I know I need practice using the ring for greater tasks than hitting things or zorbing. Might as well make it something that's good for the world as well, right? Somehow I went from that statement to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I'm holding position in the middle of a cloud-ridden sky above the Great Pacific rubbish patch. I can't see a thing. Even my ring enhanced vision isn't showing anything useful because there isn't anything here. At some point the grey sky and grey clouds and grey rain become grey sea full of grey plastic particulates but the only way I can tell where any of those are is the ring's sensors.
Extracting precious metal from asteroids made me rich within the dreams of avarice. Not beyond, obviously, or I wouldn't have been able to do it. The same sort of system should work here. I'm not going to be able to clean the entirety of the world's oceans, but the high concentrations here make it possible to improve the situation.
Mr Scott has actually been surprisingly helpful with regard to construct initiation. I need to focus clearly on why I'm trying to do what I'm doing here, then start the process. Let's see…
This mess is created by humans, and as one I am responsible for dealing with it. I owe Gaea for her help, and cleaning her up a bit will help repay that. I eat fish, and I don't want to eat plastic they ate first. If I finish here I can go somewhere interesting…
I thrust my right hand down at the swirling mess of plastic beneath me. An orange beam extends downwards to just above the water, then spreads out into a vast disk. It's about ten miles across; not enough to remove the whole thing but it's a size I think I can manage. The glow is strong enough that I can actually see it from inside the cloud.
"Give me plastic."
The disk extends down, lengthening into a cylinder. I raise my left hand above me and another orange beam projects from it, with a stream of orange connecting it to the one going down. The connector looks a bit like the proton beam in the Ghostbusters films. As the cylinder filters out the plastic -fish and other sea life should be unaffected- it appears in a mass connected to the upper beam. My OrangeVisionTM lets me see it. Not much so far.
"Work faster, damn it!"
Waaah! The orange glow from below just dramatically increased in luminosity. For just a moment I could see clearly everything around me. I can feel the area of the subaquatic construct expand as it hungrily consumes every bit of plastic it can find. The lump above me visibly swells.
Ring, power level?
Eighty eight percent remaining.
Alright then. Cleaning time.