Big Changes Big Challenges Big Future

The Week after Sandra joined the Club everyone is assembled in the club Workshop sitting around a large table with the lights out and a projector connected to Alison’s laptop aimed at a portable projector screen.

Alison brings up a mock-up image of the RamII Combat Robot as she states “This is what we have thus far based on everyone’s contributions.”

“This image is only a theoretical example of what the final product will look like but bare in mind it has a modular design so it can adapt as needed.” Alison explains while rotating the 3D image file to show the various parts of the proposed form of the RamII before zooming in on the Ram Head up front and saying “This Figure Head isn’t a mere decoration but an actual Ram, in this configuration the RamII will do as its name suggests and Ram enemies.”

Lisa looks over the design of the head and asks “What is the head made of, can it withstand sustained long term use?”

Sandra giggles maniacally as she explains “That’s where my Science comes into play, I’ll make a synthetic Diamond of the correct size and shape and cover it in a Dilatant Alloy, it will be stronger than a regular Ram.”

Lisa nods affirmatively before looking at Sandra and asking “And how exactly will we acquire that Diamond Ram?”

“I’ll make it myself, I can tell you what I need but it might require some help from a science specialised club.” Sandra explains as she folds her arms and nods affirmatively.

Lisa looks at her calmly before saying “Then we’ll need to see what can be done that way before finalising anything for the Production of the Ram Head.”

Having heard that Alison rotates the rear of the RamII Mock-Up and highlights a set of openings at the rear and says “Sandra also contributed these, they’re not complete but they’re compressed gas jets for high speed acceleration, perfect for reaching ramming speed.”

“Is it that same compressed gas you were working on last week Sandra?” Lisa asks Sandra directly as she wonders if the Compressed Gas comes from the special Dry Ice Sandra was working on before she joined the Robotics Club.

Sandra sighs as she replies “You’re right, it is fueled by that Compressed Gas, its testing isn’t complete but it was almost done.”

“I managed to get it above 90% of the way to the target strength when released from its compressed form.” Sandra explains remembering the figures she kept in her head for safety reasons as she puts no faith in physical or digital security measures regarding her work before saying “That said, I had high hopes for the batch that was ruined when you showed up, judging by the rate of gas release when the ice fell in water I think it was a success.”

“If you can make it, can any of the batches you’re certain of the capabilities of serve as fuel for the compressed gas jets?” Lisa asks while noticing Alison is also curious about the answer.

“Anything below 90% will fall short of the minimum force required.” Sandra states calmly as she looks through her mental notes on the subject and states “Anything above 95% would be serviceable, optimally 98% or better would be the goal but I haven’t cracked 97% yet.”

“You haven’t ever achieved anything above 98%?” Alison asks with a curious yet surprised look on her face, not sure if she was correct in her assumption of Sandra’s underlying meaning.

“I mean I have yet to achieve consistent and replicable results above the 97.3% mark, it’s a mere issue of studying the variance between factors.” Sandra explains fully aware Alison was aware of what she meant but wasn’t certain she’d read her unspoken word correctly before saying “The synthetic diamond is one I can consistently get replicable results with, I can make a wide range of sizes too.”

Jean looks at Sandra curiously as she asks “Just what size is the biggest you’ve achieved?”

“About the size of a large dog or pig according to the measurements I found online at the time but the diameters may have been a bit off.” Sandra states calmly while remembering the test results before saying “The Mohs Hardness Tests put them at the same strength as Natural Diamonds as well as gem grade clarity and colour test results.”

Everyone is left speechless that she achieved such results before Lisa says “Then we’ll make acquiring access to the means to make those a reality a top priority.”

“I’ll give you a list of rental facilities with what I need as well as stuff we can use to make them in house.” Sandra states as she looks over the faces of everyone in the room, pleased with just how accepting of her and her capabilities everyone in the room seems to be.

After confirming the Compressed Gas Jets are an option Alison moves the image to the wheels of the RamII and says “We’ve researched various tyre types and selected specific tyres for each weapon configuration optimising traction and speed.”

Lisa looks at Jean and says “Nice, I assume you came up with this addition Jean.”

