MTLNOVEL Chapter 6: Preparations
"Thanks for agreeing to take me there–" Astra sighed on the rear end of Harry's hoverbike early the next day, the sun hardly out and the atmosphere carrying a slight chill.
"No worries, I'm on the way over there anyhow," He reassured, revving his bike to hopefully go faster.
"Did your friend ever get back to you…" Astra pondered, leaning over to get a good look at Harry's face, to which he remained silent, getting the message across clearly.
"Oh…" She muttered, feeling as though she had crossed a boundary, her eyes downcast as the drive went on. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't worry about it!" Harry reassured, yet the rest of the ride goes on in awkward silence. Yu beeped in her lap, in hopes of getting her to cheer up, to which Astra responded with a soft smile, patting the head of the tiny robot.
"Well! This is where we part ways!" Harry declared, stopping the hoverbike and watching as Astra got off, his brow furrowing in concern once she got onto the sand. "Hey, are you sure you don't wanna come with me? There's prolly silicon there too—"
"No i'm fine, my mech is near by anyway," Astra cuts him off with a smile, Yu beeping in her arms, his camera showing the emoticon of a smile.
"Alright, see you later then," and with that he was off, giving Astra one last glance before he completely disappeared from sight.
"Now…" She breathed, letting Yu go and kneeling onto the sand as softly as she could. "How do I do this…"
[NOTICE!]
[First, we take this quartz sand, which is mostly silicon dioxide—SiO₂. To get silicon, we need to break it down. This requires extreme heat and a little chemistry]
[Close—carbon. We mix the sand with coke or coal, sometimes even wood chips. Then, we throw it into a furnace. But not just any furnace—a submerged arc furnace and—-]
"Ok, ok, ok, stop!" She groaned, already overwhelmed by the information given, the young technician rubbing her already throbbing temples.
"Is there any other way? Any at all—" Without skipping a beat the skill tree appeared before her once more.
[Master gatherer!]
[allows you to gain any material from any form from the source!]
"So I can just pick up the sand and turn it to silicon?" She questioned, her eyes blinking owlishly as she picked up a handful.
[Affirmative!]
She takes a minute to think about it, her arms crossed, originally she wanted to take her time with these skills but this is kind of a urgent matter—
"Alright–" She relents, selecting [Fast repair] before having full access to [Master gatherer]. "There… now how do I use this,"
[Give the command!]
"Ok… uh– master gatherer?" She muttered, uncertainty lining her words as she spoke, though nothing happened and an awkward silence settled amongst the flat early morning breeze. With a soft groan of frustration she picks up a handful of sand, crushing it in her palm and prepares to throw it out of frustration, but instead a small, very small piece of silicon skids across the sandy wasteland.
"Oh— neat!" She lights up, reaching over to pick it up.
The sun slowly rises into the sky, the blistering heat soon beating down her back. Her hands filled with silicon ores, her body glistening with sweat as she slowly trudged to her mech through the deserted wasteland.
"Alight Yu," She panted, lightly putting the silicon down on the feet of the mech. Wiping her brow from sweat. Yu looked at her confused as she took a marker, marking certain parts along the mech's arm. "We'll put the Solar panels here, so i'm gonna need you to cut it open,"
Yu beeped happily, flying up to the part she marked and began to tear it open with a tiny lazer, causing sparks to fly as it sawed between the material. Astra watched from below with a soft smile before turning to the ingots she brought and cracked her knuckles, preparing for the work ahead.
Letting one of the thrusters loose; she sets it facing upwards, holding a crucible over it with crucible tongs, and carefully she sets the first ingot, watching as it would melt under the controlled flame; carefully stirring the molten mass with a heat resistant rod.
After a bit she poured the molten pool carefully in a mold, repeating the process with the other ingots. Her hands steady despite the heat waves lashing at her face. By the time she was done, huge pieces of metal slammed against the sand floor and without skipping a beat she rests the ingots on one of them as a makeshift table for the time being.
Yu seeing this flies down, looking at the ingots before buzzing to life before carving wafer after wafer into the ingots, Astra watches with glee as sparks flew and her creation is coming to be.
"Not bad," She says, watching as the last wafer is placed.
With the wafers complete, Astra arranged them on the sand and reached for a spray bottle of etching solution. She worked methodically, her fingers quick yet careful as she coated each wafer. The solution hissed as it reacted with the silicon surface, creating a subtle texture. Yu hovered close, its camera capturing the process like a curious child.
"Alright, onto the coating." Astra retrieved another bottle, this one filled with the anti-reflective material. She sprayed a fine mist over the textured wafers, the liquid settling into a bluish sheen as it dried under the blazing sun.
By now, the heat was oppressive, but Astra was too focused to care. She wiped the sweat from her brow and picked up the first completed wafer, holding it up triumphantly.
"Looks like it's coming together, Yu," she said.
Yu beeped in agreement, displaying another cheerful emoji.
The sun was at its zenith when Astra began attaching the wafers to the mech. She carefully aligned them along the marked areas on the arm, securing them with conductive adhesive. The mech's reflective surface shimmered with every move she made, its armored arm transforming into a patchwork of solar panels.
[Warning!]
"Not now!" Astra interrupts, waving off the matter as she continues to work. Once the wavers were in place she connected it to the mecha's power system, the junction box clicking into place and Astra stepped back, wiping her stained hands on her cargo pants.
"Moment of truth," She murmured, her voice tinged with excitement and anticipation.
Yu also watched on, he can hardly stay still from the tension.
[NOTICE!]
[Mecha regaining power!]
[3%...]
"Yes!" Astra cheered, throwing her fists into the air. Yu spun in a circle, emitting a string of celebratory beeps.
The mech shifted slightly, its hydraulics responding smoothly. Astra placed a hand on its leg, as if to feel the energy coursing through the machine.
"Now we just have to cover them up! Can't have them exposed all the time–" She muttered thoughtfully to herself,
"Freeze! Interstellar police!" She heard a voice behind her causing her to clamp up, "Hands up now!"
Slowly she raised her hands, looking slowly behind her to see Fiona and the others, her hand on the trigger of a blaster ready to fire.
"Resisting arrest, stealing government property, murdering an officer, stealing a mech, piloting a mech unlicensed, now tampering with government property and weapons." Fiona muttered, her gaze unimpressed with Astra's feats, "You had quite the run,"
"But it's over now, Anomaly—"