#i think the Repair Units need glasses or something but that might make Circuit look even more dilfy ahdksgsh | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

isempiterna · 6 years ago

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𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑜𝑣𝑒

The year was 1942. Peter Walter I sat in the sun room of Walter Manor, having finally been pried from the basement laboratory at the insistence of his son, Peter Walter II. This had been a common conflict ever since Peter II had grown old enough to realize that his father’s obsession with creating automatons, while a scientific miracle, had gone past the line of unhealthy. Peter I wasn’t keeping track, specifically—he no longer kept track of much, not the number of mechanical beings he created nor how he created them—but as he watched the dusky glow of sunset caress his pale hands, he mused that more often that not, his son would eventually leave in some manner of upset and Peter would remain hunched over one of the many worktables, half-formed mounds of metal and wires drawing him in until they filled his lungs and eyes and mind. Until he hardly felt like a man, himself.

But this time he had been too tired to resist Peter II’s firm-yet-gentle reprimands. And so he found himself in the cavernous room above the ground, watching the sun take his place below the horizon. Peter I could hardly remember the warmth of sunlight. The beauty of it hurt his eyes, his tired, tired eyes. He knew tiredness, an old and intimate friend, and so it was that he knew that this was a different sort, that things were changing. Time continued passing as was time’s nature. He was dying.

Gaze now fixed on the lace-like tops of trees, to the burnished sky beyond, Peter I thought of death. And while briefly he lingered on the slow approach of his own, much like the gradual arrival of night in front of him, he was not afraid, for his death had never concerned him. No, in this hour of ponder with his hands motionless in his lap, away from the haven of his work room where he could armor his mind with metal and rewire it with sparking circuitry, he allowed himself to think, for the first time in years, of Delilah. Beautiful, clever, brilliant Delilah; oh, how he loved her still. As he had a million, no, countless times beyond that, he wished that he only loved her more than his desire to be loved in return. A breath escape him softly, stale and ghosting on memories. He’d forgotten how beautiful the world was, how graceful the trees, how captivating the skies, but he could never forget the beauty of Delilah Moreau.

The pale figure that appeared at the edge of the slender woods stole whatever breath he might have drawn. It was as though she had been summoned directly from his mind, impossible as it was—although who was he to claim the impossible? But no, the woman standing just shy of the shadows was not entirely true to his memory. For one, Delilah had never been so pale in life; only in death, eyes closed, her hair fanning slightly on the pillow of the sickbed. And that was another difference, for the Delilah he was looking at had short hair, not the long waves of soft ebony he had so admired. And...while she was certainly how he remembered her, she was not how he should know her.

Peter found himself at the window, somehow, tremors coursing through his old and weary body as his hand, calloused and wrinkled, fumbled with the latch. But she was still young, in her prime, strong and healthy and alive, not dead or dying. And yet as the window swung open, the slight glare of glass separating them removed and he saw her more clearly, there was something new to her. A quiet something, not noticeable like pale skin or hair that brushed her jaw but undeniably there. An undercurrent. A timelessness.

“Delilah...” he wheezed, still not able to catch his breath. “Delilah?” He could not know if she heard him, only hope, but he hoped with a fierceness that had him believing it to be true. “Delilah, I...” Whatever he was going to say trailed off before he could even know what it was. She would not stay; he knew it like he knew that she really was Delilah who had died, been dead for years. Or, not so dead, it seemed. Whatever he said now would truly be the last thing he ever said to her.

For a handful seconds hoarded into eternity the two simply looked at each other, her eyes so bright and clear they were almost glowing and his, dimmed and only fading further. He had lived his life, and she...she had found another.

And just like that, Peter suddenly knew there was nothing to say. True, he loved her still and would never stop loving her to his last breath, but this was not her life anymore. He did not know this Delilah, not for lack of wanting but simply for lack of time; even if she stayed, they could never return to their old relationship of colleagues, much less achieve a new one. He had a son, a family he had built with his own hands, years of memories without her. What Delilah had he did not know, but he didn’t want to give her the burden of an old man, a reminder of a past that was long since covered in dust and buried. This was not a reunion; this was a goodbye.

So Peter smiled. He smiled bigger than he had ever smiled before, until it felt like it covered his whole face, until his eyes were almost closed so tightly that all the moisture was being squeezed out to trickle down the lines of his cheeks. He smiled with all the strength and determination and wonder that had lead him to his path in life, to discover and create new life in ways only dreamed of. He smiled like the rising sun, and she smiled back, small and peaceful and mysterious.

And then she was gone before he could realize it, fading back into the secret darkness of the night. The light was but a lingering glow of an ember ready to sleep. And for the first time, he felt no sense of loss. For the first time in a long time, Peter I felt awake, clear of mind and inspired with the bubbling energy that drove him all those years ago. He felt invigorated. He needed to work. Not to distract or avoid or forget, but because his thoughts were crashing together and sparking and on the verge of exploding; they were buzzing and he needed to create.

Peter II’s voice floated from somewhere behind him, asking if everything was okay. The elder Walter turned from the window, strode across the room to his son to grip his shoulders with metal-toughened hands. He could still feel remains of the smile on his mouth, see the surprise in his son’s face, a spark of hope in his eyes.

“I have an idea, Junior.” The nickname was old, from a time when Peter II still fell of his bike and dropped his ice cream, when Peter I had managed to rouse himself from his self-imposed prison to taste again the joys of life. It had not been used in many years. “And I want you to work with me.”

The Mourning Dove was built with the original idea of being a new addition to the band once the others returned from the war. However, as the war struggled on, plans were changed and The Mourning Dove was modified to be a medical unit to be sent to join the war. Given a titanium alloy skeleton to help withstand the dangers of war (as well as hollow compartments in her legs and arms to store medical supplies, small gas canister chambers in her lower rib cage, and a variety of medical and mechanical tools in her hands and wrists) it was not long after she woke that she was sent across seas. It was the first and last that she ever saw her creator.

The first time she and her siblings ever met was on the battlefield; along with the medical treatment files for humans, Peter I had also added a large file containing all the information she would need to help maintain her fellow automatons. Because she did not have the necessary additions to be a weapon she quickly grew closest to The Jon due to the medical support he would often assist in, though it was inevitable that they all grew to love each other simply because that was how their Pappy made them.

When the war finally ended and the bots were returned home they were finally allowed the time to get to know each other in peace. Those were good years, if not perfect, touched with the sad passing of Judith and ever-shadowed by the loss of Peter I. But it was a shared loss, and the robot siblings pulled together to support each other, and they were surrounded by the loving members of Walter Manor.

Five years later, that peace was shattered. Rabbit’s power core was stolen by the Walters’ competitor Becile, and with it The Mourning Dove. Although Rabbit’s core was eventually recovered at a terrible price, The Mourning Dove was never found, and it was assumed she was destroyed in the blast along with Peter II and Guy Hottie.

In fact, The Mourning Dove survived, though she would remain in stasis in the space-time continuum for many years to come. With the rift still open she was trapped there, unable to settle fully in any world, and it wasn’t until it was closed by Peter VI that her existence was finally able to stabilize. Unfortunately, she would not be found until some years later by a particularly adventurous and not-quite-law-abiding mechanic.

After being brought home by Lark, many weeks are spent laboriously fixing up the damaged bot. The various dings, dents, scuffs and scratches are easily dealt with, but the deep gouge in her lower back resulted in a partially severed spinal column which would require an entirely new replacement. Without that kind of money or material on hand, Lark had to settle for installing new oil and hydraulic lines, circuit cables, and fixing up as many little things as she could to make the eventual spine replacement easier. During this time The Mourning Dove was left in stasis, as she would only be shut down again for all the necessary repairs.

Finally, however, Lark had done all that she could, and it was with great anticipation that she started up the Walter automaton. Once online, though, only more problems were discovered. At some point, or perhaps slowly over time, a total data scramble had occurred; some files were erased either partially or fully and many more were locked, and a small corruption in her processing hard-drive would short her out every time she tried to retrieve them. Essentially, The Mourning Dove was experiencing amnesia. When asked her name she could not remember, and it was only Lark’s introduction that prompted a vague feeling that it had something to do with birds as well. Immediately after that she was dubbed Sparrow.

It was at this time that Lark’s previous decision began to waver—for while she had known that this was a Walter bot and should rightfully be brought back to her original home, the mechanic had been dreaming for so long of the wonders that were the robots that she couldn’t help but desire to keep her, just long enough to learn more about how she worked both as a machine and as a person with a unique soul. At first Lark had planned to fix her and befriend her before returning her home (and perhaps even acquire a job as a Walter mechanic), but with the new revelations she became unsure. A selfish part of her realized that with the lack of memories it would be all too easy to keep her for good, but Lark squashed it quickly, unsettled by the thought. And then there was the problem of the replacement spine; it would take Lark a good while of hard saving before she could fully repair the bot, but with the help of Walter Robotics it would be a cinch.

However, unbeknownst to either party, the trouble runs even deeper yet. In the casing that holds Sparrow’s Blue Matter core there is a small, hairline crack. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been a problem had she been recovered at the same as Rabbit’s core, but it’s been over 50 years since then, nearly all of which has been spent stuck in the limbo of the space-time continuum. This lead to a fundamental alteration in her Blue Matter linking to the space-time continuum, which eventually becomes a next-level can of worms.

Due to the link, there is a constant trickle of unknown energy bleeding through the core. As more energy gathers and builds up it becomes unstable, and eventually a rift will open, pulling Sparrow and anyone too close to her into another part of the world, a different world entirely, and sometimes a completely different dimension. It has also affected her hard-drive, allowing her to occasionally receive random data from anywhere: the future, the past, information that should be impossible for anyone to access, or even data from other worlds. This technopathy is independent of her will and a rare occurrence; however, there is a possibility that she could induce it with extensive practice, willpower, and focus. Using it consciously would come at a steep price with dangerous side effects, though, such as increased susceptibility to unknown viruses (including real diseases translated into viruses), as well as creating back doors for anyone/thing that might attempt to breach her system. Consciously inducing it also raises the traceability, whereas when it’s random it’s nigh untrackable.

#✡𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆 : 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆✡ prelude to a dream.#☾𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤 : 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡☽ the lockless door.#((alright first of all I would just like everyone to know that I am EQUALLY horrified by how many details I am cramming into this au #BUT I'M SO FUCKING INVESTED PLEASE I NEED MY STEAM POWERED GIRAFFE CONTENT #WHERE Y'ALL AT I'M THIRSTIN?????????))

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imaginetonyandbucky · 7 years ago

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Ghost Tony haunting an apartment in Brooklyn, and Bucky and Steve move in.

[A/N: I am blaming at least 12% of this on @captn-sara-holmes.]

WhenTony woke up, he was a ghost.

Hishands, when he looked down at them, were sort of translucent-looking,like they’d been etched into glass, and so was the rest of him thathe could see. Everything around him was colorless and pale.