Jean nods affirmatively and answers “I learned a lot while at the Go Kart Club, different tyre types do better in different conditions, I thought it would be wise to use that with the Modular Components.”

Lisa laughs with delight at the competency of her club members and their innately organic networking as she says “Glad to have you and your wisdom in our group.”

While Lisa compliments everyone Alison switches the image to the images of various weapons that can be swapped out with the RamII’s Ram Head and says “As you can see, we have several design options for weapons, the Pick Axe and Hammer used to be quite effective.”

At least before Tungsten Carbide became common as armour, Cutting disks were also common back then too.” Alison explains having watched a bunch of old episodes of Robot Wars to study up on what was most effective and continues “FlyWheels, Spinners, especially Bar Spinners are fairly common and potent, Flippers are also common and effective options, they were pioneered by Rex Garrod early on.”

“One of Team Cassius’s members, didn’t he coin the terms ‘self-righting mechanism’ and ‘srimech’, so we’re drawing from the greats.” Lisa states with her eyes light up having secretly watched the series online for years before saying “I also see a piercing Weapon reminiscent of Razor, but where did that spike weapon come from?”

Ashiro raises her hand in an attempt to take credit for the weapon Lisa is asking about before saying “I actually watch a lot of anime and a relative recommended the Classic Anime Dai-Guard, the Knot Punisher really made an impression so I showed it to Alison and Jean.”

“That crazy weapon took some imaginative thinking to recreate in a Robot Wars Friendly form but we did it.” Jean says as she points to the design for the weapon and says “Add to that, this design will easily pierce most robots and skewer their guts.”

Alison zooms in on the design for the weapon showing the fine details of its electromagnetic barrel for propelling the spike forward while also allowing the mechanical functions to withdraw it back to the launch point ready for reuse and says “This design is what we came up with, it’ll be tricky to implement but we have the means now.”

Suddenly the school’s intercom chimes and the Headteacher’s Secretaries voice states “All Student Council Members and Club Representatives please assemble in the student council room.”

“Repeat, All Student Council Members and Club Representatives please assemble in the student council room.” The Headteacher's Secretary states through the intercom before it goes silent again.

Lisa stands up realising that she needs to go immediately before saying “I’ll trust you to handle things here while I go see what this is about.”

Everyone nods in agreement and Lisa turns to the door and leaves the room while everyone begins working on refining the specifics of the elements of the design they hadn’t yet discussed and putting together meeting notes for Lisa to read later.

As she walks through the halls to the Student Council Room in the main building Lisa notices the Representatives of every other club in the specialised buildings using various routes to reach the Student Council Room as she thinks “Normally we only hold meetings once a month and only when there’s something important to discuss, this must be something big.”

Lisa notices the RCD Club President among the students with a look of evident displeasure on his face but as Lisa can tell is an act to hide the fact his eyes have been discreetly locked onto Lisa like he’s painting her as the target for a guided missile strike.

While keeping up her poker face to keep him from noticing that she’s on to him, Lisa thinks “That guy must be very displeased about our progress, at the meeting before Jean joined he was clearly seething that I managed to get such a deal.”

Everyone around them fails to notice anything amiss between Lisa and the RCD Club President as they walk to the Student Council Room.

While sitting in her assigned seat at the Student Council Meeting Table she hides her surprise behind her poker face as the Student Council Vice President states “Student Council President Jason Brown has been Suspended due to an ongoing investigation by the schools admin staff and ousted as Student Council President.”

Lisa hides her shock behind her poker face as she realises just how huge this meeting is and what might be going on for everyone to be called to such a meeting as the Student Council Vice President continues “There’s a meeting going on among the Staff to determine if he’s being expelled or just put on probation but he’s no longer a member of the Student Council.”

“What exactly is he accused of that finally got him ousted?” The Home Economics Club President asks with a look of surprise and curiosity.

The Student Council Vice President looks at him and answers “There has been a big scandal involving his taking secret kickbacks from organisations outside the school in exchange for manipulating club budgets and abusing council authority.”

