"Hey, how's that suitcase radio coming along?" A young man says to another. He and the other man wore a green work suit and were building an electrical circuit inside a box.
"I'm currently working on the transistor and the copper coil. I think we can set itself to a single frequency for now because we are just using another radio across the room."
"Alright, I'll make sure to wire it to one frequency. By the way, Kato-San, did the Smith reach back to you yet?"
"I'll get the response sometime soon; maybe this time they will let me in!"
"At least you've got some experience this time and a name for yourself too."
Kato Yamada, or "The Blueprint," was famous in his field of artifact restoration. He was famous for rebuilding a 1930's cannon from scratch for Tokyo's war museum, reportedly after looking at a rare diagram of the weapon found only in the museum and built it in a completely different workshop. This was quite bizarre for many, as he only looked at it once, and no more than 20 seconds were nearly impossible. Kato later built other antique weapons, tools, and devices for the museum while only looking at the blueprint once.
However, the Yamadas had a long lineage of cases similar to Kato's. The family had a long history of working in workshops, factories, industries, and manufacturing plants while needing little instruction or direction on their job.
The secret?
The Yamadas have a rare trait of pinpoint accurate photographic memory that was inherited from each generation. A single glimpse at any image, and it's seared into their mind for the rest of their life.
However, with every blessing comes a curse, and every Yamada dies in a factory accident. Luckily for Kato, he works at a museum so that he might have a chance out of all his ancestors.
A cell phone suddenly vibrates inside of Kato's pocket. He takes it out, and the screen flashes with a notification—an email, with the sender being the Smithsonian.
"Holy shit, dude, I think this is it!"
"No way, let me see that!"
Kato's only dream throughout his life was to be a historian at some of the world's finest museums, and going to America for the Smithsonian would be the perfect calling to live.
"It says 'Dear Mr. Yamada; We are pleased to see your qualifications for the job. Your experience in various museums and your unique trait are somewhat known among our staff. Your reputations precede you in America, and we would be delighted to have such a wonderful and capable restorer in the Smithsonian.' It talks about some other stuff like employee benefits and what I'm expected to do on the job, but I'm in!"
"Well, congratulations! When do they want you in America?"
"Preferably in 4 months or so, I think I should start getting ready to move."
"Let's have a drink first at Chubo's to celebrate; meet you there at 6?"
"Sure!"
________________________________________________________________________________________
5 months pass, and Kato stands in front of the Smithsonian. He takes one long breath at the huge building and walks inside, carrying a small backpack contact in his lunch and a thick notebook chock full of notes.
The entrance of the museum is a grand, modern admission center. A marble-white desk stands in front of an oak platform with "SMITHSONIAN AIR AND SPACE" in dark blue. Large banners hung off the ceiling, displaying the museum's newest exhibits, such as a p-51 mustang from ww2 or a Bell Huey from Vietnam. The large museum seemed quite grand to Kato, partially because he was the only person there at the time. Other than two women behind the admissions desk on computer monitors, he was the only person there.
"Oh, sir? The museum is closed on Wednesdays," a blonde woman behind the register says in English.
"Oh no, I'm the new employee here; I just didn't know where the workshop is, so I just came to the entrance," Kato replies, also in English.
"Wait, you're the new guy I've heard about, right? Yeah, I think this is the wrong building. You should be headed towards the National Museum of American history; they are expecting you."
Kato turns around and looks at a map and sees that the other museum is across the lane of Washington Monument, around the other side. His face turns tomato red, says a small "sorry," and bolts out the door.
A burly, brown-haired man looking at his watch stares out the entrance of a huge, concrete museum and sighs to himself. He sees a small, black-haired student with a briefcase running towards him, sweating from top to bottom. He looks at his watch again and says with a gruff voice,
"You're late."
"Yeah, sorry-huff I, huff - was in the Air and Space museum, huff - opposite side," Kato says, gasping for air.
"Thought you had super good memory or something."
"I can't seem to remember emails for some strange reason. I've seen thousands of blueprints and diagrams in my life, but I can never get emails down correctly."
"Ah, it's all right. Just make sure you're never this late for work. Anyways, let's head on inside."
The man gives Kato a tour of the American museum, such as the war exhibit, the pioneering hall, and a section dedicated to the 1960s, and seemed to be designed in a way to look like a 1960's pasty colored house. All the museum artifacts and showcases are restored and rebuilt in various warehouses all over Maryland. Still, Kato was in charge of designing and setting up exhibits and being an assistant to all lines of work in the museum. The day ends, and Kato takes an Uber to his small apartment downtown.
