The Magic Factory

“Not anymore,” Armando replied, dismissively. “No one’s ever cracked it and I’ve not been able to either.”

“I’ve been trying myself,” Oliver confessed.

“Well, if you want my advice, best not waste any more time on it,” Armando replied. “I gave up years ago.”

Oliver couldn’t help but feel disappointed. The thought of cracking the invisibility coat was one of the things that excited him the most about inventing. But if Armando didn’t want him working on it, there was nothing he could do. He’d have to let that particular dream go.

Oliver continued following Armando through the winding corridors of the factory. He soon recognized that they had entered the corridor with the room that contained the big military tank. To Oliver’s surprise, this was the room they headed straight into.

“You don’t want me to make a weapon, do you?” Oliver asked, staring up at the huge tank with wide eyes as they drew closer.

“Goodness, no,” Armando said. “I want to see if you can make the periscope inside digital.”

“Oh,” Oliver said, not entirely certain that that was any better.

The only successful periscopes he’d ever made had been done using the good old-fashioned technique of a pair of telescopes and precisely angled mirrors. But he knew that the Navy had invented televised periscopes all the way back in the 1960s, and then the more modern photonic masts, which used cameras and infrared. So it was possible. And Oliver was determined not to fail. Armando hadn’t said this was a test, or even that he could stay on at the factory based on the outcome of the task, but Oliver felt personally as if his entire future was resting on its success. There’d be next to no chance of him convincing Armando to take him under his wing if he couldn’t even prove himself on this one little task.

He spent a long time pondering, looking at the current periscope set-up, which was indeed the same old crude version he’d made himself before. When he’d finally worked out a possible solution in his mind, he decided what specific materials he’d need to achieve such a feat.

“Do you have a spare cathode ray tube?” Oliver asked, considering that the first step would be to create a working screen like a television.

“Of course,” Armando said. “I have something of everything somewhere.”

“In which case, I will also need a camera. And a whole load of wire. A motherboard and solder. Oh, and a battery pack or similar type of power source.”

Oliver wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a little upward twitch at the corner of Armando’s mouth. Perhaps the old inventor was starting to wonder whether Oliver might be apprentice material after all. Still, Oliver wasn’t going to start getting overconfident. He still had to make the thing.

“Be my guest,” Armando said, gesturing behind him to the rest of the factory. “You’re welcome to help yourself. I have some things to be getting on with. Fetch me when you’re done.”

It dawned on Oliver then that he was going to have to find everything he needed on his own.

He watched Armando shuffle out of the room. Now alone, Oliver set about drawing a diagram of what he was hoping to achieve. He drew a simple mast with a camera mounted at the top and wires running through a plastic tube that came out the other end and attached to the display screen. It was simple, theoretically, but far beyond anything Oliver had ever designed or constructed before.

Once he had worked out what his invention needed to look like, Oliver set about searching for the items he’d need to build it. He wandered through the factory, scouring the aisles for materials, shocked by the strange array of items available. Armando had not been joking when he’d said he had something of everything in the factory. There were all kinds of bits of junk, like large bendy tubes, colorful springs that looked like they’d been removed from a magician’s box of tricks, wood, tires, and coils of wire.

Oliver took a long time sorting through the items to find what he really needed. Then once he’d collected all the necessary bits and bobs, he headed back to the workbench, arms laden.

He worked quickly, trying to block out the stress he felt. Now was not the time to get intimidated or crumble under pressure. But he was sure that if he failed to demonstrate his ability now, Armando would give up on him for sure. He really needed to prove himself or he’d be heading straight back home to his alcove and bully of a brother and constantly empty stomach. Too much was riding on his success for him to freeze up now.

Oliver put on some protective goggles and fired up the soldering iron. He was thrilled to be using a tool his school deemed him too young to work with. He attached all the wires in the correct place on the baseboard, copying from memory a diagram he’d looked at a million times in his inventors book. He delighted in the smell of melting solder, in the feel of accomplishment as he hooked up the device to its power source.

