Good Enough

After an astonishingly short breakfast and a crash course on vehicular modding, Audra had once again volunteered for dish duty. Now they were chatting about his routine over a soapy basin.

A clean plate clanked in the drying rack.

"So, is this really what you do, Zeph? Upcycle and fix bikes and stuff?"

"Pretty much. I'm a licensed mechanic, so I mostly just tinker with things or work on projects. Sometimes I help fix vehicles and appliances too. Other than that, I just read, watch TV, and go for walks in my free time… You know, the usual old man stuff."

"A very active one, maybe."

"Maybe. What about you? What do you normally do?"

Her sponge stuck to a glob of muck.

"Oh. Um, I used to do a lot of things."

"Mind being a little more specific? 'Things' encompasses a lot."

It dislodged with enough effort, landing with a plop in the sink.

"…Fair, I guess it sorta does."

Audra half-focused on a spoon next.

"I'd be learning for most of the day, then I'd help my mom at her shop. Chores and homework would come after, then if my dad came home early, we would have dinner as a family."

Her voice trailed off into the suds as a scene came to mind.

"Erm, speaking of homework, I was planning on asking, but you're fifteen, right? Are you educated?"

She recovered with a hmph, annoyance paving over the brief lapse of melancholy.

"For your information, I was. Actually graduated a few months ago cause of an accelerated program."

Metal clanked against porcelain as Zephyr whistled.

"Graduated, at fifteen? Amazing. What kinds of things did you learn about?"

Audra blinked, surprised that Zeph had just taken her for her word. Usually people would doubt her, like she was lying just to make herself sound smarter.

"Aside from general ed? Engineering, robotics, programming, and some business to help with the antique shop."

"Interesting subjects. Those the kinds of things that would interest you in the future?"

"Oh… well, they did. I don't know what I'm going to do now. Still working that out. Guess that's part of why I came here. To get away and uh, think."

"I see. Well, can't say I'll be able to help much with that, but at the very least, you'll have a roof over your head and food while you think."

"…" Her mind blanked for a response, so she focused on the dishes instead. It still felt strange for a grown man aside from her father to accommodate her this much.

It wasn't much longer until the plates were done. Zephyr stretched his back with a light crack and yawn.

"Alright then~ There's another project I was working on earlier—a commission of sorts. I'll be trying to finish that up today, so feel free to do whatever else you want in the meantime."

"Whatever else?"

"Yep."

Audra tried thinking about what she wanted before eyeing the hallway to the workshop.

"Actually… could I watch you do your project stuff?"

"You want to?"

"Erm, yeah. If you don't mind."

"Don't see why not. As long as you don't touch anything dangerous, that is."

"I lived in a scrapyard for a week without getting hurt. That should be proof enough."

"I feel like you're leaving out some context, but either way that's fine by me."

He playfully gestured for her to follow with a smirk.

Audra pouted but complied.

Zephyr headed to a control panel near the workshop's entrance. With a flick of a switch, metal shutters retracted and light flowed in from outside. A second switch added to the brightness with a ceiling light. However, he paused before flicking the third one.

"You may want to step clear for this."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I mean step out from the hazard-taped square." He pointed downward.

Her eyes followed his finger, and sure enough, there was a yellow hazard line a few centimeters in front of her shoes.

Ah. Whoops. How the heck did she miss that?

With a sheepish smile, she stepped aside.

Once free, Zephyr flipped the switch and a part of the ceiling lowered, resting right beside the souped-up bike. There was a strange pod-like thing on it made of dull metal. Conduits and cables snaked through the gaps of its exterior, and there was a small door with a cracked polyvinyl window. Its interior was covered in a soft foam-like material that enveloped an empty chair.

"Woah, is that a cryosleep pod or something?"

"Nope, not cryosleep. It's a VR capsule."

Her eyes nearly bulged from her sockets.

"What kind of VR? One of those full-immersion ones?!"

"Yup, the whole shebang. Full sensory stimulation, neural interface, life support, everything. I've had to overhaul a bunch of parts, replace a lot more, and add even newer ones."

"Holy crap. That's insane! How much money have you spent on it so far? A hundred thousand?"

She knew full dive systems weren't cheap. Even a low quality one would dent the wallet of a millionaire.

"Twenty-thousand USD or so—counting labor and the cost of materials."

Audra would've done a spit take had she been drinking anything.

"The hell you just say?"

"Twenty-thousand? Of course, it'd be a lot more expensive if I hadn't fixed this up myself. It was actually pretty beat up when I found it. The outer shell was damaged, the main circuit board needed replacing, and the power supply was shot. But most of the internal hardware was still salvageable. So it wasn't too bad."

His hand ran alongside the metal shell, giving it a soft pat.

Audra froze staring at the capsule before snapping out of her disbelief. She'd heard about people refurbishing VR machines before—mostly the portable headsets or omnipads. But fixing a full-immersion one solo?!

"Just who the heck are you?!"

Zephyr spared her a glance, then shrugged as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I'm old; I've had a lot of time to learn."

