly it
below the treetops. No one will see me." Why can't I
get her off my mind?
Randy held the other harness strap up over Scott's shoulders.
Scott put on the helmet while Randy tugged to tighten the
straps around his legs. Randy backed away and put on a noise
canceling radio headset.
The flight pack made a low frequency buzzing sound as the
fusion reactor warmed to life. Scott lifted up on his left
hand and the flight pack loudly lifted out of the engine hoist
a few inches. He floated in the air for a few seconds with
his hands off the control handles.
"Pretty good balance." Scott said into his radio.
"You made the frame so well that I can let go and it
doesn't drift."
Scott jerked his right hand to the right, and the flight pack
began to roll several times above the hangar floor. Scott
jerked his hand to his left, and the flight pack stopped rolling.
"Man, this thing is flying smooth. Real smooth. I can't
wait to take her outside for a spin."
"It's a bit windy outside," remarked Randy.
"Yeah… but I can fly below the tree top and let
the trees serve as a windbreak."
"Hey, flying in the choppy wind near tree level is real
dangerous. You can have a wind shear smash you into the ground."
"Right now, I don't care." I need to do something
to get Amber off my mind.
 
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