It's Tesla, that's a feature. Gots to get those jabs in on Edison.
But yeah wireless energy transmission would be better for large distribution, with wires for local delivery of the electricity.
Built To Last
- Thread starter We Just Write
- Start date
- Superhero
But yeah wireless energy transmission would be better for large distribution, with wires for local delivery of the electricity.
This story is moving extremely fast, for now it isn't a problem as it is very entertaining but I recon other authors would have gotten at least 200k words out of the storyline you pumped out till now.
I'm looking forward to how it will develop from here.
I'm looking forward to how it will develop from here.
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
J: We tend to optimize for maximum narrative per word, rather than maximum words per narrative. We tend to get incredibly frustrated with stories that plod through a million words with hardly anything happening.
I absolutely get it, to each their own, I like it anyway !
Expansion 2-4
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
A/N: Wiggin and Nourie was a real law firm operating in New Hampshire since 1860. In our history, they went defunct in 2012. Since the story is set in 2010 at the moment and an alternate universe aside, it makes sense for them to still be around.
The very first thing Melissa and I did once we were awarded the Energy Teleportation patent was to hire a lawyer. Well, more accurately we turned up at the offices of the Wiggin and Nourie law firm as soon as they were open, with Melissa in her dress armor.
We actually caught a glimpse of Carol Dallon milling around the lobby with a cup of coffee, but she wasn't who we were here to talk to. Instead, we went to the front desk, keenly aware of all the eyes on us.
The receptionist - his nametag read Johan - greeted us.
"Ah. Ruggedizer, from the news? Do you have an appointment?"
Melissa shook her head,
"No appointment, but I've been approved for a very important patent, and we want some help with licensing it."
"And that would be a patent for?"
"Energy teleportation."
Johan blinked, and promptly started typing a message to someone or other at the law firm.
Half an hour later, we were sitting across from an attorney by the name of Lars Anderson.
"Ruggedizer, Emmy. I understand you are looking for help with your Energy Teleportation patent application?"
Melissa made a bit of an awkward noise, before answering.
"Not quite. I was awarded the patent through the PRT's reproducibility verification; that part's already handled. I'm looking for help with licensing it out."
Lars stroked his beard.
"That changes things slightly, but the broad picture is basically the same. There is also the matter of international patent registration. That's something the PRT doesn't handle, as far as I am aware."
I blinked, so did Melissa. Hadn't actually known about that. So I asked,
"You can handle the international patent applications, right?"
"Yes, but let's talk about the licensing scheme you're thinking of going with. What exactly are you looking to achieve with it?"
Melissa spoke up, the both of us having already decided on this part.
"We want to license it to damn near everyone in exchange for a small percentage of revenue. That way the tech gets widespread adoption quickly, while we also get the money needed to revitalize Brockton Bay."
Mr. Anderson adopted a thoughtful expression.
"I can help write up a licensing agreement to achieve that easily enough. That said, I must urge you to be cautious; there are many forces which go out of their way to eliminate ambitious and optimistic Tinkers, with very few of them opting for legal channels to do so. I would advise protecting yourselves."
There was an awkward silence for a moment, before we nodded. That was something we needed to consider. Perhaps an additional backup site in another city? Not to mention improved security for our existing factory complex.
We'd managed to scale up our object teleportation units to the size of a toolbox (and begun animal testing on rodents) by Saturday -- Christmas -- when we'd invited the Heberts over for dinner. Our factory-attached residence was much nicer now than when we'd first moved in, seeing as we'd been busily Tinkering up personal amenities in our spare time.
As Taylor remarked when they both came in, "Those chairs look like they'd survive a bomb going off."
Melissa nodded,
"Yeah that sounds about right. Awfully comfy too."
I thought to add, "They're color coded; shorter wavelength colors use stiffer foam. Seeing as Melissa's a robot, she needs tougher cushions to get the same effect."
As Taylor sat in one of the red chairs and Danny one of the orange chairs, we went to fetch the meal that our CookBot had whipped up for us.
As Melissa set the wonderfully baked shepherd's pie down in the middle of the table, Danny noted,
"That looks absolutely delicious. Thank you for inviting us."
I replied as I sat,
"It's great to have you over. Aside from that, we do have some good news we wanted to share."
Taylor and Danny both motioned for us to continue, and Melissa took the opportunity.
"We've been awarded a patent for Energy Teleportation; fully reproducible. The marketing guys have already figured out a couple products using it we can sell, and even aside from that, we're going to be licensing out the technology worldwide."
Taylor's jaw dropped, and Danny's eyes went wide.
"That's going to bring so much money into the city. It's... You are going to share, I hope?"
We both emphatically nodded. Melissa spoke first,
"Yeah we're going to be sharing our newfound wealth with the general city; Max Anders is not an example to be emulated."
I added on to that.
"We haven't quite worked out all the details with the lawyers we hired, but we're thinking of setting up some sort of fund to help Brocktonites set up their own businesses, get housing, get through rehab, that sort of thing."
Danny was so taken aback that he was crying tears of joy as he made his way around the table to hug us.
Taylor on the other hand just looked grim.
Seeing this, I asked,
"Taylor, is something wrong."
The teenager looked deeply conflicted, before eventually saying, "There's something I need to tell you. I've been getting bullied at high school."
Within an hour the whole horrid story of those three girls' torture of Taylor came out, tears streaking down her shirt as she told us everything. Neither Melissa or I had ever met this Emma... but the level of betrayal she'd done was inexcusable. Also, this Sophia Hess girl was clearly fucked in the head.
When things eventually calmed down, I brought up the obvious solution.
"You know, there's still two weeks of Christmas Break before classes resume. If you want, we can help you get into another school. We've got the money to put you through Immaculata."
Something in Taylor's gaze hardened.
"No. I'm not the only one Sophia and Emma torment, just their favorite target. They've got to be dealt with somehow before I leave Winslow."
Danny nodded,
"Right. I think we're going to need to talk to a lawyer about how we're going to handle this. Before you go back there."
