"This cranks up the ether... and this part lets the unused ether sneak away," Judge muttered under his breath, poking at the artifact like a child trying to figure out how a clock worked by staring at its hands. Active artifacts were a headache. Unlike the dead ones, which he could gleefully rip apart to peek at their insides, these ticking ether bombs demanded caution.
Even if he did take it apart (and lived to tell the tale), the active parts wouldn't cooperate nicely, leaving him with an embarrassing jumble of non-functioning connections.
That's why he'd casually mentioned to Melina that he needed to learn a principle that would let him see through objects, though he'd nearly slipped and said X-ray. Judge cursed his past life's knowledge of modern terms. Apparently, "I need to look inside things for purely academic purposes" raised some suspicion. Who knew?
