Long days and long nights piled on top of each other, but we didn’t mind. Our apartment became nothing more than a place where the two of us grabbed showers, slept, and prepared meals that we would keep in Tupperware containers for later. I had never worked harder on coding, going over lines until my eyes burned and my fingers ached.
Robin worked just as hard, alternating between designing and helping me with the computer side. I was constantly amazed at her ingenuity, and I know that her ideas constantly broke new ground. Our first prototype of a lower body model was ready after six months, and we arranged for a demonstration for Dad and a bunch of his executives.
The morning of the demonstration, I was sweating bullets from nervousness. Strapping on the Mark IA Lower Limb Enhancement System, my hands shook. Robin, on the other hand, looked like a million bucks in her business suit that was specially tailored and adjusted, her raven hair pulled back into a no-nonsense French twist bun, and with a nice little touch, nonprescription gold-framed glasses that really drew attention to her eyes.
The night before, we spent three hours cleaning the shop, until even the grimy old laundromat countertop shone, and we decorated it until Collins Robotics looked more like a real lab and not a start-up.
Rebekah, as one of the primary shareholders of the company, was in attendance, looking just as beautiful as her daughter in her own way, dressed in a white suit and blue top that really took about ten years off of her appearance.
“Hey Wes, how’re you doing?” she said, as I failed for the third time to fasten the strap that was supposed to run just under my knee. “You need any help?”
“No, but thanks,” I said, chuckling darkly. “It’s going to be weird, demonstrating for Dad not as Dad, but as Gerald Brandt, CEO of Brandt Medical Technologies. You ever do something like this?”
“Not really, but I’ve done plenty of presentations,” Rebekah replied, kneeling down and helping me with my next strap. “And yes, I’ve lost my lunch more than once beforehand. Once the whole thing starts rolling, though, the butterflies go away, and I just roll with it. I’m sure you’ve felt the same thing in other ways.”
“Yeah, but then there was a reason. I had a good chance of being shot at,” I said in total seriousness. “All I’m doing here is showing off an uncompleted exoskeleton.”
“Which you and Robin have been working night and day on for six months,” Rebekah reminded me, “to the point of not even planning your wedding. Which, by the way, regardless of how today goes, you two will spend some time planning after this, or else I’m going to do it myself.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I stage whispered in reply, getting a smile. I was able to get the rest of the straps done, and I stood up from the bench I was sitting on, walking carefully over to the rest of the partial exoskeleton I was using that day. Without power, the external limbs were stiff and heavy, and I had to use all of my strength to get the ten feet. Turning around, I lined up the waist guides, locked in my power pack and back frame, and ran my pre-start checks. Once everything flashed green on my feed, I shut down, waiting for the demonstration to start.
Dad and his executives showed up at five minutes to noon, just like we expected, wearing his normal business suit. He gave Rebekah a kiss on the cheek and shook hands with Robin, all professional like, before taking a seat along with his colleagues. Robin waited until everyone was seated, then she started on her prepared speech for all the attendees and set up the demonstration of the suit I was about to give.
The first test was actually the toughest on the system, a barbell squat. We had borrowed one of those strongman style frames from a powerlifting gym in town, and loaded it with over a thousand pounds of plates. In total, it came out to over fifteen hundred pounds including the frame, which I supported by the spinal column of the skeleton. Since the exoskeleton was a bit taller than I am, getting under it was a bit of a challenge, but once I did, the squats were easy, no harder than getting up and down out of a chair.
I did twenty before letting the frame down feather-light, much to the amazement of the audience. “While adjusting for the power and speed of the skeleton takes some practice, notice that Wes didn’t have to do anything unnatural with his movements. He just squatted up and down like you might do in the gym every day. By the way, yes, Wes is a big man, but his lift was over three hundred pounds heavier than the current world record, and any one of you could’ve lifted it,” Robin expounded, and I could see we had them.
For the rest of the hour, I demonstrated different capabilities of the Mark IA. Taking the guests outside into the industrial park behind the lab, I jumped, ran, dragged a truck across the parking lot, and more, all while barely breaking a sweat. When I was finished, I nimbly maneuvered the unit back inside the lab, ducking my head to avoid the door, and latched into the recharging stand, powering down. I could tell by the look in my Dad’s eye that we had made it.