I also chimed in,
"We're also going to make you some Christmas presents. Because there's no way in hell we're risking them hurting you again before this whole mess is wrapped up."
The very first thing Melissa and I did once we were awarded the Energy Teleportation patent was to hire a lawyer. Well, more accurately we turned up at the offices of the Wiggin and Nourie law firm as soon as they were open, with Melissa in her dress armor.
We actually caught a glimpse of Carol Dallon milling around the lobby with a cup of coffee, but she wasn't who we were here to talk to. Instead, we went to the front desk, keenly aware of all the eyes on us.
The receptionist - his nametag read Johan - greeted us.
"Ah. Ruggedizer, from the news? Do you have an appointment?"
Melissa shook her head,
"No appointment, but I've been approved for a very important patent, and we want some help with licensing it."
"And that would be a patent for?"
"Energy teleportation."
Johan blinked, and promptly started typing a message to someone or other at the law firm.
Half an hour later, we were sitting across from an attorney by the name of Lars Anderson.
"Ruggedizer, Emmy. I understand you are looking for help with your Energy Teleportation patent application?"
Melissa made a bit of an awkward noise, before answering.
"Not quite. I was awarded the patent through the PRT's reproducibility verification; that part's already handled. I'm looking for help with licensing it out."
Lars stroked his beard.
"That changes things slightly, but the broad picture is basically the same. There is also the matter of international patent registration. That's something the PRT doesn't handle, as far as I am aware."
I blinked, so did Melissa. Hadn't actually known about that. So I asked,
"You can handle the international patent applications, right?"
"Yes, but let's talk about the licensing scheme you're thinking of going with. What exactly are you looking to achieve with it?"
Melissa spoke up, the both of us having already decided on this part.
"We want to license it to damn near everyone in exchange for a small percentage of revenue. That way the tech gets widespread adoption quickly, while we also get the money needed to revitalize Brockton Bay."
Mr. Anderson adopted a thoughtful expression.
"I can help write up a licensing agreement to achieve that easily enough. That said, I must urge you to be cautious; there are many forces which go out of their way to eliminate ambitious and optimistic Tinkers, with very few of them opting for legal channels to do so. I would advise protecting yourselves."
There was an awkward silence for a moment, before we nodded. That was something we needed to consider. Perhaps an additional backup site in another city? Not to mention improved security for our existing factory complex.
We'd managed to scale up our object teleportation units to the size of a toolbox (and begun animal testing on rodents) by Saturday -- Christmas -- when we'd invited the Heberts over for dinner. Our factory-attached residence was much nicer now than when we'd first moved in, seeing as we'd been busily Tinkering up personal amenities in our spare time.
As Taylor remarked when they both came in, "Those chairs look like they'd survive a bomb going off."
Melissa nodded,
"Yeah that sounds about right. Awfully comfy too."
I thought to add, "They're color coded; shorter wavelength colors use stiffer foam. Seeing as Melissa's a robot, she needs tougher cushions to get the same effect."
As Taylor sat in one of the red chairs and Danny one of the orange chairs, we went to fetch the meal that our CookBot had whipped up for us.
As Melissa set the wonderfully baked shepherd's pie down in the middle of the table, Danny noted,
"That looks absolutely delicious. Thank you for inviting us."
I replied as I sat,
"It's great to have you over. Aside from that, we do have some good news we wanted to share."
Taylor and Danny both motioned for us to continue, and Melissa took the opportunity.
"We've been awarded a patent for Energy Teleportation; fully reproducible. The marketing guys have already figured out a couple products using it we can sell, and even aside from that, we're going to be licensing out the technology worldwide."
Taylor's jaw dropped, and Danny's eyes went wide.
"That's going to bring so much money into the city. It's... You are going to share, I hope?"
We both emphatically nodded. Melissa spoke first,
"Yeah we're going to be sharing our newfound wealth with the general city; Max Anders is not an example to be emulated."
I added on to that.
"We haven't quite worked out all the details with the lawyers we hired, but we're thinking of setting up some sort of fund to help Brocktonites set up their own businesses, get housing, get through rehab, that sort of thing."
Danny was so taken aback that he was crying tears of joy as he made his way around the table to hug us.
Taylor on the other hand just looked grim.
Seeing this, I asked,
"Taylor, is something wrong."
The teenager looked deeply conflicted, before eventually saying, "There's something I need to tell you. I've been getting bullied at high school."
Within an hour the whole horrid story of those three girls' torture of Taylor came out, tears streaking down her shirt as she told us everything. Neither Melissa or I had ever met this Emma... but the level of betrayal she'd done was inexcusable. Also, this Sophia Hess girl was clearly fucked in the head.
When things eventually calmed down, I brought up the obvious solution.
"You know, there's still two weeks of Christmas Break before classes resume. If you want, we can help you get into another school. We've got the money to put you through Immaculata."
Something in Taylor's gaze hardened.
"No. I'm not the only one Sophia and Emma torment, just their favorite target. They've got to be dealt with somehow before I leave Winslow."
Danny nodded,
"Right. I think we're going to need to talk to a lawyer about how we're going to handle this. Before you go back there."
I also chimed in,
"We're also going to make you some Christmas presents. Because there's no way in hell we're risking them hurting you again before this whole mess is wrapped up."
Last edited:
Tangent
Crazy-Big Ideas!
- Location
- Pensylvania, United States
So...
Things are definitely lining up for the locker prank to happen, so Taylor will Most likely still trigger.
However, she has also apparently been hanging around Emmy off and on ever since she triggered, and will have some associated Tinkertech on her person at the time, so QA may have pinged off of Ruggedizer's Shard. Whether or not this proves to be the case is up in the air, I can't help but picture Taylor making all sorts of cute bug and crustation themed robot drones about the size of tennis balls that she can remotely operate as a Master. Individually. All at the same time. Or maybe just her regular power, but the ping from Ruggedizer might make any bugs Taylor is currently controlling a lot sturdier than normal?
Sort of like those tiny (but definitely not self-replicating) robots that Hiro invented in the Big Hero Six movie.