Yep.Definitely a ghost.

“Goddamn it, that son of a bitch killedme?For fifty bucks and a bunch of credit cards that won’t work forhim? Ug. All right, let’s just get on with it, then. Bright light,angel choir, magic door, stairway to heaven, whatever. Come on, let’sgo.”

Tonylooked around, but all he could see was an alley -- the same alleythat the mugger had dragged him into. “Unending darkness?”

Hetried to walk out of the alley and couldn’t. It didn’t hurt andthere was no sensation of a barrier, just... his body wouldn’tcross the line made by the facades of the buildings on either side.

“Highwayto hell?”

Nothing.

Someonewas coming down the main street. Tony pushed as close as he could tothe mouth of the alley to look -- it was a man near Tony’s age,tall and blond and built like a brick shithouse. Hewouldn’tget yanked into an alley and murdered by a mugger. Tony called, “Hi!Hello? I just woke up as a ghost and I’m stuck; can you call theghostbusters for me?” Officially, they were CPSR -- the Center forParanormal Study and Relief -- but nobody called them that.

Blond-and-buffjust kept walking.

“Hello?”

Notso much as a glance. Asshole. Even if it wasn’t his fault that Tonywas apparently invisible and inaudible.

Ifno one called CPSR for him, Tony was stuck waiting for one of theregular sweeps and hoping that they were paying attention to theirdetection equipment rather than half-assing it. Tony tried to kick ata discarded energy drink can, and his foot swiped right through it.“Are you kiddingme?”he whined. “I’m stuck and I’m not even corporeal?”

Hepouted, but he’d never been very good at wallowing. It didn’tlast long before he’d decided to find out how much movement he wasallowed, and what he coulddo.

[mobile readers, ‘ware the readmore!]

Buckywas sweating like a glass of ice-water at high noon in July, only alot less refreshing than that. But at least they’d finally gottenall their furniture and boxes moved into the apartment. At least itwas a first-floor apartment and they hadn’t had to lug everythingup several flights of stairs. All that was left was unpacking, andthat could wait until later.

Much,much later.

Beforethat, he was going to order a couple of pizzas and fall onto thecouch to watch a movie -- they didn’t have cable or internet hookedup yet, but the Blu-ray player ought to work just fine.

Ittook him a few minutes to find the box where they’d thrown all thecables, and the aging player actually threw a couple of sparks at himwhen he plugged it in, but finally, he got it all hooked up. Jesus,it was a lot of work, being lazy.

Buckyflipped on the TV and the Blu-ray menu appeared, then flickered andwas overlaid with a partly-transparent picture of a man who seemed tobe examining the inside of the TV. He was strikingly handsome, thoughsomewhat marred by the disgusted purse of his lips. “Are youkidding me?” the man said. “Two months, I’ve waited for someoneto take this apartment, and this piece of shit is the best they’vegot?”

Buckycould only stare for a moment, and then he called, “Steve! I thinkwe’ve got a ghost!”

“Wait,you can see me like this?” the ghost said, suddenly looking out ofthe TV at Bucky.

“Goddamn it,” Steve growled from his bedroom, where he had insisted ontrying to put his bed together immediately instead of putting it offfor a day or three like a normal person. As if either of them hadseen any action recently enough to need a bed. “The bastard hadbetter be friendly; we can’t afford to bring the ghostbusters in.”

“Ihave a name,” the ghost pointed out testily. “It’s Tony. Why amIthebastard when I’m the one who got killed? If anyone should be calleda bastard, it’s the asshole who killed me! Anyway, the ghostbustersare a free service!”

“Sure,they’re free,” Steve said, stomping out of the bedroom to glareat the ghost in the TV, “but have you seenthekind of wreckage they leave behind? We justmovedin! If we get the place slimed or destroy a wall with particle beamburns--”

“Ohmy god, you’re thatguy,”Tony interrupted, rolling his eyes. “The one who couldn’t seemeevenwhen I was waving and shouting. Ug, and here I thought things werelooking up.”

Tonywasn’t a malevolentghost,but “friendly” didn’t quite fit the bill, either. He seemed tohave some sort of grudge against Steve, in particular.

Thefirst time that Steve was in the shower and Tony manifested in hisshower radio to sing along (badly) with Steve’s terrible oldies,Steve let out a shriek that could probably be heard three blocksaway.

Stevecouldn’t turn on his phone to make a call without Tony popping upto ask if he was finally going to call the ghostbusters.

Everytime they sat down to watch TV, Tony was there, more transparent thanusual but an obvious and distracting outline on the screen.

“Okay,I can’t take this anymore,” Tony complained when the Blu-Rayplayer sparked, making the TV screen flicker. “Buckaroo, go getyour toolkit.”

“Howare you going to tell him how to fix it?” Steve wondered. “Don’tyou have to leave the TV when we turn it off?”

Tonywinked out of sight. “Thank you for volunteering your laptop,” hesaid from Steve’s laptop across the room. Tony’s face replacedSteve’s screensaver. He was grinning toothily, and Bucky had tosuppress a laugh at Steve’s affronted noise.

“Youare such an asshole,”Steve grumbled, stomping out of the room.

“Youcould just call the ghostbusters and be rid of me!” Tony calledafter him.

“Ithink he’s starting to like you, actually,” Bucky said, carryingthe laptop over to the coffee table.

“Morelike he’s keeping me around to torment me,” Tony complained. “Iwant this taken into account when I’m facing my eternal judgment.”

Buckylaughed. “Sure,” he teased, “Steve might be worth knocking offa few millennia, but what about the privilege of getting to hang outwith me?”

“You’rethe worst torment of all, hot stuff,” Tony shot back. “Now comeon, get your pliers. There’s a loose wire in there, and a corrodedbolt, and then I’ll talk you through a quick-and-dirty way to fix aloose circuit board.”

“Youasshole, that’s barely a sip,” Tony complained when Bucky put themug on the table in front of Steve’s laptop.

“Youmanage this, and I’ll get you all you want,” Bucky promised. Heowed Tony something;the ghost had talked Bucky through a dozen different repairs over thelast couple of weeks. “I just don’t want to have to clean up awhole mug’s worth if you pick it up and then lose it again.”

Tonydisappeared from the laptop, then came back a minute later. “Ican’t,” he whined. “My hand just goes right through it, everytime.”

“Youhave to reallywant it.”Bucky strained to remember the basic lessons he’d gotten in highschool health, but no one ever paid attention during the IfYou Become a Ghostunit.

“Oh,believe me, I’d diefora cup of coffee right now,” Tony said.

Buckyflicked a crumpled-up napkin at the computer screen for the joke.“Come on, try again.”

Tonydisappeared for longer this time. Bucky was still staring at the mugand willing it to move when the key rattled in the door and Stevecame in. “Heya, Buck, what’s going on?”

“We’reworking on trying to get Tony to access the material plane,” Buckysaid.

Steveleaned over Bucky’s shoulder to look. “With coffee?Do we really want our ghost to be caffeinated?”

Tonypopped back onto the laptop screen. “Fuck you, Rogers,” he said.He sounded frustrated. “Caffeine doesn’t affect ghosts. It’spsychological.”

“Wait,it’s the coffeeyouwant, not the mug,” Bucky said. “Can you drink the coffee withouttryingto lift the mug?”

“Thatsounds messy,” Steve said, but he dropped onto the couch next toBucky to watch the experiment in action.

Tonymade another face. “I guess I can shove my face through the muginstead of my hand and see what happens. At least you won’t be ableto see me look like an idiot.”

“Everytime you show up,” Steve said, smirking.

Tonyflipped Steve off and disappeared again.

Themug still didn’t move, but Bucky leaned forward to watch. “Comeon, come on, come on,” he muttered under his breath.

Ittook almost five minutes of breath-holding suspense, but all at once,the level of coffee in the mug dipped. “Oh my god,”Tony said, falling into the laptop screen with a blissed-out sigh.

“Yes!You did it!” Bucky cheered, and put his fist against the laptopscreen for Tony to bump.

“Andnow he’ll be stealing coffee from us all the time,” Steve said,though he looked more amused than annoyed. “Why would you do this,Buck?”

“Justyours, Rogers,” Tony said, grinning. “I’ve seen the sludge ofsugar and milk that Buckaroo dumps in his mug. Gross.”

Brockwalked Bucky home after their third date and crowded him up againstthe door to kiss him good night. That was good, that was brilliant,so he invited Brock in for coffee.

Buckytried not to grin too stupidly when Brock agreed.

Theymade out on the couch for a while, and Bucky was aching blissfullywhen Brock reached for the remote. “Let’s have a littlebackground noise, yeah?”

“No,wait, you--”

“Well,well, well, and who have we here?”

“--don’twant to do that,” Bucky sighed, dropping his head into his hands.

Brocknarrowed his eyes at the TV screen. “You have a ghost?”

“Ormaybe the ghost has him,” Tony shot back.

“Ignorehim,” Bucky told Brock. “Or better yet, just turn the TV backoff.” Tony still hadn’t mastered turning the TV on by himself ,and while he couldmanifestin their cell phones, he really hated being confined to so small ascreen.

Brockmade a noise. It wasn’t a happy one. “But he’d still be here,”Brock pointed out. “Watching.I don’t think I’m down for that.”

Buckythrew a glare in Tony’s direction. “Can I walk you home?” heoffered. Maybe, as long as they weren’t here...

“Nah.Mood’s gone.” Brock started straightening his clothes, stuffinghis wallet and keys back into his pockets. “Maybe next time,sweetcheeks.”

Whenhe was gone, Bucky flopped onto the couch and snarled in Tony’sdirection. “I hope you’re happy, asshole.”

“Idon’t like him,” Tony said. “There’s something wrong withhim. No one is that ruggedly handsome in real life. He’s got to bea spy or a serial killer or something.”

“He’snot a spy!” Bucky yelled, frustrated and angry. Why was Tony beingsuch a dick?“Just-- stay the fuck out of my love life!”

“Fine!”Tony sneered.

“Good!”

“Fine!”Tonydisappeared from the TV before Bucky could turn it off, and theflicker of the screen as he left somehow managed to convey a slammingdoor.

Tonydidn’t come back.

Buckytook to leaving the TV on all the time, by way of invitation.Nothing.

Aweek later, Bucky mentioned it to Steve. “You haven’t heard fromTony lately, have you?”

Stevehummed thoughtfully. “I don’t think so. Why? You two have alovers’ spat?”

“Ifonly it was that simple,” Bucky muttered. He didn’t know why Tonyhad been so touchy and weird about Brock, but he felt oddly guiltyfor their argument.

“Maybehe finally Moved On,” Steve suggested.

Oh,god. Had that argument been the last time he had seen Tony? A pang ofregret slithered around his spine to curl, cold and heavy, in hisstomach.

