Web of light. Part 1-7

So, we need to call Tanaka-kun and find out if they have managed to take up a position. "Hello? We made it! Group two, is object "K" ready? Are you well-fed? Is the ladder still there? Great. How is object "B"? Are you ready? Great. Everyone get ready and wait! The action begins!"

"Taizo, over!" The radio spoke in Utah's voice.

"I'm in touch!" It was cold on the roof, the wind was cold, and the four guys had to bring warm winter jackets. However, everyone except Taizo had already unbuttoned them -the last preparations for the launch of their helicopter were underway. Their helicopter! How it sounds! And two years ago, no one would have thought that they would-just imagine! — with your own hands! They will do it! Such things! However, Taizo himself took part in the construction of the "aerial platform", as his friend called the helicopter, indirectly: by that time he was carried away by free floating. The guy literally fell ill with gliders, pasted clippings from magazines over half of his room, which caused quite decent approval from his mother and sister: for this he had to remove the clippings of beauties ... eh. It's not that Taizo has stopped dreaming about perfection and the mysteries of the female body... but it is better to dream of something that can be achieved than of something that is unattainable... still unattainable. And all because girls are fools! And why, if he's polite, polite! — invites you to go for a walk together on the weekend — do you need to blush and run away from him like from the plague? And then run for two more weeks? And you won't ask anyone, will you? My sister is shallow and doesn't understand anything, although she turns up her nose like hell! He tried to ask the same Yuto how he manages to take the Rabid Rinko for walks... Unfortunately, he didn't ask it softly enough, and Kuzaki herself heard. Bang! A blow to the solar plexus seemed to knock all the air out of his lungs. And when he was able to straighten up a minute later, the red-faced girl showed him a bokken and, haltingly, warned him that the next attempt to find out this information from Yuto would be beaten with this. Taizo shivered, and it wasn't because it was cold.

"Taizo, specify the wind to the north-northeast, distance 3200."

"I've accepted it, and I'm taking measurements."

And binoculars with a laser rangefinder are awesome. Group 2, on command from the "center" located in the journalism group, launched another balloon filled with light gas, which they had bought in advance yesterday, and it cheerfully began to climb into the sky. Through the binoculars, it was clearly visible that the bright orange balloon had deflated a little during the night, but this did not prevent it from flying at all. Time — measured above the launch point. Count down the minute. Two froze. Map. The line from the school to measurement 1, from measurement 2, attach a ruler. Divide it by sixty.

Center, southerly wind, about half a meter per second, steady. Got you. The Roof group! The platform is ready to launch!

The guys fussed, checking the screws holding the camera on the turret under the crosshair of the beams of the device one last time, and started the screws. In order not to damage the camera, it had to be launched from a special stand, which had to be brewed independently from a corner in the school locksmith workshop. The camera, by the way, was "borrowed" from the short-haired what's-her-name... Hiroe. In fact, it wasn't even a camera, but a camera with a long-focus automated lens, which was controlled by a real computer board mounted on the platform. All of this together, plus the batteries for the engines, was mounted on the platform in just four weeks. It's good that the platform itself was ready in January, and even flight tests were conducted...

The helicopter unscrewed the screws with a nasty squeal and, at the command of one of the guys from the control panel, carefully lifted off the frame, smoothly rising above the roof.

"Center, I'm transferring control."

"This is the Center, accepted."

The platform, raking the air with circular screws, smoothly began to move away from the roof, but suddenly froze. The turret drive whined, and the camera aimed at the guys gathered in a bunch.

"Hey, The Roof. Well, the smiles in the photo quickly figured it out!" This is Hiroe. "Well done, I've had my cards!"

The camera turned as it moved and the platform picked up speed again. She had almost ten minutes to travel to her destination, and now she had to be guided by the telemetry of the video transmitter.

entry 76

Inertia of thinking is a real scourge of modern society. Technology can already do it, but people don't even think it can be used! The idea that a school group could do some of the work for me came to my mind a year ago, after which I tried to push through the "invention" of the rocket.