Just a thought.
I'm perfectly fine with Taylor ending up with her traditional bug control, or any other power for that matter.
What I'm more hyped about is the high likelihood of Emmy gaining Taylor as a heroic sidekick!
Things are definitely lining up for the locker prank to happen, so Taylor will Most likely still trigger.
However, she has also apparently been hanging around Emmy off and on ever since she triggered, and will have some associated Tinkertech on her person at the time, so QA may have pinged off of Ruggedizer's Shard. Whether or not this proves to be the case is up in the air, I can't help but picture Taylor making all sorts of cute bug and crustation themed robot drones about the size of tennis balls that she can remotely operate as a Master. Individually. All at the same time. Or maybe just her regular power, but the ping from Ruggedizer might make any bugs Taylor is currently controlling a lot sturdier than normal?
Sort of like those tiny (but definitely not self-replicating) robots that Hiro invented in the Big Hero Six movie.
Just a thought.
I'm perfectly fine with Taylor ending up with her traditional bug control, or any other power for that matter.
What I'm more hyped about is the high likelihood of Emmy gaining Taylor as a heroic sidekick!
Last edited:
Well now, this is gonna be interesting.
If Taylor has any tinkertech devices on her when she gets shoved into the locker, will they be enough help for her to get out without triggering? From what I remember of canon (only read pieces of it, way too grim to try the whole thing), Taylor triggered because she lost hope of being helped after a good while of being in there. Having a known rescuer on the way (didn't Ruggedizer give them panic buttons?), or having tech that might be able to get her out, *should* prevent trigger point. Even if it doesn't prevent it, QA being aware of Taylor having close friend of Ruggedizer might make for some interesting changes in Taylor's power.
If Taylor has any tinkertech devices on her when she gets shoved into the locker, will they be enough help for her to get out without triggering? From what I remember of canon (only read pieces of it, way too grim to try the whole thing), Taylor triggered because she lost hope of being helped after a good while of being in there. Having a known rescuer on the way (didn't Ruggedizer give them panic buttons?), or having tech that might be able to get her out, *should* prevent trigger point. Even if it doesn't prevent it, QA being aware of Taylor having close friend of Ruggedizer might make for some interesting changes in Taylor's power.
Thanks for the update.
I love how low-key optimistic this story is, without all that angst and drama that some authors put in just for the sake it. Considering the tone and the focus of the story, I kind of hope Taylor DON'T go through the whole (and really overdone) locker/trigger scene. It would be brilliant if the story was allowed to kept it's focus on Emmy and Melissa without involving Skitter and Tattletale and the whole Undersiders gang.
I love how low-key optimistic this story is, without all that angst and drama that some authors put in just for the sake it. Considering the tone and the focus of the story, I kind of hope Taylor DON'T go through the whole (and really overdone) locker/trigger scene. It would be brilliant if the story was allowed to kept it's focus on Emmy and Melissa without involving Skitter and Tattletale and the whole Undersiders gang.
Expansion 2-5
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
One of the very first things on our agenda for Monday was a meeting at the Dockworkers Association. We needed to talk with Danny, Taylor, and whatever lawyer he'd hired about the bullying situation. So, Melissa made sure I had a breakfast ready when I woke up, we got dressed quickly, got in our carefully legal Tinkermobile, and showed up at 8:30 AM, sharp.
The Heberts were already waiting for us when we got there, as was a large-chested redhead in a suit we'd never met before.
"Ah, you must be the lawyer. I'm Emmy, and this is Ruggedizer. We're friends of the Heberts."
The woman nodded,
"Correct. I'm Sarah Cobbler, the attorney Mr. Hebert hired. Now, let's get down to business. First I have some bad news for Taylor: most of the testimony in your bullying journals will not be admissable in court. The only parts we can really work into the case are the printouts of those horrible emails you were sent."
Taylor nodded sadly.
"If I need to go back to Winslow to get what we need to keep Sophia and Emma's bitch brigade from tormenting someone else once I leave, I'll do it."
Sarah shook her head,
"I'd recommend against that. The records show a clear pattern of continuing escalation, with a tendency to hit you really hard whenever you're coming back from a break. I'm worried that they could seriously hurt you if you go back to Winslow for even one more day."
Taylor nodded grimly,
"I know. The risk is worth it if we can prevent them from tormenting anyone else."
This is also when Melissa chimed in.
"If needed, I can be waiting near Winslow that day? That way if anything really bad does happen, I can go in and rescue Taylor at a moment's notice."
Sarah thought for a moment.
"That could be workable; good samaritan laws still apply to Parahumans, meaning you can't be sued for actions taken to save someone's life. That said, we also need ways to make sure Taylor gets actionable evidence when something does happen to her."
I noticed that we'd all come to a silent agreement that something nasty would be done to Taylor if she went back, but we were going ahead with the plan anyway. I really didn't like that at all, but Taylor was so determined to make sure her tormentors faced justice, no matter the cost to herself.
Taylor asked, "Could I wear a concealed bodycam?"
"...Maybe. I'll need to look into it, but I'm fairly certain there's some sort of exception that would allow you to record things that happen to you and still have it be admissable in court. That could very easily make the case as open-and-shut as they come, depending."
Melissa noted,
"No matter what, I'm going to fit Taylor with a bunch of concealed biosensors. Heart and breathing monitors, that sort of thing. I want to know if Taylor needs a rescue, even if she's incapacitated and can't use her panic button."
Taylor nodded grimly.
The hardest part of designing the energy teleportation products our marketing duo had come up with was making them cheap. Sure a wireless extension cord or power strip would be really convenient, but if it cost twenty times as much as a normal one, no-one would buy it. The issue with that was simple: our power was fighting us every step of the way, trying to design the devices to be as durable and rugged as possible, cost be damned.
In fairness, we'd rather it be super tough too, but there were cost limitations in play here. Again, this was supposed to be a commercial product. Honestly it felt more like haggling than engineering, trying to get our power to compromise with us.
