Poem: "A Good Imagination and a Pile of Junk"
This poem is spillover from the February 1, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from Dreamwidth user Fuzzyred and 
rix_scaedu. It also fills the "Create a Vision Board" square in my 2-1-22 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by a pool with DW user Fuzzyred. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"A Good Imagination and a Pile of Junk"
[Saturday, April 16, 2016]
"I know you dropped by
to help Boss Finn, but
could you spare me
a favor?" Dr. G. asked.
"If I can," said Shiv. "I'm
supposed to keep an eye
on the mood in town today."
"Oh well, you can do that too,"
said Dr. G. "Yesterday Edison
was very patient while I had to
deal with a client emergency,
and I promised him a trip to
the Recycling Bin. Now I need
someone else to help manage
him if he zones while inventing."
"Can do," said Shiv. "I've had
all the Halley and Edison lectures."
"Excellent," said Dr. G. "You're
on the family tab today, in case
you need any supplies beyond
what's in the scrap buckets. You
can get into the workshop areas
because we've got a family pass."
Shiv perked up at that. He'd
been to the Recycling Bin before,
a few times, but only to drop off
things or shop in the public part.
He hadn't seen the makerspace part,
and he'd been meaning to, he just
hadn't found the time for it yet.
"Sounds like fun," he said,
which made Dr. G smile like he
was particularly satisfied, which
made Shiv suspicious. "Wait, why
do you really want me to come?"
"I really want your help with Edison,"
said Dr. G. "I also think that it's about
darn time somebody took responsibility
for your mechanical opportunities, and
nobody did when you were little, so I'm
stepping up. It's a shame to waste
the kind of talent you have, Shiv."
"Oooookay," Shiv said slowly.
"Whatever. Let's get this show
on the road before Edison finds
something to play with here."
"Good point," said Dr. G.
So they collected Edison and
headed to the Recycling Bin.
It was actually a hodgepodge of
different buildings -- artsy A-frames
from the seventies, repurposed stores,
and some that had started as garages
or warehouses. Now they all held
various supplies or workshops.
"That's the Library," said Dr. G.
"It has most of the books and
the reference computers,
along with the Craft Corner,
the Children's Room, and
finally the Computer Lab."
"They have books with
picture patterns, not just
text," Edison said to Shiv.
"So you could read them too."
"I like the glass patterns, and
I can read a grid for crochet
or beadwork," Shiv agreed.
A whole library of patterns
might be worth checking out
someday when he had time.
"The Fibercraft Studio is in
that old storefront," said Dr. G.
"The front room has fabric and
other supplies. In the back,
the Sewing Room has a table
and multiple sewing machines.
The Yarn Library has patterns
and a whole wall full of yarn."
"Better not tempt me while
I'm on the clock," Shiv said.
"I could lose all day in there."
"Another time," Dr. G promised.
"I'm sure that you'd love that."
"Yeah," said Shiv. He could
glimpse the fabric and yarn
through the front windows.
"This is the Workshop,"
Edison said, skipping
ahead of them. "It has
all of the best things!"
"A Woodworking Area,
a Metalworking Area,
a Bicycle Area, and
the Fabrication Lab,"
said Dr. G. "Shiv, you
might want to swing by
Metalworking and get
yourself some scrap."
"Yeah, I'll see what they
have," Shiv agreed as
they came to the door.
Inside, the Workshop had
a concrete floor and walls
mostly lined with tools or
racks of craft supplies.
Dr. G pointed him toward
the Metalworking Area.
Just past the machines
on the floor, it had racks of
new metal and scrap metal.
Shiv found a nice piece of
steel with faint colors that he
could probably bring out more,
and a piece of copper pipe
like a long, pink spear.
"Come on, come on,"
Edison chanted, tugging
at them both. Clearly he
was about out of patience.
The Fabrication Lab was
almost overwhelming
in its complexity.
Shiv stopped, and
breathed, and just
stared for a minute.
The middle of the room
was a jumble of carts and
work tables and wires.
