[Created] Set backs

[slick-mink.livejournal.com]

He stared accusingly at burnt out components on the workbench in front on him for a few moments before sighing.  Not for the first time, he felt doubt enter his mind.  Things just weren’t working as predicted.  Every success marred by a new failure.  

He thought about the pills he’d made for Jacob.  So confident in his own abilities, that he’d just given them to him, and the side effects had been extreme.  He felt…something over that.  He wasn’t sure what though.  Annoyance maybe?  Wounded pride?  Or was it something else?  His actions had led to a friend of his being manipulated and controlled, and he’d been unable to prevent it.

That also dug at him.  A recently perfected transmutation.  Another side effect of his endless experiments that should have been able to stop the mayhem that took place.  It failed him just when he needed it.  Left him useless.  He had pushed his reactor further then it had ever been, and it had not been enough.  He just couldn’t get his mind around it.

And now, before him, lay another failure.  His Machine.  The Machine.  His pride and joy.  The thing he had worked on for so long, lay before him broken.  The fix would be simple, he knew, but time consuming.  He’d have to get new parts and wire them in all over again.  It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was just one more annoyance to the pile. 

He clicked on his Dictaphone and started to speak in that flat emotionless voice of his...”