Out of the Blue

Chapter 11

After Mar left, Tessa went right back to work. The table was clear, because she had helped Ellie and her friend put them in the dishwasher after they had eaten. She went right into the spare room, the walls were blank and there were plain sheets on the bed. There was a small dresser as well, and that was where she had placed all her stuff. First she grabbed her temptor and the metal stand she used to hold it aloft so she could work on it. Then in the other hand she started to grab some of her tools.

"No!" she cursed as a hydronic wrench fell in the gap between the dresser and the wall.

Tessa reached down and start fumbling to grab it. Her hand felt something, and went she pulled it back up what she found wasn't that. Instead Tessa found a photograph, in its she saw Ellie she looked a few years younger, and her hair didn't have the red in it. She was wearing pink as always. There was a girl next to her, but she couldn't see her face because she was blowing a bubble out of blue gum.

She wondered who the person was, it wasn't her sister they looked nothing alike. Not to be mean but it didn't seem like she had any other friends than Mar and Wheels. Maybe they had a falling out, Tessa thought. She knew better than to get her hopes up. Part of her wanted to know a bit more about Ellie though, and then she remembered if everything worked out, she would be leaving soon. She realized that part of her didn't relish that thought.

Tessa looked out the door and saw Ellie hunched over her computer a pile of books at her side. She knew better than to bother while she was busy working on school stuff. So she slipped the photo down where it had been, and finally grabbed her wrench. Now that she had grabbed everything she put it all on the kitchen table. Placing the temptor in the center, she pulled out a scanner, and checked the device. It gave her a damage report on the screen, half the temptor was in red.

Tessa sighed, and grabbed a screwdriver, the first thing she would need to do was loosen the broken screen. She'd have to find something to replace it so she had an idea of where she was going. The screwdriver buzzed to life as she turned it on, and started loosening the first corner. She heard Ellie sigh from across the room and pull out pink headphones. Tessa ignored her as she turned to the next corner, then another till the screen popped. Inside was a maze of wiring and buttons, some of them looked like they'd burnt.

Also inside was a clear canister, there were a few drops of Ehlorine that was the heart of her temptor. Raw crystals were purple, but they turned blue once liquidized and its energy taken away. It was already halfway gone though, she wasn't sure that it would be enough power to send her all the way home. Don't worry you'll find a way, she told herself though she wasn't sure if she believed it.

The next thing she did was grab a pair of tweezers and try to connect some of the salvageable wires. They were tiny though, and it was difficult work, especially because the wires refused to stay in her grasp for long. Now it was her turn to let out a frustrated sigh, and she decided to turn to a different component of the damaged temptor. The armband had a few scuff marks on it that was fine. Some of the buttons and dials were so broken she wasn't sure how to fix those.

She didn't know how to work half the tools Mikhailov had given her, and she had never learned how to rebuild a temptor. Sure she had to memorize the parts and functions, but she had passed that exam by a small margin. She had never been good with mechanics either, Mikhailov had helped her cheat for that exam. She was winging it that was all she could say.

"Do you want to do something?" Ellie asked.

"Please. I'd rather not wallow in my own frustration" Tessa told her.

"Going well huh?" Ellie asked.

"How's the paper?" Tessa said changing the conversation.

"Terrible, I've only got a word down" Ellie answered, "Wanna watch Friends?" she asked.