“Youwish,”Tony said.

Bothof them whirled to face the TV, but Tony lingered only long enough toturn his nose up at Steve, and then faded away again. He hadn’teven lookedatBucky.

Buckydidn’t see Tony for another two weeks after that. He would haveworried, except that every few days, he’d hear Tony’s voice --talking to Steve.

Stevewas infuriatingly calm about it when Bucky asked him. “Tony sayshe’s giving you space,” Steve said. “He says that’s what youwanted.”

“Ididn’t mean I wanted to never see him!”

Steveeyed Bucky thoughtfully. “I think Tony’s right about Brock. Imean, not that he’s a spy, but I think the guy is bad news.”

“Ohmy god, can you both give it a rest?Jesus,isn’t a guy allowed to get laid once in a while?”

Brockactually turned up at the apartment the morning after Bucky broke upwith him, the fucknut.

Buckydidn’t even want to listen. It had turned out that Brock was one ofthose alt-right assholes who thought fascism was actually the bestway to run a society. No matter how great Brock was in the sack,there was no getting past that bullshit. Bucky clutched at his mug ofcoffee and wondered if he was pissed enough to throw it right inBrock’s face.

Ofcourse, Brock wasn’t so much pleading with Bucky to take him backas being vaguely threatening about Bucky’s poor life choices, whichwas definitely not endearing him to Bucky at all.

Bucky’smug suddenly got lighter. Before he could process that, a spray ofcoffee appeared out of thin air to drench Brock.

Buckycouldn’t help it: he laughed. “Guess my ghost doesn’t like yourattitude, either,” he said.

WhileBrock was still sputtering, Bucky pushed him the two steps needed toget him out the door, and firmly closed the door in his face. Andthen locked it for good measure.

“Doesthis mean you’re talking to me again?” Bucky wondered hopefully.

TheTV flickered, and Tony was there, arms crossed and lips pursed in apetulant pout. “I told you he was no good,” Tony said.

Buckywas too relieved to see him again to be annoyed. “Yeah, you did.”

Everythingwent back to normal after that, except that Tony and Steve seemed tobe getting along better. Steve even left a mug of coffee on thecounter for Tony in the mornings, when he got up for his daily run,and Tony had stopped tormenting Steve just for the fun of it.

Buckyhadn’t found anyone else to date, but that was okay; he and Steveand Tony kicked around the apartment and played dumb games together.And then when Steve started seeing a woman he worked with, it wasjust Bucky and Tony hanging out, and that was fun, too.

“Youdon’t think it’s too weird, do you?” he asked Natasha one daywhen they met for lunch. “That I’m friends with the ghost?”

“Justbecause he’s a ghost doesn’t mean he’s not a person,” Natashasaid. “It’s a little weird, maybe, but it’s good of you to keephim company. No one ever Moved On because they were bored, you know?”

Buckydidn’t mention the way the thought of Tony Moving On made hisstomach cramp into knots. Having a ghost for a friend was only alittle weird. Having a crushona ghost... that was probably taking things too far.

Theknock at the door was strident and official-sounding. Bucky and Steveexchanged a startled glance, and then Steve went to open the door.

“Ohmy god,” Bucky groaned. The fucking ghostbusters. It had beenmonths,and nowtheywere doing a sweep?

“Goodafternoon,” the ‘buster said. She was a petite redhead, and Buckywas frankly amazed that she wasn’t staggering under the weight ofthe proton pack strapped to her back. “We’re from CPSR. Are yougentlemen aware that you have a ghost on-site?” Her partner lookedlike the sort of no-nonsense career ‘buster that they put onposters. He didn’t say anything, but nodded tersely as Stevestepped back to let them in.

“No,”Bucky said, at the same moment Steve said, “Yes.”

Stevegave Bucky a raised eyebrow, and Bucky sighed. “Yeah, okay, buthe’s kind of a friend. Can’t we keep him a little longer?”

Theguy tugged a sweeper out of his pocket and thumbed it on. “I’mnot saying we’re sticklers for the rules,” he told Bucky, “butit’s my experience that they usually wanttoMove On.” He pushed a glowing blue button, and a pale lightilluminated the room, showing Tony standing right in the middle ofit. “Hey, man,” the ‘buster said. “How’s it going?”

Theredhead rolled her eyes. “Jim, we’re not here for conversation.Get on with it.”

“Relax,Pepper,” Jim said. “It’s not a hostile. I’d like to getthrough just one whole day without getting slimed, if that’s okaywith you.”

Tonyfolded his arms. “Oh, sure, nowyouguys show up,” he groused. “I was just getting comfortable.” Helooked over at Steve. “Can you see me?”

Stevenodded. “You’re shorter than I expected.”

“Fuckyou, Rogers,” Tony said, but he held out a fist for Steve to bump.

Steveovershot and wound up with his fist halfway through Tony’s, whichTony found hilarious. “It’s been real, and it’s been fun,”Tony said, and Steve finished with him in chorus: “but it hasn’tbeen real fun.”

“MaybeI’ll see you again on the other side,” Steve said.

“Notif I see you first,” Tony quipped. He grinned, but it faded againas soon as he turned to Bucky. “Buck...”

“Damnit,” Bucky said, “I want to be able to hug you.” Steve droppeda reassuring hand on his shoulder. Why? Why did Tony have to Move Onnow?Of course, the longer they waited, the more it was going to hurt togive Tony up. Bucky knew that. But he still railed against it.

“Ihate to break up the moving farewells,” Jim said, “but I don’tthink we can send you On your way yet. You’re still tied--”

“Oh,for fucksake, who ever heard of a ghost who acquired UnfinishedBusiness AFTER they died?” Tony burst out.

“Actually,”Pepper tried, “it’s--”

“Okay,I’m going to do this, and then we can get on with things. Okay?Okay. Bucky, I’m sorry to do this to you.”

“Whatare you babbling about?” Bucky asked.

Tonyhuffed. “I think I’m in love with you. It’s driving me crazythat I can’t even touch you, and I managed to rescue you from thatBrock asshole, but I can’t keep you from everyone,and sooner or later you’re going to fall for someoneandthen you’ll leave me! And frankly I’d rather be gone before thathappens, so can we please shuffle me off this mortal coil or whateverbefore I die againfromembarrassment?”

“Whatwe were trying to say,” Jim said, before Bucky could recover fromthat, “was that we can’t send you On because you’re notactually dead.”

Ifit were possible for a ghost to get paler, Tony might have. Hewhirled to stare at the ghostbusters. “What?”

Buckycouldn’t come up with anything better to say, so he repeated it.“What?”

“Accordingto these readings,” Pepper said, eyes on her scanner, “you’rein a coma.”

Itwas dark, and there was a voice. Several voices, actually, but one ofthem he knew.It was that voice that drew him up out of the darkness and spun himaround until he slotted back into his body.

Hecould feelthingsagain. His toes were cold and his back ached and his neck itched.He’d forgotten what itching felt like. (If this were a movie, he’dsay something stupid like being grateful for getting to feel thatmuch, but instead, it was just annoying.)

Someonewas holding his hand. That felt pretty nice. Was it the owner of thevoice?

“...Mr.Stark? Can you hear me?” said someone irrelevant.

“Tony,come on, squeeze my fingers for me, just a little,” the voice said.

Hetried. He didn’t want the voice to give up on him and go awayagain.

“...muscleatrophy,” another irrelevant voice was saying. “So it will be alot of work to...”

Tonywanted. Tony wanted the voice to stay more than anything. Wanted toopen his eyes and see the face.

“Comeon, Tony, you can do it,” the voice said. “You have to wantit,just like before, but you can do it for me, right? I love you, baby,I’m right here, waiting for you. Don’t give up.”

Hewanted it, he neededit,more than he’d ever wanted sleep or coffee or-- He could do it. Hecould. He would.Tony wanted--

--andhis eyes opened, his hand squeezing with all his pitiful might. Infront of him were two eyes, the pale blue of a winter sky. Sothat’s what color they are,Tony thought. Then the eyes crinkled and filled with tears. Tonyblinked, re-focusing, and saw the face.

Theface that belonged to the voice. The face and the voice of the manhe’d fallen in love with, who was squeezing his hand, crying andsmiling all at once. “You did it, Tony. You’re back.” The manwhose name was--

“Bucky.”

~ @27dragons

#prompts #winteriron #tony stark #bucky barnes #tony x bucky #steve rogers #au: paranormal #i guess?#27dragons #2wayierotoro

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frubeto-writing · 7 years ago

Text

probably the 6824560347th ‘Dorian goes crazy’ fic nobody asked for. written pretty much at the beginning of the series.

read on ao3

He’s being moved. No. Someone is touching him. Lifting his head. Inspecting his bonds. Unsure of their intentions, he starts up audio systems. “-orian?” “He’s not reacting.” “What’s wrong?” “Maybe just conversing energy, he must be running low.” “Can you get these off?” “Working on it.” “What the hell did they do to him?” “Dorian, come on.” He wants to answer, but all that comes out is a distorted sound that probably hurts human ears. Maybe he rushed that. He checks his status and reloads speech protocols. “Jo--hn.” “Hey. You alright?” “Hm.” He takes on visual next. That at least is going smoothly and he’s greeted by the sight of John’s boots as he opens his eyes. “Good, you’re back. Can you move?” “Wait.” He makes sure everything runs stably, then carefully executes the necessary commands. “Rebooting motor control no--ow.” But as soon as it’s online he’s bombarded by alerts. Short-circuits, excess voltages, non-responsive units – He would have to compensate for all of those. He groans. Then scrunches up his face in something akin to pain as his arms instinctively move to shelter his body and that alone is enough to cause another crash. There’s a hand on his shoulder, and someone is talking to him, but he isn’t listening, too busy ensuring nothing else goes down with it. “Dorian?” “Motor control is still offline. Along with 38 of my other syste--ems. I don’t have the power to keep i--it running.” And even though he can’t move his face there’s a smile in his voice when he adds, “You’re gonna have to carry me.”

