After a brief ten-day trip to the southern hemisphere, Castle dove right back into assembling the massive pile of parts for his simulator. His daughter Alexis was left to find her own activities in the meantime. Despite having access to one of the most advanced industrial 3D printers in the world, Castle regretted ever getting involved in such a daunting project.
"Harry, I swear, you've ruined me this time!" Castle grumbled as he monitored the 3D printer in his mechanical lab, watching it create a complex component under Jarvis's supervision.
Nearby, Little Fatty, working on the simulator's control program on his computer, gave a sheepish smile. "Uncle Rick, I didn't expect the simulator would be this complicated either. But you're the one who insisted on replicating Lockheed Martin's multi-axis, high-load full-motion simulator instead of going with my simpler VR setup idea. You can't blame me entirely!"
Castle's mechanical lab was equipped with cutting-edge technology rivaling the production lines of Lockheed Martin or Boeing. His money had gone into acquiring top-tier equipment from global manufacturers, and the lab's machinery had been upgraded with IoT capabilities, allowing Jarvis to control them directly. Yet even with this high-tech setup, the assembly process required human intervention.
For instance, the state-of-the-art 3D printer Castle was currently using had precision far beyond that of NASA's satellite production units. In theory, its capabilities were revolutionary. However, the meticulously printed components still required manual assembly and calibration. Even with Jarvis's control over advanced robotic arms, they couldn't match the dexterity of human hands for certain tasks.
The world Castle inhabited was far from the ultra-advanced Marvel Universe where Tony Stark could build entire suits of armor with a simple command to Jarvis. Despite Castle's mechanical expertise, real-world technological constraints limited his automated manufacturing efforts. He had underestimated these hurdles. Castle had imagined he could simply design the simulator's components, let Jarvis automate production, and everything would come together effortlessly. Reality, however, had other plans.
Now, Castle found himself swamped with assembly work, having to painstakingly put each piece together by hand. The burden was overwhelming.
Little Fatty wasn't faring any better. Originally hoping to get a fully functional simulator handed to him by Lockheed Martin, he now had to create control software for Castle's new toy. The task was monumental: integrating flight data for over forty different aircraft models, including the F-14, F-16, F-18, F-22, and F-35 from the U.S., as well as foreign jets like the French "Rafale" and Russian "Su" and "MiG" series.
The sheer complexity of the task nearly broke him. Without Jarvis—who offloaded much of the computational workload to Castle's supercomputer and server arrays—Little Fatty wouldn't have stood a chance.
However, Castle had intentionally set Little Fatty up for failure. There was no real need to develop a program that could seamlessly integrate all these aircraft models. Castle had merely been teasing him, suggesting they "go big or go home." He expected Little Fatty to eventually realize how impossible the task was and abandon it. But things didn't go as planned.
Instead, with Jarvis's help, Little Fatty managed to create a working prototype of the program. This development caught Castle off guard. What had started as a joke had turned into something revolutionary. A program capable of dynamically switching between control systems for different aircraft types was unheard of in this world.
In the Marvel Universe, such high-compatibility software might be commonplace, but here, even companies like Boeing hadn't conceived of such a system. This accidental breakthrough would undoubtedly attract intense interest from the aerospace giants supporting Castle's project.
Castle realized he needed to reassess the situation. The implications of this software were enormous. It could revolutionize flight simulation technology, but it also carried potential risks and complications. Castle would have to conduct a thorough evaluation of the program's potential impacts before moving forward.
This experience highlighted Castle's greatest weakness: he lacked a knowledgeable assistant to guide him through the technological and practical ramifications of his innovations. If Moz had still been around, he would have been the ideal candidate. Unfortunately, Moz was now fully entrenched in his role as the U.S. President's national security advisor. He had no time to assist Castle with side projects, especially after recent events involving covert retaliation against Japanese operatives linked to the White House attack.
Castle's close friends, like Gianna and Neil, were brilliant in their respective fields but lacked technical expertise. Meanwhile, Little Fatty and Ramsey, though skilled with computers, were hopelessly out of their depth when it came to broader technological applications.
Castle now understood the urgency of finding a capable technical partner. Such a person could help him harness the full potential of his inventions and prevent missed opportunities. Without expert guidance, Castle had inadvertently undersold some of his earlier technological breakthroughs in negotiations with major corporations.
Ironically, this perceived naivety worked in Castle's favor. The corporations he dealt with saw him as a gifted but unambitious inventor, someone who wasn't out to maximize profit at every turn. His reputation as a technological prodigy who delivered innovation without greed earned him respect and patience from these powerful entities.
But this new program was a game-changer. Castle couldn't afford to handle it recklessly. He needed to assemble the first prototype simulator and test its capabilities before deciding how to proceed.
"One step at a time," Castle muttered to himself, rolling up his sleeves. "Let's get this thing built."
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