Questions Enough

After a crash course on vehicular modding over breakfast, Audra had taken on dish duty once again, but this time with way more questions than answers about what the heck Zephyr's deal really was. Like, she could sorta accept at this point that maybe he really did take her in just because he was nice. However, that didn't explain everything else about him. Was he actually as old as he claimed? Why did he have superhuman engineering skills? And why did he go this far to do this much stuff for her?

At this point, she was practically pulling out her hair over the soapy basin, trying to get to the bottom of it all as she washed dishes.

"Hey, Zephyr." Audra asked, putting a clean plate in the drying rack. "Is this really all that you do? Upcycle and fix bikes and stuff?"

He slowly nodded from the dining room table, taking a sip of coffee.

"Pretty much. I'm a licensed mechanic and handyman, so I mostly just tinker with things or work on projects. Sometimes I help fix vehicles and things too."

"What kind of things?"

"Just about anything really. Fridges, televisions, air conditioners, computers. If it's electrical or mechanical, I can usually do something with it."

"Are all of your projects as quick as my bike? Because if so…"

"I already told you that I'm just a normal guy."

"Normal guys don't claim that they're 70-something when they look like a college student. Neither can they turn a week's long project into a two-hour one. Come on, spill the beans. How the hell do you do this?"

He sighed and motioned over to the workshop.

"I don't know what else I can say, but there's another project I was working on earlier—a commission of sorts. I'll be trying to finish that up today, so maybe you could just watch and see for yourself that I'm nothing special."

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

"You would actually let me watch your project stuff?"

"Why wouldn't I? As long as you don't touch anything dangerous, I don't see a problem."

"I lived in a scrapyard for a week without getting hurt. That should be proof enough that I won't do anything stupid."

"I feel like you're leaving out a lot of context, but… fine by me."

She pouted as he playfully gestured for her to follow with a smirk, though she complied and tailed along as they entered the workshop and he headed to a control panel near the entrance.

With a flick of a few switches, various metal shutters retracted upward, letting the soft morning light flow in from outside.

"You may want to step clear for this." He said, pausing before flicking a third one.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

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

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, and once free, Zephyr flipped the switch and a part of the ceiling lowered.

*bzzzzt*

After the hydraulics did their work, a strange pod-like construct made of dull metal came to a stop beside her. Conduits and cables snaked through the gaps of its exterior, and there was a small door with a cracked polyvinyl window that covered a soft foam-like interior and empty chair.

"Woah. I'm guessing this is your project?"

"Yep."

"What is it? Is it a cryosleep pod or something?"

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

"VR? Wait, it's not one of those full-immersion ones, is it?!"

"Yup, the whole shebang and more. Full sensory stimulation, neural interface, life support, virtual environmental construction, everything."

"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.

"Well, I've had to overhaul a bunch of parts, replace a lot more, and add even newer ones, so… probably around twenty-thousand USD or so."

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

"The hell you just say? Why's it so cheap?"

"I mean, 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 had a whole in it, and the power supply was shot. Thankfully, the other internal hardware was still mostly salvageable."

"W-wait. You fixed it up yourself from scratch? I thought that this was a flip job or something."

"Hah. Now why would I do something like that?"

Audra froze up as he ran his hand alongside the metal shell and gave it a soft pat. She'd heard about people refurbishing VR machines before—mostly the portable headsets or omnipads. But rebuilding a full-immersion one was unheard of, especially if he did it all himself.

"…Just who the heck are you?"

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

"Like I said, I'm just your average old geezer with too much time on his hands."

"No, don't try to pull that! Being old can make you wiser, but that doesn't just give you same capabilities as an entire team of specialists. Explain how you got this skilled. Please."

"…I suppose I could tell you a little bit, but first, can you pass me my toolset? It's right there on the table. Oh, and make sure to put on those safety glasses."

She quickly complied, bringing it to him as he took a seat and popped open a service panel.

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

"Short answer. I 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."

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

"The first option."

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

"Quit? But why?! Something like that must've paid super well compared to this."

"I uh, just didn't want to waste away in a sterile white room, I guess."

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

His lips curled as he diverted his gaze, 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."

"…What made you want to do decide on this job then? You know, this whole salvaging gig instead of working in a restaurant or some other field."

"That's a little harder to explain."

"Try me. I'm pretty good at understanding stuff."

He leaned against the edge of the workbench and sighed.

"…I guess it's because this is an extension of what I used to do—working on projects that would benefit humanity as a whole, just on a smaller, more personal scale. Plus, at least this way, it's way harder to forget why you're working."

She tilted her head, trying to decode what he was saying. However, while she wanted to push more, something told her that wouldn't get her anywhere, so she just watched him work away in silence.

It was almost hypnotic to witness Zephyr's impossibly skilled movements, where time seemed to flow differently with every component he fixed. The guy clearly enjoyed his work too, even if he occasionally got lost in thought or stared off into space.

"…" It almost reminded her of how her parents used to focus on things.

"You're being awfully quiet. Ran out of questions?" Zephyr suddenly asked, glancing up from his work.

"Hm? O-oh. Just thinking."

"About?"

"Stuff. Things. I've got a lot to ponder on."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Err, you probably wouldn't want to hear."

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

"Try me. I'm pretty good at understanding stuff."

"Using my own words against me is unfair, you know…"

"Doesn't change that I'm open to hearing what you have to say."

She scratched the back of her head and sighed.

"Fine… It's just, do you ever wish that you could change your past? Like go back in time and fix the mistakes you've made?"

"Oh. That's certainly a topic. Any reason behind it?"

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

She glanced over at Zephyr for his answer though did a doubletake when she saw something in his eyes had darkened.

"…Yeah, I guess I've thought about it. Everyone does. We all have mistakes we'd like to undo, words we'd like to unsay, or actions we think we should've done, but… the past is set in stone. All we can do is learn and move forward, no matter how much you wish otherwise."

"So it's normal to think that? To imagine a world where everything turned out okay?"

"I suppose. But some people get too caught up in wishing in theoreticals that they forget about their real life."

It felt like Zephyr's words had been thought long and hard about before, just like how her father's advice used to be.

She shook the comparison out of her head.

"I have another hypothetical for you then. What if there was a way to go back and change things? Would you do it?"

"If there was? Perhaps." He answered way quicker than Audra had expected. "However, I would only consider it if I was certain it wouldn't cause greater harm, and even then, I'm not sure that I would, because as terrible as it is to admit, the pain we experience can help us grow. And sometimes it's needed."

A storm echoed in his eyes. It looked like he wanted to say more—to continue his thought further. However, he just shook his head and went back to work.

"Though 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 your regrets?"

He chuckled darkly, tightening a rivet hard enough that the wrench started to whir.

"…I'm positive. I'm content with what I deserve."