It starts with an unauthorized access to his memory files. He stops. They’re about to storm a hideout they spent days tracking down and he really doesn’t have time for this. “You okay?” “It’s nothing,” he says. And that’s what he tells himself as he puts the memory back where it came from and initiates a diagnostic scan. John hesitates for a second but trusts Dorians judgment. He motions for him to lead the way in and Dorian nods and takes off. It’s no more than a few corridors later, however, when his memory starts malfunctioning again. He’s back in that room, his sensors showing nothing but the rough outline of the walls, a shockwave traveling through his body, interrupting various systems on its way up. He closes his eyes and internally gives them a kick the same way John will sometimes hit his tech when it’s acting up and, miraculously, it works in both cases. He’s relieved, but he also knows he might have lost more time than acceptable, and when he opens his eyes again, John has moved forward. The lights have dimmed, there’s bits of broken glass on the floor and shots are being fired. “Dorian!” He adjusts the grip on his gun and takes cover. “There’s seven of them, coming from northeast, I’m coordinating with the other teams.” “Why thank you.” Dorian tries to ignore him. Until the fire does down for a moment to give them a momentary chance. He looks up and finds John already in position. “Cover me!” he orders, and before Dorian can object he’s gone. So he gets up, fires in the direction of the attackers, and it’s all going well until he wants to readjust his aim and notices his hand shaking, target acquisition failing subsequently. He sees John move up to their left, grips the gun tighter and tries again, but everything is happening terribly fast and he’s already hesitated too long. John is falling with the next shot and he ducks down once more as his cover comes under fire. He can’t get up. The diagnostic comes up empty and he starts another one. Because there’s a chance that it’s a virus, a short-circuit, a malfunction in his subroutines that’s causing this. That it’s anything but himself. Because he can’t get up. He wants to, to help John like he’s done many times before, because that’s his job, to protect his partner, no matter the threat, but he just can’t. Every biochemical muscle in his body is tense but he can’t get a single one of them to move. So he stays where he is, sitting on the ground, hiding, staring ahead, not making any progress until the noise ends, the immediate danger is past and he relaxes slightly.

He doesn’t know how much time has passed. He’s vaguely aware of movement around him, but he can’t get face or even object recognition to run, so the visual feed remains unprocessed. It’s probably for the best, because he wouldn’t know what to do with the additional data anyway. Something is definitely wrong. And the fact that he can’t even figure out what only alarms him further. He’s never realized until now how much he’s mentally distanced himself from the idea of ‘going crazy’, but of course it’s never left the back of his mind either. What if-? The second scan completes and with the deallocated RAM, another thing comes back to mind. John. He scrambles to his feet and – after some difficulty – makes his way to the exit. There’s lots of people still running around, but he’s only scanning for one face and when he finds the match, it’s in a nearby ambulance. He’s talking to another officer while his right arm is being bandaged, but as soon as he spots him, he shrugs them both off, stalks over to him and uses his good arm to shove him against the wall with an unexpected force. “What the hell was that?!” He can feel the pressure on his chest that seems like it would crush a human ribcage. It feels like John is putting his entire strength into it. Like he doesn’t even care if he hurts him. And he wants to apologize, and explain himself, that he was not in full control, that he would never let this happen under normal circumstances, that there was a minor malfunction and that he should just drop him off at Rudy’s and he’ll be fine by tomorrow morning, but before he can form a coherent sentence, John interrupts him. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t wanna hear it,” he hisses, then pulls him forward by his shirt and bangs him back against the wall fast enough that the vibrations throw him off balance for a moment. Someone is next to him in an instant, helps him up and offers him a ride back to the precinct. But he declines absentmindedly and walks off in a random direction. He needs time to think. And maybe the cold night air will help clear his mind. It doesn’t. There’s no hardware problem to be found, meaning this has to be his programming. And now John is pissed off, so who knows if they will even bother trying to repair him instead of just shutting him down and reusing his parts to make a segway. This has been his last chance, John has finally started to trust him and he goes and gives him one fantastically good reason not to. How could he have been so stupid? He should have gone to Rudy at the first sign of trouble. Now he’s already lost control and he feels like he’s spiraling further away from himself with every step. He turns a corner and barely avoids stumbling over his own feet.

His phone rings and he snatches it from the table before letting himself fall onto the couch. “Kennex.” “Is Dorian with you?” He harrumphs and stretches his leg on the table. His whole body is still aching and the last person he wants to talk to right now is Rudy. “No.” There’s a short pause on the other end, then: “Maybe you should… look for him? I- I heard what happened, and I’m worried. I’m not sure he should be alone right now.” John stays silent. “He deactivated his locator chip, and… well you two do stuff together all the time, I thought maybe you know where he’d go?” Rudy sounds genuinely troubled, so he considers it and does actually come up with a few possibilities. He sighs. “Fine,” he says, “I’ll go.”

When he finds him, he’s sitting on a bench not far from their usual noodle place, knees drawn up, eyes closed, and face looking like an intense multiplayer version of snake. John calls his name and he jumps. When Dorian looks up, John’s face says ‘what is going on’ as clear as any words could. On second thought, maybe there were words. He isn’t sure. “I don’t know,” he answers anyway, and regrets it immediately. “It’s nothing.” He gets up, can’t seem to find his balance, stumbles backwards. “It’s nothing I’m sure I can get this sorted out, I’m fine I-” His side makes contact with a wall, and he’s vaguely grateful. “please just-… please.” John follows him. “Whoah, hey, you need to calm down, close some tabs or something. You’ll blow a fuse.” So he knows. Of course he knows. He has probably been warned this would happen. Everyone has only been waiting for it. He’s a liability, as he’s just proved, and they will be happy to replace him with a trusty MX. The experiment has failed again. And now they send John to come collect him. How sensible. He lets himself slide down to the ground and shelters his head with his hands. “I meant...”John groans as he realizes what is happening. “I meant that literally.” He looks down on the hunched figure before him and shakes his head. He should call Rudy. Let him pick Dorian up himself and see what he can do for him. And return to his couch. Instead he curses his own sense of responsibility and consciously unclenches his jaw as he lets himself fall into a squat in front of his partner. Dorian flinches. And there it is again. This sudden impalpable feeling that something is… off. Because he’s never seen Dorian seriously afraid of something, except- He blinks. “You won’t be decommissioned.” It comes out more confident than he feels, but the lack of reaction is enough to let him know he’s onto something. It makes sense, with everything Dorian told him. About how much he wants to be a cop, and how he’s his only chance. His outburst earlier probably sent a clear message, and he almost regrets being that hard on him, but he did get him shot, and his anger will not fade before the pain does. He takes a deep breath and sits down next to him, trying to remember what Rudy said about the DRNs. ‘Breaking Point’ is what he called it. Said that it was basically a human defect, not a technical one. So he runs his fingers through his hair and resolves to approach this as such. “I’m still angry, I’m not gonna lie. And you fucked up big time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still prefer you to any of those MX.” Dorian visibly tries to process the new information, but doesn’t seem to have the capacities left to arrive at any conclusions. “I’m malfunctioning,” he finally manages. “What’s wrong?” John presses, and Dorian shakes his head. “I don’t know.” He hears John sigh and there’s a definite pause before he says, “You’re the only one who can get close to knowing what it’s like inside your head. Tell me something you do know.” And Dorian wants to make a joke, knows he normally would, like telling a random useless fact, or that he disapproves of Johns way to make pancakes, but he can’t. So he agrees to let John lead this and searches for the first warning that comes up. “CPU usage is at 98%.” “That explains the lightshow. What’s taking up that much computation time?” It’s a simple question and he makes the query before thinking about whether it’s a good idea to actually answer. “Synthetic soul subroutines.” “Alright,” John says, trying to think of a way to help, “Well can’t you just… end some processes and focus on the essentials?” The response he gets is so close to the standard error sound he has to actively remind himself that he’s not remote diagnosing a stubborn PC. He’s about to make another suggestion when Dorian interrupts him. “My thoughts are… looping. Everything is. Everything usually is, but this is… worse. And I can’t break it and it’s only getting more, and you’re right I can’t keep this up, my core temperatures are already hitting critical levels, systems will start overheating and I can’t stop it, I can’t stop this, I- I don’t understand what’s happening!” “Hey.” John instinctively shuffles closer to him and presses his hand against his back in an effort to ground him. He’s definitely warmer than usual, and he’s also started shivering subtly. This isn’t good. “Focus. Try to focus on me, okay?” He’s slightly out of his depth so he just keeps massaging circles into his back, hoping that he’s helping. And it seems to work, because Dorian leans into him and the shivers subside after a while. He runs his free hand down his face and looks around. There’s not many people still on the street, yet it’s not the most comfortable place to have this conversation. Dorian leaves him little choice however. “I’m going crazy aren’t I.” It’s not voiced like a question, even though it is, really. And John doesn’t know the answer, and says as much. “I don’t know where they draw the line between human crazy and android crazy,” he adds, knowing fully well that a few months ago, he wouldn’t have cared. “What do you mean?” “Well. We all have our breaking points. Maybe this is just a very human reaction to everything that’s happened.” He doesn’t seem convinced. Neither is John, but he doesn’t know how to continue his arguments without more information, so he plays another hunch. “This is about the kidnapping, right?” Dorian lifts his head. “How-” “I’m a detective, remember?” John smiles, then explains, “That one time in the elevator. Interrogation rooms, narrow hallways- I saw you get uncomfortable. I should’ve said something. I’m sorry.” He expects Dorian to object and is ready to explain that it’s as much his job to look after him as it is the other way around, but there’s only silence. He lets it sit for a while, before quietly asking. “Tell me what happened. When we went in.” “Why?” “You can’t solve this on your own, apparently. So you need new input. That’s what we do when we have problems, we talk about it, get a second opinion, another perspective. Maybe we can figure out what’s going on together.” Dorian looks at him for a long moment and John begins to question whether he’s still trying to process the information or just debating what to tell him. Eventually, he answers. “My sensors went offline. Visual, sound,… everything except proximity sensors.” “Okay. Why?” “I ran a diagnostic, no malfunction,” he says while he waits for the appropriate files to load. “...Logs say I shut them down.” There’s confusion in his eyes, but it slowly turns to panic and John knows he needs to get him back to simpler questions. “Why not all?” “What?” “You said almost all sensors went out.” “Yes.” “So why not all?” “I don’t -” He stops himself as he realizes that’s only technically true. “When I was held in that room. Waiting for you. That’s how I… I shut down everything non-essential. I kept proximity online.” “You’re seeing a connection.” “The structure of the buildings is similar.” John looks like that made perfect sense to him, but Dorian still struggles. And the more the thinks about how this could be affecting him this much, the more details of his captivity resurface. “I was-… When I’m shut down I’m practically dead. I’m… gone.” He shakes his head. “I wasn’t, in that room. I was thinking. I was left to my own devices with no external input, that’s worse, I had to keep going, not knowing if-” He stops abruptly, his eyes clenching shut as several systems start to stutter again. “Shit!” “Dorian?” John looks up to see him jumping up and spinning around. At least his colloquialism routine is definitely back online. “Why is this happening?!” He’s running his fingers though his hair and then his face goes blank as he focuses on getting things back to normal. John uses the moment to get up himself and slowly approach him. He’s afraid that the last 15 minutes of sitting in the cold will be in vain if Dorian panics again now. But then he turns around and looks at him pleadingly. “Help me.” He’s still scared, but John seems to at least have regained his trust. So he takes Dorians shoulder carefully with one hand and reaches for his phone with the other. “Okay. Let me call Rudy first.” But he immediately backpedals when he sees Dorian tense up at the mention. “I’ll just let him know you’re with me. He’s been worried. Then we’ll get you somewhere quieter, you do some memory compression or whatever it is you do and we’ll let Rudy check you out tomorrow, alright? He’ll know how to help.” He waits for Dorian to slowly nod his approval before he adds, “Unless you rather want to see him now?” Expectedly, he shakes his head and John nudges him in the direction of the car. “Alright, you can stay at my place if you want to.” “Really?” John rolls his eyes. He’ll probably regret this later. “Really.”