Alas, it did not work out, because of the fear of responsibility of someone who did not allow the production of solid fuel. Yes, yes, I'll remember it to the chemist for a long time! Until the end of elementary school, for sure. The idea of the platform came to my mind immediately after one part of the circle spoke out in favor of airplanes, and the second set out to build a "real helicopter." The aircraft group broke away from us — there is no point in making models with such a wealth of ready-made options, and the Aviation Model Piloting club, which is friendly to our club, occupied the next room. Actually, Taizo was formally included there, because of his performance at the floating paper glider competition, serious guys from the local polytechnic university drew the attention of the school and the club. No, Taizo didn't win, of course. But his model showed the average time, just think about it! There was no formal age restriction, but when a kid comes out of the Department of Air Traffic with students and bearded professors and shows results, it's impressive. And it's even more impressive that he did all the calculations himself. No fooling around, I just taught him how to use the Matkad software package. Well, Taizo found the formulas himself. However, for this competition, calculation and material are still secondary: ultralight gliders are more of an art, an opportunity to feel the material with your hands. And if you think that I have "sealed" the paper for Taizo, I have to disappoint you. So this is really his victory. And you should have seen his eyes after he was awarded his diploma, bowed for a long time (as you remember, the Japanese do this instead of shaking hands) and hinted that they would be happy to accept such a promising student when he graduated from high school. This short episode, in fact, completely changed the guy's behavior: instead of the complexed "perverted" Taizo from the manga, I now had a confident and calm guy in the same class. His grades even went up, simply because he no longer had to force himself to believe that studying was easier. Damn, he even began to communicate normally with girls, looking into their eyes and not making ambiguous verbal constructions and poses. It looks like a couple of classmates have a crush on him — otherwise why would they run away from him with such red faces at every opportunity? It was the example of Taizo that inspired me to join Hiroe's adventure, because everyone involved in this project, if it is successfully completed, will feel their strength.

And I'm not mocking you. Creative power is inherent in every person, but few people undertake to do something unless they have sorted out all the problems for them and compiled instructions to "do it this way." Unfortunately, in modern society, the idea of "cool specialists" is cultivated, and the rest, they say, "will not be able to do anything, they will only lock up." Well, for example, if it concerns setting up a bank or investing somewhere in China with a 40% kickback, I agree. But for some reason, it is these "specialists" who are always in more than sufficient numbers... but I digress. As a graduate student and laboratory assistant, I had a truly vast experience in collecting everything from "shit and sticks", from operating appliances to a banal mop — and there was really nowhere else to get them with our budget — one of all, both students and teachers, understood that nothing was impossible in creating even there is no device that looks very complicated at first glance.

Here is a helicopter that is currently being piloted by one of the senior "circle members", 12-year-old Hiro-kun. In front of him is a real remote control, two joysticks, a speed control, the display below shows the instrument readings and the location on the city map. How? It's simple: a regular computer (though the filling is from a broken laptop, thanks to Hiroe's dad) with a regular Windows XP, only without a case, and a regular data phone. Yes, and here the japs already have a 4G network, and the traffic is already unlimited, and the speed is 1.5 megabits. Drivers for electric motor controllers are provided by the manufacturer. The drivers for the phone are provided by the phone manufacturer. Remote access? It's not a problem, plus we fixed a directional Wi-fi antenna dish on the roof, because the Plan called for a backup channel. And everything. The rest is just a structural assembly, completed in the school's workshop during the day. We fucked only with the blades, which sometimes deformed, then changed shape from temperature changes, then something else... until I quietly processed them with my ability. But even without this, the blades could be made, I was just too lazy to wait. Well, we just bought a game console for the simulator. And everything. And now the guys were watching the work of their hands, which they had done, actually casually, as part of a club hobby. And I could tell by the gradually changing expressions on their faces that right now their brains were making a revolution from the fact that space flights are difficult, dangerous, and what the hell, to "into space? Give me three smart engineers, ten workers, and materials, and we'll see in two weeks." Google works on your computer — then you don't need anything else! I'm exaggerating, of course... But only a little, just a little! Gods don't burn pots.