Unaware of just how much time had passed on this particular task, Oliver put the final pieces in place and then stepped back to admire his handiwork. He had to admit, it really didn’t look as impressive in the flesh as it had in his mind or his diagram. The piece of drain pipe he’d used as a mast to connect the camera to the screen was wonky. The television itself was ancient, clearly salvaged from a junkyard, and it had a strangely convex screen. The tube was cumbersome and quite an eyesore in its position behind it. But it was the best he could do.

He went and fetched Armando, bringing him back to the room. Armando didn’t look too impressed by what he saw. He seemed to be regarding the contraption with an air of disappointment.

“You’re done?” he asked.

Once again, Oliver felt the enormity of this task pressing down upon him. Had he really done everything he could? Was this the absolute best of his ability? He suddenly felt extremely insecure in his creation. Not to mention terrified that if it didn’t work it would prove once and for all that Oliver wasn’t talented enough to be Armando’s apprentice. Then he’d be sent back to his terrible life for sure. The thought was unbearable.

“It’s ready,” Oliver said with a nod, his chest tight with anguish.

He flicked on the machine and heard the buzz of electricity as it came to life. He let out a little bit of held breath. So far so good.

The LD light on the end of the camera blinked red. So that was working too, Oliver thought with a growing sense of relief and accomplishment.

Then he and Armando walked over to the screen. To Oliver’s utter dismay, they were staring at nothing but blackness. The image from the camera wasn’t being displayed onto the screen, which was the whole point of the task. If he couldn’t make the image come onto the screen, he’d effectively achieved nothing.

Beside him, he could feel the disappointment coming off Armando. But it didn’t even begin to match the disappointment Oliver felt in himself. He’d let himself down. He’d been a fool to ever think he could be more than a poor kid from a bad neighborhood.

Oliver couldn’t even bear to hear what Armando was about to say. He didn’t need it confirmed to him, he already knew. He turned and headed for the door, trudging dejectedly away from his failure.

“Oliver…” Armando said.

Oliver couldn’t even bear to look back. “No, no, you don’t have to say it. I’ll just leave.”

“Oliver…” Armando repeated.

“It’s fine. I understand. I’m leaving.”

“OLIVER!” Armando yelled, interrupting him.

This time, Oliver finally stopped. He’d made it all the way to the door, and he turned now at the threshold, looking back through sad eyes at Armando, who was still standing beside his crude invention.

“Yes?” he said, sadly, bracing himself for Armando’s disappointment.

“I think you missed something,” Armando said.

Oliver frowned. It was not what he’d been expecting to hear. “What?”

Armando just nodded at the invention. “Come and look. You’ll figure it out once you get here.”

His brow furrowing even more, Oliver walked back over to his ugly machine. He didn’t really want to look at it again, at his failure. What good would it do, other than rub salt in the wound?

But as he approached, he noticed the same thing Armando had. There was something wrong with the camera he had connected to the screen. Though it was on and working, as indicated by the flashing light, the actual lens didn’t look right at all. In fact, it looked as though it had been coated in a film of something black, like oil or dust.

Oliver hurried over and used the sleeve of his overalls to wipe the lens. The thick, black muck started to come off onto his sleeve, and Oliver saw as he cleaned it that a blurred image was starting to appear on the screen.

He couldn’t believe it. The machine had worked all along! It had just been the dirty lens obscuring the image, projecting back nothing but its blackened surface.

“I did it,” Oliver muttered, too stunned to really believe it.

He kept wiping the lens, amazed to see more of the picture appear. It grew ever clearer the more he removed the dirt. With the irrefutable evidence emerging before his eyes, it began to dawn on Oliver that the invention was a success. That he’d done it.

He looked over at Armando. The old inventor looked thrilled. Hope made Oliver suddenly buoyant. He felt tears begin to well in his eyes.

“Does that mean…” he began, his voice thick with emotion, “that I can stay?”

“Yes,” Armando confirmed with a nod. “You can stay.” Then he added, with stern emphasis, “For now.”