Chapter 6 – Lucky?

The three of them sat down and happily ate their breakfast as they planned out their day. Melissa and Frankie decided to pay a visit to Serentia, the island of healing. Serentia’s hot springs were famous for their relaxing properties, along with its scenic landscape and serene gardens, it was the go to place for a day of relaxation.

Once they were done with the meal, Frankie took charge in cleaning up the kitchen and Melissa went to clean up her and Frankie’s home. Abel took the seagrass basket and went back to his courtyard, it was one of the 2 “rooms” Grandma Meng’s husband used to rent out. The other one was currently used as a storage but it used to be Frankie’s. Naturally, he moved in with Melissa at the main house after Grandma Meng’s passing.

Abel quickly went to an open rain gutter drain at the side, he wrapped the rabbits’ eyes with an old worn-out cloth that was already hanging at the side and swiftly slit their throats, severing the carotid artery. He let the blood drain completely before he got to work on skinning them, this was done by making a small incision at the base of the hind legs and then carefully peeling the skin away from the body. After skinning each of the hares, Abel quickly got into eviscerating them, removing the internal organs; the lungs, heart, liver and kidneys and so on. He had to be especially careful and take care not to puncture the intestines, as this could lead to contamination of the meat. Whilst doing all this, he was closely observing the condition of the organs, particularly the liver and kidneys, making sure there weren’t any abnormalities or disease in either one.

Once Abel was sure both rabbits were good for consumption, he thoroughly rinsed the carcasses and the edible organs with some cool tap water before making his way back to the kitchen in order to store them in the fridge. He saw Frankie was finishing up with the kitchen chores and the latter cheerfully thanked him for convincing Melissa to relax for a day. He then turned serious before asking,

“Hey Abe, are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been a little different ever since you fried yourself yesterday..”

Frankie was still not used to Abel sticking to his own perspective when it came to Melissa, she was like half a mother to him so he would usually just listen to her even when they both knew she was being unreasonable. It wasn’t like Abel to talk back to Melissa or try to persuade her on certain things, so he couldn’t help but ask if everything was truly alright.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Maybe that shock did change me, but I’m still the same old Abe deep down and that’ll never change, trust me I’m good.” Abel gently smiled and softly replied

“Heh, if I can’t trust you then there’s no one on Earth I CAN trust.” Frankie made a joke to lighten up the atmosphere but he was glad he asked anyway. He suddenly remembered something and quickly turned around again at the kitchen door. “By the way, it seems I wont be able to cook tonight, about that..”

“It’s fine, I’ll cook and you guys can come and enjoy a late-night supper. You should relish in this chance that doesn’t come often. Forget about life, forget about responsibilities and forget about the world for a one day. Go out and have some fun, go on now.. shoo.” Able quickly pushed Frankie out the kitchen and started getting to work on the rabbit pelts.

He used to sell them to the fisherman at the docks when he was a kid for chump change, they would process it and make some gloves out of them but Grandma Meng taught him how to tan the pelts as it was something she used to do for her husband back in the day. Afterwards, he started selling the pelts to an expensive accessories shop downtown, not far from Epicurean World Markets, much to the fishermen’s frustration. Processing the pelts was quite simple really, all you needed was a soft brush, some non-iodized salt, alum solution (aluminum sulphate), clean water, thick gloves and some patience.

Just as Abel was about to start using the soft brush to get rid of the fat and the bits of flesh that were stuck to the skin, his phone started ringing. He figured it was the technician and when he answered the unknown number he heard the hearty voice of Samuel, the techy he made a deal with to replace the sockets on his pod.

“Abel! I’m outside your place.. I think. 23 Ocean Breeze Street, Bright Coral Town. If so, then I’m outside.” Samuel always spoke with a vibrant energy in his tone, suggesting his enthusiasm and optimism in everything.

‘Well, for 15 creds per socket and a few such jobs every week, I’d be speaking cheerily too’ Abel thought inwardly, “Alright, I’ll be right outside, just give me a minute.”

“Don’t keep me waiting too long, I promised you I’d come to you as soon as I was free but that doesn’t mean I don’t have other things to do lad, so hurry up will ya!”

Abel hummed in response and hung up, he quickly took off his gloves and put the pelts to the side, it wasn’t like they would rot in the hour that Samuel would take to fix up the pod, they’d be fine even if he left them for a day. He ran out the front door, opened up the gate and sure enough, he saw Samuel the technician standing with a tool-box kit on his back.

He looked like he was in his twenties but in reality, he was in his mid-thirties. He had dark brown hair and a sturdy and athletic build, probably from his active lifestyle of traveling around all year long. The distinctive scar at the top of his right brow probably told of a story in his youthful ignorance but Abel wasn’t the extroverted type that would ask about such things. Overall, he looked just like his avatar on his advertisement. If it weren’t for all the good reviews and the fact that he was in the area, then Abel would’ve just grit his teeth and gotten the parts replaced at the manufacturers.

“Hey there, you must be Abel! Nice to meet ya lad. Come, show me to the pod, I’ve got a date to catch over on Sylvanholme Island later on.” Samuel spoke with confidence, whether that was in relation to the work on the pod or his date, only he himself would know. Abel simply nodded in greeting and brought him to the back where his courtyard was.

“What happened to your arm? It looks like a long wound, hardly seen anything like it even from across the Zaphire Expanse” Samuel noticed the bandages covering Abel’s right arm. Being both cheerful and extroverted, he couldn’t help but ask what that was about, but his words piqued Abel’s interest. He had never gone further than the closest large city on the Orienta mainland, forgeburg city, much less cross an ocean and visit another continent.