Along the walls stood
more tables and carts,
computers, and things
that looked like ovens
but probably weren't.
Several desks were
crammed with tools
and tiny parts in bins.
One whole wall had
shelves of old electronics
and small parts in boxes
or bins, coiled wires and
cables, blank-eyed monitors.
"This is the coolest stuff,"
said Edison. "You can
cannibalize any of it
to make whatever you
want. It's awesome."
"It's just ... junk?"
Shiv said, baffled.
It felt like junk to him.
"To invent, you need
a good imagination
and a pile of junk,"
Dr. G said, grinning.
"Okay," Shiv said,
humoring him. "So
what are the rules?"
"There are no rules here --
we're trying to accomplish
something," said Edison.
Yeah, that's why Shiv was
along as an extra babysitter.
"Just the usual ones: Don't
hurt yourself or anyone else,"
said Dr. G. "Don't break any
of the tools, but all the supplies
there are fair game." He waved
toward the solid wall of junk.
Edison was already piling
stuff into a handbasket.
Dr. G opened a storage locker
and hauled out a large cart
that read, Safety Equipment.
"Always keep one of these
in reach when someone does
serious inventing," said Dr. G.
"At that level, if anything goes
wrong, there's no time to run
and get a fire extinguisher."
"Yes, boss," said Shiv.
Somehow, Edison had
already filled his basket
and gone to claim a table.
People of all ages milled
around the room, but there
was a cluster of teenagers.
One had fluorescent hair
in a lurid yellow-green that
just screamed crayon soup,
and at least two of the girls
had dyed their own pink.
A blond boy was helping
one of the girls make
something with wires.
"Hi everyone, I hope that
you don't mind if we join you
here," Dr. G said as they
pulled up to the work table.
The teens all responded eagerly,
and Dr. G made the introductions.
The one with the yellow-green hair was
Bice, one of Halley's genderqueer friends.
Shiv liked the look of em; Bice was wearing
all black except for a variegated cardigan
in the kind of maybe-colors Halley liked.
As artsy looks went, Shiv thought he
could pull it off himself, if he picked
a variegated sweater in his own colors.
The blond boy in the red shirt was
Marcelin Carnot, and the black girl
with her hair dyed a dusty pink
was Evangelista Watt. They
were some of Edison's friends.
Shiv twisted off a piece of steel and
began smooshing it in his hands.
"You should do a vision board
first," Edison said as he spread
a piece of paper on the table.
"Nah, I'm just foolin' around,"
Shiv said. "It's nothin' special."
Marcelin had finished helping
Evangelista, who went to work
attaching chips to her wire-thing
while Marcelin and Bice followed
Edison's example of a vision board.
The teens were sketching with
colored pencils or markers, but
Edison's vision board quickly
went from images to math.
When he went off the paper
and started writing on the table,
Dr. G said, "I'm going to turn on
the camera now." There was
one overhead so you could film
your progress. "Shiv, please
help folks move back a bit."
Shiv swept a hand through
the air and cleared all of
the metal stuff farther down,
leaving only the paper behind.
"That is so cool," Bice said,
grinning at him. "Halley told me
you were cool, but I didn't know
that it was anything like this."
"Yeah, yeah," Shiv said. "I'm
just the assistant. Edison
is the real genius here."
Edison had his tongue
between his teeth and
his nose on the paper.
"Young man, sit up
before you go blind,"
someone scolded.
"Buzz off," Shiv said,
glaring. "This is our table."
"Who is the expert here?"
the older man demanded.
"Edison," Shiv said
with a jerk of his chin.
Dr. G chuckled. "Quite."
"That's not funny, Graham,"
said the man. "Safety is
important in a workshop."
"Edison is perfectly safe,"
said Dr. G. "Why don't
you find someone else
to supervise, Mr. Rabillo?"
Grumbling, the older man
finally wandered away.
"Thanks," Bice whispered.
"I don't want to take shop
if he's still teaching it then."
