Chapter I Part VI

The workshop is, to the untrained eye, more like some sort of organised chaos, with myriads of storage draws for all the small components, racks and racks, as well as yet more draws, of tools of every type, size, and speciality. Of course there was the heavy tools, large mounted mechanics that allowed the manufacture of any part, her dad rarely bought any spare parts, other than the smallest ones which were just too much hassle to make himself, he said that he,

“... could produce any part, faster and to a better quality than any manufacturer known … “.

And he could too. To say that Janaka was skilled with both is hands, and his mind was an understatement. Ashmita was just as skilled too, but in a different kind of way. Where as Janaka seemed to be somehow naturally skilled, as though it were part of his genetic makeup to be a hover expert, Ashmita's skill was entirely learnt out of first necessity, and then later out of sheer interest and thirst for more knowledge.

Like her father, Anjali seemed to naturally know what she needed to do, without knowing how she knew, or really even thinking about it too hard. Perhaps it came from the experience of playing with engine parts since she was little, but she was never happier than when she was upto her knees in engine parts, and her elbows in grease and oil. Pretty soon she had her head inside the engine compartment of the Mono, making the mods to the engine to squeeze every last drop of power she could out of it. A couple of hours later, and the job was done, she knew it would be.

“All done Ashmita! If you're going to make any more mods, you're going to need a bigger power unit though.”

“Bigger? I thought it was big enough. Very well, I shall see if I can source one, otherwise I'll just have to build one.”

Anjali made her way up to the loft to see if she could catch what he was up to up there, but his cyborg implants heard her way before she got anywhere near him, all she saw was him shuffle some books and papers away in a draw just as she got to the top of the stairs, and then pull out some random electronics board. One day, she thought to herself, she'll get to see just what it he was really working on, it must be pretty cool though. Ashmita never did something unless it was worth while.

“Miti?”

Miti was Anjali's nickname for him if she was trying to get something out of him, although he liked it really, he wasn't the sort to show it, and thought that each person should have their place, and to his mind, he wasn't in a position to be given nick names. He had nothing but the highest regard for Janaka, and knew of his families secret, or at least part of it. He found that out many years ago now. Since then he had managed to seek out Janaka, and when he first met Anjali as a little girl, he knew then, finaly, what his life was to be.

“Please don't call me that Anjali, you know I dislike nick names. What is it that you want?”

“I was just wondering about stuff.”

“Hmmm? What kind of 'stuff' are you wondering about?”

“Just about Daddy, and the tales he tells. You know about them don't you?”

“I have heard him tell them on more than one occasion, yes.”

“No, I mean you really know about them, you know something more than what he tells.”

“Anjali, if you are trying to get me to tell you about my past, then please forget it, you know that I will not tell you anything other than what you already know.”

“But you were in the Navy, and a Navy Marine too, you must have seen things, seen The War, even seen The Enemy?”

“I have told you all that I am going to Anjali, now please give it up, I'm not in the mood for your probing tonight. If you like, maybe at the weekend, we can go out somewhere, and I can tell you something about my days in the Force, again. But not tonight, please, I have too much to think about right now. Not least of which is where to get a bigger power plant for the Mono from, I need to add more mods to it. Do you have any ideas?”

Distraction, the best form of self defence Ashmita found, especially with Anjali, get her talking about engines, and she'll forget what she had on her mind. Distraction was a technique he had to learn early with her, better than to tell her lies, or worse, truths.