“Why would the people of Zephyria suffer such wounds? And why would you know such things, are you a part time Meditech Responder too.” Abel asked in wonder, he wasn’t sure if it was his curiosity that got the better of him or if it was a result of Samuel’s impactful voice and confident demeanor.

“Well those on Zephyria suffer from all sorts of injuries due to the accidents with the heavy farming machinery and I’m the one that gets called in to fix them, the machines I mean, not the people. It’s not like a technician of my caliber works exclusively with NeuroNex pods. I don’t know a damn thing about biology or medicine but give me a circuit board and some wires and I’ll work some magic you’ve never seen before boy, you can count on that.”

Samuel’s confidence was in overdrive, Abel wasn’t sure if the man was serious or simply puffing up his own sails. It didn’t matter, so long as he could do the job adequately then Abel didn’t mind listening to a little bravado.

“I.. ugh.. I tried to have the pod connect using the old sockets, in the end, I nearly shocked myself into an early grave”

Perhaps it was Samuels demeaner, but as they made their way into Abel’s room, he decided to answer the man’s earlier question. He had nothing to be embarrassed about, there wasn’t anyone on Earth that was good at everything and Abel wasn’t so fragile that he’d be ashamed to admit his own shortcomings.

“Good heavens! Hold on, let me run a diagnostic on your pod first” Samuel was shocked when he heard what Abel said. For the first time, his vibe changed, he was no longer joking around and carrying a lackadaisical attitude. He put down the toolbox-kit on his back and it un-winded by itself, as though it had a mind of its own. A paper-thin screen popped up from the top while two small circular drones were released from the sides, they were the size of a fist each but buzzed around the pod, projecting a soft blue light from time to time.

Samuel was focused on the fast running code that was whizzing past on his screen. Abel was quite worried with the way things suddenly turned. He couldn’t stop conjuring up all sorts of different scenarios in his mind. Did he fry his pod with his reckless actions? Or did he damage the neural demodulator? Perhaps Samuel would turn around any second now and tell him his 1000 credit pod was now only worth as much as its materials and he should just sell it for scrap. Abel gulped silently and concentrated on what Samuel was doing. No matter how he looked at it, it was just a blur flying up quickly, he couldn’t even understand how the man could see anything much less understand it.

Finally, after what felt like a day, Abel saw Samuel’s expression loosing as though the worst-case scenario hadn’t happened. But that didn’t mean he was in the clear, Abel was still anxious about the final result. Perhaps he would have to cough out some extra creds to fix whatever he broke, or worse yet, he might not even have enough credits in his account to actually pay for a fix. His breathe started to hitch with the build-up of his anxiety but he subconsciously changed the way he breathed to the Xiang family’s breathing technique. His mind stilled and he remembered that he should focus on the step in front of him instead of the whole staircase.

“I gotta say Abel, you are one lucky fellow.. haaa” Samuel rubbed his glabella, relaxing his eyes and mind after the obvious strain. “There were 3 different situations that could’ve propped up as a result of what you did. First, the worst-case scenario, you could’ve fried the heart of the NeuroNex, the neural demodulator. This thing is a black box to everyone except Doctor Orion, so you would’ve been forced to buy a new one. Second, you could’ve fried the socket portals transmitters. This is actually the most likely event, it isn’t so bad but it would’ve still taken up a lot of my time and cost you much more as a result. You can think of them like an ants’ antennae, the loss of antennae equals a loss not only in communication, but in the general functioning. While these parts aren’t irreplaceable to the pod, the amount of time needed to fix this fragile and deeply rooted part wouldn’t be worth it unless you paid me much more. Besides, I wouldn’t have had time to do it today.”

Samuel took a deep breath before finishing his final judgement “I say you’re lucky because the entire discharge came solely onto you and you alone. There isn’t a single inch of this pod that was damaged, besides the already damaged sockets of course, but these are consumables that have to be changed every year anyway. This miniscule probability event actually happened and that’s why I say you’re one lucky guy.”

Abel audibly gulped, he promised himself he wouldn’t ever dare cheap out on such a thing ever again. Just the mention of the chance of destroying the neural demodulator sent a chill down his spine. He still couldn’t figure out how Xiang Xiaowen ended up coming alongside the discharge but he had long chosen to not drive himself nuts trying to figure it out.

“Are you sure everything’s fine? I’ll pay a little extra if you can give me a guarantee” Abel asked after a moment of thought. He was truly terrified of something going wrong on his first use.

Samuel smirked as though he could read Abel’s mind, although the young man before him kept up a calm facial façade, it was all too obvious what he was worried about. “Don’t worry, my word is my guarantee. Besides there are safety’s put in place to prevent the sort of thing you’re worried about”

“But I was-“ Abel barely got a word in before Samuel interrupted him, aware of what he wanted to say.

“Excluding that neural black box, you accessed the core of the pod Abel, the safety’s I just mentioned are in place for users. Technicians have their own safety net too and that’s why we get paid quite handsomely for such things. If it were so simple to do my job then why did I waste 5 years studying and cramming so many subjects and core modules when I could have been going out and enjoying my youth.”

Abel realized how truly ignorant he had been. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and stilled his mind.

‘it isn’t shameful to make mistakes, but it is disgraceful to repeat them’

When he opened his eyes once again, gone was the fear, the anxiety and the self-doubt. “Alright then, I’ll leave you to it Sam, if you need anything then let me know.”

Samuel couldn’t help but take another look at the young man, he nodded slightly to himself and got to work. He didn’t know what this young man had been through to have such clear-headed and quick self-reflection. It paired along perfectly with the guts needed to pick himself back up again right after falling down. These were all good traits to have, especially in a young man his age.