#Almost Human #John Kennex #Dorian #I wrote something can you imagine

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ask-de-writer · 7 years ago

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ONE WAY? (Part 1 of2) a Bizarre Border fantasy

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to the BIZARRE BORDER

ONE WAY?

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

4845 words

Written 2008

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There was this great light. I felt myself drawn toward it almost irresistibly. It was that almost that got to me. I resisted. I simply didn't want to die just yet. For one thing, I was very interested in exactly who had just punched my ticket for a ride on the One Way Express.

I tried to climb down the Silver Cord that still led back to the old corpus. No dice. Hum, - I looked at how it was attached and knew at once just why climbing down the outside of it, like a rope, didn't work. It was like a stretchy tube. I tried pushing myself down the inside of it.

In seconds, I was only feet above what was left of me. Ugh. Shotgun from behind, through the mid-section at close range. Near instant bleed-out. What steamed me wasn't even being shot from behind, though that did tend to indicate exactly what sort of rat's ass did the deed. It was the particular rat's ass who'd pulled the trigger that set what little blood was left to boiling. Stupid ol' Al Rankin was there with a smoking shotgun, doing an idiot victory dance.

He'd apparently hid back of the feed shed and stirred up my chickens with a rattlesnake. They set up a particular type of fuss when a snake gets into their run. I came out with my pistol to take care of the nuisance and Al nailed me as I went by. Damn him, literally.

From what I knew of physiology, the muscles could still move for a while, even without blood. Anaerobic cycle they call it. Brain was off line due to lack of blood pressure but nerves could still fire. Since my consciousness was now outside my body, that might not be as much of a problem as usual. I reached in and tweaked. Arm moved.

Great. I shifted my arm to put my hand on the pistol butt. Slow pull and I had it. Felt really heavy, too. Still, I took my time and got it lined up. I had to do the sighting from where I was, above the body. My body's eyes pointed the wrong way and didn't work all that well. I tried them. The squeeze was nice and even. With the odd angle, recoil was a bitch. I could live with that. Joke there.

Shot just below the heart but through the descending aorta, Al dropped like a string cut puppet. His look of surprise was all that I could have hoped for. I could hear him screaming in rage as he vanished up the same kind of cord I'd been in.

Been in? I checked about. Mine stopped where I was. Didn't go up to the light any more at all. Me and my body, seemed about it. That could be bad. I reached in to see if I could do anything besides fire nerves.

Damn. I could move scraps of my damaged flesh. I put parts back together. They would stick if I did it just right, which wasn't all that easy at first. It was a lot like sewing by hand. There was a bunch of parts missing or so messed up that I couldn't fix them properly. Still, it wasn't that bad a job. Seen field surgery in the military that looked worse.

I dragged myself inside and started to drink a ton of liquids. They absorbed OK, I guess. I began to feel my carcass as the sensory nervous system came back on line and started to do damage reports. That wasn't fun, believe you me. The headache was horrible and it was only the beginning of my hurts. If this was what Necromancy felt like to the resurrected, it was no wonder that the dead were testy and only wanted to kill off the sorcerer so that they could stop hurting. It had to be a SIN to inflict this on somebody else. Made suicide look real attractive. Both the worst and the best of it was that I did this to myself.

Even though I was now back inside my carcass, I realized that I was still wrapped in my little silvery cocoon. I reached down to see how my repairs were coming along. Pretty good, really. Some of the missing parts were actively regenerating and other bits looked like they were thinking about it. I did some more tweaking and most of the rest of the pains began to recede. Not the damn headache, though. Recognized its source and there was not much to be done there, yet. Anoxia just is. Enough new blood and proper circulatory fluid would take care of it in time. If my brain didn't die first.

Prodding things showed me that the brain was still functioning, if badly. I decided to deal with that later. Right now, I needed to fake up a pair of near misses with that buzzard cannon of Al's and call the sheriff's office.

I looked at my shirt close and realized that I had powder burns on the back. The entry wound was still pretty raw and on the muscle ridge to one side of the spine, so I left it alone. Front was a bloody mess, all dirtied and my shirt was torn up by my crawl to the house. I left the raw meat of the wound surface showing, but pried it about some at the edges with a kitchen knife. Set some bloody pellets from the shot charge on the table for the reason.

Al's old monster was a twelve gage double gun and both barrels were fired when I looked. Didn't bother with shifting my body, just went out in my closed circuit cocoon to see what I needed. Interesting. It was so easy to do, now. Idly I wondered if that would last.

I called the Sheriff. It was still a pain to move but things were getting better. My breathing and heartbeat were now automatic and stable. It made the call lots easier. I had to redial twice before I got the number right. Memory was fine but my recoil banged up hand and fingers kept missing the keys.

When Deputy Bernard answered, I just said, “Bernie, this is Josh Marks. Get someone out here quick. End of North Mountain road. I've been wounded and Al Rankin is dead. Need an ambulance and the M.E. Fast.” While Bernie was trying to grill me for details, I dropped the phone onto the table and let the ol' carcass hit the floor with a meaty thump. I could still hear Bernie trying to raise me and calling units to investigate.

It took a lot of time for the first Deputy to get out here because I live a long way out. Keeping close tabs on things from my silver cocoon perch, I let my body pass out. Once it was unconscious, I used those recently found ghostly fingers and faked a stray pellet to the spleen to explain the problem. I could sort of float around and watch while the Deputy and his back up, who got there six minutes after him, sorted out the action.

Deputy Redd pulled back my shirt for evidence photos and found the “entrance wound” of the pellet. He probed it lightly with a thin rod and took a picture. Then he called Bernie on the radio and said, “Tell the ambulance to floorboard it! It looks like a spleen hit!”

Altogether, it was a merry little private circus.

I slid inside and went into sleep mode. I woke up in the hospital with Deputy Redd there by the bed. He smiled when he saw me open my eyes. He said, “This is unofficial because you are still under the influence of anesthesia. Do you remember any of what happened to you?”

“Some, Deputy. Not a lot. I heard my chickens make their rattlesnake fuss and took my pistol to check it out. Don't normally like to kill the snakes but trying to catch them alive in the hen yard is dangerous for the birds. I caught a movement out of the tail of my eye and turned just as the fricken shotgun went off. I think it caught part of my back. Not sure. I was bringing up my gun when the second shot went off. I know I caught some of that. I returned fire and saw the man fall. I fell over, dragged back to the house and tried to call Dispatch. I woke up here.”

Deputy Redd nodded, “Squares fairly well with what we know. Looked like you took two grazing hits. A stray pellet damaged your spleen. Doc says you got no business being alive at all. You had almost no red cells left. Or any other blood cells for that matter.

“Do you know who it was that you shot?”

I shook my head as if confused and said, “Makes no sense. I thought I saw Al Rankin but there's a protective restraint order on him to keep him away. I caught him in the act of vandalizing my property last month and had him run in for it.”

Dryly, Deputy Redd replied, “I remember. I picked him up and I served the order. By the by, you are right. It was him. If it helps, you are in the clear on this. Won't even need a Grand Jury, thanks to the order. He was in violation, with a firearm. You could have shot him on sight, without warning just for that.”

My body tired, just from the short exchange, I said, “Thanks, Deputy Redd. I think that I'm going to sleep again. I'm sort of sore, too. I think the surgery site hurts more than getting shot did.” I closed my eyes.

As soon as he was gone, I checked something. I was still able to get loose from my body in that silvery cocoon thing. I picked up a bar of soap on the washstand. Then I turned on the faucet. After filling a glass and setting it on my bedside stand, I turned off the water. It was easy. My ghost or astral form or whatever seemed to be plenty strong.

I pried my body's eyes open and looked. The glass was there on the bedside stand. With water in it. I could even see my ghostly body, right beside the bed. Seeing from two places at once like that nearly made me hurl, which would have been bad for the surgery site. Speaking of, I closed my body's eyes and got busy doing the kind of fix that I'd done out on my property, after Al shot me. This time, I had plenty of good blood and it was a help, believe me. Bless whoever dreamed up safe transfusions.

I was just shutting my eyes when, like the bad penny that he was, Al Rankin turned up at the foot of my bed. He began a horrid, ghostly wail of, “You murdered me, you bastard! Now I'm here to haunt you to the end of your days!”

I guess that it was supposed to be terrifying. I was pissed instead. I stepped free of the old corpus and demanded, “WHO murdered WHO, Al? I seem to remember two barrels full of seven and a half shot from BEHIND ripping through my body. I killed you right after that little disruption. Now go away, you lying asshole.”

Now it was Al who was pissed. “You are Damned, Marks! I was sent to drag you to Judgment! Nobody mortal can live through . . .” his ectoplasmic eyes went wide as he realized exactly what he'd just said.

While he was yapping his bit, I got close and grabbed his arm at wrist and shoulder. I ripped it right off. Guess having a live body made my ectoplasm stouter stuff than his. I slugged him alongside the head with his own arm hard enough to blast his head against the wall like a baseball, except that it splatted and oozed to the floor. Since I knew that both of us could go right through walls and such, I found it entertaining to watch. Apparently, Al's lifetime habit of running into solid objects was betraying him in the afterlife. I grabbed both his head and arm and shoved them up his ass, literally.

Then, I stomped him right down through the floor, which grew a red, glowing circle around him as he fell. It was a long fall to what looked for all the world like fire at the bottom. Al and the circle vanished. I went back to my body and back to sleep.

When I woke up, Deputy Redd was sitting by my bed, a pistol prominent at his hip. The nurse was shaking me awake. She said, “Time to change your dressing, Mr. Marks.”

As she was getting busy going snippy-snippy with the scissors, I asked Deputy Redd, “Why the gun? Aren't you off duty now?”

He nodded, “I am but sometimes things happen that are more important than time clocks. Both of the surviving Rankin brothers had to be turned away from the hospital. They had big hunting knives, wood stakes and a hammer. They were ranting about you being a witch-man or some sort of undead. Said that you couldn't be alive because Al centered you with his shotgun.”

While the nurse was staring in consternation at my surgical wound, I asked, “How the hell would they know that unless they saw it? It didn't happen that way. Don't think so, anyway.”

Deputy Redd nodded a bit grimly, “There's several things about this case that don't add up right. That's one of them. They do seem to know too much. Another is the amount of blood that you lost at the scene. That's backed up by the blood count they did in the ER.”

