YottaRock Industries

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After calming the others down, I unlock the phone and ensure wifi and data are disabled, saving a bit more power.

Flicking through what I have saved, I check to make sure I can still access the offline wikipedia. After a few minutes, I see that it still loads and turn to the rest of the group.

“Yes, it plays music. Actually, its initial purpose is to convey speech long distances to another one using towers to relay the message.”

Eldrin perks up, “Then where’s tha wires?”

“No wires needed, it uses invisible light to send them, the same way that coals in a fire make you feel warm even though you can barely see it burning.”

Thallion writes more, swifter than ever. “But without the other phone you cannot show this?”

“Even worse, without the tower, it cannot communicate to the other phone at all, even if they were right beside each other. They’re meant not to pair with a specific phone, but any other phone. Like the mail, if it can be reached, it will be delivered.”

Scrolling through my phone, I flip through the music I have saved, and find my old music folder for band ear training on classical pieces. Perusing, I find Symphony No. 41 in C, K. 551 - "Jupiter": I. Allegro vivace

Thinking about the fact that it is a full symphony, and this is a part, I think this is a good intro piece to the world of human music.

“Here, take a listen” I state, turning up the volume and selecting it.

They all gather around, silent for its duration.

Once it finishes, Eldrin is in deep pensive thought, Thallion is not writing, and Lena is bopping to it. Silvra on the other hand, is crying, and hiding her face.

“Is everything ok?” I ask, worryingly.

Eldrin, takes a deep breath and releases it. “Jus’ wow, I…wow.” He sheds a single tear, and wipes it away. Thallion moves and is also seemingly moved by it as well.

“Look, I know it was a bit intense, it is a song, part of the symphony for all of the planets, representing the biggest one, associated to royalty! If you didn’t like it, there is probably something completely different that-”

“It’s not that we didn’t like it. Just, it’s complex, a lot, and just…deep?” Lena adds. “I cannot describe it, but I felt it. Pride, important, but not boastful.”

“Jus’, our music, may ‘ave 5 people tha’ can play a’ once. How many in this one?”

“Probably close to 70 if not more.”

“And this is…common for you music?”

“Hardly, that song was from over 200 years ago. We have so many styles, we group them by year, by similarity, artist, style, and these styles mix, change as well. Currently, there are hundreds of styles from choirs with thousands of voices to instruments the size of buildings, to one guy and a guitar.”

Silvra, composing herself, asks “Can you play one from the last one? A solo performance?”

Flipping through, I find ‘If Heaven wasn’t so far away’ fairly quick, and play that.

By the end, not one eye is dry.

“That…that is one person?”

“For the most part, it is very difficult to find a song done by one person nowadays, drums and other instruments get added very quickly, but the opening, yes, one instrument.”

“Well, I thin’ i’s time for me to ‘ead off ta bed, bu’ we’ll be wan’in’ more of this soon.”

“Definitely. I’ll just put a bit more charge in, as the music sucks more power on high volume than standby does.”

As they turn away, to munge over what they heard, I start cranking the generator, and my mind wanders. I only was in the church once, between periods of unconsciousness, but that was the only music I have heard, save for some mild humming. They don’t have recordings, nor radio, their lives are not saturated with music. Their lives are quiet, and music is a profound choice. It is a skill someone in the room has to have when it is heard, making it rare. It is- I smell burning.

Looking down, I see the puff of smoke rising from the circuit. I quickly unplug my phone and smell the USB port. Good not from there. Looking closer, I see that the whisker valve blew. Crap. How am I to explain that?

“Erm, Silvra? You still here?” I ask, sheepishly.

I hear her returning, and upon entering the room where I am, she scrunches up her face, and sighs. “What did you burn out?”

“The Whisker valve” I mutter.

“THE VALVE?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COSTS? DO YOU KNOW HOW UNLIKELY IT IS TO GET A REPLACEMENT?”

She crouches down. “THERE’S NOTHING LEFT OF IT! IT’S COMPLETELY BURNED UP!”

