Chapter twenty-one

Dion strode over to the Magnatron controls, eager to get things underway. I was not opposed to learning how to work the device, so I allowed my own plans to be waylaid. Things were just too heated in that instant: were I to strike out against the robot now, surely Dion would find a way to stop me. Therefore I was happy to leave it at that, in that instance, with my heart still set on killing Dex.

The big black dude stood before eight long levers coming out of the big mast. Again the giant crane known as the Magnatron lurked high up above us. He didn’t touch any of the levers though: up above the controls, he opened a lock-box or a safe of some kind, and revealed a gauntlet. I was instantly reminded of the crazy video game controllers from my youth; this was no ordinary glove, though.

“This is called Sindbad’s gauntlet,” Dion reported, as he put on the powerglove. “I could spend an hour or two showing you how all of these levers work in tandem to manipulate the head of the crane, but it’s much easier to use the gauntlet. Clench your fist, like this.” Immediately that raucous sound of electricity filled the air once again. Dion was holding his arm in the air, like his arm was the crane and, like an unearthly shadow puppet, the Magnatron performed his bidding. “Then all you have to do is reach out over the water, get as close as you can to the target, and then when you open your fist, the chain will release. Watch this.”

Dion thrust his arm out over the starboard side of the ship, as though he were casting a fishing rod. The crane jumped into action arcing out almost as far as the eye could see. Then I watched: as he released his grip, the chrome-head of the crane dropped down to water level.

Dion continued: “Now you can activate the magnet by touching your thumb and your forefinger, or you can touch your middle finger in order to use the claw. Let’s use the claw.” The head of the Magnatron opened up its talon-like appendage to capture a piece of refuse. “Finally, clench your fist a final time, and the Magnatron will take whatever you grabbed back to the deck of the ship, like this.”

The man clenched his fist and instantly the head of the crane returned to the deck, like a loyal dog. Dion released the gauntlet and the contents of the crane dropped onto the deck with a crash. It was a busted up old motorcycle. “Now I could’ve used the magnetic option, and it wouldn’t have crushed what it retrieved. I guess this is the right time to make a point: Do not use the claw to grab hold of me. It’ll cut through the suit of armor like a can-opener.”

I was surprised he trusted me that much in that moment. I mean, I had just finished up telling him that I was going to kill Dex somehow; perhaps I made him believe that he had talked me out of it, at the very least. Here he was giving me the controls to a high-powered piece of heavy machinery, expecting me to behave like a foreman with nary an injury on my watch. I was okay with it, of course.

“Let me see you do it a few times,” Dion said. Looking over at him before I put on the glove, I noticed he had been dressing himself in the armor, even as he was giving me the demonstration of the Magnatron. He was fuckin’ amped to go surfing through the trash. I glanced over at his surfboard, which was now fully-modified. The plank had more chrome on it than a 57’ Bel Air, very impressive looking. It looked like something worthy of the Silver Surfer. I donned the gauntlet, and started reaching for the horizon.