SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 52 - Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces

Author's note:

Hey, everyone!

I just wanted to thank all the kind souls who took some time to leave the first reviews of Snap Craft on Amazon. It's a little thing but can make or break my income. I really appreciate your honest opinions. Thank you!

I wish you a good weekend,

Cássio F.

*******

“Tea?” asked Seth as he threw some herbs onto a pot of water.

“No, I’m good. Thank you.”

The old man went through his trinkets and wares and grabbed a sharp stick, which he proceeded to pierce a dead rabbit with in order to roast it over the fire.

“It’s been what? One year since your last visit?”

“Six, actually,” answered Kai, a little offended. One would hope that his visit here meant more to the man, but he didn’t seem to care. As far as he knew, not even Trudy came out here anymore. “Did you hunt that?”

“Of course. It didn’t come running to me, asking to be eaten. Not everyone is as stupid as you lot.”

Kai skipped over the insult and watched as Seth got the rabbit over the fire, careful not to let any of the meat juices drip over the pot with tea.

“Why don’t you just get rations?” Kai asked.

“No, thank you very much. As if I would eat anything that digital demon cooks up.”

Kai sighed. He was reminded at every sentence coming out of Seth’s mouth why he lived away from the rest of the community.

“And what brings you here to my neck of the woods?”

“Just checking in on you.”

The old man eyed him suspiciously through his bushy brows and unkempt beard. “Not buying it.”

Kai sighed. For a paranoid old man, that would have probably been his reaction to anything he said. “Fine. You got me. I’m here to convince you to join the rest of us in the city.”

“Did old Trudy send you?” he asked unconvinced.

Kai took a moment to appreciate how Seth was ‘Old Seth’ to him, but to Seth, Trudy was ‘Old Trudy.’ It was an amusing thought. Just how old was Trudy, anyway? Seth cleared his throat, waking Kai from his musings. “No. It’s all my idea.”

The man seemed to accept this explanation better. “You’re wasting time, young man. I want nothing to do with you, you Daisiacs,” the last word had been spat with so much bitterness that Kai couldn’t help but feel another wave of resentment at the comment. He tried not to get defensive, though.

“Come on, Seth. There are only four of us left,” he explained. At this, the old man’s face softened somewhat. “You and I are the only men left. Just the two of us.”

“Is that so?”

“Sunny, Clara, Marcus, and Perry. They all died from the blight this year.”

The man stared at the fire for a few silent moments. “That’s too bad. That’s just too bad.”

“So? Will you come back with me? With so few left, we must stick together.”

“What will you have me do? Join you in your little fires? Practice choreography to dance in the palm of the AI devil?”

“Sure. You can leave the dancing part out, though. I don’t think anyone wants to see you dancing.”

The man laughed but quickly regained his cynical facial expression. “Not a chance.”

Kai had expected this level of resistance, so he tried the approach he had thought of on his way here. “Tell you what. We’re all going to be together, want it or not. Either we all move out here, or you come with us.”

“Nonsense!” the man said in disbelief. “As if any of you would ever come to Rebeltown?!”

“Think about it, Seth! Even someone as used to solitude as you would enjoy the company. Am I right?”

The man looked at Kai with wide eyes as if the notion of being with people had been completely discarded from his thoughts and was now being resurrected by Kai. “Listen, Kai. I’m a bitter old man, but I’m no monster. Of course, I would appreciate the company,” the last sentence was spoken with some effort, making Kai doubt if it was true. “But more than everything, it would make me happy to see you cut your shackles and become free humans again.”

“Splendid. Then come and teach us how to become free.”

The man raised his brow. “Teach you?”

*

In the end, Kai decided not to take a photograph of the pink, decorated unicorn of the merry-go-round until he first finished exploring the fair.

After the merry-go-round, followed one of the most emblematic rides that Kai had seen in the fair so far – in fact, it was one of the very first things he spotted once he landed on this stage – it was a giant wheel, almost as tall as the elevator tower. Colorful cabins spun from an axis, letting gravity keep them pointing downward. From here, Kai didn't need the zoom to see that there were passengers aboard each of the cabins.

An operator pushed a lever that made the wheel turn for a few moments. It then stopped, allowing several people to leave the cabin through one side and come aboard through the other. The person who operated the machine had perhaps the most bored look that Kai had ever seen. He was quite sure that if he were to take a picture of the worker, he would get the card to [Boredom], but he couldn't see how valuable such a card would be. He couldn’t blame the young man. Having to push a lever for a whole day non-stop was probably mind-numbing.

'What is this called?' Kai asked Maia.

'It's a Ferris wheel. The first Ferris wheel was designed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., hence the name. But there are many older examples of the concept dating back centuries.”

Kai smirked, noting how she was back to her usual chatty self. There had to be something more to the merry-go-round. “Do people go into the cabins for the view? Is that the fun part of this ride?” he guessed.

'Well done, Kai. You seem to be getting better at gauging the selling point of each ride.”

“I wonder if we can go into one of the cabins.” According to the drawing on the map, this was placed within the boundary of the arena, and he should be able to access it. “Shall we try to go aboard and see what the view is like?” asked Kai, looking at the watch. He still had 50 minutes left on the clock, more than enough time to go through a turn of the wheel. Kai hoped to get a good peripheral view of the whole arena and see if he had missed something.

“Of course, I'm a company android, and I'll go along.”

Kai walked through the hologrammed crowd and only put on the gloves once he was near the cabin; he didn’t want to phase through the floor of the cabin. There were three platforms with small staircases on both sides of the Ferris wheel that allowed people to climb in and out of the ride comfortably.