“I’m sorry. My mind drifted, and-”

“Just, I don’t want to hear it. I know you have no money, but…ARGH!”

At this point, the others return, from all the yelling.

“How am I going to write that off?! No one out here has any reason to use one of these?!”

Silvra storms out, and slams the door on the way. We stand in silence, looking at the wrecked body of the diode, blown clean in two parts.

“How am I going to regulate this now?” I grumble. “Everything else I know needs even more fancy components to regulate the voltage.”

Thallion perks up, “Why not regulate the speed instead?”

“And how are we to do that? I have not seen any clockmakers in town, and Eldrin, you are good at blacksmithing, but the detail for this is many times more precise than blacksmithing produces.”

“Thallion…” Lena states, an unspoken question passed.

“Yes Lena, it’s ok.”

“What’s ok?”

“I…know a guy, that does it on the down low. Nothing sketchy, but he does not want to be known. Just, give me some time, and I should be able to get a flyball governor together.”

“A what?” I ask, pointedly.

“Just…give me a day.”

“Must be quite local. This guy. Thallion.” I state, piecing together who I think it is already.

“Quite, just, need some time”

“Sure. Sure”

They head off, Lena whispering to Thallion about something, but I cannot make out the words, just the tone is scolding. They both know who this ‘mysterious’ person is.

“Well, now tha’ is all done, imma ‘ead off ta bed.”

---

Early the next morning, I awake from sleep in my usual spot on the broken chair in the living room, and hear the sound of metal filing. Turning to where I hear it from, it is Thallion’s room.

I lie back down, and fake sleep, hoping he wouldn’t notice. A few minutes later, the door squeaks open, and Thallion sneaks out, holding a pristine flyball governor. I let him pass. He places it on the table, and goes to the kitchen. I look towards his room, and sure enough, there is a tiny lathe and scraps of metal all over the floor.

Getting up, I walk into the kitchen, and ask “Late night last night?”

Thallion looks up, bleary eyed. “Yes it was, but he pulled through”

“He?”

“Y-yes. My contact.”

“Surely your contact would like some food or something?”

“No, he has already left,” he states, arms shaking again.

“Thallion, you’re shaking again.”

“All the more reason to get the generator working again. Get my arms cooperating once more.

“Fine.”

I pick up the flyball governor. It is a work of art. Bringing it over to Eldrin’s, Thallion follows close behind, along with Lena.

When we arrive, there is an angry Silvra waiting for us beside the generator.

“I know it was an accident, I’ll cover this cost, but no more exotic parts for you unless you know you won’t damage them. That one is like a month of work for me!”

“I’m sorry, just-”

“Yeah, yeah,” she continues, softening “Look, I know you did not do it on purpose, hell it even worked for some time, but we need easier and dumber for now. Once you start making the good stuff though, that is when my involvement in this pays off. Just…don’t cross me” She adds through gritted teeth.

Thallion comes in, holding a small stack of paper, all slightly yellow.

“Looks like your contact left you the documentation” I add, smirking.

“Well, yes, in fact he did.” I can hear him trying to not stick his tongue out at me as he says it.

“Anyways. We need to calibrate the governor to stop the acceleration at a certain speed. To get this speed, we need to know what voltage that speed is. I don’t suppose you have a way to test within the magic box phone you have?”

Thinking for a moment, I flip through the apps on my phone. Unfortunately none of them say ‘multimeter’. “Sadly no.”

Flipping back into Wikipedia to see if there is a way to get a multimeter out of a phone, I am greeted by the last closed tab, on voltage potentials from metal contacts.

“But I do have something that should give a clean reference. Silvra, I’ll need the copper discs you had before. Lena, I’ll need vinegar and coins, Thallion, I’ll need more paper, and Eldrin, I’ll need a wooden board with several dowels stuck in it to hold the tower of coins again.

Silvra turns towards me again.

“Oh no. Not the tower again?!”

“Yes, but this time, I get to lick it as well.”