Page 22 of The Misplaced Warrior

“Are you sure?” Chip asked, standing up, looking behind Gen at the table and bin where she’d put the silicon like she was told. “You were just supposed to find the silicon. That’s only the first part. The sorting of the debris fragments is what is most intensive.”

“I know,” Gen answered. “I also put those into their various categories based on their elemental composition according to the instructions.”

“Using the manual procedures?” Chip asked, his voice a rush of bewilderment.

Gen nodded. “Yes, I used the specifications from the manual. It’s all done.”

Chip rushed by Gen, striding quickly over to the workstation. He halted at the sight of the neat mounds of debris, glaring at it in amazement. Then his gaze shot to the bin of quantum-entangled silicon. Kneeling down, eye level with the work surface, he closely inspected the nearest pile. Then the second. Then the third.

Finally, he straightened, a look of pure awe on his face. “How? How did you do this?”

“Well—”

“Magic was obviously at play,” he said, cutting her off before she could explain.

She nodded, pulling out Bellumferrum. “This is my weapon and it conforms to whatever I need in a situation in order to survive. In this case, I needed a tool to perform my task. It became a multi-spectral sorting sieve. That means?—”

“Of course!” Chip exclaimed, shooting a triumphant finger into the air. Many of the technicians on the other side of the lab looked up.

“You know what that is?” Gen asked, not sure if it was a real thing or something that Bellumferrum had made up.

“Yes,” he answered at once. “But I never considered reprogramming its metrics in such a way as to recognize these types of elements. We’ve mostly used it for classifying different kinds of gases. Of course, it could be calibrated for this task. I just never considered it before.”

“Oh, well, there you go,” Gen said with a smile. “I hope I did it right, although I can’t take any credit for doing anything. That all goes to the sieve.”

“You employed the brilliance,” Chip said, still in shock, checking each pile. He looked up at her finally. “It’s all correct. I simply can’t believe you, a person who wasn’t supposed to know anything about technology, was able to employ a strategy so effectively.”

“Well, sometimes it’s having the fresh perspective and lack of knowledge that creates opportunities,” Gen offered.

He nodded. “Yes, too often, we get ingrained in our ways of thinking. It’s strange how our education actually starts to inhibit our ability to think in new ways.”

“Ironic for sure,” she said.

“You’re not what I expected,” he finally admitted, shaking his head at her.

“Because someone told you I was a spoiled brat coasting on my family’s reputation,” she blurted out, before she could stop herself.

He nodded to this. “Yes, I guess it’s fair to admit that I was given a less than desirable representation of you.”

“Well, I hope you’ll keep an open mind about me going forward,” Gen stated. “Like I went into the task you gave me with a fresh perspective.”

Chip smiled at her. “Yes, it’s definitely all about perspective. That’s why I went into virtual reality in the first place. I wanted a path to see the world in new and different ways.”

Gen caught the edge of remorse in his voice. “Why was that?”

He opened his mouth, like about to respond. Hesitated. Then seemed to resign as he sighed. “My mother was murdered.”

“Oh, wow, I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you,” Chip said, through another long sigh. “It was devastating. I thought that if I could create a new way of seeing the world, that I could erase the one in which she’d been killed.” He motioned around to the building. “I wanted to create a way to rewrite my own reality. It turned out to be successful and now I’m making new worlds for millions.”

“That’s really beautiful,” Gen offered thoughtfully. “And what a nice motivation behind MystTech Creations.”

“I’m glad you think so…” He trailed away, chewing on his lip.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Gen cleared her throat. “Anyway, what would you have me work on next? I can’t promise as quick results as before, but I’ll try my best.”

He drew in a heavy breath. “That’s the thing, I don’t have anything else for you today. Or for this week, for that matter. This project was supposed to keep you busy for days.”

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