[Rising Star] 4 – First Contract Part 3 (Final)

It took another week for the letter I sent to have received a response from the Military.

[Greetings, Dr. Karstein. 

    We have received your inquiry and relevant documents on your Project: Vishpala and we are interested in learning more about the Project you are working on. 

    If what you claim is proven true, we are willing to come to the table and form a contract for your incredible Prosthetics in exchange for support and funds to your project and company. 

With regards, Lydia Zern, C.O.R, Washington Office of Strategic Affairs]

Attached was a number and note to set up a meeting and examination of my factory and workspace, where they’d asses my capabilities and discuss forming a contract, if I met their requirements. Though they also mentioned sending an expert to verify that the Prosthetic is legitimate and real. 

Happy with the outcome, I gave John a call, giving him the good news. If all went well, John did agree that he’d be willing to join the company as Security or some other position, which I wholeheartedly wanted, knowing how brutal the corporate espionage and corruption was within this country. 

After I called the number, I spoke with a different Contracting Officer and managed to set up a meeting a week from now, where they’d send three men to examine the property and project in detail before sending a lawyer to form a contract. 

All that was left to do, was get to work on another of my projects, one that I had not named yet, but would prove to be enticing to the Military once they recognized the potential. 

Drones. Specifically, the Drones of Cyberpunk. Flying boxes of metal as fast as cars with multiple armaments that could dispatch lightly armored to medium armor targets and soldiers, though it could take down heavy armor as well if equipped with missiles. 

The drone I was designing was its base, a Militech Griffian.

I had roughly 80% of its chassis completed, though its internals was far from completed as well as its more critical components, such as it’s on-board computer, optical cameras, scanning hardware, and various important components that had varying levels of uses. 

With an entire week at my disposal, I got to work.

…

Come the day where I was expecting visitors, I made sure to clean up everything within the warehouse and med bay, and with John, we waited for their arrival.

Come noon, they arrived. Four men and one woman. Four of the five of them were rather fit, though the last, a man, was in a suit and carrying a small satchel.

“Dr. Karstein?” The man in the suit approached, shaking my hand.

“That’s right, and you are?” I asked, looking the man in the eye.

“My name is Victor, I’m with the Office of Military Affairs, here to sign a contract with you if all goes well, and these are my colleagues, and Ms. Willow, she’s here to examine your Prosthetics,” the man greeted before pointing to the people behind him.

“Oh?” I spoke, looking to the woman.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Willow, May I ask what your qualifications are?” I tried asking politely.

“Certainly! I’m an Engineer and Electrician that works closely with the Office of Military Affairs and the CORs when it comes to potential devices or products they need examined!” The excited woman stepped forward, grabbing my hand and shaking it with a very creepy smile on her face.

“I see,” I answered with a nervous smile, trying to put some distance between the two of us.

“Well, follow me,” I beckoned the others to follow me into the small warehouse. 

As they followed me into the warehouse, I began showing them around my workshop. Showing them the various machines, presses, and tools I used to make the prosthetics, before John finally came out from the break room.

I noted the surprise from the others when they saw that John seemed to not have any prosthetics, and proceed to pull off his supposed ‘arm,’ revealing a realistic prosthetic.

“That’s the prosthetic?” Ms Willow asked with excitement, rushing forward.

“That it is, Ms,” John answered with a smile, handing her his arm which she began to poke and prod.

“It feels so…” she started only for me to interrupt her, “Real?” 

“Yeah…” she spoke in awe.

“That’s because of my revolutionary Synthskin, a synthetic material with the texture and feel of skin, but tougher,” I explained to her, letting her feel and run her hands along the fake hair and skin of the prosthetic.

“Each prosthetic is customized to look, function, and feel like a real limb, here,” I explained before opening the panel to show her the internals.

“This here is where you can access the internals motors, dials, and artificial nerves that allow for the user to customize their experience,” I explained, pointing at each item.

“Customize?” Willow asked, curious.

“That’s right, this dial controls the sensitivity of the nerves, allowing for better communication between the prosthetic and brain in case of nerve damage within their limb, this one increases or decreases the strength of the Prosthetic to allow for it to carry up to 150 lbs by itself before straining, down to not being able to carry anything,” I explained, turning the dial and prodding a nerve to make the prosthetic clench a fist.

“Amazing! But what do you mean artificial nerves?” She asked, confused.

“These special wires connect to the nervous system of the wearer via the base attached to the end of the limb, allowing for precise control of the limb with control over the prosthetic becoming more precise with time as the brain gets used to using the prosthetic, allowing for even skilled artisans to use the limb like their own original arm with time,” I explained with a smile, feeling proud at her awe. 

“This is amazing! Can I see it at work?” She inquired, looking to me.

“That’s a question to ask John, it’s his, after all,” I laughed, watching John awkwardly watching her play with his Prosthetic.

Getting a nod, she handed him the Prosthetic where he slid it back on and with a single thought, clenched the fist of the artificial hand.

“That’s amazing! And you can control it?” She asked John who nodded, “That’s right, took some getting used to at the start, but once I adjusted I can use it just as well as my other arm,” John explained.

Seeing that I had the interest of all of them, I began showing them around even further.

“How many could you produce a month?” One of the unnamed men asked.

“Once everything is set up and I have all the materials I need, I should be able to make a Prosthetic everyday over a course of twelve hours, once I start hiring employees the production scale will likely increase to multiple a day, a dozen a week, hundreds a year,” I spoke out while running the math in my head.”

With that, I knew I was getting that contract once I saw them looking at one another and nodding.