"I'm afraid I can't blame you
for that," said Dr. G. "At least
you have this opportunity
to practice your skills."
"Talk to Aidan," said Shiv.
"He knows, like, every craft
in the history of ever. He loves
teaching and he's good at it."
"Excellent idea," said Dr. G.
Marcelin headed to a station
with some sort of equipment.
Bice was working on something
made from little plastic bits stuck
together. Looking closer, Shiv
realized it was going to be
a color-coded sorting tray.
Well, that was clever, if
you had a color system.
Evangelista had her hands
full of wires, now dotted with
tiny lights that were blinking.
"Is it supposed to do that?"
Shiv wondered, watching her.
"Yes," said Evangelista. "It
has a microphone and picks up
sounds, that's what makes it blink."
"Oh, like Christmas lights," Shiv said.
He'd seen the fancy kind that listened
to what people were saying, or singing,
and made the lights respond to it.
In his hands, the steel flowed
into a prickly wreath shape.
Edison stopped scribbling
and started taking apart
the hardware he had.
Then he began swearing
in Irish because he had
a hard time opening it.
"Polite language, please,"
said Dr. G, but Edison
didn't seem to hear him.
"Hey, Edison, do you
want a hand taking
those things apart?"
Shiv asked him.
Silently Edison
pushed a handful
of pieces his way.
Shiv didn't really
know what Edison
wanted with them, so
he just took them apart
and laid out the pieces.
Edison swept some into
his workspace and pushed
the others farther away.
"Here," Dr. G said quietly,
offering Shiv a sorting tray.
"There are perks for breaking
things into their components
if you don't use all of them."
"Yeah, sure," said Shiv. He
put the metal gears and wires
into the different spaces.
Bice followed along and
picked up the plastic parts.
Edison was assembling
things now, Shiv had no idea
what, and sometimes pushed
pieces at his father for help.
Dr. G had a little toolkit that he
used, the kind for eyeglasses.
Apparently he was used to what
Edison's fingers still couldn't do.
"Shiv, please grab another radio,"
said Dr. G. "They should be labeled."
The shelves were labeled, at least,
though the stuff on them was jumbled.
Shiv took what he was pretty sure
had been a radio and offered it.
Edison popped the cover off, took
two pieces, and rejected the rest.
"Is he trying to build an ansible
again?" Bice wondered.
"I'm not sure," said Dr. G.
"From the parts, I think it's
some kind of communication
or radio scanning device."
Marcelin returned, grumbling.
"Dr. G, the electroplating machine
isn't working, and I need a copper coat
for this to work. Can you ask someone
to fix it? They'll listen to you more."
Shiv snapped his fingers.
"Just gimme the thing."
"What?" said Marcelin.
"The thing you want
the copper on, whatever
that is, gimme it and I'll
plate it for you," Shiv said,
wiggling his fingers at him.
"Okay," Marcelin said, and
handed him something that
looked vaguely like an anvil.
"I wanted the bottom plated.
I'm trying to make something
that's easier to replicate
than a GEM engine."
"Uh huh," Shiv said.
He unrolled a piece of
the copper pipe and
pressed it to the bottom,
then pulled it away.
The copper stuck to
the surface, all right, but
it was lumpy and awful.
"Well, that didn't work,"
Shiv muttered, frowning.
"It's okay," said Marcelin.
"Not every experiment works."
"I'll get it, I'll get it," Shiv said,
shooing him away. He peeled
the thick copper off the piece.
"How thin do you want this?"
"Really thin," said Marcelin.
"Like copper leaf, but smooth."
Okay, Shiv had worked with
metal leaf, so he understood
how tissue-thin that was.
This time he put the pieces
together and concentrated on
sticking just the very surface
of the copper to the bottom.
When he lifted his hand,
the rest of the pipe slid away,
leaving a mirror-bright layer
of pink over the steel.
"Oh wow," said Marcelin.
"That is perfect! I owe you."
"Nah." Shiv waved it off.
"We're just foolin' around."
