Tinkering Back Home

Sitting cross-legged on her bed, hardcover textbook in her lap, her grandfather’s shrinking device lying in front of her, Tess held up the little electronic part between her thumb and forefinger, examining it before nodding slowly and setting it down on the top of the bedside table.

Twisting, she scooped up the open binder from the bed beside her and scribbled on approximation of the part on the paper, adding to her rudimentary schematic drawing.

With Janine and Sam’s assistance, Tess started meticulously disassembling and cataloging the components of her grandfather’s now defunct device, the one that shrank Tom.

Shaking her held slowly, “I’m not sure we should be messing around with it,” Samira cautioned, dark eyes round and flicking back and forth from Tess to Janine.

Without bother to look up, “It looks like the last time this thing was used created feedback surge of some type that fried some of the integrated circuitry,” replied Tess, a look of concentration on her face as she continued to dismantle the device.

Janine moved quickly, seizing Sam by the knee, making a buzzing noise, starting the dark haired girl and making her squawk, “It’s going to shrink you!” exclaimed the blonde.

“That’s not funny,” Sam pouted, mildly embarrassed for her shriek.

A chuckle in her voice, “It’s kind of funny,” Janine replied.

“What if you were shrunk? How funny would that be?” Sam challenged.

The smile on Janine’s face widened, “Who knows? But I can imagine all sorts of wicked fun we could have,” she purred.

“Can somebody pass me that little jeweler’s screwdriver?” Tess inquired, extending her right hand.

“Which one?” Sam asked, looking down at the collection of various sized little implements.

“The smallest one with the little slot, at the right hand end,” Tess answered.

Finding the right one, she handed it to Tess.

Leaning close to Sam, Janine whispered in her ear, “I think if you were shrunk, Tess and I could share you.”

Scowling, Samira shook her head.

“Nobody is getting shrunk,” Tess assured, removing several of the mount screws holding a small glass containment chamber in place near the front of the machine.

“How can you be so sure?” Sam queried.

“Not only is this thing frazzled, there’s no juice left in it. The last of the fuel was used up for Tom’s restoration,” Tess answered, holding up the small lead crystal cylinder, blackened scorch marks clouding the interior.

“What is that?” Janine asked, leaning closer to get a better look.

Tess shook her head, “I think this is where my grandfather put his radioactive component, but the thing is cracked,” she responded, rolling the thing over in her palm to get a better look at it in the light spilling out from under her lamp.

“What does that mean?” Sam asked.

Putting the part down, Tess shrugged and picked her binder back up, documenting the part, updating her diagram.

“Do you really think you can do something with this thing, I mean, like isn’t your grandfather some kind of mechanical or techno genius?” Sam asked.

Dropping the binder back on the bed, Tess looked at Samira and nodded, “Something like that,” she replied with a grin.

“Those look kind of like little batteries,” Janine commented, peering into the open side of the machine.

Tess looked down, “I know, right? I just don’t know for what,” she said, slipping the tip of the little screwdriver at the edge of the small circular metallic object in an attempt to unseat.

The device came to life.

Sam let out a short scream, lurching back and away toppling off the end of the bed. Janine somehow found herself standing behind the chair she was sitting on, and Tess pressed herself back into the corner as the machine clicked and hummed, a little green light flashing.

Tatiana burst through the door, “Is everything okay?” she asked, eyes huge as she surveyed the room.

While the machine hummed, it did nothing else, prompting Tess to laugh, “We’re fine,” she assured, eyes glued to the device.

Looking at the partially disassembled machine in front of Tress, “Is that?” Tatiana asked, stepping into the room and closing the door.

“The very same shrink ray that made Tom small,” Janine said.

The slender Russian pursed her lips and shook her head, “You shouldn’t be playing with technology like that, I mean, why would you even create a device like that?” she inquired of no one in particular.

“I suppose there are any number of commercial applications for it, reducing goods for transport, attacking growths,” Tess said, sliding the small screwdriver under the battery and popping it free, returning the machine to quiet stillness. “Besides,” she added, looking up, “if not for this little thing, none of you would have gotten to know my brother,” she finished, pointing with the screwdriver at each of the other girls.

There was a moment of silence. “What are doing with it?” Tatiana asked.

Tess chuckled, “Just trying to figure it out, you know, see if maybe I can fix it or jury rig it,” she answered, jotting the battery’s information down on her sheet.

Tatiana frowned, “Then what?”

“We were going to shrink Sam down and have some fun,” Janine chuckled.

“Hey,” protested Samira, glowering at the blonde.

“Have you heard anything new about Tom?” Tatiana asked.

Looking up, Tess shook her head. “I did get a message from my mom saying my grandfather is conscious, but nothing yet about Tom,” she replied.

Tatiana nodded, “I hope he’s, you know, okay,” she said, but the hitch in her voice betrayed the sincerity of her conviction leaving Tess to wonder if maybe she might not enjoy it more if he didn’t get restored right away. Janine’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Sensing the possibility of tension developing, Tess let out a breath and pushed the device away from her before climbing off the bed, “I need a break, maybe we should all go out and grab a pizza or something?” she suggested. Besides, she was still a little bit boggled trying to wrap her mind around how her grandfather had designed the device.