What's The Point?

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh scanned his student ID and led Franklin into the workshops.

"And this is where the science happens," he said, motioning at the room at large. "Fabricators, individual workstations, and testing apparatuses out the wazoo."

[Franklin Shinnick]

While the room was a collection of advanced machines to everyone else, it was an unrelenting tempest of electricity to Franklin. The intensity was so severe that he was blinded by its brilliance. Franklin struggled to pull back his vision in order to make out each device separately. What he saw brought a smile so big to his face that it hurt. "Where do we begin?"

[Toshiro Narumi]

"When you're done with the requisite grinning like a kid in a candy store, we feed your blueprint into the system and either withdraw the necessary parts from storage or fabricate them."

[Franklin Shinnick]

"Where does the funding for all of this come from?"

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Some X-Corp, some I have no idea. I haven't really thought about it."

[Franklin Shinnick]

"I've never seen anything like this. You'll need to show me how this all works."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I still haven't figured out how everything here works. Mostly just what I use regularly. But I can show you how I'd put together your device, assuming you don't mind me looking at your work too closely."

[Franklin Shinnick]

Franklin handed over a thumb drive that contained the plans. "Feel free, you are more versed with the tech here."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Let's get to it then," he said with a professional nod before leading Franklin to his workdesk. He moved aside a nearly frisbee-sized disc hidden under a cloth and plugged in the drive."

"Do you prefer Frank or Franklin?"

[Franklin Shinnick]

"I've been called both, whichever you are comfortable with. What would you prefer I call you?"

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Tosh. Toshiro just makes me feel like I'm in trouble," he said as he loaded up the blueprint.

[Franklin Shinnick]

"Maybe I should call you Mac."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Mac?" he asked, brow raised.

[Franklin Shinnick]

"As in Macintosh. The computer." Franklin should have known his attempt at humor wouldn't work.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Ahh," he responded. "Please don't."

"Okay. First I check which components we have and which we have to make," he said as he began cross-referencing the blueprint with the components available.