Bice had nearly completed
coating the colored bits with
some clear gunk that would keep
anything from getting into the nooks
and crannies of the plastic pieces.
Ey kept comparing it to other trays
from the stacking-sorting gear,
trying to make something that
would work with electronics.
That gave Shiv an idea, and he
picked up the section of steel.
He swiped his fingers along it
to cut out the pieces, and then
carefully fitted them together.
A sorting tray took shape
underneath his hands.
Shiv smoothed the edges
so it'd be safe to handle.
Then he held his hands
on either side of it and let
his superpower flow between
them, like snapping a spark
from finger to finger in a storm.
Energy danced over the gray metal,
etching abstract feathery shapes into
the surface, and slowly the colors
bloomed into blues and purples.
Yeah. That looked damn good.
Shiv could give that to Simon,
who liked lapwork but had
a devil of a time reaching
anything that he dropped.
"That's beautiful, Shiv,"
said Dr. G. "I was hoping
you'd feel inspired here."
"Yeah, it's good for that,"
Shiv said. "I like it here."
If Dr. G had a tail,
it would be wagging.
Then Edison pushed
a button, and the ... thing ...
warbled between his hands.
Suddenly an image appeared
in the air above it, but it didn't look
like more than a squiggly blob.
"Holy smoke," said Evangelista.
"I think that Edison made some sort of
radio scanner with a holographic display."
"It looks that way," said Dr. G. Then
Edison sprawled on the table. "Food!
Shiv, open your backpack, fast."
The whole front pocket was full
of the emergency food supply.
Shiv unzipped and dumped it,
then sorted out the energy gels.
Dr. G got a couple of those
into Edison, who looked
a little less wilted now.
"Oh hey, you made
a pretty," said Edison.
"Uh, yeah," said Shiv.
"This place is pretty cool."
Edison smiled at him.
"I knew you'd like it,"
he said. "You already
had the imagination.
All you needed was
the pile of junk."
And yeah, that was
why he liked hanging out
with the Finns so much:
No matter how crazy things got,
they brought out the best in him,
even if he didn't know it was there.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, setting, and content notes appear elsewhere.
rix_scaedu. It also fills the "Create a Vision Board" square in my 2-1-22 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by a pool with DW user Fuzzyred. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."A Good Imagination and a Pile of Junk"
[Saturday, April 16, 2016]
"I know you dropped by
to help Boss Finn, but
could you spare me
a favor?" Dr. G. asked.
"If I can," said Shiv. "I'm
supposed to keep an eye
on the mood in town today."
"Oh well, you can do that too,"
said Dr. G. "Yesterday Edison
was very patient while I had to
deal with a client emergency,
and I promised him a trip to
the Recycling Bin. Now I need
someone else to help manage
him if he zones while inventing."
"Can do," said Shiv. "I've had
all the Halley and Edison lectures."
"Excellent," said Dr. G. "You're
on the family tab today, in case
you need any supplies beyond
what's in the scrap buckets. You
can get into the workshop areas
because we've got a family pass."
Shiv perked up at that. He'd
been to the Recycling Bin before,
a few times, but only to drop off
things or shop in the public part.
He hadn't seen the makerspace part,
and he'd been meaning to, he just
hadn't found the time for it yet.
"Sounds like fun," he said,
which made Dr. G smile like he
was particularly satisfied, which
made Shiv suspicious. "Wait, why
do you really want me to come?"
"I really want your help with Edison,"
said Dr. G. "I also think that it's about
darn time somebody took responsibility
for your mechanical opportunities, and
nobody did when you were little, so I'm
stepping up. It's a shame to waste
the kind of talent you have, Shiv."
"Oooookay," Shiv said slowly.
"Whatever. Let's get this show
on the road before Edison finds
something to play with here."
"Good point," said Dr. G.
So they collected Edison and
headed to the Recycling Bin.
It was actually a hodgepodge of
different buildings -- artsy A-frames
from the seventies, repurposed stores,
and some that had started as garages
or warehouses. Now they all held
various supplies or workshops.