Interlude 5. Part 2

Hiroshi-san, the principal of Junior High school No. 103, was a trim fifty-year-old man who never drove to school. What for? He could walk a block and a half perfectly well: it was a little difficult to sit in the office all day without this walk. However, he always went out in advance, and it's useful to show up at work half an hour earlier, to take a look, so to speak, with a master's eye. In an emergency situation, you can try to fix the problem in time.

Therefore, when he saw a couple of students near his gate: a girl with funny ponytails, Aneko, and a guy with a small camera, like Todo, he did not get angry: they could easily get to class in ten minutes by bus. But what are they for?..

"Mr. Director-san!" Aneko didn't let him ask a question. "We, the school journalism club, decided to make a series of documentary stories about our teachers!" And we decided to start with you, Director-san! You're live right now, the broadcast is going through the school's IP server! Our students are watching you with me right now.

Hiroshi had no choice but to nod approvingly. Well, that's another thing. At least it's not a Physics club, which hasn't caused any particular problems in the last six months. But he remembered the mess with the laser shooting range for a long time last year, and he had to literally gnaw out the permission for the students to practice from the school board so that the kids would not run away to play in doorways and roadways, blinding pedestrians and, most dangerous of all, drivers with rather bright lasers. The kids didn't understand the hints at all, but he actually found out about the implementation of the idea when it was ready, and he simply didn't have time to force the physics teacher to direct the energy of his students in another direction. And the "rocket attack" on Seemi-sensei's office, when this hysterical woman almost filed a complaint with the inspection committee? They wouldn't have found anything, of course, but what a shame! And you can't squeeze an old toad into retirement. Meanwhile, Aneko very well said a lot of flattering words about the director in front of the camera and concluded her speech like this:

"..Our director is a very kind and strong person!" He will never pass by an injustice, always personally intervenes and corrects himself.

At the same time, the sly girl approached the director, gently grabbing the sleeve of his jacket, and therefore Hiroshi had to not limit himself to a few interjections, but push a minute-long speech on the topic that personal intervention is always more important than just "sympathy" or "verbal help." After finishing his speech with the words that "this is what real people do," the principal was graciously released, and without looking at him, he agreed that they would tell him in detail about his way to work according to the school schedule. Let them tell you, the way is the way. I wonder what they're bothering the other teachers with? After all, restless journalists probably feel wildly grown-up. The director was smiling, mentally grinning at the kids' games, not yet knowing that he was already playing their game.

"Did you turn off the camera?" Aneko asked, and after receiving a nod from the operator, she took out her phone, wiping her hand with a wet cloth at the same time. "Object "D" has moved into position, time has passed!" Raking the air with the blades, the platform, compensating for the lateral drift from the wind by the operation of the motors, caught the walking director in the camera sight. At thirty times magnification, his entire figure was placed in the frame, the platform was from above, to the side and from the east, so there was little chance for Hiroshi-san to notice the device hovering at a height of thirty meters. He hadn't noticed. The stabilization system worked acceptably — the frame shook slightly, but not so much that the Adobe premier for student could not cope. But that's later, and now we just need "naturalness". However, the whole trick of Hiroe's idea was live: otherwise, the performers of the report could have been ... well, not punished, but the relationship would have deteriorated specifically. As it is, everything is "fair." And the viewing audience was decent: not without the help of the same Yuto, the school's TV server was brought to the IP broadcast server so that school students could watch the work of the journalism club directly from their phones. Considering that the broadcast was launched only two weeks ago, the audience's interest still hasn't faded — it wasn't that often that journalists played their shows. And here it's a live broadcast. She had sent out text messages in the evening, and now a separate monitor showed a fairly significant number of viewers: 208. Midori smiled happily at the camera, standing against the background of a white screen on which a projector projected an image from the camera of a helicopter platform, and spoke the text. Their studio room, which used to be quite empty, now strongly resembled a professional studio: the floor was black with cables, an additional shooting lamp was shining in her face — and who would have known how much effort it took for the photographer's mother to allow her to use it for a week! There were so many computers and desks with monitors that it looked like she was in a Computer club room rather than a journalism room, and that was partly true. "Well, anyway, they're shooting their own shooting games and playing warcraft there -they'll get over it.