Book Nerds {IronStrange} |ON HOLD|

5

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       It was a frigid Sunday morning, around quarter to nine. The world was very bright, although cloudy. Clouds usually remind me of big spaceships, the kind that science fiction aliens ride. I used to believe that if aliens existed, then the spacecrafts that everyone else believes they drive, the ones made of metal, would be unrealistic because their civilization would be more technologically efficient and filled with different resources. Essentially, I believed that aliens could ride around in a lightweight material, such as clouds. My father discredited that idea by telling me, "Aliens don't exist and clouds are just evaporated water, which means it's a gas and we can not stand on gases." Then I told my father that we don't know if aliens can stand on gases or not. Once again, he shot me down. After that, I hoped that aliens would kidnap my dad.

       I was thinking about what to do today, and since I didn't make any progress on my work yesterday I had to be efficient today. The internet is still down, and I don't believe it will ever be restored, though the president of very big technology company said they were "assessing the situation." I'm at a standstill with my work. I have no internet, no books, and no spontaneous ideas to even attempt. With nothing to produce productivity, I can officially say: I'm stuck.

I got up out of bed and stretched my arms. I'm never up this early but, when I am, it's usually because I didn't even sleep the night before. My eyes felt groggy as I made my way to the kitchen, well kitchenette. I may be 'up there' with my wealth but I choose to spend my money on something I care about rather than what I need. I turned on my Keurig and started to brew a pumpkin spice coffee. No better start to a chilly fall day than scalding coffee. 

At around nine fifteen, a notification drew my attention away from,, whatever I was mindlessly tinkering with. A name I was newly familiar with displayed itself on the screen of my phone. A message from Stephen, in perfect grammar. "I have a quick question for you. Your father was a mechanic, right?" I quickly typed out my response, using all the abbreviations I could, "An inventor but yea y do u wanna know?"

I set my phone down on my sofa as I washed my favorite mug in the sink. My phone buzzed once again, Stephen presumably. "Would you happen to know how to weld metal?" His text read. "Yeah? U do know who ur talking to right? I've made tons of robots that I gave to MIT." I laid down on my couch, checking the weather in between texts. "Odd bluff but no doubt." Stephen mocked. "I hate you." I rebutted. "Anyways, I was wondering if you were free to help me make something." A smirk grew across my face as I texted, "suspicious, sounds fun. Wanna come over?" I put my phone into my back pocket after sending the location of my apartment,  and began to gather up some scrap metal for us to work with.

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       The bell to my apartment rang around ten. I installed a camera into the existing microphone set-up, and saw the unshaven face of Stephen. A few small snowflakes lingered in his hair and beard. "Hey..." he began. "I hope that this thing has audio, or else I'd just be talking to myself." I invited Stephen into my building, unlocking the front door with the click of a button. Stephen arrived at my door a minute later, after most likely taking the stairs. I opened the door to my specific apartment as Stephen's hand rose to knock on my door. He swiftly moved his hand behind his back, trying to not look awkward, although he was totally failing.

       "Hey!" He yapped, standing tall in front of me. "Howdy pardner." I stood leaning in my doorway, tipping a nonexistent hat on my head. "That's, uhm, that's a joke I often do." He never asked to come in, and I didn't want to wait any longer. I cleared my throat, "Yeehaw, yippee ki yay, won't you come in so I can stop making really bad cowboy sounds?" I moved out of the doorway, bringing my hand to the doorknob. Stephen's eyes dart around my place while stepping into the room. "Oh! Right, yes. Thank you." I closed the door behind him as he started to take his shoes and coat off. I gracefully moved behind him and removed his coat from his arms and hung it on my coatrack.

       I moved my way over to my couch and took a seat as Stephen walked over in his fuzzy socks with his satchel in hand. "So, how was the walk over?" Stephen furrowed his brows at me, "How did you know I walked?" I pointed my finger up at my hair nonchalantly. "Too much snow for just getting out of a car." Stephen cracked a smile, causing one to grow on my face as well. "Also I watched through my windows until you got here." Stephen giggled in confusion. "So your deduction was,," "-Bullshit? Precisely." The wide smile remained on his face, getting wider with each moment.

       "So, what did you need my help with?" The reminder sent Stephen looking through his bag for,, something. "Okay, so, you know how I accidentally stole that library book?" I attempted to follow his train of thought cautiously. "That was last week when we got food?" "Yes! So that book, right-" I nodded. "It's all about these secret arts of self healing from Kathmandu." He explained, taking the book out of his bag flipping page by page. "Like the song?" "Yes." "For your hands?" "Exactly! And, and it's like magic, right?" He elaborated, getting more excited with each word. "I'm not quite following but, continue."

Stephen flipped the book to show me the page, it had a diagram of a ring with a bar and words in Nepali. "In order to even attempt any of these spells and solutions, I have to, if my translation is correct, have a sling ring." He said the last part slower and in a higher pitch, confusion showing through each word. "Are you translating without the internet?" I stressed. "Yeah, I bought a dictionary off some deli owner on seventh avenue. Also, the conjugation in this language is so weird." Stephen chuckled. "I bet." I sighed, and stood up from my couch, Stephen following suit. "Well, you have a picture to work from so," "So?" "I'll help you." I cracked a smile and stuck out my hand to shake his. "Thank you, Tony." His soft hands and my rough ones shook briefly before braking off. I clapped my hands together, and started towards my workshop, leading Stephen. "We're business partners now. I'm gonna teach you how to make this thingy. Let's get to work!"

——

After about five minutes of looking around for any clear desk space, I gave up and sat on the ground. My tables were filled with different prototypes and gadgets, all waiting to be finished. Stephen sat on the ground after me, and I began going through a box next to one of my desks for scraps. "Hey, can I see that design again?" Stephen fumbled to open the book to the correct page. "Stephen?" I asked, darting my eyes from the page to him. "Do you have translations?" "Y-Yes, give me a moment." Stephen opened his bag, digging around until eventually pulling out a binder. He drops the binder on the ground in front of us and began flipping through pages.

"You translated, ALL of THIS?" I look closely at the pages. His shaken handwriting, his small page numbers, the stray tea stains that litter only a few of the pages. All of it, uniquely him. Stephen cleared his throat, "I don't know if you're looking for a list of,, materials or whatever, but if you are, it doesn't mention what it's made of. Meaning we're going to have to experiment a bit before getting it right... most likely." I nodded, before getting up to search my tables for any scraps.

"Well, this kinda sucks." I chuckled, not really minding the inefficient task at hand. Stephen hummed and turned his head to me. "If I'm being an inconvenience you can just tell me to leave." The clasp on Stephen's bag unlatched, he began to tidy his mess and pack. "Oh, no no I didn't mean you, Stephen. I meant like- how do I explain this." I scratched my head as I continued to poke around. "If this whole,, internet breakdown thing was over, or granted if it had never happened, I could just make a Three-D scab of your fingers, get the ring sizes perfectly planned, easily shape and weld the metal, cause we wouldn't have to wink wink, and we could have some tea while we waited for it to finish printing in whatever metal we desire, I have, hundreds." I ranted, although mid-way through, I came across a big box full to the brim with scraps. I sighed and turned to face him, with my box. "We're back to sticks and stones." I sat on the ground next to him, letting the box clatter as it hit the ground.

"Welcome to the Stone Age, Stephen."

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