The Magic Factory

Oliver scurried past him and into his room, heading to his desk. He placed the microscope on its surface and then got straight to work, under the lamp light, using the ultra-thin diamond-bladed knife to slice the wires even thinner. It was an arduous, difficult task, and yet Oliver found it very satisfying to be so absorbed. Besides, it helped that he was absolutely certain this would make all the difference, that the invisibility coat he’d been trying to make for years was so close to actually coming into existence!

Oliver became so focused on his work, he didn’t even notice the smell of food cooking when Lucas stopped for lunch, nor the fading light as sunset arrived. He was only dimly aware of someone poking their head around the door to check on him, and the sound of sizzling from Lucas’s frying pan as he cooked their evening meal. But he cared neither for his own growling stomach nor his fatigue as evening fell. And before long, Oliver drifted off to sleep right where he sat.

*

Oliver found himself swimming in a deep ocean. It was very dark, the surface of the water barely visible high above him. Oliver treaded water as he glanced about him, his dark blond hair swishing as he moved his head about. Somehow, despite being underwater, he could breathe perfectly well.

He blinked with confusion. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the ocean, he realized that he was surrounded by sea life. All around him were huge rainbow-shelled shrimp. They were at least four inches long, with bright green bodies and bright orange legs, and they were covered in a multitude of shimmery, multicolored leopard-print spots.

Oliver reached his hand forward and touched one with his fingertips. It darted away, and at the same moment he felt a spark of electricity zap from the end of his finger. Oliver flinched backward, cradling his hand to his chest. Though the spark had caused him no pain, it had caused an echo of a sensation to rise inside him, something he remembered having felt before. Oliver looked at his hand and realized the feeling was the same power he’d felt when he’d broken the kitchen table. When he’d touched the rainbow-colored shrimp he’d felt the same surge of energy, of power.

He looked up, focusing on the shoal floating all around him. He reached forward again, touching another. This time when he touched the creature he did not flinch at the strange sensation, like a bolt of electricity moving between them. And this time, a piece of information popped into his head as if physical contact with the animal had dragged it from the depths of his mind. It was the name of their species: peacock mantis shrimp. He’d read all about them once on a trip to the library. He could recall with vivid detail the entire chapter of the book he’d read, about their marvelous ability to see parts of the rainbow imperceptible to the human eye, about how they were extensively studied by scientists due to their ability to see circularly polarized light.

Oliver withdrew his hand suddenly and at once the images faded. But the information did not, as if it was now seared into his mind, transferred photographically from the pages into his memory. It occurred to him that this information could be the missing link needed to succeed in creating invisibility.

All at once, Oliver gasped and opened his eyes. It was dawn. He was back in his bedroom, slumped over the desk where he’d fallen asleep while working on the coat.

He felt very strange indeed, with the lingering feeling of his power still crackling through his veins. He stared at his hand, at the pointer finger that had connected with the shrimp, overwhelmed by the experience of having information implanted into his mind from seemingly nowhere.

His mind repeated what had happened in his dream, trying to understand. It had felt like more than just a dream. The powers that had been conjured during it were still inside his body. He could still feel them. Certain his magic powers had brought him the inspiration to help him solve his quandary, Oliver leapt up.

He paced his room, mulling everything over. Odontodactylus scyllarus was the scientific name of the peacock mantis shrimp. He’d read it before, recently though, not just years ago in the library. Oliver clicked his fingers as he suddenly realized where he’d read the name. Armando’s study! The book he’d pulled from his shelf had been entitled Odontodactylus scyllarus.

Oliver hurried out of the room and down the corridors. Of course, he immediately found that he was lost. He just couldn’t remember all the twists and turns of the factory, all the staircases and rooms coming off of rooms. Where had the library been?

He felt like he was just running in circles, when at last he saw Horatio. The snoozy bloodhound seemed to be the only thing that stayed in one place in the whole factory, and once again he worked out where he needed to go in relation to the spot where the dog was dozing.

At last, he found the library. And there was the book Odontodactylus scyllarus, sticking out from the shelf from where Armando had removed then replaced it, like some clue from the universe.

Oliver snatched it up and began reading as quickly as he could. The passage on circular polarization was dense and difficult for even Oliver to fully decipher, but the important thing was that it was all about altering perception. Just like how the eye needed to be deceived into thinking it was looking at nothing in order to achieve invisibility, changing the circular motion of an electromagnetic wave just enough would create the same effect.

