Chapter 282: Howard's Robotic Arm Incident
After Ron agreed to Han's request, he spent some quality time with Caroline before leaving without staying for dinner.
Oleg was cooking again today. Ron wouldn't have eaten there anyway, unless Max had been the one preparing the food.
Honestly, if Han hadn't always been so supportive of the sisters and Ron didn't owe him a favor, he never would have agreed to such an unreasonable request.
How could a respectable person like himself—Ron, a federal agent—visit such a questionable establishment?
Ron swore he was only going to that place to help Han; otherwise, he would never set foot in such a venue in his entire life.
"Ron, your General Tso's Chicken."
A robotic arm delivered the takeout to Ron with mechanical whirring sounds, interrupting his thoughts.
"Finally, my own Sweet and Sour Pork." Howard continued manipulating the robotic arm, delivering the final portion of food to himself.
"Awesome!" the scientists cheered.
Howard proudly declared, "Dinner is served, gentlemen. A complete meal delivered by robotics."
"And it only took thirty minutes?" Ron glanced at his watch. Half an hour had passed while he was lost in thought.
"For current technology, that's quite impressive," Sheldon concluded. "But we must exercise caution."
"Why's that?"
"Today a robot serves us Chinese takeout, tomorrow they could send a Terminator back in time to eliminate Sarah Connor," Sheldon continued in his typical alarmist tone.
"If that day comes, I'll turn against my own creations and blow their circuits out with a shotgun. So stop worrying and let's eat. Also..."
Ron turned his attention to Howard: "Next time, don't use components from my exoskeleton project for these trivial demonstrations."
"Hey, Ron, this isn't from your mech. NASA designed this for me to service the robotic arm on the International Space Station. It's incredibly versatile. Want me to have it grab you something else? How about some hot sauce?"
Howard was clearly excited and looked at Ron with bright enthusiasm.
"Forget it. By the time your robot brings me condiments, I'll have finished eating," Ron rolled his eyes. "But that does give me an idea. Since we're still in the framework stage of the mech, I wonder if we could integrate additional robotic appendages?
The kind controlled by neural interfaces, maybe to help me operate multiple weapon systems simultaneously—rocket launchers or micro-missile pods."
Ron introduced this new topic at the dinner table, immediately igniting passionate discussion among the tech enthusiasts. Once these scientists got into brainstorming mode, there was no stopping them.
They pulled out whiteboards mid-meal and began sketching new configurations. Ron, with his humanities PhD, could only quietly slip out after dinner to avoid disrupting their creative process.
There was plenty of time for entertainment, but what man wouldn't want to pilot a real mech suit?
Even though the mech was essentially a full-body exoskeleton, and with current battery technology could only sustain thirty minutes of field operation at best—a limitation that even Sheldon's brilliance couldn't overcome.
"If you want extended operational time, you'll need to develop portable fusion power, or forget about it!" Sheldon had declared.
The thought gave Ron a headache. You couldn't have someone in a mech suit dragging a power cable behind them like some kind of mechanical leash, could you?
While Ron tossed and turned, unable to sleep while thinking about the mech, Howard, who had taken the robotic arm home, was thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Oh man, this feels incredible!" Howard sighed contentedly as the robotic arm gave him a shoulder massage.
Inspired by the day's demonstrations, he'd discovered even more applications for the robotic arm, so much so that he ignored his mother's calls for dinner.
"This is amazing, just like having real human hands working on these knots!"
As soon as he said that, Howard suddenly perked up. He looked at the robotic arm still massaging his shoulders, and a mischievous grin crossed his face.
Wait! If a massage felt just like real human hands, then wouldn't that mean the robotic arm could perform many other tasks that human hands typically do?
And since it was mechanical, it could work tirelessly without getting tired...
He acted on impulse—that was one of the sources of Howard's exceptional engineering skills.
Howard checked his door, took a cautious look outside, and after confirming his mother was still downstairs watching her shows, he retreated to his room like a spy, quietly locking the door behind him.
After some rapid keyboard typing, a new program replaced the massage routine. Howard's smile grew increasingly devious. He turned on some music and relaxed in his chair, positioning himself near the robotic arm.
...
Knock, knock, knock—Ron, who was nearly asleep, was jolted awake by urgent knocking. "Who is it?"
Ron approached the door, instinctively reaching for his sidearm.
"It's Leonard and Raj. Ron, can you come with us? Something's happened to Howard."
Hearing Leonard's voice, Ron relaxed, holstered his weapon, and opened the door.
"Howard? What's wrong with him? Don't tell me there was a lab break-in or an explosion. If I find out who's responsible, I'll make them wish they were never born!" Ron frowned with concern.
"No, no, no," Leonard waved his hands frantically. "It's something else, related to that robotic arm from earlier."
"The robotic arm?" Ron asked curiously. "What could go wrong with a robotic arm? It's not actually like Sheldon predicted—the machines didn't achieve consciousness, did they? If so, you just need to disconnect the power source."
"Not exactly," Leonard's expression became oddly strained, as if he was trying not to laugh while simultaneously looking mortified. "His robotic arm got stuck in an... awkward position."
"The robotic arm is stuck? Where exactly?"
"Well..." Leonard gestured vaguely with his hands, his eyes darting around nervously, and finally pointed at Raj standing beside him, specifically at his midsection.
"That general area."
"That area?!" Ron's eyes widened in disbelief. "How did he manage to get a robotic arm stuck there? Please tell me he wasn't bored at home and decided to... interact inappropriately with the machinery!"
(End of chapter)
[+500 Power Stones = +2 Extra Chapter]
[+10 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Review!
P*atreon/Soulforger (100+ advanced chapters)
Buy me coffee - ko-fi*com/soulforger01