Infinity

Chapter 3

Marleena's POV

If I had been alone, I would have thought that I had died and gone to heaven. I had never seen such a perfect place. Both Tommy and Jasper had described the different labs at their schools, but it was nothing compared to this. I stood frozen for a moment taking it all in. There were several unfinished projects scattered throughout the room, five different worktables each covered with papers, tool, parts, and old dishes, and it was all split into three different sections that were separated by different chalk boards. The best part was that each of the boards were filled with equations and information on the projects.

I did not even realize that I had drifted over to a partially completed engine, which guessed would go into some form of car. I only realized that I was about to touch it when I was jarred from my thoughts by my father placing a firm and somewhat painful hold on my shoulder. He directed me back to the group and brought his lips to my ear.

"You better start behaving or there will be consequences."

I turned to look at him and saw that he had already masked his face and was shooting Mr. Stark an impressed smile. I tried to behave but it was nearly impossible with where I was.

"Mr. Edwards there is a project over here that I would like your opinion on. Why don't we let the others explore a bit while we discuss business?"

I could tell that my father did not like the idea of leaving us to explore, but he also did not want to decline the charismatic man. To my great joy, my father nodded his head in agreement. Both men turned to head toward a small office like room in the corner of the lab that I did not notice before.

"Mr. Stark did you really mean it when you said we could explore, or would you prefer that we wait here?"

I do not know where I found the courage to speak but I am glad I did. Before my father could say otherwise. Howard Stark replied sending me the smirk that I am sure has made so many girls melt to his will.

"Sweetheart, if you promise that you won't take the secrets of my projects to my competitors you can explore as much as you like."

I knew that he hadn't caught on to my true interest in exploring the lab, but I did not care. For once it did not bother me that someone assumed that I was just an unintelligent girl and should not be taken seriously. I was about to explore the best place on earth.

I wandered around looking over the different projects, and eventually found myself over by the engine again. I decided that since the men were still preoccupied with work and my mom and brother were conversing in the corner, I would take a closer look. Upon further examination of the blueprints, notes, and the engine itself, I started to figure it out. The engine appeared to somehow run on something called Stark Gravitic Reversion Technology.

It was all so fascinating that I began looking over every piece of information on the theory behind it. It was obvious that Mr. Stark had yet to figure out why he was not able to make it work for more than a few seconds. After reading all the information on the project could find, I then turned to the chalk board, which was filled with different equations and theories.

From what I could tell the theories appeared to be right. As I ran through each of the equations, I noticed a couple of errors. He had not accounted for the extra energy input and output, which would cause the engine to be over worked and overheat. All that was needed to fix the equations. Then Mr. Stark should be able to make the necessary accommodations to solve the problem.

I looked around the room and saw that the men were still in the little office and mother and Jasper were not paying attention to me, so I picked up the tiny piece of chalk and quickly fixed the equations. I had just set the chalk back down when I heard the door to the little office open. I sighed and gave the project one last look before rejoining the group.