"That's the Library," said Dr. G.
"It has most of the books and
the reference computers,
along with the Craft Corner,
the Children's Room, and
finally the Computer Lab."
"They have books with
picture patterns, not just
text," Edison said to Shiv.
"So you could read them too."
"I like the glass patterns, and
I can read a grid for crochet
or beadwork," Shiv agreed.
A whole library of patterns
might be worth checking out
someday when he had time.
"The Fibercraft Studio is in
that old storefront," said Dr. G.
"The front room has fabric and
other supplies. In the back,
the Sewing Room has a table
and multiple sewing machines.
The Yarn Library has patterns
and a whole wall full of yarn."
"Better not tempt me while
I'm on the clock," Shiv said.
"I could lose all day in there."
"Another time," Dr. G promised.
"I'm sure that you'd love that."
"Yeah," said Shiv. He could
glimpse the fabric and yarn
through the front windows.
"This is the Workshop,"
Edison said, skipping
ahead of them. "It has
all of the best things!"
"A Woodworking Area,
a Metalworking Area,
a Bicycle Area, and
the Fabrication Lab,"
said Dr. G. "Shiv, you
might want to swing by
Metalworking and get
yourself some scrap."
"Yeah, I'll see what they
have," Shiv agreed as
they came to the door.
Inside, the Workshop had
a concrete floor and walls
mostly lined with tools or
racks of craft supplies.
Dr. G pointed him toward
the Metalworking Area.
Just past the machines
on the floor, it had racks of
new metal and scrap metal.
Shiv found a nice piece of
steel with faint colors that he
could probably bring out more,
and a piece of copper pipe
like a long, pink spear.
"Come on, come on,"
Edison chanted, tugging
at them both. Clearly he
was about out of patience.
The Fabrication Lab was
almost overwhelming
in its complexity.
Shiv stopped, and
breathed, and just
stared for a minute.
The middle of the room
was a jumble of carts and
work tables and wires.
Along the walls stood
more tables and carts,
computers, and things
that looked like ovens
but probably weren't.
Several desks were
crammed with tools
and tiny parts in bins.
One whole wall had
shelves of old electronics
and small parts in boxes
or bins, coiled wires and
cables, blank-eyed monitors.
"This is the coolest stuff,"
said Edison. "You can
cannibalize any of it
to make whatever you
want. It's awesome."
"It's just ... junk?"
Shiv said, baffled.
It felt like junk to him.
"To invent, you need
a good imagination
and a pile of junk,"
Dr. G said, grinning.
"Okay," Shiv said,
humoring him. "So
what are the rules?"
"There are no rules here --
we're trying to accomplish
something," said Edison.
Yeah, that's why Shiv was
along as an extra babysitter.
"Just the usual ones: Don't
hurt yourself or anyone else,"
said Dr. G. "Don't break any
of the tools, but all the supplies
there are fair game." He waved
toward the solid wall of junk.
Edison was already piling
stuff into a handbasket.
Dr. G opened a storage locker
and hauled out a large cart
that read, Safety Equipment.
"Always keep one of these
in reach when someone does
serious inventing," said Dr. G.
"At that level, if anything goes
wrong, there's no time to run
and get a fire extinguisher."
"Yes, boss," said Shiv.
Somehow, Edison had
already filled his basket
and gone to claim a table.
People of all ages milled
around the room, but there
was a cluster of teenagers.
One had fluorescent hair
in a lurid yellow-green that
just screamed crayon soup,
and at least two of the girls
had dyed their own pink.
A blond boy was helping
one of the girls make
something with wires.
"Hi everyone, I hope that
you don't mind if we join you
here," Dr. G said as they
pulled up to the work table.
The teens all responded eagerly,
and Dr. G made the introductions.
The one with the yellow-green hair was
Bice, one of Halley's genderqueer friends.
Shiv liked the look of em; Bice was wearing
all black except for a variegated cardigan
in the kind of maybe-colors Halley liked.
As artsy looks went, Shiv thought he
could pull it off himself, if he picked
a variegated sweater in his own colors.
