The Conduits: Spectre

Chapter 11: The Fox and the Wolf

“Are you ready Valkyrie?” Larkka asked, hovering a few feet in front of her.

“Wait!” she exclaimed. “I am almost finished.”

Valkyrie had her tongue stuck out to the side as she carefully soldered the final wire in place on the circuit board, which was attached to more wires that ran inside the robotic arm she had been working on for the past two hours.

The open surface of the arm’s bicep exposed two metal cylinders; each having attached tubes that ran underneath the arms metallic surface towards the hand portion.
An additional circuit board had been exposed in the forearm, which was connected to Valkyrie’s own arm through several electromyograms.

“Valkyrie, you are going to be late.” Larkka warned with a tone of disapproval.

Valkyrie hastily tossed aside the tools on her desk and began shutting compartments and closing the exposed circuitry on the mechanical limb. She pressed a switch on a circuit that lay among various cluttered parts on her desk, and the limb hummed to life as a small blue light blinked near the wrist.

Valkyrie bounced in her chair with anticipation as she cautiously flexed the muscles in her arm that was attached to the device. Her eyes grew wide with excitement as she heard the motors whine as the arm moved in unison with her own.

“That is most impressive Valkyrie!” Larkka marvelled.

“Oh, it’s not much really.” Valkyrie responded. “However, there are some finishing touches to be made, such as a separate circuitry for the fuel tanks and the firing mechanism.”

“Why can you not use simply connect it to the one you have?” Larkka inquired with a tilt of her head.”

“Well you see. Every time I the device is powered the firing mechanism would also be powered, thus causing the failsafe to activate whenever the fuel pressure increases beyond a specified threshold. I think it was five STP.”  Valkyrie explained.

“But… isn’t the device operational right now?” Larkka asked with growing concern.

“Huh?” Valkyrie responded with a frown, before the realisation dawned on her.

Before she could react, a linear jet of flame exploded out the palm of the robotic hand with an almighty bang, sending parts and tools flying forward from the shockwave as Valkyrie dove on the floor with her hands on her ears. The robotic violently flew backward, bouncing across the floor.

Valkyrie groaned and let out a long exhale, her ears still ringing from the explosion. It wasn’t long before her door was thrown open and her mother, Jacques and several other staff came rushing in to investigate.

After a severe scolding from mother, with every word that left her mouth making Valkyrie flinch as it progressively grew louder, she hurriedly packed away all her assorted parts, wires and gizmos. Mother had warned her that the next incident would be grounds for confiscation.

As Valkyrie was hauling the last pile of assorted metal her phone rang, vibrating on her bed as the ringtone chirped. She quickly dumped the pile on the floor and raced to answer, stumbling on the stair and landing hard on her chest. Valkyrie felt the wind knocked right out of her chest with a whoosh as a sharp pain hammered at her chest. She picked herself up and fumbled towards the bed, wheezing.

With such delicate and refined skill with her hands in constructing ingenious devices at her age with such precision… its extraordinarily ironic that she displayed clumsiness on such a grand scale… Larkka thought to herself.

“Hello?”  Valkyrie spoke into the phone.
“Where are you!?” Kara’s voice demanded through the speakers. “The movie starts in half an hour!”

Valkyrie froze.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE! She screamed internally. She had forgotten about the movie!

“A thousand apologies Kara but I’m afraid I must cancel our evening.” Valkyrie said nervously.

“Cancel? But I’m already here. Why so last minute?” Kara demanded to know.

Valkyrie’s mind quickly raced around, searching for a possible excuse.

“I uh...  have an extracurricular assignment I must finish by tonight.” Valkyrie answered, anxiously waiting to hear how it would be received. 

“Huh? Nice try blondie, you sound guilty. Out with it, what’s the real reason?” Kara responded.

Valkyrie had been exposed. Kara had an uncanny perception of emotions. She would need a more convincing alibi to convince her. Valkyrie winced at the thought of lying to her friend, but there were no other options available.

“Very well, you are most perceptive my dear friend. I’m afraid there has been some last-minute changes to the schedule, mother has requested assistance in finishing the final touches of a new outfit for a magazine, who’s representative has arrived on short notice. And unfortunately, he has requested in person some examples of mother’s latest designs.” Valkyrie said, trying her hardest to control her tone.

“I know, it is a poor excuse, and I do feel most guilty for letting you down.” She finished.

“Ughhhhhh.” Kara groaned, rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone.

“It’s fine, we’ll go another time. I understand.” She said.

And with that, they said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Kara, sighed in the queue for popcorn and snacks by the cinema and flipped through her contact lists. No one would be available on short notice. She stopped scrolling and rested above Kyle’s name in her contacts.
 
Well… Kara thought to herself.