“Additionally, he’s being investigated by the Straff Clyde Police and may face criminal charges for his larceny, abuse of power and corruption.” The Student Council Vice President continues to explain calmly with a look like she’s keeping her cool as best she can in spite of her bubbling and boiling rage before stating “There will be an official announcement once everything is worked out but we will be holding an emergency Student Council Presidential Election in the near future.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone here at this table to some degree either knew or suspected that guy of being a junior fellen, guess we were right.” Lisa thinks calmly while remembering how her Grandmother used to tell her stories of an infamous gangster who terrorised Glasgow in the 1950’s to 1990’s before thinking “That scumbag must have been running for the successorship of Arthur Tompson the way he ran this place, guess our success as one of the nails in his coffin.”

Suddenly the President of the Go Kart Club stands up and glares at the Student Council Vice President and shouts “Exactly what are you going to do about the damage this stank slime has done to our school and by extension the good name of Joan of Arc!?”

(A Stank is a name for a Sewage Drain commonly used in Glasgow, generally filled with sewer water at the bottom of their pits with metal grates at the top and slime growing along the walls.)

The Student Council Vice President looks at her with a look of shock at such language even if she does agree with the description of the former Student Council President before composing herself and answering “We’re going to carry out a comprehensive review of all student council activities for the extent of his tenure as Student Council President.”

As the Go Kart Club President sits back down she simply replies “You’d better do a good job if you want anyone here to have faith in you ever again unlike your professional contemporaries in England.”

The Student Council Members are all left equal parts astounded and borderline mortified by what they just heard before the Student Council Vice President states “We’re as much victims of the former president's systematic corruption, we need to go over Everything and possibly rebuild the whole council infrastructure.”

“And how long is this repair to the Student Council Infrastructure going to take?” Lisa asks with a look of curiosity.

The Student Council Vice President lets out a heavy sigh before answering “It could take until the end of term but we aren’t sure, if possible we’d prefer it be done before the end of next month but that will require a lot of cooperation.”

Lisa pulls out a USB from her bag along with her laptop and places the Laptop on the table and boots it up before accessing the information on the USB and says “If that’s the case, I’ve kept meticulous records for my club and kept track of everything from spending and budget cuts to activities and related events.”

After the computer shows the data for Lisa shows it to the Student Council Vice President before saying “With this information you should be able to clean up the mess former president Jason left behind.”

The Student Council Vice President skims over the details Lisa presented to get a general sense of how organised the data is causing her eyes to widen in surprise at just how organised and thorough Lisa’s work is and states “Good, this data should allow us to get a good sense of the state of things regarding the damage former President Jason did to your club.”

After Lisa returns to her seat having handed over the USB with the data she says “Anyone else have any such data to turn in already for your clubs?”

Only a few of the club Representatives including the RCD Club president manage to present their data immediately.

“Right, then everyone who doesn’t have the data we need today and ready to present, please have the data ready within the next 4 to 7 weeks.” The Student Council Vice President states calmly before stating “We specifically need activity records, budget and expense reports as well as the associated receipts and the appropriate records of when changes happened.”

“So what will you do with the data we present?” The president of the Home Crafts Club inquires.

“We’ll do fact checking and depending on the findings we’ll add more charges against the Former President and take action to correct his misdeeds.” The Student Council Vice President states calmly as she sits down and pulls up a checklist for clubs without people skilled in Admin after having her fellow council members distribute them and says “These checklists are the things you need to find and put together for us, it’ll take longer if you can’t organise them yourselves but what matters is it gets done.”

Lisa listens calmly as she looks over the checklist and thinks “This is definitely legitimate, the other clubs could at least manage to get everything in order following these.”

“Now that we have gotten the worst of the bureaucratic procedures out of the way let us move on.” The Student Council Vice President states before having the Bakery Club and Tea Club bring in the tea and snacks they requested for the meeting before stating “From this point I will open up the floor, if there are any proposals or issues that you feel need to be seen to then please speak your minds and say your peace.”

After an hour of discussions on various subjects the meeting ends and everyone leaves the Student Council Room and begin returning to their own clubs.

On her way back to the Club Workshop Lisa thinks “This was certainly a surprise, they even stated that with Faculty Backing we were now off the list of clubs to be cut from the roster.”