Another couple of weeks pass, in which Kato has gotten familiar with his employees, and Kato heads over to the American History museum in the early morning. In the next couple of hours, thousands of visitors will come through the gates, so it was his job to make sure all the exhibits had everything displayed. He walks to the staff lounge to grab his clipboard but sees his chief, the burly man, talking to a group of people.
"Now, the p-51 exhibit in the Air and Space has recently been put up, but I need a volunteer to go to the exhibit to ensure that everything is in place."
"Hey, I'll do it. I need someone to check the war exhibit while I'm gone." Kato says.
"Alright, Jim? You're doing the Pioneering Hall right next to Kato. Do you think you can cover for him? Also, Kato, take the golf cart; I don't want you to run around drenched in sweat like last time."
"Thanks, chief. I'll let you know if anything happens," Kato says, walking out the door.
Kato rides in a small golf cart across the path towards the other various Smithsonian museums. By now in the morning, the place was starting to have more and more people. It will only be a matter of time before the museum opens, Kato thinks to himself. He slightly presses down on the golf cart's pedal harder, and the golf cart speeds up.
On an indoor second-story balcony, a man wearing a white construction hat looks at a suspended P-51 mustang attached to the ceiling. The new floating exhibit will open today, so every minute detail must be carefully checked. However, that is the job for the exhibit designer, who has been sick for a week, but the man wearing the construction hat knows that a different man from another museum in the Smithsonian is filling in the position for today. He hears footsteps behind him and sees a short man carrying a briefcase running to him. The man realizes that he is the exhibit designer replacement, so he passes him a clipboard.
"Good morning," he says.
"Ah-huff, hello. I am Kato Tanada from the American History museum."
"I see. I'm Dave, worked with the construction team on lifting the Mustang."
"Alright, so according to the clipboard, I only here to see the wiring of the plane before the exhibit?"
"That's right, everything else should be in place. The other guy already went through the checklist, but it's good to double-check the important parts."
"So, the wires are connected to which parts of the plane?"
"We have roughly five, one on the tail, two on each wing, one attached to the cockpit, and a much longer one in the front to make the plane look like it's diving."
"And which kind of wires did you use for the aircraft?"
"2-millimeter diameter steel wires, for all five."
Kato flips through the pages and begins to look uncertain. He flips back forward again, looking slightly worried.
"Aluminum or steel?"
"I'm pretty sure I said steel. Even aluminum is too weak at that width to hold up a plane."
"The document says that you used aluminum."
"Wait, shit. Really?"
Kato gives the packet back to the man, and the man begins to worry.
"What time does the museum open again?"
"Around 10 AM, which is in five minutes."
"We need to tell the museum to close off this part of the exhibit, It's too dangerous, it will fall on somebody within a week. I'm going to see the direct-"
A huge swing can be heard near the entrance of the museum, and an enormous amount of chatter and laughter can be heard. An enormous sea of people walk in through the exhibits, with families reading the plane placards, children running around, and others taking pictures.
"My god, I'll go to the directors office. You must tell everyone down there that the plane exhibit is dangerous and to clear the space."
"Got that, and hurry!"
The man runs away to the directors office on the second level, and Kato begins to bolt downstairs. He runs into the open and starts to make huge waves with his arms, much to the annoyance of people around him.
"Everyone, clear the room! This exhibit is unsafe, so pleas go around!"
A couple people in front of Kato look confused, while others start to take their children away from him with nervous looks. An elderly man takes out his camera and begins to snap as a pic of the mustang, but he begins to tilt his head.
"Is it just my eyes or is the cable stretching a little bit?"
The group of people in front of Kato look up, and sure enough, the aluminum wires were slowly being stretched, and were going to snap at any moment. As Kato's face was filled with dread, he notices a young girl, perhaps not even 10 years old yet, walking through the exhibit and oblivious to the precarious situation above her.
And then a snap.
And the plane soars down from the ceiling, headed straight for the girl. Immediately, without thinking, Kato rushes to the girl and pushes her out the way of harm. And as the plane falls on him, Kato thinks about whether carrying the girl away was a much more efficient option.
But, instead of the crushing weight of an American plane, he feels nothing, but only dust surrounded him. No, it was like a fog, drifting away from his feet. Some voices can be heard, but Kato could barely hear them. He slowly walks out of the mist, unsure where he truly is, and starts to notice benches, a high ceiling, some stained glass, and a group of people watching him. A church, but where?
"Welcome hero, to the land of Kald!" A stout man in a red robe exclaims.
Kato looks around, quite confused of his current position, and then says,
"Where am I?"