Eventually we got the unit cost down to the point where we could feasibly sell wireless extension cords for fifty dollars wholesale and still have a modest profit margin, and they would still outlast the vast majority of extension cords and surge protectors on the market to boot. But our power honestly felt like it was sulking in the corner. To make it happy I quickly threw together an Indestructium Edition as durable as I could design it without adding too much bulk; we'd need to charge way more for it though.
Still, when we got both of them ready and automated production, we immediately made our way down to the marketing office. Andy and Ruth (our two starting marketing people) had beaming expressions when Melissa set down the box full of wireless extension cords.
Andy cheered,
"That's great! We can make these sell no question about it. Though we're going to need some basic pricing information before we can shoot the commercial."
Melissa tilted her head,
"We've got a 5% profit margin with a wholesale price of $50. The Indestructium Edition goes for $420. Any thoughts on what the commercial is going to be like?"
Ruth smiled,
"Well, it's pretty straightforward."
"Are you tired of vacuuming over the cord?"
A video of a woman running over her vacuum cleaner cord
"Sick of tangled power cables?"
The same woman struggling to untangle a mess of power strips
"Introducing the Wonder Socket!"
The woman, wide-eyed, holding up a rounded plug in her left hand and a matching rocket in her right
"This revolutionary wireless power extension uses patented energy teleportation technology, able to connect anywhere within its transmission range!"
A basic graphic of lightning bolts blinking out at the plug and blinking in at the socket
"It's great for vacuum cleaning."
The lady vacuuming in a cramped space without needing to worry about the cord
"Makes the outdoor use of power tools a breeze!"
A handyman using a plug-in power drill as a screwdriver without an extension cord
"And your power cords will never get tangled again!"
A collection of Wonder Sockets powering devices in close proximity, all plugged into a power strip
"The Wonder Socket, by Reliabuilt. Buy two for $94.95. Call now at 555-RELY ONS!"
Two matched sets of Wonder Sockets spinning on a turntable in front a white background contract into the upper left corner of the screen, pricing information showing on the bottom with a footnote of "shipping and handling not included" immediately below it
The commercial turned out to be a pretty notable success, once we'd paid to have it shown on a few local TV channels. We actually had to hire a couple more people to take calls, who were pleasantly surprised by the living wages we'd decided to pay them. A few more Dockworkers also got hired on to handle the increased shipping and receiving volumes.
It was the twenty ninth of December, we had loads of money coming in from Wonder Plug sales, and we'd finally gotten a pair of teleporters built that could move a human between them. That's when I admitted something to Melissa.
"Melissa... I want to be a robot too. Can we work on that next?"
My double nodded,
"Sure. Making a new body won't take long, nor will making a new brain. The hard part is just getting you in there."
Looking at the teleporter we'd spent most of a month working towards, an idea occurred to me.
"Maybe we could use quantum teleportation? It's the highest-fidelity way we've got to move huge amounts of information from place to place, and it gets around the need for super-deep brain scans. Plus we've spent a lot of effort on related stuff recently, so we've already got some good inroads there."
Melissa thought for a moment.
"I can see where you're coming from with that. Though I'm pretty sure we're going to need a bit of work to get it to do what we need. Formatting a random chunk of matter into your bio-brain while turning the one in your skull to mush won't exactly be helpful."
I winced at the thought of that. Yeah, that would be a horrible way to die.
"Yeah, we need to really nail the process of translating the quantum structure of a brain into... well, me if born as a computer."
Melissa giggled and made a sarcastic, "beep boop" noise.
I chuckled too. Then I got serious.
"We need to figure out which animal we hate the most. There's going to be fatalities in early testing, and I'd rather not feel too bad about them."
Melissa added in,
"Needs to be a fairly brainy animal too, and one that's readily available."
I tilted my head,
"If we can't figure out anything else, there's always lab rats."
"Yeah, I suppose there are. I've honestly grown kind of fond of the ones we used for testing teleportation though."
Melissa frowned,
"Guess we'll just have to buy more and try not to get attached to them."
"Yeah..."
The Heberts were already waiting for us when we got there, as was a large-chested redhead in a suit we'd never met before.
"Ah, you must be the lawyer. I'm Emmy, and this is Ruggedizer. We're friends of the Heberts."
The woman nodded,
"Correct. I'm Sarah Cobbler, the attorney Mr. Hebert hired. Now, let's get down to business. First I have some bad news for Taylor: most of the testimony in your bullying journals will not be admissable in court. The only parts we can really work into the case are the printouts of those horrible emails you were sent."
Taylor nodded sadly.
"If I need to go back to Winslow to get what we need to keep Sophia and Emma's bitch brigade from tormenting someone else once I leave, I'll do it."
Sarah shook her head,
"I'd recommend against that. The records show a clear pattern of continuing escalation, with a tendency to hit you really hard whenever you're coming back from a break. I'm worried that they could seriously hurt you if you go back to Winslow for even one more day."
Taylor nodded grimly,
"I know. The risk is worth it if we can prevent them from tormenting anyone else."
This is also when Melissa chimed in.
"If needed, I can be waiting near Winslow that day? That way if anything really bad does happen, I can go in and rescue Taylor at a moment's notice."
Sarah thought for a moment.
"That could be workable; good samaritan laws still apply to Parahumans, meaning you can't be sued for actions taken to save someone's life. That said, we also need ways to make sure Taylor gets actionable evidence when something does happen to her."
I noticed that we'd all come to a silent agreement that something nasty would be done to Taylor if she went back, but we were going ahead with the plan anyway. I really didn't like that at all, but Taylor was so determined to make sure her tormentors faced justice, no matter the cost to herself.
Taylor asked, "Could I wear a concealed bodycam?"
"...Maybe. I'll need to look into it, but I'm fairly certain there's some sort of exception that would allow you to record things that happen to you and still have it be admissable in court. That could very easily make the case as open-and-shut as they come, depending."
Melissa noted,
"No matter what, I'm going to fit Taylor with a bunch of concealed biosensors. Heart and breathing monitors, that sort of thing. I want to know if Taylor needs a rescue, even if she's incapacitated and can't use her panic button."