He sat back, feeling giddy from the revelation. But his joy was short-lived. Even if he invented electromagnetic-wave-disrupting spectacles, they’d need to be worn by the person viewing the coat in order to work, since the process only worked in the way the eyes processed the information.

Unless… unless there was a way of creating a sort of current that ran along the surface of the coat, one that pulsed out electromagnetic waves that were already circularly polarized!

That was it!

Oliver jumped to his feet, his mind working a mile a minute as he hurried back to his room. Even though he got lost several times on the way it didn’t matter because his mind was so busy frantically sorting through the theory, unmuddling the puzzle pieces in his mind.

At last he returned to his desk, snatching up the coat. He’d already been halfway there with his design. He already knew the wires would be needed to create the electromagnetic wave, he’d just failed to make the link between how disrupting them could trick the eye of the beholder.

Though the final step was theoretically complicated, in practical terms it just involved hooking up two opposing currents. After his periscope test, preparing a motherboard for a simple current was now remarkably simple for Oliver. Then it was just a case of tweaking everything until the currents were in perfect oppositional sync.

As dawn gave way to morning, Oliver finished his task. He sat back and admired his handiwork. With the thinner wire he’d only been able to sew a small square of fabric. But this time he was absolutely certain he’d done it, that he’d solved the mystery of invisibility.

Filled with anticipation, Oliver placed his hand under the lamp. Then he held his breath and very carefully, very slowly, laid the small square of fabric upon it.

Sure enough, before his very eyes, a small square in the middle of his palm disappeared from sight.

Oliver yelped and drew back. It was an instinctive reaction to a bizarre experience. His mind couldn’t comprehend how part of his hand had disappeared, even though he knew exactly how the science added up. It just seemed far too much like magic for his poor mind to accept.

His yelp must have alerted Lucas, because suddenly he appeared at the door. He was holding a tray with a plate of toast upon it.

“I hope you got a good night’s sleep,” he said roughly. “I’ve got some work for you to do today.”

Oliver was on such a high from his invention he couldn’t conceal the enormous grin on his face.

“What are you smiling about?” Lucas challenged. “We’re going to be very busy today. It’s hard work. Tough. You think that’s funny?”

Still grinning, Oliver shook his head. “Is Armando back?” he asked politely.

Lucas looked suspicious. His eyes darted to the messy desk, the open textbook, and all the additional electronic components Oliver had been working with.

“Yes. Why?” he said with narrowed eyes.

Though Lucas wasn’t the person he wanted to get validation from, Oliver couldn’t help but blurt out his achievement.

“Because I did it! I invented invisibility!”

Far from looking impressed, Lucas glowered.

“Show me,” he snapped.

Oliver was still so thrilled by having solved it, he readily showed Lucas the square of fabric under the light, and the way it made a matching see-through square in the palm of his hand.

“It buzzes,” Oliver explained, “because of the current, which is a bit of a giveaway. So there’s still work to be done. But in terms of solving the first hurdle, well, I’ve done it.”

He still couldn’t quite believe he’d solved something that had eluded inventors for so long.

“Huh,” Lucas said. “Well, hand it here then. I’ll give it to Armando. He doesn’t want to be disturbed this morning. His day was very stressful yesterday and he’s tired.”

Instinctively, Oliver tightened his fist around the square of fabric. “I’d like to show him myself,” he refuted.

Lucas sighed loudly. “Look, boy, I need you on the factory floor. There’s some sweeping to be done. I promise you I’ll show this to Armando as soon as he’s free.”

“Sweeping?” Oliver asked, disgusted.

“Yes,” Lucas replied sternly. “Factory work is forty percent inventions and sixty percent cleaning up the mess.”

Oliver was caught in a bind. On the one hand he didn’t want to disappoint Armando by not doing the work that he was actually assigned to do, but on the other hand he really would much rather spend the entire day sewing another tiny square on the invisibility coat than sweeping the floors!

“Come on,” Lucas pressed.

Finally, with some reluctance, Oliver stood and headed for the door. Lucas stopped him at the threshold, hand outstretched, palm up.

“I think you’re forgetting something,” he said.

The invisibility fabric. Oliver still had it clenched in his hand. The last thing he wanted to do was hand it over to Lucas.