“I don’t get it.” Alec said, tossing his wrench on the ground and throwing his hands into the air, “We’ve seen the schematics, we’ve torn it apart, we’ve rebuilt it twice now, but no part of this stupid machine makes any sense!”

“Relax.” Warren said without looking up from his work, “If we don’t figure it out, it goes to someone higher up the chain. If they cant crack it, then it keeps going up until either Officer Silva or Ross takes one look and figures every part without even trying.”

“That’s why I’m so damned frustrated!” Alec exclaimed, kicking the chassis of the stolen engine.

As members of the squad that retrieved it, they were being allowed first crack at figuring out what made it run. To this point, they hadn’t even had the slightest clue of how it worked, or even how it was supposed to be powered. Without those two answers, all they had was a massive paperweight that was harder to steal than it was worth.

The inner workings were beyond unfamiliar to Warren, even pushing his mind into the machine revealed little more than that it was in fact, and engine. The primary power input was not designed for any fuel source that mankind used. Not oil, electricity, nuclear or even Light was able to get the smallest response.

Inside the input housing was a tiny black disk that seemed to pull nearby items towards it when the panel was open. The inner workings of the engine resembled the parts of an electromagnetic motor, but no amount of magnetic force could it even one rotation.

“Alec, listen to me.” Warren said, finally looking up from the schematic and grabbing his friend by the shoulders, “The only reason we are a part of this project is because we nabbed it. If we would’ve been on the outside, then another crew would be down here right now trying to decipher what it can do.”

“I get that, but I want to be the one that can bring results to the Commander.” Alec whined, “I like looking good.”

Warren gave him a long condescending look before simply saying “Uh, huh.”

“I’m serious. What do you think we will look like when we can bring our commander the answer on how to make this thing work?” Alec pleaded.

“And what do you think we would look like, crawling to said commander and begging for help after months of making no progress whatsoever?” Warren replied.

“Dave!” Alec yelled, running to his friend, “Please explain to captain dour here that we look good if we can get it to work.”

“I’m sorry man, but I have to agree with him on this thing. Maybe we can find another answer or two soon, but I think we will need to pass this on sooner rather than later.” The Aegis replied.

Walking over to the engine, the big man started slowly taking parts off and placing them in a line. When he was a child, his father had taught him that the best way to tear apart a machine that you were unfamiliar with was to ‘roll’ it out. By placing every part he removed in a line, he could put it back together with little fear of missing parts.

Exposing the black disc, Dave started working on it’s removal. However, the moment his Omnidriver got too close, a force warped and twisted the instrument into complete ruin. Setting the instrument on the worktable beside him, he began working to remove the entire coupling unit with the disc included.

“We’ve done that already.” Alec said from over his friends shoulder. “You can take it apart, but without that piece as a linchpin, there is nothing creating the force reuired to hold the outer ring in place.”

“So, the answer is in here.” Dave replied, staring at the housing. A slight tug still pulling objects toward’s its center.

“Partially, but I think we are missing a vital piece of the puzzle.” Warren said, projecting the schematics into a holographic image, “Even if we cant understand the writing, this part hints at an external machine that we haven’t quite seen yet.”

“Wouldn’t that describe almost all power sources?” Alec asked, “I mean, the schematics of any tech we steal probably don’t described the power supply in full.”

“What kinds of power can even be used?” Dave interjected, “Explain it to me slow.”

The two other soldiers looked at each other briefly, both wondering why the Aegis bothered to come down here if he didn’t understand tech. Alec, of course, knew that the former farmer could fix just about anything given time, but had absolutely no idea what any part did or why. Years of replacing broken tractor pieces gave him that skill set, but, seeing as it was just a matter of trying to get it working again, never bothered to open the manual on literally anything.

“Well, as you know, the most primitive form of harnessed energy was and still is fossil fuel. The issues with it are simple: it doesn’t renew, and it is terribly ineffective. When we think about old combustion engines from the 1900’s and the 2000’s, we are thinking about machines that are only about twenty-five percent efficient. Frankly, that is a lot of lost energy.” Alec explained, “Now, nuclear energy is marginally better at a whopping thirty percent, but the danger is much greater. A meltdown of a nuclear facility left an entire area of old Russia uninhabitable for a couple hundred years.”

“Then you have solar and Light.” Warren said, taking over the explanation, “Solar was one of the old worlds better ideas. However, their crappy panels could only absorb eighteen percent of the solar radiation that hit their surface. While a better option than the other two, it still left a lot to be desired.

When the Founders discovered the particle that we call Light, they were originally looking for a long term, high capacity battery and power source. Frankly, they found exactly what they were looking for. When the math comes out, we can capture and use ninty percent of it’s potential energy which leaves other power options like hydro and aero completely useless in comparison.”

“So what your saying is that these little squid-things harnessed a power that we haven’t heard of yet, nor do we know what it’s potential is?” Dave asked skeptically.

“Totally,” Alec said, “Think about it, we didn’t know about any of our power sources until someone came around and discovered them. The only reason we’ve stagnated over the past thousand years or so is because we haven’t needed to grow. Light provides more power than our ships and planets can use.”