The blond boy in the red shirt was
Marcelin Carnot, and the black girl
with her hair dyed a dusty pink
was Evangelista Watt. They
were some of Edison's friends.
Shiv twisted off a piece of steel and
began smooshing it in his hands.
"You should do a vision board
first," Edison said as he spread
a piece of paper on the table.
"Nah, I'm just foolin' around,"
Shiv said. "It's nothin' special."
Marcelin had finished helping
Evangelista, who went to work
attaching chips to her wire-thing
while Marcelin and Bice followed
Edison's example of a vision board.
The teens were sketching with
colored pencils or markers, but
Edison's vision board quickly
went from images to math.
When he went off the paper
and started writing on the table,
Dr. G said, "I'm going to turn on
the camera now." There was
one overhead so you could film
your progress. "Shiv, please
help folks move back a bit."
Shiv swept a hand through
the air and cleared all of
the metal stuff farther down,
leaving only the paper behind.
"That is so cool," Bice said,
grinning at him. "Halley told me
you were cool, but I didn't know
that it was anything like this."
"Yeah, yeah," Shiv said. "I'm
just the assistant. Edison
is the real genius here."
Edison had his tongue
between his teeth and
his nose on the paper.
"Young man, sit up
before you go blind,"
someone scolded.
"Buzz off," Shiv said,
glaring. "This is our table."
"Who is the expert here?"
the older man demanded.
"Edison," Shiv said
with a jerk of his chin.
Dr. G chuckled. "Quite."
"That's not funny, Graham,"
said the man. "Safety is
important in a workshop."
"Edison is perfectly safe,"
said Dr. G. "Why don't
you find someone else
to supervise, Mr. Rabillo?"
Grumbling, the older man
finally wandered away.
"Thanks," Bice whispered.
"I don't want to take shop
if he's still teaching it then."
"I'm afraid I can't blame you
for that," said Dr. G. "At least
you have this opportunity
to practice your skills."
"Talk to Aidan," said Shiv.
"He knows, like, every craft
in the history of ever. He loves
teaching and he's good at it."
"Excellent idea," said Dr. G.
Marcelin headed to a station
with some sort of equipment.
Bice was working on something
made from little plastic bits stuck
together. Looking closer, Shiv
realized it was going to be
a color-coded sorting tray.
Well, that was clever, if
you had a color system.
Evangelista had her hands
full of wires, now dotted with
tiny lights that were blinking.
"Is it supposed to do that?"
Shiv wondered, watching her.
"Yes," said Evangelista. "It
has a microphone and picks up
sounds, that's what makes it blink."
"Oh, like Christmas lights," Shiv said.
He'd seen the fancy kind that listened
to what people were saying, or singing,
and made the lights respond to it.
In his hands, the steel flowed
into a prickly wreath shape.
Edison stopped scribbling
and started taking apart
the hardware he had.
Then he began swearing
in Irish because he had
a hard time opening it.
"Polite language, please,"
said Dr. G, but Edison
didn't seem to hear him.
"Hey, Edison, do you
want a hand taking
those things apart?"
Shiv asked him.
Silently Edison
pushed a handful
of pieces his way.
Shiv didn't really
know what Edison
wanted with them, so
he just took them apart
and laid out the pieces.
Edison swept some into
his workspace and pushed
the others farther away.
"Here," Dr. G said quietly,
offering Shiv a sorting tray.
"There are perks for breaking
things into their components
if you don't use all of them."
"Yeah, sure," said Shiv. He
put the metal gears and wires
into the different spaces.
Bice followed along and
picked up the plastic parts.
Edison was assembling
things now, Shiv had no idea
what, and sometimes pushed
pieces at his father for help.
Dr. G had a little toolkit that he
used, the kind for eyeglasses.
Apparently he was used to what
Edison's fingers still couldn't do.
"Shiv, please grab another radio,"
said Dr. G. "They should be labeled."
The shelves were labeled, at least,
though the stuff on them was jumbled.
