5
“Careful,” I said, biting my cheek. “Slowly. Slow…”
Milenko Calhoun Archov, if you do not shut up and let me do this, I swear to God I will give you a facial tic for an annum!
“Ever hear of multitasking?”
I am multitasking. Like a motherfucker. Now shut up and watch.
I put my elbows on the workbench and stared into the vacuum chamber. The Barsoomium had to be integrated into the device Paige and I were making without the air contaminating it. The vacuum chamber had a pair of robotic manipulator arms inside it, and not only was she handling the physical materials, but she was also carefully controlling the electromagnetic fields within the chamber.
She drew the powdered Barsoomium out of its container with a combination of electromagnetic and sonic pulses, gently heated it, then using gravitonic fields, compressed it into a dense, solid rod approximately the size of my thumb. The rod was then slid into a shielded casing which Paige sealed with a similar technique. The hiss of air entering the vacuum chamber as its valve was released was mirrored by my own exhalation.
Your turn.
I flipped open the lid on the vacuum chamber and snatched up the sealed rod. It was unnaturally heavy for something that fit in the palm of my hand. Sliding my chair farther down the