The nurse put in, “This wound is another. I need to get Dr. Hillstrom in here right away to document this!”

/////TO BE CONTINUED/////

#ONE WAY?#Part 1 of 2 #Bizarre Border #written by De Writer

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michellelewis7162 · 5 years ago

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Air conditioner

What is central air conditioning?

You understand that cooling creates you think cool. Yet central air conditioning is more than merely cooling down. It indicates keeping the temperature level and moisture (moisture content) of sky in a closed area, whether it is actually one space or even a whole structure, at simply the best degree for the comfort of the people inside. It likewise implies flowing the air and incorporating wetness if important. In summer season it means getting rid of by passing the sky over chilly pipelines that collect water from the sky, high as declines of water reduce on a cool water glass on a scorching, wet day. As a matter of fact, we might just about state that air conditioner suggests generating a man-made, relaxed climate. In this post our team shall talk about merely cooling down.

In dry out weather air can be cooled down simply. The colder might be no more than a big fan that pulls very hot, dry air to a water soaked thread mat. The sky is cooled as it dissipates the water. It is actually carry out dry to begin with that the included dampness will definitely not result in distress. (This is actually not the case in sweltering environments). Heating And Cooling Contractor Charlottesville

A/c possesses a lot of uses besides maintaining our team comfy. Many industries depend on it to maintain the air in their plants tidy, refreshing and also at the correct wetness degree. For instance, fabric fiber like wool as well as cotton are going to diminish or even stretch as the dampness material of sky improvements. This induces variations in the top quality of the cloth. Too much wetness airborne -or perhaps on a laborer's fingertips- will certainly cause delicate steel parts like spacecraft components or precision equipments guitar to oxidize. The incorrect temperature level can easily mess up a set of antibiotic lifestyle. Effective air conditioner prevents this accident Charlottesville.

Deep blue sea ruby and gravy train of South Africa utilize central air conditioning to permit miners to operate in what will typically be actually stifling in warm, thousands of feets listed below the ground. Along with the cooling is actually involved in every part of the United States area course, from making rockets to tracking them through the ambience.

Creators have actually tinkered along with techniques of central air conditioning for years. Early Egyptians and Romans got some relief from the warm by hanging woven floor coverings soaked along with water around to their entries of their residences, so the air will be could through dissipation. In the 15th century A.D., the renowned artist and developer developed water powered follower.

As males is actually passion in scientific research grew so performed the number of programs for acquiring awesome. There were hundreds of ideas, yet none of them definitely worked. In fact, a lot of the programs made folks think much worse due to the fact that they added large volume of water to the sky. Air is like a sponge. It will absorb water and also make individuals believe steamy as well as annoying, particularly in hot weather. When the sky is extremely damp, our company say the moisture is high. When the air is actually dry out, the moisture is actually low and also our experts experience much better.

The first device that kept the humidity low or even cooled down the air together was actually built in 1902 by Willis H. Carrier that developed is actually often phoned "the papa of air conditioner." Company built this equipment for a publishing plant in Brooklyn, New York, that possessed issue printing in different colors. When the sky is actually wet as well as shrinks when the sky is dry, Paper stretches. Since each different colors must be actually imprinted independently, printing of various colours on the same sheet of paper carried out not align correctly given that the documents alter dimension in between printings. Provider's maker always kept the dampness degree of the sky constant through drawing the sky over a row cool pipelines that compressed excess wetness. This always kept the paper at one measurements as well as also created people in the plant experience awesome. Carrier's development marked the start of clinical central air conditioning Charlottesville.

Central air conditioning was very soon being actually made use of in lots of manufacturing plants, including vegetations that helped make ammo throughout World War I. Folks usually carried out nit understand regarding this development up until 1920's, when hundreds of flick theatres, team outlets, as well as restaurants had actually sky conditioners installed. People typically entered these areas just to get remedy for warm, damp sky outdoors.

As the air conditioner ended up being even more popular during the 1930's, air conditioning devices were cultivated. These can cool the whole office or even flats from one located system, equally buildings were heated up from one large furnace in the basement as opposed to by little bit of cooktops in each area. In the course of the very same time frame little units that might air disorder a single area were actually created. After World War II lots of small devices started to become utilized in private houses. A later growth, used increasingly in social properties and also exclusive properties, incorporated heating system and also cooling down devices in one system.

How performs it Work?

A cooling system carries out certainly not "include coolness" to the air. It clears away heat. An ac unit services the very same standard principle as a refrigerator-though it is actually not created to produce such reduced temps. Heat is actually taken from the sky due to the swift development of a cooling agent (air conditioning elements) as it switches coming from a liquid at high tension. A going along with picture demonstrates the cycle of functions of a little home-type air conditioner. Right here the sky is actually cooled down directly due to the machine. For the simplicity, filter and motors are actually not shown in this representation. In big, core installations, like those in office buildings and schools, an equipment coldness water that is piped to a collection of coils. Sky coming from structure is actually attracted over this rolls and flowed by means of the property blowers Charlottesville.

To be practical, an air conditioning unit need to be able to preserve a consistent temperature level. Or else individuals would need to switch their devices off and on constantly as the temperature come to be warm or too cool. A steady temperature-regulating tool phoned temperature. The thermostat is actually evaluated desired temperature. It after that shifts the cooling down unit on as well as off as required.

Central Air Conditioning Repair - First Steps to perform it On your own.

Why Is My Air Conditioner Not Working?

I strongly believe that will certainly be the very first inquiry show up in your thoughts, when you feel like there is actually something incorrect along with your AC. A/c repair service is certainly not one thing truly very easy to handle. You will need the help of a specialist to aid you repair it, or even the other option is actually that you wish to discover just how the strategies as well as steps to central air conditioning repair work is?

Below are actually things to become performed at the beginning of when you wish to get away the hot and muggy weather particularly at summer months.

There are so many perhaps factors that could be the reasons that your HVAC perform certainly not to function or function appropriately. Maybe that your temperature is actually not functioning the right way, or even the electric motor or converter have stopped working. A grimy evaporator can likewise cause problems, or you could be short on cooling agent.

For this scenario, air conditioner repair service approach like a straightforward cleansing might receive your device back up as well as managing, but you might need to have to substitute a part, or it may make good sense certainly not to fix and also look at replacement of the cooling system.

There are a lot of factors come to be the reason why your evaporator coil receive frozen. It is actually when the cooling system works continually all the time and also night along with low cooling agent degree, and out of balance blood circulation. This creates the air going out supply signs up feel warm and comfortable. Turn off the air conditioner for a moment or steadily as well as try to figure out what could possibly quit or lessen the cost a frozen roll.

If obtaining a brand new unit is actually the best answer, it is actually really encouraged to possess a specialist to help you choose and comprehend what the absolute most appropriate unit as well as size that will fit your way of life the most effective at your house. Based upon the wide array of needs and also the style of your property, the possibilities that might increase, as complies with:.

Central air, usually the absolute best selection for cooling your entire house. If you simply need an area or more cooled, at that point room systems, which may be your best bet. If your house is already outfitted along with proper ductwork, a split unit, which separates the exterior converter and also condenser, may be the best suitable option.

While the finally, is actually evaporative coolers, making use of evaporated water to cool down sky and suit the most ideal for arid weather conditions Charlottesville.

What Makes Air Conditioning Repair Urgent.

When you recognize that there is actually no electrical power within your Air Conditioning, you might double check the electrical wiring, and the breaker, or yet another trigger is actually that your a/c is beyond ordinary warmth. For a/c repair service, attempt to better the wiring, set from scratch the circuit, and be sure to also wash the airflow to the exterior device.

To decrease the lot of troubles that may occur, it is actually a really good suggestion as air conditioner fixing to on a regular basis check the routine maintenance of your air conditioner. This is to guarantee your a/c unit is actually working at leading productivity and can expand its life expectancy.

It is actually additionally a great measure to take when you deal with a concerns with your Air Conditioner repair work, you carry out certainly not rely exclusively on specialist, instead you put your effort to look the pointers and also ask anybody professional within this area to handle this kind of matter by yourself. Therefore, whenever you have a complication, individually you won't be actually simply panic as well as doubt.

Put together at the very least a yearly routine maintenance consult a specialist or monthly check by yourself to wash the system, look at the cooling agent as well as ensure the body remains in risk-free operating order. Air Conditioner fixing will be actually required for invisible sources that become the issue resource of Air Conditioning which specifically are actually as follows:.

It is actually easy to acknowledge that your fan belt has worn. Attempt to listen closely to the noise of your Air Conditioning Charlottesville. If there is actually one thing like scream, after that for Air Conditioning repair service, it is opportunity for you to change it. If the noises receiving louder before you transform it, it may be a need to for you to prep some long green, due to the fact that it indicates that the damage has been actually extreme.

For central air conditioning fixing of problem like water leak cooling agent, you may certainly not remain still or not do anything, because the side effect will lessen the performance of your cooling and are going to harm the environment not far away. Not simply it is necessary for you to bill the body once again, you ought to additionally alter its own tubing to avoid growing leakage harm Charlottesville.

Resources for Air Conditioning Repair.

Possessing resources of a/c repair service is actually proposed to make sure that any time your air conditioning does certainly not operate effectively, you require not to be baffled to acquire from your next-door neighbor or even your close friends, whether during the evening, or wintertime which may lock you up at house.

It will certainly end up being therefore helpful for you, considering that you already spent funds merely to deal with such health conditions you wish to avoid the best. Listed here are the devices you need for air conditioning repair service. Needle-nose pliers, almond driver, socket/ratchet collection, voltage specialist, a multi-meter, flexible wrench, drill/driver - cordless, and shielded screwdriver.

An Introductory Guide to Portable Air Conditioning.

What Is It?

A mobile a/c system is actually different from a core cooling or wall-mounted unit in that it's mobile and also little. Many portable devices are actually 29-34 ins high as well as evaluate 30-36 kilos. When a portable sky hair conditioner is actually made use of, there is no demand to bring out long-term setup. This implies wall surfaces can remain intact!

At times, the phrases "mobile ac unit" and also "portable air cooler" are used reciprocally, although this shouldn't hold true. The previous uses a compressor and Freon as a coolant, whereas the latter operates the concept of water evaporation. With this in mind, portable a/c are able to cool a whole room much more properly than a sky colder, along with possessing a dehumidifying effect Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

Exactly how Does It Work?

A resident will need to have the succeeding to mount mobile a/c:.

- Space for the unit - An electric aspect - An exhaust air vent for the warm air.

The function of mobile a/c corresponds to standard cooling bodies. The unit cools down a room by using a refrigerator pattern and also Freon, as stated above. A transportable air conditioner consists of a box-frame containing cold and hot sides in addition to an exhaust pipe utilized to get rid of hot air outsides and also is actually often 5-7 feets long. The condensation that results from cooling down is actually reused to cool the device itself, although excess condensation may make up every now and then.

