[PRP]Safety harness not included (Dash/Empy)

[Auric Halcyon]

It is a truth, universally acknowledged that a child in possession of time and brains will be in want of a hoverboard.

Sunlight dappled across the small lake, creating crystals of glimmering light that floated with the dull shift of water. Despite the particularly mild weather, Empyrean shielded his eyes for a moment to adjust. He was so used to the steady and rigid fluorescent light of his lab that natural light and nature smells temporarily left the child particularly vulnerable.

Mother refused to let him run his tests indoors. Her calculations were that Empyrean's chance of flying straight into the ceiling and shattering his spine had an almost thirty percent. Far too high for the AI's taste, and thus, while the lab computer compiled the full safety protocols and programming adjustments, an arduous activity that would take hours, Empyrean sneaked out, carrying the completed prototype outside.

Mother, probably, had decided that stopping him would not teach him anywhere near as much of a good lesson as letting Empyrean's foolery go ahead. Sometimes a child had to fall to learn not to jump on an unperfected hoverboard prototype in the first place. At least, the AI could rest safely in the notion, that Empyrean didn't have the extra propulsion jets. Those, while perhaps serving a purpose for a mecha, did not need to be on a toy.

Empyrean, despite the AI's very founded worries, had decided that he would prove to Mother his invention both worked, and was perfectly safe. And he knew just the method! He needed someone else to test it, an objective opinion. After all, a hoverboard had great potential on this world, it would save them from dangerous beasts, help expand the searchable and coverable terrain, and it would prove an effective combat addition for those who liked that sort of thing.
Aside from that, Empyrean had been impressed upon by the adults wasting away or losing limbs and therefore mobility had dire consequences in war time. Such a device, controlled with small muscle spasms in the toes, required very little effort to use.
The hoverboard itself was a sleek chrome board about eighteen inches long and eight inches wide. Two groves served to anchor the user to the board and magnetically attached to the bottom of their skinsuits. When activated, the board would move with the tiniest motions of the toes. It had a built in safety speed, while inside the Dome, and a mild hum from the engine.

Empyrean didn't see anyone at the lake yet, so he practised on the hoverboard a little, trying to get a feel for the balance, without taking off. Anyone approaching the lake, therefore, would see a young Genome, standing on a flat board near the shore, both arms out, as though trying to learn how to surf on dry land.  

[Melomar]

Such glorious weather needed to be enjoyed! No better genome to spend time in it than a child! Dash had a schedule to be maintained, no matter how difficult it was to adhere to, given all the distractions that could meet him between the cafeteria and the lake. Already this morning he had been nearly late for his spear training because of the proximity to the library. For now, the afternoon was barely begun, the right time to be heading down to the lake for a swimming practice. So Dash happened upon a curious sight and simply had to stop and discover its purpose.

The subject was a young genome standing precariously upon a strip of metal. It was flat on the ground, however, so the child's attempts to keep his balance seemed rather exaggerated, especially with his arms flung out as they were. He came up to Empyrean in his usual circuit to the lake, so he felt like this scene was meant to be discovered.

"Hi," he said. Since he had not met Empyrean face-to-face before, he added, "I'm Padparadscha, or Dash." He paused, then pointed to the hoverboard. "What is this? And why are you doing that?"  

[Auric Halcyon]

Luckily, Empy wasn't as totally absorbed in his practice as he might get in other activities and he noticed someone else approaching from the corner of his eye. When Dash came close enough to speak, Empyrean lifted his head, silky strands of black hair falling away from his bright eyes that narrowed with the guile of a used-car-salesman.

"Hi." Empy pressed the ball of his foot on the hoverboard and a clink sounded, disconnecting him from the magnetic hold. He stepped off the board and offered Dash a hand in greeting, "I'm Empyrean, and I made a hoverboard. It flies and hovers and can grant amazing mobility and incredible grace. Isn't it cool? See the sleek design, this is the best gravidic technology ever compressed into personal sized devices." He paused for air, pointing at the slim metal plate, "I wanted to add some thrusters but Mother and I are still negociating on that. Right now I'm here to do some testing. Well, I wanted to find someone to help me test it because an objective third party is definitely important in product review. You look like you've never tried a hoverboard before- I only say that because I know that no one's ever successfully built as refined and beautiful hoverboard as this- do you want to try it?"

Empy paused for air once more and smiled a smile of a child who did not include words like safety in his vocabulary.  

[Melomar]

Dash took the hand as it was offered to him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Empyrean." Dash was not completely gullible, but his nature did pose a problem for him when interacting with the other genome. He was accustomed to plain speech; the likes of Argent and Kanja were very straightforward. To say that he was equipped to handle someone like Empyrean would be wrong. However, along with the other genome's persuasiveness, a hoverboard sounded really cool! Imagine using it in the training rooms, enhancing his moves. Argent would want to see it too, probably.

It was a prototype, however. Unfinished. He did not expect it to be dangerous, even with several scenarios with bad endings playing through his mind. "Well... we will not know if I am up for the task of testing it until I try it. If you don't mind." He was far more agile than even a month ago, not as prone to silly accidents. But he still felt the caution of one who is used to falling on his face. Perhaps he was perfect for this task after all.  

[Auric Halcyon]

Empyrean stepped off the board and gave Dash room to step on it.

"Well first of all, I made the grooves magnetize with our biosuits to aid in keeping you firmly on the board, this also means- I hope- that if you fly upside down, you won't fall off." Empyrean pointed at the foot-shaped grooves on the silver surface as he explained.

"The motions are controlled with your toes, so you grip harder to go faster." Obviously, Empyrean had not thought of the problem wherein a humanoid body in motion naturally would grip harder to a flat surface with their toes. The one component that Empyrean rarely accounted for was other Genomes.

"And relax all five toes to come to a stop. It also has a safety off switch so it isn't turned on randomly." A switch that had been built in after one of the earlier designs flew off the table and made a dent in the wall of the lab.

"I didn't want to test it inside, because it's cramped and you can't really get a feel for the device like that." He said, ignoring that Mother had forbidden it.

"So, I suggest wiggling your toes a bit, using your big toe to steer and if you put pressure on the balls of your feet the board will tilt forward, pressure on the heels and it will tilt backward. I think it can totally flip, haven't tried it yet." With that, he flicked the safety switch off.  

[Melomar]

He listened carefully. Okay, so... Empyrean wanted to test flight upside-down. In addition, Padparadscha wanted to test different speeds and directional maneuvers. Those toe controls sounded complicated, and, he was not sure if he would remember steering with the balls of his feet. But he would try!

So he got on the board, let it magnetize with his suit. Very useful and needed, he thought. He tried not to grip with his toes, instead using the big toe and the balls of his feet to steer and tilt without moving forward or back. At least that was his intention.


( I'm not sure if you want me to control how the board acts or if you want to... so I left that possibility open for you. )