Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 1.3 Let there be light

"Hawaii was great!" Newt said to Ray. "And your chest light was good, too. There's just one thing."

They were in Ray's lab. The "just one thing" got Ray's attention. "What's that."

"Sometimes the chest light isn't pointed where you want to see."

"Oh. I suppose that's right. Especially in a dark place like those caves."

"Exactly."

"So what do you want? Light beams in the hands, like Iron Man? It would be easy to string fiber optic lines to them."

Newt grinned. "That was the first thing I thought of too. But then I realized having light from the hands wouldn't always be best. If you're holding something, then the side you're looking at would be in the shadow."

"Yeah, I suppose that's right. And the light would be in your face." Newt could tell Ray was a little bummed that his Iron Man idea was out. Ray still liked the Iron Man avatar. Newt did too.

But he said, "So how about in the forehead?"

"You mean like a third eye. The sixth chakra."

"Yeah, that's right. Instead of seeing, it provides illumination!"

Ray rolled his eyes. "I have some fiber optic cable around here somewhere. You want to help me do the modification?"

"Love to. I'll get the drones in here while you're looking for it."

While Ray dug through bins and boxes looking for his spool of fiber optic cable, Newt sat down and linked to his drone. He also linked to Sedna and asked her to bring hers.

Soon Newt's drone walked into the lab, followed by Sedna's drone and Sedna herself.

"This is a great idea," she said. "The chest beam helps a lot, but Newt's right. A little beam that points where you're looking will be very useful too."

Ray nodded. "I'm thinking it doesn't have to be just a 'little beam.' There's plenty of light available. Give me some time to work out the details, and I should be able to give you a way to adjust both the intensity and the width of the beam."

Newt nodded his agreement and approval. Sedna smiled at both of them.