Machinations [Eden]

No, no, no. That wasn't going to work.

Liam sighed, looking tiredly up from the computer screen in front of him. He'd initially gone onto the forums intending to find input for a project he was working on, but so far had received less-than-ideal results. Choosing to ignore those who obviously didn't possess the level of education he required (it was obvious when people tried to use large words they didn't quite know the meaning of), it left him with only a smattering of posts that were remotely helpful. It had started with a fairly innocent conversation with his grandfather, who had been marveling at the advances in hovercraft technology since he had been a student at the university; somehow it had snowballed into a discussion about how today's hovercraft still weren't perfect. They were wildly fuel-inefficient, they were noisy if they weren't stationary, and despite being capable of vertical takeoffs and landings were highly vulnerable while doing so.

He'd opted to focus on the propulsion, but had quickly discovered that he knew next to nothing about engineering. Which, to Liam, he'd initially regarded it to be a setback and got down to reading everything he could about hovercraft engineering; engines, weapons, cloaking, aerodynamics, whatever he could get his hands on.

Days later, he still didn't know anything about engineering.

So he had ventured out online, looking for some input; sure, there were professors he could have asked to help him with this undertaking, but many of them were already preoccupied with their own theses and research papers. Without their specific knowledge, though, there was no way he could plug the necessary math into a simulator to test his ideas. In any case, it had been a discouraging few minutes hours waiting for responses. Eventually, he'd given up on the idea of learning everything he'd need to know just by reading; he'd need a partner in this ambitious endeavor.

Liam was tentatively hopeful that, if this was successful, he could stand to make some money off of this and lighten the burden of the cost of an education. Either way, this was greatly preferable to the nightmare of socialization his parents had tried to use as a bargaining chip to cover the cost of college; he was a grown man, for god's sakes, not some blushing debutante looking to be married off.

He sighed, hitting the Refresh button for the dozenth time in the past couple of minutes; this was going to take a while.