The wheel stopped, and several people came out. Cabins were big enough to accommodate four people, two facing each other, and they boarded a cabin with only one old lady, leaving them with plenty of room to sit.

Thinking of the logistics of boarding a cabin, Kai realized that he hadn't given thought to how dimensional gloves would interact with the people. Could he move people? Could he pick them up? Could he make them do gestures?

He stretched out his hands, glowing green because of the [Dimensional Gloves], and touched the arm of the old lady. He tried to move it, but the arm was heavy, and despite his effort, it hardly budged. He spared a glance at Maia, who had a whimsical look.

“Are you mocking me?” he asked her.

“No, I'm just enjoying seeing how your mind works. I was beginning to think that you weren't going to try and interact with the projections of humans.”

“I’m glad you’re having fun,” he said sourly. It looked like picking up objects was one thing, but he couldn’t make the extras in the arena do things they didn’t want to do. He wondered at the reason for the disparity. This seemed to suggest that there was a separate upgrade to make the holograms of people do things. He guessed that made it a little fairer. If he could control the interactions between people, he could easily photograph any abstract concept he wanted.

The wheel started, and they began their slow ascent aboard the Ferris wheel. The view was better than what Kai had imagined. From here, you could see the whole fair. It was as if he was looking at some kind of alternative sky where the stars had colors, and they were beneath him instead of above. He could see many of the rides that he visited previously. The one that stood out the most was the elevator tower, the only structure that could rival the Ferris wheel in height.

The wheel kept going up and up and then paused while it was near its zenith. Kai looked down and saw a new batch of passengers coming into the wheel.

“It's a nice view,” admitted Kai.

“That it is,” said Maia. “Do you see anything that you missed?”

Kai was disappointed at the question. Maia speaking to him so proactively about it, made him believe there was nothing valuable to be gained from being up here. She never asked this question when he was close to gaining a valuable card. Even so, a wide photograph of the whole fair had to be worth something. He had the [Wide Lens] upgrade precisely for this type of photograph.

He zoomed out and tried to get as much of the fair as possible.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 6 of 22.

Funfair (Legendary)

1 of 1

A fun event often hosted by itinerant merchants and entertainers.

Hp: 0

Vp: 10

He stood corrected. It looked like, despite Maia’s question, there was still a legendary card to be taken here.

“I think we’re done here. Let’s explore the rest of the map and then make some decisions,” he declared.

Kai took off one of the dimensional gloves and let his body fall through the structure and onto the ground. He would have to regain a fear of falling after leaving the exams. He was becoming dangerously accustomed to not paying the price for defying gravity.

There was only one last ride that Kai hadn’t seen yet. It was a three-dimensional, twisted lattice metal structure with a fast train of multiple carriages that went through tight curves and sinuous twists, surely with the purpose of making passengers produce adrenaline.

Kai admired as the train performed a corkscrew movement, turning all screaming passengers upside down for a brief second. Then, the train did two loops in a row that made them upside down again.

Kai couldn't help but remember one of the bonfire lessons that Sunny had taught once. 'I guess that's a good display of centrifugal force,” he said as he grabbed his camera.

“I think you mean centripetal.”

“Aren’t they the same?”

Maia twisted her mouth in an expression he hadn’t seen in her yet. Contempt. Was what he said that stupid?

“Centrifugal force is the outward force acting away from the center of rotation, while centripetal force is the actual force directed toward the center of rotation that keeps an object moving in a curved path.” Maia’s explanation went right over Kai’s head.

One thing was certain. There seemed to be a layer that he had ignored in this arena, and only now he was noticing. Physics. These rides were good examples of mechanical physics and a good opportunity to capture these abstract concepts. But did he want to start taking such photographs now? What did he have in his inventory that would synergize well with a [Centrifugal Force] or [Centripetal Force] card?

Shaking his head, he decided against wasting shots here. “Let’s go,” said Kai. There were thirty minutes left and several decisions to make. What would he fill the remaining slots with? What did he need to make his crafting round as good as it could be?

Your opponent has used a stun bomb. You can’t move for 30 seconds.

Not this again! He complained to himself as his whole body went stiff. Maia walked over to him and looked at him squarely. Was she mocking him for being unable to move?

“Oh well. It looks like you’re going to be stuck there for a while. But do not worry, Kai. I’m a company droid, and I’ll keep you company. It’s what I do. You seemed to be a little confused about the differences between centrifugal and centripetal forces. This might be a teachable moment,” she declared.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Is she using the fact that I’m paralyzed to lecture me on physics? Seriously? Thankfully, just as she was about to begin, the bomb effect wore off.

“I don’t…”

Your opponent has used a stun bomb. You can’t move for 30 seconds.

“...understand these basic principles of physics. Sure. I already know that. But don’t worry. We’re going to remedy the situation.

“While centripetal forces are responsible for keeping an object in circular motion, centrifugal force is often referred to as a pseudo-force experienced by an object in a rotating frame of reference. In the case of a roller coaster loop, the perceived "centrifugal force" is more accurately described as inertia, as the coaster tends to continue in a straight line without a force acting on it. The dominant force at play in the loop is still the centripetal force that keeps the coaster moving in a curved path.”

Kai counted the seconds for the stun bomb to wear off. Just as he became able to regain his movement he was hit with another one.

Your opponent has used a stun bomb. You can’t move for 30 seconds.

Just how many bomb upgrades did his opponent have?

Ch. 51 - Hall of Mirrors

INDEX

Ch. 53 - Jolly Entertainers