Project Icarus

Training

Really early this morning, some doctors came in and used a weird cutting tool that only works on casts to break them off. After a few wobbly steps, I was walking fine. Fast healing and all that. I was casually standing next to my bed when Lindsay walked in.

"Hey Nic-OHMYGOD YOU GOT THE CASTS OFF" she noticed, clearly surprised.

"Yeah. Nobody told you?" I asked.

"Well I assumed that 'soon' meant in a few weeks because of the broken bones, and not later today!"

"Yep... Hey, Lindsay, my legs are weak from the casts, is there any way you can help?"

"Yes, actually. Surfing taught me some stretches and strengthening techniques I can teach you. It might even be good  for you to get in the habit of, for your body's sake," she recommended.

And so she gave me a lot of different strengthening and stretching moves. I do think that I'll do the routine every day, along with my ordinary nighttime routine. I'll just have to make sure I do it before I shower.

"We should do a few more days of training before we strap you back into the wings. Now, while you're sore all over, I'll give you the tour that didn't happen before the incident," she said with a smile.

We walked out of my room and to the right. After walking down a hall and past the end of the flight chamber, we entered an enormous room. Scattered throughout the area were various computers, workbenches, tools, and materials.

"This is the workshop. In here, the Scientists can design, prototype, and finalize anything. We have  every tool you can imagine and more. Many of these tools, if sold, could buy a small country," she said. Turning to me with a smile, she added, "it's pretty cool stuff."

She lead me to the back corner of the room, where there was one massive box, at least twenty feet in every dimension. The walls were made of semitransparent glass, and when we got close I could tell that there was large arms and bits of machinery inside.

"This is the largest and most expensive tool we have here. We call it "daedalus" because if you can dream it, he can create it. Taking a computer model or sculpture of an object, it can print out what was designed in the highest quality ever designed. On top of how large of objects he can print, daedalus can print out any known material. We give him hydrogen, and he combines it the way that was set in the design. Daedalus is the sole creator of the Knights, Lightning Guns, and really everything large in the whole facility. We have smaller printers for trivial things like food, but he's unmatched when you want quality," Lindsay said, sounding as if she was still a bit in awe of it herself.

"If Daedalus the best tool ever, why'd the wings fall apart?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"I've been told that they fell apart because all of the individual pieces were printed separately and not glued together," she replied.

"So what's going to change?"

"This time, the Scientists are printing it all at once and epoxy-sealing what were the connections before. It shouldn't fall apart. However, if it does fall apart, they said that they're working on something else that could let you fall from any height and land unharmed."

"Dang. How does it work?"

"I have no idea. You could ask a Scientist, but they would probably begin explaining the gravitational theory behind it, so they wouldn't help terribly much either."

"Ah. They're really stepping up their game this time, aren't they?"

"For sure. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they replaced all of the sand with a giant net. Wait. Hold on, that's actually a good idea. But then they wouldn't need the boots." She began countering her own arguments and I tuned it out a bit. The lab here really was wonderful, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't as perfect as it seemed.