Chapter 85: The Drone
Thanks to Leonard making two phone calls en route, Howard and Rajesh narrowly avoided disaster. Arriving about ten minutes after Ron, they all met up at Caltech.
With Paige providing the flight control software and the three scientists putting their skills into action, Ron's drone finally took to the skies. It was about the size of one he had used in his previous life and could carry up to three kilograms of payload.
According to Howard, this was the size limit—if they wanted to increase the carrying capacity, they'd have to enlarge the drone, which would also require heavier batteries.
"Alright, let's keep it like this for now," Ron said with a hint of disappointment. "I want to know how far it can fly."
"Because it uses lithium batteries, it can fly a bit farther—about two to three kilometers—but the remote control range is only about one kilometer. For a toy, that's more than enough," Howard replied.
As the chief engineer, Howard quickly grabbed control of the new toy and was the first to conduct a test flight, much to the envy of the other two geeks. He had a blast.
"Who said I was just treating this as a toy?" Ron's eyes gleamed mischievously. "Don't you think it would be fun to deliver three kilograms of TNT right under someone's nose… without them knowing… and then blow it up?"
The three nerds were horrified and forgot to control the drone. It dropped suddenly from the sky, but fortunately, Howard's sturdy craftsmanship kept it unharmed.
"Ron, didn't you say at the start that this was supposed to be a toy?" Howard stammered.
Ron smiled and countered, "What? You think it's not qualified as a toy?"
"It is, of course... but…"
Ron cut him off. "You guys are scientists. You know that every scientific advancement was first applied in the military, right? Don't you feel guilty knowing your work might be used to kill people?"
All three nodded in unison. Ron chuckled inwardly—these guys, as smart as they are, were adorably innocent.
"Well, let me comfort you~" Ron smirked. He vaguely recalled that in the original timeline, the few who made the navigation device also wondered if it would be militarized. The military guy had said this:
"You're just making a drone here, not a Death Star or Transformers-level superweapon. What I do with it is none of your business."
Ron even added a hint of menace to that last sentence. The three scientists shrank their necks in fright.
"As for patent shares, I take 60%, and you two get 20% each. And Leonard…" Ron dragged the name out teasingly.
Hearing his name, Leonard straightened up proudly, but Ron's next words dashed his hopes.
"Leonard's basically working for free. So no shares for you, and no salary either~" Ron smirked wickedly. When he saw Leonard hang his head like a defeated little rooster, he continued.
"But I can help you with Penny. Other than swapping rooms with you, everything else is negotiable. Sorry, Sheldon is my brother, but as you all know, very few people can tolerate him for more than a week.
"From this perspective, I kind of admire your patience. If it were me, I'd have turned Sheldon into dog food within a week."
Howard and Rajesh nodded in unison, while good guy Leonard hesitated, "Isn't that a bit cruel?"
"Then slice him neatly?" Ron tilted his head and asked.
Leonard thought: This guy really is a true big brother.
Ron clapped his hands. "Alright, let's change the subject. Since you guys have nowhere else to go because of Sheldon, how about helping me build two more of these toys? There's a big job coming up soon."
"No problem! They'll be exactly the same," Howard immediately assured, patting his chest.
"Let me think," Ron considered for a moment. "I want a few smaller ones than this—drones that can carry about one kilogram of TNT and fly fast. And then make me another one with greater load capacity. I want to try putting a submachine gun on it to make it a flying firepoint. What do you think?"
Howard was stunned but reluctantly nodded. Well, they were already deep in this, no turning back. However, Ron's next words gave him some relief.
"I'll have a guy drop off $10,000 just for procurement. If it's not enough, ask me for more. Also, he'll bring over whatever weapons you might need. Good luck—I'm counting on you!"
With that, Ron waved goodbye and left.
Leonard sighed while assembling parts. "So, on this rare weekend, we're just going to be workers on an arms production line?"
"Where else?" Rajesh replied. "Want to go back and take care of Sheldon?"
"Absolutely not!" Leonard shook his head firmly.
"Focus on the task, brothers," Howard tiptoed to the door, waited until Ron was completely gone, then turned back with a triumphant smile.
"Guys, guess who's about to pocket nearly two thousand dollars from cost savings? Tonight, we hit the bar and party hard. Sound good?"
"YES!" Howard's cheer triggered a round of enthusiastic applause.
After leaving, Ron didn't go home or to the company. Instead, he got into his car and opened his laptop. The tracker he placed yesterday was active, showing a blinking red dot on the map of Los Angeles.
The location was downtown near an office building close to Max's diner.
Ron muttered to himself, "What the heck are those two up to now?"
"Maybe it's a new mission?" Paige suggested through his earpiece.
"A new mission? You mean their target is in that building?" Ron vaguely recalled that before his final fallout with the assassin company, Arthur had indeed taken his inexperienced recruits on another mission.
But it had been so long, he barely recalled the details and had to rely on Paige.
"Paige, can you check what companies are based in that building? Anything suspicious? Even better, if you can spot those two bastards on the surveillance feeds."
"No need to check—I can tell you now. Their target is definitely 'Charm,' the head of a Scientology cult's Los Angeles branch."