Taylor nodded grimly.
The hardest part of designing the energy teleportation products our marketing duo had come up with was making them cheap. Sure a wireless extension cord or power strip would be really convenient, but if it cost twenty times as much as a normal one, no-one would buy it. The issue with that was simple: our power was fighting us every step of the way, trying to design the devices to be as durable and rugged as possible, cost be damned.
In fairness, we'd rather it be super tough too, but there were cost limitations in play here. Again, this was supposed to be a commercial product. Honestly it felt more like haggling than engineering, trying to get our power to compromise with us.
Eventually we got the unit cost down to the point where we could feasibly sell wireless extension cords for fifty dollars wholesale and still have a modest profit margin, and they would still outlast the vast majority of extension cords and surge protectors on the market to boot. But our power honestly felt like it was sulking in the corner. To make it happy I quickly threw together an Indestructium Edition as durable as I could design it without adding too much bulk; we'd need to charge way more for it though.
Still, when we got both of them ready and automated production, we immediately made our way down to the marketing office. Andy and Ruth (our two starting marketing people) had beaming expressions when Melissa set down the box full of wireless extension cords.
Andy cheered,
"That's great! We can make these sell no question about it. Though we're going to need some basic pricing information before we can shoot the commercial."
Melissa tilted her head,
"We've got a 5% profit margin with a wholesale price of $50. The Indestructium Edition goes for $420. Any thoughts on what the commercial is going to be like?"
Ruth smiled,
"Well, it's pretty straightforward."
"Are you tired of vacuuming over the cord?"
A video of a woman running over her vacuum cleaner cord
"Sick of tangled power cables?"
The same woman struggling to untangle a mess of power strips
"Introducing the Wonder Socket!"
The woman, wide-eyed, holding up a rounded plug in her left hand and a matching rocket in her right
"This revolutionary wireless power extension uses patented energy teleportation technology, able to connect anywhere within its transmission range!"
A basic graphic of lightning bolts blinking out at the plug and blinking in at the socket
"It's great for vacuum cleaning."
The lady vacuuming in a cramped space without needing to worry about the cord
"Makes the outdoor use of power tools a breeze!"
A handyman using a plug-in power drill as a screwdriver without an extension cord
"And your power cords will never get tangled again!"
A collection of Wonder Sockets powering devices in close proximity, all plugged into a power strip
"The Wonder Socket, by Reliabuilt. Buy two for $94.95. Call now at 555-RELY ONS!"
Two matched sets of Wonder Sockets spinning on a turntable in front a white background contract into the upper left corner of the screen, pricing information showing on the bottom with a footnote of "shipping and handling not included" immediately below it
The commercial turned out to be a pretty notable success, once we'd paid to have it shown on a few local TV channels. We actually had to hire a couple more people to take calls, who were pleasantly surprised by the living wages we'd decided to pay them. A few more Dockworkers also got hired on to handle the increased shipping and receiving volumes.
It was the twenty ninth of December, we had loads of money coming in from Wonder Plug sales, and we'd finally gotten a pair of teleporters built that could move a human between them. That's when I admitted something to Melissa.
"Melissa... I want to be a robot too. Can we work on that next?"
My double nodded,
"Sure. Making a new body won't take long, nor will making a new brain. The hard part is just getting you in there."
Looking at the teleporter we'd spent most of a month working towards, an idea occurred to me.
"Maybe we could use quantum teleportation? It's the highest-fidelity way we've got to move huge amounts of information from place to place, and it gets around the need for super-deep brain scans. Plus we've spent a lot of effort on related stuff recently, so we've already got some good inroads there."
Melissa thought for a moment.
"I can see where you're coming from with that. Though I'm pretty sure we're going to need a bit of work to get it to do what we need. Formatting a random chunk of matter into your bio-brain while turning the one in your skull to mush won't exactly be helpful."
I winced at the thought of that. Yeah, that would be a horrible way to die.
"Yeah, we need to really nail the process of translating the quantum structure of a brain into... well, me if born as a computer."
Melissa giggled and made a sarcastic, "beep boop" noise.
I chuckled too. Then I got serious.
"We need to figure out which animal we hate the most. There's going to be fatalities in early testing, and I'd rather not feel too bad about them."
Melissa added in,
"Needs to be a fairly brainy animal too, and one that's readily available."
I tilted my head,
"If we can't figure out anything else, there's always lab rats."
"Yeah, I suppose there are. I've honestly grown kind of fond of the ones we used for testing teleportation though."
Melissa frowned,
"Guess we'll just have to buy more and try not to get attached to them."
"Yeah..."
There cases where i would pay even 20 times the price for something like that though admittedly there more one off's for things like locations where the cords are problems or lack of available points but theres one on the otherside of the wall.
because of bed/door location in the room i slept in when I was younger left me with everything on a single point everything flickered in the room if i turned the lamp on/off. Im surprised it didn't end up melting the wires behind the point since something i learned more recently apparently they rarely make the back of the points to perfectly match their 10amp rating.
an idea for the ad for the indestructible one put it in a wood chipper and the wood chipper is the one to get damaged not the cord.
because of bed/door location in the room i slept in when I was younger left me with everything on a single point everything flickered in the room if i turned the lamp on/off. Im surprised it didn't end up melting the wires behind the point since something i learned more recently apparently they rarely make the back of the points to perfectly match their 10amp rating.
an idea for the ad for the indestructible one put it in a wood chipper and the wood chipper is the one to get damaged not the cord.
That's not enough margin, unless you're fine hemorrhaging money. If it takes someone an average of 5 minutes to take an incoming sales call, (including downtime and bad customers), and you're paying them 15$ an hour, already there goes 50% of your profit. Add in the time it takes to internally move the items, package and label the product, etc, building and power costs, employee overhead... yeah.
Most places have between a 50-200% profit margin. I'd suggest at least 20%. Call it Ten Dollars if you want it to still sound small. Bigger ticket items can get away with smaller margins, but there's no way a small full stack line item can do so.