As she walks past the student store on the way back to the Club Workshop Lisa wonders how things are going back at the workshop as she thinks “I was pretty impressed by the advancements everyone came up with, I honestly think this RamII could be our best work yet.”

Before she enters the workshop building, Lisa sees the Computer Club President standing by the T Section half leaning against the wall.

As Lisa passes her the Computer Club President says “We need to talk a moment.”

Lisa immediately stops walking and without turning around says “Correct me but wasn’t it you who said ‘We are done’ as in no more business?”

“I know what I said and at the time I meant it but times and circumstances change.” The Computer Club President states with a worrisome tone like something she finds more displeasurable than having to seek out Lisa brought her to this spot at this time before continuing “This will not end with the Student Council President, I may not like you but I like Ashiro.”

Lisa stands there silently for a moment, worried by the questions implied by what she just heard before saying “What are you getting at?”

“She knows what I know about the Former Student Council President, she can fill you in on the details regarding him.” The Computer Club President states surprisingly calmly for the situation before her ominous tone returns with a vengeance as she continues “The issue you need to be wary of is who kept him in office, who is behind the RCD Club, who is behind the attempted theft of your robot and who is now targeting you.”

Lisa while hiding her feelings of worry and dread behind her poker face simply replies “We’re school kids not soldiers or police officers, if worst comes to worst I’ll do what I must to protect my club members, my friends, that includes Ashiro.”

The Computer club president giggles a bit before nodding affirmatively and as she begins to leave finishes by saying “If that’s your attitude I almost feel sorry for the other guys, they have no clue they’re dealing with this school’s ‘Yacht Club’ as Ashiro would put it.”

“Yacht Club???” Lisa replies in utter surprise and confusion.

“Ask Ashiro about it.” The Computer Club President replies.

After a moment Lisa returns to walking back to the Club Workshop as she thinks “Must be another Anime Reference if it’s Ashiro I need to ask about the details of that one.”

The minute Lisa reaches the Club Workshop Door, she notices that the workshop is too quiet when everyone should be hard at work planning for the RamII.

“Better check my messages.” Lisa thinks as she takes out her phone and checks for messages from the girls and finds messages from Alison, Mary and Jean that include a specific set of phrases that Lisa recognises as subtle warnings of danger.

As Lisa checks her messages from Ashiro and Sandra she finds the Message from Ashiro holds an anime reference to an episode of anime she made her watch so she’d know what it meant when she sent that message, Sandra simply mentioned the day they first met leaving Lisa thinking “I guess there’s a complicated situation.”

Lisa opens an app on her phone that activates the webcam on the club computer as well as a few well placed robot cameras around the room and sees everyone sitting around the meeting table with a strange, well dressed woman who isn’t a staff member of the school.

“Whoever that woman is she isn’t anyone we know or a staff member.” Lisa thinks as she looks over the woman via the cameras and notices she lacks any other people with her as she thinks “She’s alone and I don’t see any weapons on her, so if she’s not staff then who is she and what is she doing here?”

Lisa looks at everyone in the room and notices they aren’t afraid or restrained but just sitting there quietly as if they’re waiting for Lisa when the woman checks her watch and says “How much longer must I wait for your club president so I can say what I came here to say?”

Alison looks the woman in the eye and says “If you want to know then ask the faculty, they’d know more than us, unless you want to talk to them you can just wait like us.”

Hearing that over the web camera Lisa looks at the woman and realises she’s not threatening anyone and is there to talk but might not necessarily be there with permission from the faculty.

Knowing the situation a little better, Lisa thinks “I think it’s probably safe to enter the room but I’ll need to take a slight precaution.”

Lisa pulls up the emergency alert button app on her phone that Ashiro made for all members and sets a timer on the app for 10 minutes after which time the App would alert Ashiro’s Maid Yoko and allow access to the club workshops security systems Lisa has been using, allowing Yoko to take appropriate action.

“I hope Ashiro was telling the truth when she said Yoko doubles as her bodyguard and used to be a mercenary if this goes bad.” Lisa thinks as she uses her key to enter the room.

As soon as she enters the room Lisa is noticed by everyone there including the woman who simply smiles and says “At long last you arrive.”