"No, don't try to pull that! Being old can make you wiser, sure, but that doesn't just give you a bunch of skills automatically. You're not only old—you're experienced."

"Well, aren't we perceptive?"

He didn't seem annoyed by her observation, but she couldn't tell if he was pleased either. His eyes did soften slightly though.

"I suppose I could tell you a little bit, but first, can you pass me my toolset? It's right there on the table."

She quickly grabbed it, bringing it to him then took a seat. He immediately got to work and popped open a service panel.

"Alright, so… what is it? What's your secret?"

"There isn't one. I just used to work in a lab researching and developing new tech."

"Research lab? University or company based? What technologies did you work on specifically?"

"Company. As for what technologies? Many kinds. Mostly biomedical, biotech, and genetics, but there were some other adjacent things as well."

"What other things?".

"Nanotechnology. Neuroscience. Neurobiology."

The way he said it so casually annoyed her.

"Why did you stop? Did you quit, get fired, or get laid off?"

"The first option. I quit."

He finished soldering a new component into the panel and closed the lid, locking it into place.

"Quit? But why?! Why'd you quit to do… this? Something like that must've paid super well. Could've probably lived a nice, cushy life. No worrying about money or whatever else."

Zeph froze mid-movement as if her words had broken something. He slowly turned to face Audra.

"I uh, just didn't want to waste away in a sterile white room, doing the same mundane tasks day after day until I died. That a good enough reason?"

Audra frowned skeptically.

"That's it? You wanted a change of scenery so you ditched your winning lottery ticket? There had to be another reason."

His lips curled as he turned away, returning to his work.

"Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't matter now, does it? What matters is that I'm here, doing what I want to do."

Frustration boiled in Audra at his non-answer. She wanted to press further—to learn his story. But something told her that wouldn't get her anywhere right now, so instead, she decided to ask something else.

"…What made you want to do this instead then? You know, this whole salvaging gig."

He froze again.

"Oh. Well… that's a little harder to explain."

"Try me. I'm pretty good at understanding stuff. Remember? Got my diploma and everything."

He leaned against the edge of the workbench and stared off into the distance with a sigh.

"Well… I guess I can try. In a way, this is an extension of what I used to do—working on projects that would benefit humanity as a whole. Now, I'm still helping people in a way, just on a smaller, more personal scale. It's harder to forget why you're working when you're interacting with them directly."

Her head tilted as she tried to decode what he was saying, like there was something deeper behind those word. However, his mood had tanked into something resembling melancholy. It was probably best to not push the issue, so she just watched him work away in silence for a while.

The sound of metal and solder filled the workshop.

"…" It was almost hypnotic to see Zephyr's skilled movements as he tinkered. The guy clearly enjoyed his work, even if he'd occasionally get lost in thought or stare off into space.

She didn't know how long it was. Time seemed to flow differently in the workshop, and it was easy to get lost amidst the thoughts and scrap.

Eventually though, Zephyr's hands stilled, and he looked up at her with an expectant expression.

"You're being awfully quiet now."

"Hm? O-oh. Just thinking."

"About?"

"Stuff. Things. Myself, you, my future, whatever. I've got a lot to ponder on."

His lips quirked slightly as he wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She tried to think of how to respond before her innate impulsiveness took the initiative.

"Do you ever wish that you could change your past? Go back in time and fix things?"

"That's a heavy topic—not what I was expecting. Why'd you ask that?"

She scratched the back of her head and doubled down.

"I… don't know. It's been on my mind lately, I guess. Like, I wonder what would happen if I'd just done one thing differently, whether or not I could change things to be better."

Something in his eyes darkened, but the change was gone as soon as it appeared.

"Yeah, I've thought about it. Everyone does, I think. We all have mistakes we'd like to undo. However, the past is set in stone. All we can do is learn and move forward."

"But isn't it normal to wish otherwise?"

Audra squirmed as she leaned against the workbench and reiterated.

"Like, imagining a world where everything turned out okay. That's normal, right?"

"…I suppose. But some people get too caught up in wishing that they forget about real life—that they can still live it."

His words were firm, yet gentle, as if he'd thought long and hard about this exact topic before.

Once again, Zephyr reminded Audra a bit of her father. His calm, reassuring voice had a similar effect of waxing philosophically. It was like she could trust him to guide her through whatever problems she had because of his experience.

She pushed away the memory and continued.

"Hypothetical for you then. What if there was a way to go back? Would you do it?"

"…Perhaps, but only if I was certain it wouldn't cause greater harm. Even then, I'm not sure I would. As terrible as it is to admit, the pain we experience can help us grow. And sometimes it's needed."

A bittersweet smile curled his lips up. It looked like he wanted to say more—to continue his thought further. However, he just shook his head.

"That's probably a conversation best reserved for another time. For now, I'm content with living my life as I am."

"Are you sure? What about regrets?"

He chuckled softly, tightening a rivet.

"I'm positive. Right now is good enough for me."