There are actually pair of ways to get rid of excess condensation:.

Hands-on extraction - the condensation picks up in a container or even tray inside the system and needs to be actually emptied out from time to opportunity.

Evaporative extraction - the condensation evaporates and is actually taken out by means of the principal vent pipe via a drop ceiling, window or wall structure.

Airing vent is actually usually carried out via a home window and can be achieved along with an adaptor set. This is often featured along with a mobile air conditioning device. The package serves to always keep the air vent pipe in position as well as likewise shields the partly-opened home window or space Charlottesville.

Where Can I Use One?

With the help of their small size and also extreme portability, these cooling system are most ideal for smaller sized places that demand quicker place air conditioning. Examples include apartments, office, hosting server spaces and also some other place where installing a large cooling unit is impractical. In the interests of energy conservation and simple cooling, it may likewise be actually utilized in larger homes to cool just a couple of specific areas at the same time Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

Why Should I Use One?

Easy installation - an unit can be moved coming from one space to an additional effortlessly considering that it doesn't have to be actually permanently attached to anything.

Portability - very most, otherwise all, transportable air conditioning unit feature rolling wheels. That way, the system may be situated practically anywhere you want it to be and relocate will not provide you a hernia at the same time.

Two-in-one functions - not merely perform they cool down the sky, the cooling process itself allows the device to work as a dehumidifier. Also, increasingly more portable air conditioners include air purifiers to guarantee cleaner sky for the consumer.

Energy efficiency - portable systems set you back a lot a lot less to function reviewed to air conditioning devices thanks to their smaller size. Due to the fact that they're capable to cool a certain area much extra rapidly, there is actually additionally much less electricity wastage where smaller devices are actually concerned.

Price - the lack of setup costs, general operating guidelines and also the measurements of a mobile a/c device assists to keep costs down. An additional energy-efficient unit will definitely cost slightly even more, yet even this are going to be actually less than the price of a frequent cooling unit. Upkeep of a portable system is also much easier and also less costly, and it's simple to perform slight repair work by yourself.

Evaluation to Central Air Conditioning.

As the name recommends, a transportable ac system is actually merely able to cool down a little place compared to regular air conditioning unit. Additionally, mobile systems often tend to become noisier than completely positioned ones. It might also end up being a tiring task if you select a portable system where the condensation has to be eliminated personally. The air vent pipe as well as also the unit on its own might show to become obtrusive for those that are adapted to always keeping the floor very clear Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

Industrial Air Conditioning.

A/c have actually ended up being such an essential part of nearly all atmospheres that it is actually very complicated to picture an atmosphere without a/c. Several homes, offices, business, colleges as well as universities are choosing air conditioning system to make certain the comfort of those inside.

Cooling system are extremely essential in markets for numerous reasons. Many business entail technical job that is actually incredibly tedious and may produce a wonderful volume of warmth. Heat energy induces workers to tire and sweat. Air conditioner does an excellent work of cooling down laborers down through lowering the general temperature level of the atmosphere. It additionally distributes the air and also decreases the humidity in the area and also allows for a far healthier temperature. This is actually certainly not just necessary for laborers; it also aids maintain makers from over heating system, which might be disastrous to any sort of sector. Because of all of these perks a/c, is a complete essential in any sort of sector.

Industrial air conditioning has a greater strength than usual air conditioning. At most sectors, regular a/c unit would certainly create little bit of distinction in the quality of the sky. That is method very most fields put up central air conditioning. These centralized commercial a/c have an extremely high variation as well as can meet mostly all portion of the structure along with a large system of ductworks. There are additionally 'air disorder boosters' at different points in the system of air ducts to make certain that the sky circulation has flows promptly and effectively.

Air conditioner.

In regular conversation, when the term air conditioner is pointed out, individuals automatically take it to mean cooling room temperature. Technically speaking, however, air conditioning is the process of handling space temperature level through various methods that involve heating system, venting and air conditioning. In development, it is actually pertained to as HVAC.

In 1902, The New York Stock Exchange was actually the quite initial building to utilize a/c units that separately cooled down and heated the air. Eventually that year, Willis Havilland Carrier put up the extremely first electrically-run a/c device at a printing vegetation. The device certainly not simply cooled down the air however additionally managed the moisture Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

In those times, air conditioner was mainly used in manufacturing facilities to enhance products through managing the impacts of humidity, thus, raising worker productivity. It was numerous decades eventually, in the 1950s, that autos as well as properties started to be matched with the cooling technology.

A cooling device cools the air through a refrigerant, a drug that modifies the temperature of the air. In the onset of its own progression, cooling systems utilized hazardous gasolines like alkali and methyl chloride as cooling solutions. They were very soon substituted by an additional type of chemical, the trademarked element referred to as Freon.

Freon is risk-free for humans. Having said that, it is harmful to the setting. When released in to the air, this chlorofluorocarbon gas is actually strongly believed to become a factor to the thinning of the ozone level. Many central air conditioning systems sold today still utilize this type of gasoline, specifically the HCFC R-22. It is actually stated that ecologists will certainly have to stand by until 2010 to view the complete obliteration of HCFC R-22 in central air conditioning untis.

A/c systems possess various types of refrigeration patterns. The 1st kind uses a heat pump that eliminates hot air coming from the area and drafts in cooled down sky though a converter. The 2nd style pumps in a cooling solution. When the refrigerant dissipates, it takes using it the warm air and also leaves cooled down sky.

Properties and big commercial infrastructures generally possess air conditioning. An air conditioning device uses a split system for its own condenser as well as converter. The evaporator is attached to an air dealing with operation or even a forced air furnace. The whole unit is housed in a packaged device that is commonly situated outdoors, including a roof or even an outhouse Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

Cooled down sky is distributed to the various floorings and also rooms by means of air ducts. A tenant might decrease the temp or even raise with managements located in each room. Some structures perform not possess such temp commands. Residents are going to must manage the common temperature specified for all floors.

There are actually conveniences to using a central air conditioning body. With the unit situated outdoors, lessees are actually not worried about along with the ambient sound that features a running air conditioner system.

An advanced filtering device additionally cleans the sky flowed in the entire structure. By means of different return-air air ducts, space air is actually consistently taken and also filtered. By means of this procedure, dust particles and also minuscule contaminants are weeded out coming from the distributing air.

A centralized a/c device also permits structure administrators as well as designers to manage the energy consumption as well as current needs of lessees. Along with a central a/c unit, tenants need not connect in their very own stand-alone a/c unit.

In cooling down or handling temperatures, it is necessary that you can determine and determine the overall temperature. This is actually because it is actually easier and also a lot more economical to cool areas along with constant temperature levels. With a central a/c system, you can do such.

When picking the right brand name or style for a central air system, consider its own filtering capacity. Distributing air should be kept clean as well as new. Otherwise, you will certainly be spreading out toxins to all places of your property Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

Central Air Conditioning Filter: Essential Part of Heating and also Air Conditioning.

The a/c filter is one of the absolute most crucial air conditioning components in the air conditioning unit. Without it, your air conditioner unit would certainly be dirty and the air you take a breath would be loaded with toxins. All air conditioner parts, from the ductwork to the a/c cooling solution, need the air conditioning filter to be clean as well as substituted to ensure you're getting the best in central air conditioning.

If an a/c filter is actually left grimy, as time go on, it may result in much higher power costs and also quick.

devices life because of all the air conditioner parts relying upon one another. One can not operate without the other. Generally, your heating and cooling will not be as successful and you are going to require to invest in even more air conditioning fixing and also air conditioner servicing.

An air conditioning filter must be altered each month or even every 2 months for home a/c devices as well as every couple of weeks for certain office or even industrial a/c due to the fact that it is actually functioning virtually 24 hours a time, 7 times a full week. Performing this as a regimen in your regular monthly chores and not standing by up until you observe dirt matted on the air conditioner filter are going to ensure you and also your loved ones the greatest wellness in addition to a soft running cooling body. Dust particles can easily not always be seen so even if you find a little dust on the sky filter, clean it as you usually will Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

With this in thoughts, transportable sky conditioners are able to cool a whole entire area much more effectively than a sky cooler, as properly as having an evaporating result Air Conditioning Charlottesville.

A sky conditioning system cools the sky with a refrigerant, a material that affects the temp of the air. The sky conditioning filter is one of the very most necessary sky conditioning components in the air conditioning device. All sky conditioning parts, from the ductwork to the air conditioning cooling agent, require the sky conditioning filter to be well-maintained as well as replaced to guarantee you're acquiring the incredibly most ideal in central sky conditioning.

A sky conditioning filter should be actually transformed every month or even every 2 months for residence sky conditioning units as well as every pair of full weeks for particular business or commercial sky conditioning because it is actually operating virtually 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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jmichelp · 8 years ago

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About my “lab”

Welcome to my electronic lab! Over the last few years or so many people asked me about my personal lab, so today I am giving you a virtual tour of it.

We will go over what gear I use and how I set everything up so I can do my experiment efficiently. Along the way I will answer the questions that has been asked about my setup in my various posts. In particular, I will provide a rationale of why I choose one type of hardware versus another. The quantity of hardware described in this post might seems overwhelming but keep in mind here that it took me years to build this lab. I merely add a new piece here and there based of my needs and opportunity.

Disclaimer: I don’t claim my setup is the best but it works for my use-cases: tinkering with electronic, doing security research and repairing various pieces of equipment. If you have suggestions on how to improve it, let me know.

Overall setup

All my equipment is installed on a big and stable desk that I bought from IKEA (BEKANT model). As extra storage room, I used an extra thick shelf from IKEA as well (LACK model). Sadly the brackets (IKEA Ekby Töre model) used to fix the shelf to the desk without drilling are discontinued which prevents me from adding an additional shelf. If you know a place where I can find a similar product let me know.

All units are connected to an Intel NUC Swift Canyon barebone either via Ethernet or via USB when Ethernet is not supported. The NUC has 32GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. This small PC allows me to handle the firmware upgrades, capturing screenshots of the different gears at once, handle the software defined radio (SDR) through its front USB3 port, dump NAND flash memories, etc. And the form factor is just great, leaving most of the space free. The 23” LCD screen is mounted on a Ergotron articulated arm. Again, the rationale here is just to keep the workspace clean.

To avoid damaging the wood of the desk, I put an ESD mat from Vermason. It provides a good protection and also has a standard ESD stud on each corner. I’m using that have a standard ESD wristband and the soldering station is also connected to it. I never felt that ESD protection was mandatory but considering that the mat was the most expensive piece in having the ESD setup done, I thought it was worth buying the few cables required to connect the mat to the ground through a 1M resistor and have the soldering iron properly connected too.

Finally, to provide power to everything on the desk, I am using a huge outlet (thanks to the very efficient form factor of the Swiss power plugs compared to the big fatty European one that I had to use when I was living in France) that provides me not less than 16 plugs!