“Huh,” Dave said, finally putting down his tools, “Well boys, I know of a power source that neither of you mentioned yet and I, frankly, am a bit offended by it.”

Looking at the man questioningly, Warren simply raised and eyebrow.

“Pizza. I’m hungry and you two ain’t going anywhere anytime soon on this thing. Let’s get us some grub, then you can come back up here while I hit the gym.” He said, answering the nonverbal question as he turned to walk out of the lab.”

“That’s the third time since we got back.” Alec whispered.

“Yeah. It is.” Dave said from the door in a soft voice, “If Jack can stop those things with his Light, then I should’ve been able to as well. I’m not going to stop trying to get stronger until I can beat one of those things on my own. I… I can’t watch a friend die like that again while I stand powerless on the sidelines.”

“I didn’t think I would see you two out of the workshop for a couple days at least.” Jack said, sliding into the restraunts booth, “Did you hit a wall?”

The resulting glare from both Alec and Warren said everything. They had indeed hit a wall, and from their looks, neither man expected to be able to break it any time soon.

“Alight then.” Jack said, picking up his menu like he didn’t know exactly what he was ordering, “As much fun as it is to have two of my good friends stare daggers at me, we need to change the subject for a bit.”

“No, please, don’t stop on our account.” Warren said, deadpan. “We couldn’t possibly go on without your loving support. Perhaps you would like to help us figure out how the stupid machine works?”

“Man, as much as I’d love to help, I’m so technicaly and mechanically broken anything I touch might as well go directly into the scrap heap.” Jack replied with a smile.

“And don’t you forget it.” Alec said shaking a chicken wing at him. “We don’t need you coming in there and cocking up this thing.”

“I went down there and broke an Omni… I guess I’m not that great either.” Dave said sheepishly.

“No way, I bet that Omni did something bad and you were simply giving it the justice it deserved.” Jack answered Dave and turned to Alec, “As for you, I wouldn’t ‘cock’ it up. That would imply that it could be fixed with enough time and energy. No, if I touch it… it’s ruined.”

“I can’t help but thinking it may just be the right move to pass this thing along and ask to remain involved.” Warren said seriously, “I mean look at it, it’s obviously got componates that we will never decipher, much less replicate their use.”

“But the prestige!” Alec moaned, “I don’t want to loose out on the possibilities.”

“Look, we wont be able to find those possibilities if we continue to mess around with this thing and get no results. If we send it off, at least there is a chance they let us know what they find. Isnt that good enough?”

Alec chewed on another wing slowly, appearing thoughtful. After a few moments of hard contemplation, he put the now meatless bone on his plate and sighed, “Ahhh, I guess. Honestly, it really is the right course. True, it’s only two days of digging, but we cant even find a single clue.”

“Sorry guys, I know how much it meant to both of you.” Jack said consolingly, “I do have some good news? Or maybe bad? I don’t know, I’ll let you decide.”

Taking a moment to access his HUD and send the letter he’d gotten from the company commander, he continued, “We are being called to Pheonix Prime in order to provide testimony to the senate.”

“How in the ever living fuck is that a good thing?” Dave asked after nearly choking on his beer.

“Because, we will have a few days planetside while everything happens. They only need us for a short while.” Jack explained, “Which means, we get to spend some time tearing up the town and living life on a planet that holds the full potential of human kind.”

The look the three men gave him was so priceless that Jack simply had to capture the image on his Vis-HUD for future laughs. Their excitement ranged from simple curiosity from Warren, to outright enthusiasm that could rival that of a six week old puppy.

“And, because I know that we will have at least one night to ourselves, I’ve taken the liberty of reserving hotel rooms for the entire squad.” Jack added, smiling from ear to ear. “I know the first part will be hard, but afterwards we can enjoy ourselves like we haven’t since leaving Home.”

“Old home.” Warren corrected, grabbing a slice of the pizza while it was still hot. “Never going to call that place home again.”

“Either way, this is incredible!” Dave nearly shouted, “I hope they have a Null-Ball match while we are there. I’ve watched every game this season on my HUD and let me tell you, the real thing would be killer!”

They all knew about Dave’s love of the sport. Ever since their first week in the AHF, they had been subjected to endless hours of commentary concerning which teams were doing well and which teams were garbage. If it weren’t for the pressing need to train and actually do their job’s, Jack was nearly certain that the big man would spend every waking hour watching game after game.

“Alright, alright, we can go see a game IF it’s playing. If not, then we go out for other things, cool?” Jack said, grabbing a slice of pizza as he stood from the table, “I have to let the rest of the squad know.”

“Yeah sure, we all know that is just code for ‘I’m going spend the night with Thea.’” Warren remarked around a mouthful of food. “Just don’t tell me who won the game of hide the sausage.”

“You don’t know what I’m up to.” He answered as he walked away, waving goodnight with the perfect slice of baked perfection.

Walking out of the restaurant, he drafted a message from his HUD informing everyone about the good news. As for where he was going, well, he figured that the best way to enjoy the night was up on the observation deck with Thea in his arms.

Warren didn’t need to know just how accurate he was in his prediction, and he definitely didn’t need to know about… other potential activities.