Senior Year Box Set

“He’s calling the orange goo ‘Liquid Armor’ now. They’re working with another company that’s bidding on military contracts for the next generation of ballistic combat shirts and pants. The outer material is supposed to be reusable. I guess older technology would do what’s called ‘spidering,’ making it one-time-only protection. Not that David is going to be shot, but it was something Devin was excited about,” Dad explained.

“It looks like it’ll be hot,” Moose said.

“Devin assured me its moisture-wicking properties give it a degree of breathability. The gear they’re designing for the military has to be usable in different environments, including the desert,” Dad said.

“This is supposed to work better than the helmet?” I asked.

“That had a design flaw,” Dad explained.

“I’ve heard that before,” I said doubtfully.

“So, we test it,” Moose suggested.

“How would we do that?” Coach Haskins asked.

“Get David suited up and have him stand in front of the pitching machine. We should start at full speed and work our way down,” Moose suggested.

“I think you have that backward,” I said, knowing he was pulling my chain.

“There’s something else you need to be aware of,” Dad said. “We had to buy this for David. Devin couldn’t give it to him without the NCAA getting interested. This is a prototype and not scalable for mass production yet. It wasn’t cheap.”

Dad shared the number, and it took all of us aback. I thought my football helmet was expensive. This was five times that price.

“I better be able to use this for football too, for that kind of money,” I said.

“Devin said you should try it out. If it doesn’t work, he’ll take it back,” Dad assured me.

“Have you decided whether you’ll play ball?” Coach Haskins asked me.

“I can’t see why not,” I said to make the coaches happy. I then turned to my dad. “Thanks. I’m in awe of what you got done in a week.”

“I wasn’t sure I would until one of Governor Higgins’ aides told him about the issue officials had been having at games. With that information, he could justify taking action without singling you out. From there, he pulled in others who helped craft the response. The governor said it reminded him of when my dad had been involved. Instead of bickering back and forth, everyone saw a common goal and actually did something,” Dad shared.

“Regardless, you got the ball rolling. Thanks, Dad,” I said and gave him a hug.

“Go get dressed. We need to see if this gear works,” Moose said.

◊◊◊

I put my new liquid-armor suit on under a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and walked out to the batting cage. Moose took great pleasure in firing off the first pitch. The ball caught me square in the chest. I felt the impact, but it didn’t hurt. It was like someone had shoved me.

“Crank it up. If this works on the highest setting, we’re good,” I said.

The next pitch, you could hear the air part as the ball knifed into my chest. This one stung, but nowhere near what it felt like when you caught a pitch on your bare skin, which I had experienced too many times. I doubted I’d even have a bruise.

Another ball fired out, but I dodged this one.

“My bad,” Moose said in the way of an apology.

What was the saying? Paybacks are hell?

I filed that one away and headed to the locker room to get dressed for practice.

◊◊◊

After practice, Fritz picked me up with Dare in the car. We drove to the park to test out Dare’s new drones. On the ride there, Dare updated my phone so I could control the drones myself if needed. I could also watch video in split-screen for all of them or tap the video of one of them and watch just that particular drone.

“The drones can work together or separately,” Dare explained.

Once we got to the park, Dare gave them the command to check our surroundings. People were enjoying a walk, two boys were playing Frisbee, and a lady was walking her dog. It made for an excellent test to see how the drones would react. The swarm quickly created a map overlay as it tracked everyone in the immediate area. I was impressed when the software marked them all as ‘green’ or safe.

“So that means it’s safe to get out of the car?” I asked.

Dare was so intent on the reading on his tablet that he ignored me. I got out, and Fritz joined me.

“What’s the big improvement?” I asked Fritz.

“Dare thought that since he named his new drones after swarming insects, they should have stingers.”

“I hate to ask …”

“His first idea was to mount .22 shells that would go off when a drone ran into their target. I had to explain to him that the odds were good it would seriously hurt someone or even kill them. He told me that was the point,” Fritz said.

I rubbed my face at that one. I imagined myself having access to that in LA traffic. It would take road rage to a whole new level.