Hey. Nice to see a fellow Valarnet reader here. Who: Nate and Mickey Where: an autoshop What: talking, hanging out, showing off Magellan When: Recently Warnings/Rating: PG Status complete
Nate’s car thrummed, and hummed as he pulled it into the auto station. One of the best he knew of, he hoped to just get an oil change and then zoom off. He was happy as he slipped out of Magellan. The car, which looked like a spiffy Ford Focus, was, inside, filled to the brim with future and alien technology The engine was like nothing on this Earth and the oil system was about the only thing normal in it.
He smiled as he stepped out of his car, patting it, and it thrummed in response.
Mickey had just pulled up to a parking spot when he noticed the other car out of the corner of his eye. He had an appointment to get some work done on his own car, but something about the other man’s car was calling him. He got out of the car and went inside to drop off his keys and waited for the other man to approach. It was almost like he could sense that something was different about that car, it must be a man thing. After he got signed in he took a place off to the side against the wall and waited.
Nate slipped in and dropped off his keys as well, then glanced around.He grinned when he spotted Mickey and wandered over, offering his hand. IN a casual tone, if lower than normal, he greeted him. “Hey. Nice to see a fellow Valarnet reader here.”
“I was wondering why you looked vaguely familiar, nice to meet you as well,” he returned the greeting with a hearty handshake and a warm smile. He was a little surprised that he was recognized so easily, but it was nice to have random friends around, “Okay, so I can totally sense something different with your car. You’ve got to let me see when you get a chance. I wish I had a chance to work on cars now like I did when I was younger.”
“I’d be glad to. And it’s a bit special. Thankfully, it’s just in for the oilchange and nothing else, so when they’re done, I’ll show it off.”” Nate hmmed.
When Mickey complained about not working on cars, he blinked. “Why don’t you? Why can’t you?” Nate was curious now.
“Excellent, I can’t wait. And I don’t really do it anymore because I’ve got a full-time job and just haven’t really had much motivation to do it. I should get back into it. I just need to find the right kind of car to restore or something,” he answered with an embarrassed look on his face. He just didn’t have a good excuse for not working on cars anymore.
Nate smiled as he grinned. “There are some good pick and pulls around here, with some awesome cars ending up there. Hollywood idiots throw away some solid investments on accidents, that sometimes, are pretty salvageable.” Nate nodded. “What sort of work do you do?”
“I’m a computer engineer, so I moved my fixing cars into fixing computers and working on those. But you’ll have to let me know where some of these good spots are. I can totally believe that rich people would give away some nice cars, they’re really not that smart sometimes. I wish I was at a point where cars were disposable,” he explained with a soft chuckle at the end.
“I’d be glad to!” Nate grinned. “And that’s cool! There are a bunch of computer engineers around here! “ Nate nodded. “I dunno. Sometimes, I think I’d like that and sometimes... I think it would be too weird.” He chuckled. “Being that crazy has to be odd.”
“This place is ripe with technology companies, so that doesn’t surprise me. And it would be weird. We’re totally car guys so we can’t just dump cars like that. I would probably be fixing it, but damn it would be nice to be able to get a new car whenever I wanted. Especially with some of the sleeker sportscars that come out,” he ran a hand over his head as he laughed at the idea of it all. Being rich would be great, but he probably wouldn’t fully enjoy it.
“I think it would probably suck, in the end. Too many distractions to enjoy it all.” Nate nodded, then smiled. “Want to grab some coffee while we wait?” He pointed next door at the cafe. ”They have some good stuff, there.”
“Sure, sounds great,” he nodded and checked his phone quickly to make sure the volume was up so he wouldn’t miss the call when his car was finished, “So, what do you do? Do you get the luxury of working on your cars all the time?”
“Nah. I work in a research division at Frost Enterprises. Mostly, I look things up and find out data for the higher ups.” He nodded as he led the way toward the door and out toward the coffee shop. “It’s fun, if boring sometimes.”
“That is kind of cool. Is it at least interesting data? I know how boring it can get just staring at a screen for hours and hours on end,” Mickey followed behind and shut the door behind him as they set out to walk over to the coffee shop, “But Frost Enterprises must be a good company to work for. They’re pretty well known.”
“Depends on the day. Sometimes, it is boring numbers and finances about boring facts, but sometimes it is awesome ideas and concepts about new things. Just depends on the day and the needs of the company.” Nate nodded. “It is. I enjoy it. I work at night mostly, with a small evening research group.”
“Oh interesting. Can you handle the night work better? I tried doing a second shift type job after I got out of college and I just didn’t enjoy it. But, I think I work better in the morning after like six cups of coffee,” he commented with a laugh, “But having your own small group to work with would probably be even better.”
“I like it. THe night and the air and the stars? It all fits and flows for me.” Nate nodded and then held the door to the coffee shop for the other man. “It’s nice, sometimes, and a bit stifling others, but I really do like the work.” He found he was suited to it, a lot.
“Thanks,” he commented as he walked into the coffee shop. He waited for Nate to join him before he went up to the counter and took a peek at the menu to decide on what he wanted, “As long as you enjoy it you’ve accomplished the most important part of a job. So, do you get to work on cars much in your off time?”
“Sometimes. This latest one was a project with my dad, so I’ve been working on it extra.”Nate smiled softly. “I’m lucky, to have this time with him, and this chance to do things with him.” And he knew it.