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
L: A businessman we are not, but let's just say the 5% margin was after taking all that into account.
Cool read, and a believable progression. I like it.
Are the gangs going to react at all to the unaligned tinker in the bay, or are they being smart for once?
Are the gangs going to react at all to the unaligned tinker in the bay, or are they being smart for once?
Interlude: Sophia
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
It was just after Thanksgiving that Emma noticed,
"Taylor's too happy."
Sophia mulled it over. She was ever so slightly more confident, and sometimes even smiled a little bit when she thought no-one was watching. Not to mention that shitty red wristwatch she had now. She kept fidgeting with it, like it would somehow keep her safe.
"Maybe she has a boyfriend?"
Emma scoffed, "Her? Who would ever date Taylor?"
Sophia shrugged, "LSD-addicted gutter trash? If they're high on hallucinogens all the time they might not know how ugly Taylor is."
Emma's gaze steeled. "Either way, we can't let Taylor forget her place. We're going to have to do something about that happiness."
Sophia shrugged.
"Easy enough until Christmas, but how are we going to wreck her winter break?"
Emma got an evil grin.
"Remember that locker prank we had in mind?"
Sophia thought for a moment,
"You mean the one where we lock her inside with a bunch of used tampons?"
"Yeah, let's make it worse."
Sophia made a "go on" gesture,
"So those tampons are going to dry out right? Let's get a few bags of pig blood from a butcher, and set it up with a slow leak in there over the winter break, make sure they stay nice and wet and grow all sorts of nasty mold."
Sophia's eyes sparkled,
"That's a great idea! Maybe I can chuck in a few dead squirrels too, make sure lots of icky bugs move in there to keep Taylor company?"
Emma grinned, "I'll add some broken bottles too! Get her all cut up when we shove her in. The maggots will keep her clean."
Sophia grinned, "I'll do you one better. Used syringes. Perfect for the hoe of drug-addicted gutter trash like her."
Emma thought for a moment.
"Remember when we filled Taylor's flute with shit? Let's remind her about that. Buy a cheap flute, break it in half, glue the parts to the back of the locker, let her stare at it while she suffers in there."
"I like the way you think."
As it turned out, the alterations to the locker plan had rendered it surprisingly high maintenance over winter break. Sophia had needed to sneak into Winslow four times to replace the pig's blood and add more dead squirrels. Every single time it had gotten grosser and smellier.
By the end of winter break, Sophia was practically bursting with anticipation.
It was time to show that useless piece of trash her place once and for all.
"Taylor's too happy."
Sophia mulled it over. She was ever so slightly more confident, and sometimes even smiled a little bit when she thought no-one was watching. Not to mention that shitty red wristwatch she had now. She kept fidgeting with it, like it would somehow keep her safe.
"Maybe she has a boyfriend?"
Emma scoffed, "Her? Who would ever date Taylor?"
Sophia shrugged, "LSD-addicted gutter trash? If they're high on hallucinogens all the time they might not know how ugly Taylor is."
Emma's gaze steeled. "Either way, we can't let Taylor forget her place. We're going to have to do something about that happiness."
Sophia shrugged.
"Easy enough until Christmas, but how are we going to wreck her winter break?"
Emma got an evil grin.
"Remember that locker prank we had in mind?"
Sophia thought for a moment,
"You mean the one where we lock her inside with a bunch of used tampons?"
"Yeah, let's make it worse."
Sophia made a "go on" gesture,
"So those tampons are going to dry out right? Let's get a few bags of pig blood from a butcher, and set it up with a slow leak in there over the winter break, make sure they stay nice and wet and grow all sorts of nasty mold."
Sophia's eyes sparkled,
"That's a great idea! Maybe I can chuck in a few dead squirrels too, make sure lots of icky bugs move in there to keep Taylor company?"
Emma grinned, "I'll add some broken bottles too! Get her all cut up when we shove her in. The maggots will keep her clean."
Sophia grinned, "I'll do you one better. Used syringes. Perfect for the hoe of drug-addicted gutter trash like her."
Emma thought for a moment.
"Remember when we filled Taylor's flute with shit? Let's remind her about that. Buy a cheap flute, break it in half, glue the parts to the back of the locker, let her stare at it while she suffers in there."
"I like the way you think."
As it turned out, the alterations to the locker plan had rendered it surprisingly high maintenance over winter break. Sophia had needed to sneak into Winslow four times to replace the pig's blood and add more dead squirrels. Every single time it had gotten grosser and smellier.
By the end of winter break, Sophia was practically bursting with anticipation.
It was time to show that useless piece of trash her place once and for all.
Oh, Sophia, you poor little fool.
And to Emma, you will regret turning traitor.
To alter the quote of the Last Crusader: "She chose... poorly."
And to Emma, you will regret turning traitor.
To alter the quote of the Last Crusader: "She chose... poorly."
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
Even if you were a ruthless business mogul, entering into a market without much of a profit is fine as long as you aren't appealing to any stockholders standing behind you. Its a little like when a drug dealer says 'don't worry, man, the first hit is free'.
Your goal right now is to get the product out there and being talked about. This isn't how you get money: This is how you get advertisement.
You ramp up the costs later on to pay for either expansion or diversification. Or you use the plugs as a loss-leader approach and start selling peripherals that only are practical because of your plugs. Basically do like HP and sell cheap printers with usuriously priced ink.
chaotic-logic
possible impossibility
- Location
- unknown
Well......
the trio have screwed up big time
the trio have screwed up big time
Tangent
Crazy-Big Ideas!
- Location
- Pensylvania, United States
This so-called "Prank" just lost any chance of a successful cover-up on Winslow's part, even if Ruggediser somehow didn't become involved at all. Just the fact that Sophia had to maintain the modifications to their trap lowers the likelihood that Winslow's administration will be able to have the scene cleaned up before the Police arrive to investigate. And the presence of the broken glass and hypodermic needles guarantees that the police will be showing up at the school to investigate what happened, probably even before Taylor reaches the hospital.
