They were level one and level two havenworlders, but they wanted to get stronger. They had seen on television human fireworks shows, the sound of the explosions muffled while pleasant music played in time to the bright lights and sparkles. They hit on an idea. They would have humans teach them to make, and use, fireworks. Starting with small, what humans would consider almost "harmless" things, and work their way up to the beautiful splays over time. Their first endeavors? Slightly loud bubble-wrap that lit up when popped. -- Anon Guest
[AN: The higher the number, the more fragile the Havenworlder. Just so you know. Level One Havenworlders can almost cope with random Deathworlder BS. Level 5's are so delicate they shouldn't leave their idyllic world. Level 6 us theoretical only]
"You guys wanna play with fireworks," said Human Zif. "I don't even know where to start on telling you how bad an idea that is."
"We will not be experiment with the loudest of noises," said Gresh. "We seek to imitate the effect, but eliminate the hazards."
"For us and those like us," added Silph. "Especially more fragile Havenworlders."
"Ah," said Human Zif. "Right. Sudden but not too sudden. Warning in advance and then something pleasant but still a surprise. You guys know more about your fellow Havenworlders than me. Let's engineer the heck out of a toy for you guys."
It took a lot of engineering. Harmless materials, acceptable levels of risk, countdowns. Human Zif wanted to give up and just hand them a jack-in-the-box. But no, these fluffy little saurians wanted fireworks. They wanted bang. They wanted pretty. They wanted it for themselves.
Compared to that, a finger puppet on a spring just didn't cut it.
There were pull-string whirlygigs that used centripetal force to connect power to lights. There were bouncy balls that flashed or made noises or did both. There were stress balls in nets that revealed faces when squished. There was bubble-wrap, which was expendable.
What they wanted was Havenworlder-safe fireworks. Something that could be set, anticipated, and then enjoyed as it did what was expected of it with a surprising, but not that surprising noise.
You could not accomplish that with ordinary household chemicals.
What they eventually came up with was a set of drones mini drones in a capsule that would ascend with an amusing whistle, and then expand outwards at a calibrated rate with changing lights and suitable noises that could even be programmed into the module before launch.
They could even control the rate of ascension and the elevation at which the pseudofirework went off.
The first handful of tests were, according to Human Zif, hilarious.
The pseudofirework wobbled up at one Sidu per second, reached a height of ten, and then made an amusingly musical 'plop' as glittering minidrones scattered about and danced in the darkened sky.
No Havenworlder volunteers were harmed in the process, but Human Zif just about died laughing.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Vapi]
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