“That would be a lot of fun to be able to do with your father,” Mickey made sure not to mention his own lack of a father since he had gotten over missing those kind of moments a long time ago especially since his dad was a deadbeat in his eyes. He had made better father figures as his life went on, “What are you working on with him?”
“That was it, the car I pulled in. We worked on it for over a month.” Nate nodded. It had been fun! He bought a coffee, and then grinned. “It’s nice to just have something cool to do.”
“Oh wow! A whole month? It’s gotta be sweet inside then. And did he teach you to love cars?” It was really nice that the two of them got to spend time working on that car together. He was even more excited to see what was inside the car now. He stepped up to the barista and ordered a drink before stepping to the side to continue their conversation, “And it’s sweet that you get to drive it around and he hasn’t pulled rank on you.”
“I liked them some before that, but yeah.” He nodded. His dad was amazing and he liked spending time with him. “Heh. He has his own car and I have mine. He doesn’t get mine.” Nate chuckled. He’d let his dad drive it some if he wanted.
“So, yeah, after this, back to work, and pondering what to do next for fun.”
“Good choice. It wouldn’t be half as much fun having to share your car with someone else. You gotta make sure that car only knows you as a driver,” he chuckled as he spoke his comment and once they got their drinks, he walked over to some chairs to sit down for a moment, “Oh you’re going to work after this? Well, what a fun start to the day, getting your car fixed.”
Nate sat next to him and nodded.
“It deserves it. And I don’t mind. Wandering and talking to random strangers is fun sometimes.” He’d done it when he was ten, and he’d keep doing it.
“Weren’t you told never to talk to strangers,” he teased with a laugh before taking a sip, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t told either. My grandmother got annoyed when I would say hello to everyone.”
Nate chuckled. “I was told and ignored it so much my parents finally just asked me to keep a gps phone on.” He shook his head. “They like me being able to be independent.”
“Well, that’s nice of them. Seems like you’ve grown up to be a decent human being and didn’t get kidnapped by anyone, so I say good on you. It’s probably good to be more extroverted and talk to people. Definitely helps with the business skills,” he pointed out.
“Thanks. I think so too.” Nate’s phone rang then, and the auto guys let him know his car was ready. “Cool! Come on. I’ll show her to you before taking off.”
“Awesome, mine should be finished up by the time we get back over there. And yes, I definitely want to see it,” He grabbed his drink and followed behind Nate as they made their way back over to the auto shop so they could take a look at Nate’s car.
At the shop, he accepted his keys back then headed to where they had parked it, and he grinned as he approached, It looked like a nice old sedan, red outside, and then he popped the doors, and they popped by themselves. “Hop in.” He slid into the driver’s seat and that was where it stopped being normal. The upholstery was black kevlarized leather and there were buttons and dials all over the place where none usually were. And when Mickey was in, he spoke. “Magellan, initialize holodisplay, and bring online viewscreen to view, New York City, from orbit...”
“As you wish, Nathan.” And in front of Nathan’s hands, a panel of controls materialized, transparent, in mid-air even as the front window went dark and then lit up like a computer screen, then showed a shot of New York City, as seen right then, from orbit.
“Magellan, Mickey. Mickey, Magellan. Mickey is our guest today, Magellan.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Mickey.” The voice was polite, nice and utterly unmechanical.
“Holy.....shit....” he managed to get out as his eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped to the floor, “This is the most amazing car I have ever seen!” It had so many bells and whistles that he had never seen in a car before. He almost wanted to tell Nate that he should patent this stuff and roll models of it out because he’d be a millionaire. His hands ran over the edges of the seats and touched all the buttons lightly, not pressing any, and stared at the display of New York City.
“I’ve been working on the computer and electronics stuff for a few months with a friend. The car work I did with my dad, and then installed the new computer material into it., Magellan is a non-true AI, he won’t evolve or anything, but has intuitive software enabling him to choose better reactions and choices based on our words and actions.” Nate chuckled. “I could never release this software, because it comes from the dreams. It would be... wrong to mess with this world’s advancement too much.”
“Ah, so crazy futuristic sci-fi technology,” he commented as he leaned in to study the console, “Makes sense, but you would make a killing on a car like this. I’m quite impressed. Man, I wish my car was as awesome as this. Willing to help trick it out?” He couldn’t help but chuckle as his question, he was joking of course, but he was in total awe of the car.
“Well, of course! I was thinking of talking to a mechanic I know and teaching her how this stuff worked, so she could enjoy it, and also help with such things.” Nate grinned. Maybe he shouldn’t. But he would.
“Sweet, we should definitely keep in contact and talk about it. I would love to have my car be half as cool as this. Don’t worry, I don’t need all of the same stuff as you’ve got in here,” he was loving the idea of tricking out the inside of his car now. But all good things had to come to an end eventually, “But I should let you go to work.”
Nate tapped the dash and pulled out a card, handwritten. It had his name and his phone number.
“Here, this is my number. We can meet and see what you car can take, and what we can do.” He grinned. He was more than glad to help a fellow car enthusiast.
Nate sighed. “I suppose so. Definitely give me a call or poke me on Valarnet. We can hang out and talk cars and check yours out to start that up.”
“Awesome, I really appreciate it. Thanks for letting me take a peek and have fun at work,” he smiled and held his hand out to shake Nate’s. He was glad that he found a new friend today and he intended to keep up the communication between the two of them.