Lisa looks the woman in the eyes and straight out asks “I’m here so, who are you, what are you doing here, what do you want and give me a good reason not to call the police.”

“Do you want a 4 layer cheese burger with extra pickles, BBQ sauce and Horseradish to go with that and your fries and Cocacola?” The woman giggles under her breath for a moment after making her joke before saying “You’re just as unshakeable and fearsome as I’d been warned you were, I almost feel like I’ll need a doctor after you get through with me.”

Lisa glares at the woman right in the eyes with her eyes like daggers as she says “You gonna answer my questions or am I going to dial 999?”

The woman giggles under her breath again before answering “My name is Maria Cambal and I came here because I have business to discuss with your club, the reason not to call the police is I have a proposal you may want to hear.”

The Woman who claims her name to be Maria Cambal walks over to Lisa and presents her with a business card marked as “Maria Cambal, Silicon Robotic inc, Human Resources Department.” as well as the Woman’s contact details.

Lisa looks over the business card suspicious as to its authenticity before saying “What’s this Proposal you have for us?”

“Work for our company.” Maria Cambal answers directly before elaborating “We want your members to work for our company after you graduate school, we’ll give you everything you need and pay you what you’re worth.”

“Turn her down Lisa!” Ashiro shouts loudly enough anyone outside the door might have heard her before saying “I’ve heard of that company, they’re a nasty bunch of Thomas Edison Styled corporate raiders, we can’t trust this puke for as far as we can throw her!”

Lisa looks the woman in the eyes calmly before replying to Ashiro with a terrifyingly calm voice “It’s OK Ashiro, I knew that already.”

Maria Cambal looks at her calmly on the surface but with clear displeasure in her eyes as she says “If that’s your answer there’s nothing legal to be done about your choice.”

“Then get out.” Lisa states calmly as she stares Maria Cambal in the eyes with a look like she’s just waiting for her to shut the door behind her before getting out the salt.

Maria steps away from Lisa and starts to walk toward the door calmly before stopping suddenly and saying “Well, I did say there’s no legal option to get you on board but there is one other method.”

Everyone in the room suddenly feels an icy chill fill the room before Maria turns back around and looks at them and says “Jason Brown is gone from this school and with him our Opposition Research Group/Recruitment Group, you call them the RCD Club.”

“And we’re part of the reason why, what of it?” Lisa asks, ready for a fight but knowing Yoko will be alerted to the situation soon.

Maria Cambal lets out another giggle but this time with an ominous and sinister undertone to it that intensifies the icy chill in the room and states “Before we pull out how about a wager?”

“Wager?” Lisa asks sceptically since she knows no one in the club is old enough to legally bet anything.

“Less wager and more agreement.” Maria Cambal corrects herself before giving everyone in the room a vaguely sinister look as she explains “We’ll have our RCD Club enter Robot Wars with a robot of their own design and you do the same with one of yours.”

“We win, you join us, you win, we sign a NonAggression and NonInterference Pact with you.” Maria Cambal finishes explaining as she looks straight at Lisa with a sinister grin on her face as she says “Do we have a deal?”

Lisa calmly looks over at everyone to see if they’re onboard to which they all nod affirmatively before Lisa looks back at Maria Cambal and says “We’ll crush you.”

Maria Cambal just smiles as she turns around and walks out of the room.

Lisa walks over to the other girls and says “So, that escalated quickly.”

Suddenly Ashiro’s phone rings and she sees it’s an incoming call from Yoko at which point Lisa remembered the timer.

Lisa quickly explains to Ashiro and she fills Yoko in on what happened.

Yoko doesn’t say a word for a moment before having Ashiro put Lisa on the phone and says “You just had to make a deal with them didn’t you…”

“Ashiro as well as everyone else was onboard with it, besides, we only need to win and everything will be fine.” Lisa replies calmly.

“See to it you do, otherwise I might have to quit my job and do something I’d rather not do.” Yoko replies with an ominous stone as she makes a vague statement that could be her way of not so subtly saying she’ll use violence to solve the problem.

Yoko hangs up the phone and Lisa returns it to Ashiro at which point Lisa says “OK, how is it looking?”

To Be Continued