The little idiot's "Prank" will get at least Emma and Sophia brought up on criminal charges and not just civil charges, and may even get them tried as adults if the courts deem the "Prank" to have been dangerous enough...
The little idiot's "Prank" will get at least Emma and Sophia brought up on criminal charges and not just civil charges, and may even get them tried as adults if the courts deem the "Prank" to have been dangerous enough...
chaotic-logic
possible impossibility
- Location
- unknown
in most fanfictions where the trio gets caught, the them shoving taylor into the locker with all of the trash init is labeled as Bio-terrorism...
THATS A FEDERAL OFFENSE, which means that the FBI IS GETTING INVOLVED.
THATS A FEDERAL OFFENSE, which means that the FBI IS GETTING INVOLVED.
So, what I'm seeing here is that Taylor will be implanted into the artificial body that's being built. The times line up pretty well and that kind of stuff? She's going to be a serious mess.
Integration 3-1
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
A/N: On the topic of Christmas Presents, we'd really appreciate a tropes page for one of our fics some day.
The new batch of laboratory rats arrived Thursday, all twelve of them. I thanked the delivery man who'd brought them, and tried very hard not to think about how cute the rodents were. Very few of them would survive the experiments, after all. That done, I brought the rats to the private lab where Melissa and I could work on perfecting the brain uploading process.
As I set the cage down, I asked Melissa,
"So. Any thoughts on where we should start?"
Melissa nodded, and brought up some familiar code on one of the nearby monitors.
"Isn't that the brainwave monitoring code from the headset I used when making you?"
"Yeah, it is. It seems a decent enough starting place, since it already has some functions to translate what a bio-brain does into how my synthetic one works."
I nodded, looking at the rat cage again.
"So, which one are we experimenting on first?"
Melissa thought for a moment, before answering, "Whichever one's the most ornery."
We ended up carrying out the first uploading experiment on New Year's Eve. We'd got a rat level synthetic brain ready, a remote-operated robo-rat, and our first iteration of the QUD (Quantum Uploading Device).
We'd also picked out our first test subject, a particularly ornery rat which we'd named Grump. Melissa had caught him bullying the other lab rats, so he was going first.
I'd actually come up with an interesting diagnostic approach to figure out just how much changed about the rat's mental state as a result of the upload. Have a brainwave set on him prior, and once he was in the computer, run the "brainwave to thought code" translator backwards. If we got a successful upload, the changeover ought to be completely and utterly seamless, barring some mild disorientation.
So we wrestled the tiny headset onto Grump's head, chucked him into the QUD, and waited a couple minutes to get a brainwave baseline. Then I pressed the big red button.
The brainwave display spiked wildly as the robo-rat began flailing. Simultaneously, Grump's old body dropped dead. The display kept spiking, even as Melissa put the rat carcass in a sealed trash bag to make sure it wouldn't get too smelly.
After about half an hour of watching the robo-rat flail with no signs of improvement, I pulled the plug.
"Well, that's about what we'd expected to happen, unfortunately. Let's try and figure out what went wrong."
Later that evening, we visited the Heberts for New Years' Eve. As we showed up, Melissa noted that they'd fixed the step she'd busted last time. So we simply walked up the porch steps, and rang the doorbell.
A few moments later, Taylor opened the door.
"Emmy and Melissa! Nice to see you, please come in."
We obliged, and as soon as the door closed Taylor wrapped herself around Melissa in a hug.
"Thank you so much for helping with the... everything really."
Melissa and I both replied "You're welcome."
That's when Danny noted,
"I hope you don't mind if the food isn't too fancy. We ordered Chinese take out in the morning and it's been waiting in the fridge."
I shrugged,
"That's fine."
"Yeah."
As we sat down at the dinner table, I thought to ask,
"By the way, how are things at the Dockworkers' Association going?"
Danny smiled,
"Much better than they were. That fund you set up is already having its first beneficiaries; new businesses mean more money coming into the city, and more honest work for the people I'm looking out for. Not to mention the ones directly working for you. Thank you both."
A few minutes later, I had warmed up some fried rice that I was thoroughly enjoying. That's when Taylor asked,
"By the way, any projects you two want to talk about?"
I spoke first,
"Well, we finally managed to get teleporters that can move a human working. Though our version needs a receiver with a vacuum chamber, otherwise there are serious problems. Not submitting them for testing just yet since we want to focus on another project right now."
Danny raised an eyebrow,
"Hasn't teleportation been your major project for the last month though?"
That's when Melissa spoke up.
"Emmy got jealous of my amazing robot body. We're working on a machine to transfer her mind to the same sort of synthetic brain I run on."
Both Heberts blinked, before Taylor eventually got out a "Huh."
I nodded somberly,
"Yeah, though the process certainly isn't easy. And we fully expect to burn through quite a few lab rats getting it right."
Taylor looked a bit sick, while Danny seemed thoughtful.
"I'm not claiming to be some sort of cape expert, but I thought Tinkers just knew how to build all their stuff. Meanwhile you two seem to be figuring out a lot of your more exotic technology through plain old trial and error."
Melissa chimed in,
"Yeah it's the darnedest thing. It honestly seems like our power has massive holes in its knowledge base. Like, it wants to help us with the various exotic technologies we're developing, but it just can't until we've already put in most of the legwork. I swear, if it weren't for my awesome robot brain we wouldn't have made a fraction of our progress on teleportation research."
I chuckled,
"You're probably right, Melissa. One more reason I'm looking forward to the changeover."
Taylor took the opportunity to comment,
"You know, if you two didn't keep reminding me Melissa is a robot, I'd probably just think you were twin sisters. You just click with each other. Not to mention looking damn near identical, aside from Melissa being way more buff."
Melissa giggled,
"Hey, I was built as a body double."
That's when I remembered something.
"By the way, I talked with Sarah a bit and got clearance to put a bodycam on you. Mind if we take your measurements so we make sure it fits on you?"
Taylor nodded,
"Sure. After dinner though. By the way, I think a rear camera on there would probably be a good idea too. Maybe concealed. That way we still have video even if they push me down the stairs from behind or something."