Soldering, desoldering, and accessories

Of course we couldn’t talk about an electronic lab without starting with soldering and desoldering equipment. No matter what you’re doing, it’s really mandatory to have a soldering iron where you can control the temperature. Otherwise it’s like being a butcher who only uses an axe to cut the meat. I used noname stations for a while but at the end it always ended up the same way: something breaks or you want to change the tip of the iron but the model is discontinued and you cannot find spare parts anymore. So I decided to stay with a known brand and I bought a JBC soldering station. Be careful, it is super expensive. Really! But it is also amazingly good. It heats up almost instantly, I can have up to 4 different irons connected to the control station, I can change the tip of the iron in 2 seconds without burning my fingers. It’s just fantastic and modular but I also acknowledge that not everyone can afford it and may prefer cheaper alternatives such as Weller or Hakko which are very good too. I use a DME-2A control station with 3 tools (and stands):

a T245 iron for general purpose soldering (through hole component, drag soldering SMD, etc.) with tips/cartridges C245-102 (2mm bevel tip), C245-759 (2.4mm chisel) and C245-931 (2.7mm spoon)

a T210 iron for precision soldering with the cartridge C210-019 (0.2mm chisel)

a PA120 micro-tweezers iron with C120-002 (0.2mm tip) which is pretty convenient for soldering or reworking SMD components, especially the small form factors such as 0402 or smaller.

For desoldering, nothing beat a hot air gun. Classically hot air guns are provided in the shape of a big chunky control station with an embedded air pump. I used to have such station but it was big, heavy, the cable transporting the hot air was warm, the air flow was somehow disappointing (ok, it was a noname station so it was definitely not a high end one), and at some point the air pump died. Finally, after seeing a review from Dave Jones (EEVblog), I opted out for the tiny cheap Atten 858D+ station and honestly it just works perfectly well for me. Even if it breaks at some point, it’s nothing but a radial fan in the gun and a heating element in the nozzle. It’s just super easy to service.

One need to protect his lungs because even if we have two, the second one is not there for high availability. So it’s important to have a fume extractor. Nothing fancy here. I just bought an extra filter from the beginning. If you think a fume extractor is not necessary, I encourage you to watch the video from Louis Rossmann on Youtube.

Finally, you will also need some accessories such as a tip cleaner, tweezers, soldering wick, flux, solder, and side cutters. I haven’t put links everywhere because there’s nothing too critical except the diameter of the solder: just be aware that to do very fine pitch soldering, you need to have a very fine diameter solder. Soldering 0.5mm (or less) pitch components is not going to work well with a 2mm diameter solder.

Another accessory that I added recently to my setup is a PCB holder. After having spent quite some time looking on the Internet, I opted for PCBite and it’s really really good. Sturdy, durable, comfortable to use. I even think about buying a second set.

Inspection

As soon as you start soldering SMD, you may want to have a closer look at what you did to ensure that all the solder joint are done correctly. And for that, nothing beats a real optical microscope. You may think that a USB microscope may do the job or that a magnification glass/lamp could be enough. I tried them and they will never provide the same kind of feedback. Using a USB microscope that will show you things on a remote screen is a bit awkward because you’re moving your hands but you’re not looking at them. Maybe it’s just a matter of habit but I didn’t like it. And with the magnification glass, I was lacking the feeling of depth: having both eyes looking through it, it couldn’t reliably tell which hand was on top of the other. So, since the beginning I was using a binocular microscope. But then, with the blog or for publications, I wanted to take pictures of what I was seeing through it. Also on my previous microscope the working distance was pretty small and soldering without having the iron touch the microscope and burn it sometimes implied some uncomfortable positions for my hands. So I recently upgraded that microscope for an AmScope trinocular SM-8TZ-144S-10M. Again, the rationale behind the choice of the articulated arm is that I can push the microscope away when I don’t need it, freeing some space. The trinocular setup allows me to mount a proper Bresser 1080p HD camera on it. I replaced the 10MP camera that was provided because the videos were not as smooth and I would like to be able to shoot some movies of my work in the future. The only disappointment here is that the microscope is not simul-focal. This means that I have to choose between the camera and the left eyepiece; I can’t have both of them at the same time. If I had to rethink that choice, I would definitely go for a simul-focal model. The camera is connected through HDMI (the USB2 output could not sustain full HD resolution at 30fps) to a Magewell XI100DUSB-HDMI capture dongle that sends the feed to the NUC.

Measuring

The oscilloscope is for the electronics what a good debugger is to a developer or a reverse engineer: a must-have. My first digital oscilloscope was a Mixed Signal Oscilloscope (MSO). But I was a bit disappointed of the logic analyzer and honestly I had no use of having both the analog and the digital signals on the same tiny screen. Therefore I changed it to a Rigol DS4034 oscilloscope. There was recently a sale and it came with the full bundle of options (all protocol decoders, advanced trigger options, and a bandwidth upgrade included) for free which makes it actually a Rigol DS4054 with 500MHz bandwidth. It has a very wide screen and while 2 channels would cover most of my need, there are times when 4 channels are necessary. Unfortunately, the software Rigol provides is not the same quality as their scopes: even with a 100Mbit/s Ethernet link, the UI is not fluid at all. It’s enough to make high quality screenshots without using a USB key but it’s unusable to make video or even control your scope in real time actually. An alternative software called Rigol UltraVision Utilities is available for free on the EEVblog forum and is much better than the official software. But the refresh rate is still not enough for good videos so I may consider in the future using the VGA output of the scope and plug it into a USB capture card connected to the NUC.

An oscilloscope is not enough though; you also need multimeters. And yes, I’ve written that in plurals because you may think about having 2 multimeters: one for measuring the current and the other one for the voltage for example. I’m using a Rigol DM3068 bench multimeter. It has a superb accuracy (6½ digits), covers great ranges of measurements and provides 4 terminal measurements if needed for a reasonable price. The only bad thing about it is that the continuity tester is really slow (i.e. the time between you probing a circuit and hearing the multimeter emitting a beep is long). For my second multimeter I chose a handheld model, an Agilent U1273AX which is a really good piece of gear. Of course, as you would expect if you’ve followed my philosophy when it comes to choosing equipment, I also bought the infrared to USB cable to stream the results back to the NUC.

Nowadays most the electronic world and protocols we can see on a given device are digital and to have a closer look at those, we need a logic analyzer. Like many others, I picked a Saleae Logic one, more precisely the Pro 16 model. Pros are that it simply streams the samples to the computer, it does that over USB3, can sample at up to 100MHz, and has an SDK to allow you to write your own decoder. The main drawback for me is that the samples have to be buffered on the computer and only when you stop capturing you can see them on screen and use decoders. I would prefer to have a “real-time” option here. Also the 100MHz sampling frequency can be an issue when the bus you are looking at goes above 50MHz due to Nyquist limit.

Finally, because I also do some electronic repairs, I added to the lab a programmable electronic load. This allows me to easily test power rails which are usually the first thing to fail on a device, by setting constant current, constant voltage, constant resistance or constant power mode. Very handy to test those cheap power adaptors. Mine is a BK Precision 8601, connected to the NUC over USB.

Powering

Should you be experimenting, prototyping or analyzing an equipment, you will need to power the device in a long term, reliable way. And for that you will need a bench power supply. Mine is a Rigol DP832A that I haven’t chosen for it’s cheesy colors on the front panel but for its high precision.

To complement my setup I also added last year an arbitrary waveform function generator, or ArbGen, a Rigol DG1062Z. I kept it with the native 8Mpts memory even though it has physically 16Mpts memory inside and can be unlocked through a software license upgrade. But I’m not using it to generate complex signals at the moment therefore 8Mpts is plenty enough.

Prototyping, debugging, reverse engineering

Another essential piece of equipment that you will need are breadboards. They allow you to quickly prototype something without soldering anything. And to be complete here, you will also need jumper cables here. Personally I bought fairly expensive ones from Schmartboard but they are more durable than the cheap alternatives which tend to break easily. I have an assortment of male-male, male-female and female-female cables.

To easily interface with any device, I also have a bunch of Teensy 3.2. I just love their form factor and they are very powerful: with overclocking, the Teensy 3.2 can go at 96MHz and it embeds a DSP for complex math computation! I also have a RaspberryPi 2.

If you have read my previous articles or if you follow me on Twitter, you should already know that I also have most of the boards derived from the GoodFET project: GoodFET, FaceDancer (USB), GoodThopter (CAN bus) and ApiMote (Zigbee).

I also have a bunch of FTDI development modules such as the FT2232H, FT4232H and UM232H. They can be used to dump NAND memory, quickly interface with serials protocols such as RS232 or RS485 and also act as a fairly fast (~20MHz) JTAG interface that is compatible with OpenOCD. The smaller module even comes in a breadboard-friendly format.

To deal with (E)EPROMs and/or flash memory chips I have a TNM5000 with all the adapters, including the optional TSOP56 for NOR flash that I had to buy separately. I also have a PICkit2 and a PICkit3. The main reason about having both is that the PICkit2 is compatible with Linux. But newer Microchip MCUs require a PICkit3.

When it comes to RFID, I have a Proxmark3 from RiscCorp that I recently upgraded to Proxmark3 RDV2. It comes with much better antennas (sometimes they are a bit too good actually) and in a nicer form factor without the stupid Hirose to USB cable. Also it has a more modern micro-USB plug instead of a mini-USB.

For radio frequency investigations, I have bladeRF x115 since I was part of the Kickstarter campaign with its optional transverter XB-200 for lower frequencies. But that’s not a surprise considering that I am the author and maintainer of the SDRSharp plugin for it.

I also have a bunch of Chipcon/Texas Instrument dongles: CC1111EMK, CC2511EMK and CC2540EMK. They are very handy to quickly deal with some sub-GHz protocol with RFcat or to sniff at Bluetooth LE packets. I also have the complementary Chipcon debugger which allows in conjunction with SmartRF Studio to experiment easily and reflash the dongles with the RFcat firmware (but a GoodFET would have been enough for that purpose).

In order to deal more specifically with Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE protocols, I have an Ubertooth One dongle

I also participated at the crowd funding campaign of Chipwhisperer but I haven’t got the time yet to go through all the documentation and tutorials to use it effectively.

And for more high speed or complex protocols, I have a Terasic Altera Cyclone IV FPGA development kit which allows me through its extensive set of mezzanine boards and GPIOs to interface with pretty much everything provided I spend enough time writing Verilog/VHDL for that.

Conclusion

It makes a quite long article and I hesitated to cut it into several parts but as some choices I made are somehow linked between the categories, I thought it would make more sense to have everything in one single article. I also hope that it will be helpful to some of you and don’t hesitate to tell me in the comments section.

#lab #equipement #oscilloscope #multimeter #soldering #setup #microscope #radio

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