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File 01: Inutilis Sedendo
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Dad always used to teach me Latin as part of understanding army slogans. He told me that some of the Harry Potter combinations were wrong and that lots of the words we use in English are from Latin.
He taught me an abbreviated version of saying "Its useless if you sit still" which was "inutilis sedendo". Hah, he would use that every time he caught me slacking off in my exercises or doing my chores.
Instead of getting angry at me or punishing me he would simply taunt me with that phrase.
Dad taught me to be self reliant and hard working. Sure he taught me how to do a lot of things by myself, but he also taught me why I needed to do them by myself.
While fixing a toaster he would say "It'd be useless if I just stared at it."
While both working on my Mustang he related how people are like cars, then repeated that Latin phrase again, inutilis sedendo. This was very true in so many ways. Ugh, but my dad never needed a change of oil. He'd go nuts if he heard that.
I never tired of that phrase. Just as it was his motto in life, it was mine.
I learnt that phrase and applied it to him when they built the first exoskeleton suit for him. I think of that each time I touch the engraving of that phrase on a rib of my exo.
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Oh, let me first tell you why he needed it in the first place. He couldn't use his legs after an accident in a wrestling match. Some big monster threw him around one too many times and broke his back.
That was the first and only time I had ever seen my dad cry.
It wasn't the pain that hurt. It was him realising that he would become what his motto in life was... useless. I understood.
At the hospital the medics found that his arms and hips worked but his legs wouldn't listen to his head. The doctors couldn't figure out why his hips still worked. Eventually that stopped too.
Dad didn't stay disabled forever though.
While he worked in the army in his Special Ops days he made a lot of friends and contacts who owed him favours. They all pitched in to help him get back on his feet in whatever way they knew how.
A few days... and a lot of beer...
Titanium Alloys...
Gyroscopic stabilisers...
Welding torches... and gunpowder-barbecue later...
...and they were finished.
They had built one of the most advanced exoskeletal systems around and dad was the one it was designed for.
They didn't stop at helping him get back on his feet either...
Dad had a reputation to keep and they knew it.
They built attachments to support and strengthen him...
...magnetically boosted shoulder, arm, and leg muscles and joints...
...shielding to keep the magnetic field in, saving our phones....
...neural sensory connections to make the legs move when he told them to. Basically a spine bypass...
....high tension belts to increase the spring of the joins to go with natural fluidic movments of the body...
...high impack dampeners for his arms and feet...
YOU ARE READING
EXO Legacy
Science FictionMy Father was a soldier... a tough one. He had to be. One day he broke his back while off duty in a wrestling ring. He built a high-tech exo-skeleton with the help of some friends and a few favours that could support himself and give him strength ba...