I smiled,
"That works out quite nicely. See, there needs to be at least one easily visible camera to meet legal requirements. But if that camera's easily removed it could lead the bullies into a false sense of security about all the other concealed cameras on you. We're also going to be fitting you with a set of accelerometers to monitor your movement, sensors for your vitals, all that. Plus redundant audio recorders."
Taylor smiled.
"Thank you Emmy. Melissa too."
The new batch of laboratory rats arrived Thursday, all twelve of them. I thanked the delivery man who'd brought them, and tried very hard not to think about how cute the rodents were. Very few of them would survive the experiments, after all. That done, I brought the rats to the private lab where Melissa and I could work on perfecting the brain uploading process.
As I set the cage down, I asked Melissa,
"So. Any thoughts on where we should start?"
Melissa nodded, and brought up some familiar code on one of the nearby monitors.
"Isn't that the brainwave monitoring code from the headset I used when making you?"
"Yeah, it is. It seems a decent enough starting place, since it already has some functions to translate what a bio-brain does into how my synthetic one works."
I nodded, looking at the rat cage again.
"So, which one are we experimenting on first?"
Melissa thought for a moment, before answering, "Whichever one's the most ornery."
We ended up carrying out the first uploading experiment on New Year's Eve. We'd got a rat level synthetic brain ready, a remote-operated robo-rat, and our first iteration of the QUD (Quantum Uploading Device).
We'd also picked out our first test subject, a particularly ornery rat which we'd named Grump. Melissa had caught him bullying the other lab rats, so he was going first.
I'd actually come up with an interesting diagnostic approach to figure out just how much changed about the rat's mental state as a result of the upload. Have a brainwave set on him prior, and once he was in the computer, run the "brainwave to thought code" translator backwards. If we got a successful upload, the changeover ought to be completely and utterly seamless, barring some mild disorientation.
So we wrestled the tiny headset onto Grump's head, chucked him into the QUD, and waited a couple minutes to get a brainwave baseline. Then I pressed the big red button.
The brainwave display spiked wildly as the robo-rat began flailing. Simultaneously, Grump's old body dropped dead. The display kept spiking, even as Melissa put the rat carcass in a sealed trash bag to make sure it wouldn't get too smelly.
After about half an hour of watching the robo-rat flail with no signs of improvement, I pulled the plug.
"Well, that's about what we'd expected to happen, unfortunately. Let's try and figure out what went wrong."
Later that evening, we visited the Heberts for New Years' Eve. As we showed up, Melissa noted that they'd fixed the step she'd busted last time. So we simply walked up the porch steps, and rang the doorbell.
A few moments later, Taylor opened the door.
"Emmy and Melissa! Nice to see you, please come in."
We obliged, and as soon as the door closed Taylor wrapped herself around Melissa in a hug.
"Thank you so much for helping with the... everything really."
Melissa and I both replied "You're welcome."
That's when Danny noted,
"I hope you don't mind if the food isn't too fancy. We ordered Chinese take out in the morning and it's been waiting in the fridge."
I shrugged,
"That's fine."
"Yeah."
As we sat down at the dinner table, I thought to ask,
"By the way, how are things at the Dockworkers' Association going?"
Danny smiled,
"Much better than they were. That fund you set up is already having its first beneficiaries; new businesses mean more money coming into the city, and more honest work for the people I'm looking out for. Not to mention the ones directly working for you. Thank you both."
A few minutes later, I had warmed up some fried rice that I was thoroughly enjoying. That's when Taylor asked,
"By the way, any projects you two want to talk about?"
I spoke first,
"Well, we finally managed to get teleporters that can move a human working. Though our version needs a receiver with a vacuum chamber, otherwise there are serious problems. Not submitting them for testing just yet since we want to focus on another project right now."
Danny raised an eyebrow,
"Hasn't teleportation been your major project for the last month though?"
That's when Melissa spoke up.
"Emmy got jealous of my amazing robot body. We're working on a machine to transfer her mind to the same sort of synthetic brain I run on."
Both Heberts blinked, before Taylor eventually got out a "Huh."
I nodded somberly,
"Yeah, though the process certainly isn't easy. And we fully expect to burn through quite a few lab rats getting it right."
Taylor looked a bit sick, while Danny seemed thoughtful.
"I'm not claiming to be some sort of cape expert, but I thought Tinkers just knew how to build all their stuff. Meanwhile you two seem to be figuring out a lot of your more exotic technology through plain old trial and error."
Melissa chimed in,
"Yeah it's the darnedest thing. It honestly seems like our power has massive holes in its knowledge base. Like, it wants to help us with the various exotic technologies we're developing, but it just can't until we've already put in most of the legwork. I swear, if it weren't for my awesome robot brain we wouldn't have made a fraction of our progress on teleportation research."
I chuckled,
"You're probably right, Melissa. One more reason I'm looking forward to the changeover."
Taylor took the opportunity to comment,
"You know, if you two didn't keep reminding me Melissa is a robot, I'd probably just think you were twin sisters. You just click with each other. Not to mention looking damn near identical, aside from Melissa being way more buff."
Melissa giggled,
"Hey, I was built as a body double."
That's when I remembered something.
"By the way, I talked with Sarah a bit and got clearance to put a bodycam on you. Mind if we take your measurements so we make sure it fits on you?"
Taylor nodded,
"Sure. After dinner though. By the way, I think a rear camera on there would probably be a good idea too. Maybe concealed. That way we still have video even if they push me down the stairs from behind or something."
I smiled,
"That works out quite nicely. See, there needs to be at least one easily visible camera to meet legal requirements. But if that camera's easily removed it could lead the bullies into a false sense of security about all the other concealed cameras on you. We're also going to be fitting you with a set of accelerometers to monitor your movement, sensors for your vitals, all that. Plus redundant audio recorders."
Taylor smiled.
"Thank you Emmy. Melissa too."
Last edited:
chaotic-logic
possible impossibility
- Location
- unknown
THE TRIO MUST FAIL