Shiv took what he was pretty sure
had been a radio and offered it.
Edison popped the cover off, took
two pieces, and rejected the rest.
"Is he trying to build an ansible
again?" Bice wondered.
"I'm not sure," said Dr. G.
"From the parts, I think it's
some kind of communication
or radio scanning device."
Marcelin returned, grumbling.
"Dr. G, the electroplating machine
isn't working, and I need a copper coat
for this to work. Can you ask someone
to fix it? They'll listen to you more."
Shiv snapped his fingers.
"Just gimme the thing."
"What?" said Marcelin.
"The thing you want
the copper on, whatever
that is, gimme it and I'll
plate it for you," Shiv said,
wiggling his fingers at him.
"Okay," Marcelin said, and
handed him something that
looked vaguely like an anvil.
"I wanted the bottom plated.
I'm trying to make something
that's easier to replicate
than a GEM engine."
"Uh huh," Shiv said.
He unrolled a piece of
the copper pipe and
pressed it to the bottom,
then pulled it away.
The copper stuck to
the surface, all right, but
it was lumpy and awful.
"Well, that didn't work,"
Shiv muttered, frowning.
"It's okay," said Marcelin.
"Not every experiment works."
"I'll get it, I'll get it," Shiv said,
shooing him away. He peeled
the thick copper off the piece.
"How thin do you want this?"
"Really thin," said Marcelin.
"Like copper leaf, but smooth."
Okay, Shiv had worked with
metal leaf, so he understood
how tissue-thin that was.
This time he put the pieces
together and concentrated on
sticking just the very surface
of the copper to the bottom.
When he lifted his hand,
the rest of the pipe slid away,
leaving a mirror-bright layer
of pink over the steel.
"Oh wow," said Marcelin.
"That is perfect! I owe you."
"Nah." Shiv waved it off.
"We're just foolin' around."
Bice had nearly completed
coating the colored bits with
some clear gunk that would keep
anything from getting into the nooks
and crannies of the plastic pieces.
Ey kept comparing it to other trays
from the stacking-sorting gear,
trying to make something that
would work with electronics.
That gave Shiv an idea, and he
picked up the section of steel.
He swiped his fingers along it
to cut out the pieces, and then
carefully fitted them together.
A sorting tray took shape
underneath his hands.
Shiv smoothed the edges
so it'd be safe to handle.
Then he held his hands
on either side of it and let
his superpower flow between
them, like snapping a spark
from finger to finger in a storm.
Energy danced over the gray metal,
etching abstract feathery shapes into
the surface, and slowly the colors
bloomed into blues and purples.
Yeah. That looked damn good.
Shiv could give that to Simon,
who liked lapwork but had
a devil of a time reaching
anything that he dropped.
"That's beautiful, Shiv,"
said Dr. G. "I was hoping
you'd feel inspired here."
"Yeah, it's good for that,"
Shiv said. "I like it here."
If Dr. G had a tail,
it would be wagging.
Then Edison pushed
a button, and the ... thing ...
warbled between his hands.
Suddenly an image appeared
in the air above it, but it didn't look
like more than a squiggly blob.
"Holy smoke," said Evangelista.
"I think that Edison made some sort of
radio scanner with a holographic display."
"It looks that way," said Dr. G. Then
Edison sprawled on the table. "Food!
Shiv, open your backpack, fast."
The whole front pocket was full
of the emergency food supply.
Shiv unzipped and dumped it,
then sorted out the energy gels.
Dr. G got a couple of those
into Edison, who looked
a little less wilted now.
"Oh hey, you made
a pretty," said Edison.
"Uh, yeah," said Shiv.
"This place is pretty cool."
Edison smiled at him.
"I knew you'd like it,"
he said. "You already
had the imagination.
All you needed was
the pile of junk."
And yeah, that was
why he liked hanging out
with the Finns so much:
No matter how crazy things got,
they brought out the best in him,
even if he didn't know it was there.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, setting, and content notes appear elsewhere.