Be Careful What You Wish For

Adapted from "How the World Was Saved"

Klapaucius was always testing the limits of everything he came across. Living in the small town of Nicolajev, just south of Lvov, it was hard for him to encounter a disheveled building and not try to fix it. Being a constructor during the time of World War II, Klapaucious felt the need to always prove himself better than everyone else. He thought that if he tried to repair the buildings himself, he would be recognized as the best constructor in the town; and become much more famous than his childhood friend, Trurl.
“That Trurl was always better than me at everything. Winning science fairs, sports games, even cooked better than I did. And now he thinks he can invent a machine that can create anything… I don’t think so! Not this time! I’m going to show him that I can be just as great. If I could just get the supplies I need to fix up these-”
“Morning, stretch!” Klapaucius’s ranting came to a sudden halt as his coworker and neighbor, Artur, approached him. “Are you taking on the impossible again?”
“Yep, just the usual. Trying to move heaven and Earth, again.” Klapaucius glanced at Artur and continued to pick up debris.
“You know you’re gonna hurt yourself, right?”
“You think I don’t know that, Art?”
“I know you do, I just don’t understand why you’re still trying to do it.”
“I really couldn’t tell you.”
“Perhaps your pride ate your common sense.”
Klapaucius stood up to face Artur. “By golly! I think you’re right! That’s just what happened! My pride just gobbled my common sense right up.”
Artur didn’t appreciate the sarcasm. “This is the 1940’s, man. We’ve got the machinery to move this crap. I don’t know why you insist on doing this by yourself.” Artur had been good friends with Klapaucius for years in the construction business. He knew that Klapaucius had always felt inferior to his childhood pal, Trurl and could see how it influenced him in everything he did. Klapaucius was going to prove to Trurl that he could be better than him at something, and cleaning up the ruins from the war with his own bare hands was exactly how he was going to do it.
“I don’t need it. Besides, I already broke two of our best trucks last week.”
“Well, maybe if you used them the way they were designed to work, then you wouldn’t be breaking them all the time.”
Klapaucius was always testing the limits of everything he questioned, especially when it came to technology. He always doubted things he didn’t understand and was too focused and determined to be better than Trurl to try and understand them.
“Hey, did you catch the last episode of ‘Science Now’ on station 3? It was pretty awesome and the sound is amazing. Unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.” Artur continued to watch Klapaucius struggle with the pieces of a once-standing market.
“I don’t listen to the radio.”
“But you have one, so why don’t you use it? Besides, you’re missing out on the quality! That jingle in the background really sets to tone for the show."
“Well, you learn something new every day.” Klapaucius stood up to stretch his back and Artur could tell he was starting to hurt.
“Why don’t we go back to the shop for a while? You’ve been out here all morning.”
Reluctantly, Klapaucius stopped his work to go back with Artur to the shop. As soon as they arrived, the phone rang.

“What the hell is this?”Klapauciua stared at the obnoxious box sitting on the back end of the work bench.

“It’s a telephone, you know, those things that the boss always talked about getting that allows us to communicate with other folks far away.”

Klapaucius picked up the banana-like object connected by a long cord.

“Hello!? Is anybody there? Hello!?”
“Klapaucius, you’ve got it upside down.”
“God dammit. Hello?”
“Greetings, Klapaucius! How are you doing this fine day?” It was Trurl.
“Oh, hey. I’m doing alright/ Yourself?”
“I couldn’t be better! How’s the constituting going that you conduct over there?”
“It’s construction that I do, and I’m building just fine. Actually, I’m working on a pretty big repair project around the town. Kind of a big deal.” Klapaucius utilized every chance he got to show off for Trurl.
“Well that’s nice. Hey, you know that robot I was telling you about a few months back?”
“I do recall you mentioning something about a robot, yes.” Kalpaucius clearly remembered exactly what Trurl was talking about. He’s been dwelling on the thought since the day he told him.
“Well, it’s done! I wanted it to create “anything” I told it to make, but the hard drive couldn’t handle it, so I had to choose a smaller horizon of possibilities.”
“And what exactly does that mean?”
“Well, I’d love for you to stop on by to check it out for yourself.”
Klapaucius knew this robot was going to surpass and expectations he had for it. He decided to ask Artur to join him.
“Hey, Artur, you wanna stop over Trurl’s to check out that robot of his that he’s created?”
“I’d love to, but I have to head home right after work. My wife hasn’t been doing well since last month. Just do me a favor, Klay, and don’t try and sabotage whatever he’s working on. I know you have a tendency to do that.”
Artur’s wife had been taken away to a concentration camp and escaped but became sick.  
“Alright, I’ll be there after dinner around 7. How does that sound?”
“Splendid.”
After work, Klapaucius did as he said he would and headed over to Trurl’s up north in Lvov. It had been a while since he had been over to Trurl’s and he noticed that his house was much larger than he remembered it a few months before.
“Come, come! Welcome to my new and improved abode.”
Klapaucius felt as if he was in an entirely new building. Of course, Trurl’s two-story home dominated Klapaucius’s three-roomed shed back in Nicolajev.
“Yeah, I like it. So, where’s this almighty robot you’re talking about?” Klapaucius tried to distract Trurl from talking about his renovations to his house.
“Right this way.” Trurl lead Klapaucius to his underground laboratory he had to build to hide from the Nazi’s a few years back.
“Wow, looks sharp. Can I give it a try?” Klapaucius’s interest was sparked.
“Be my guest,” said Trurl. “But it has to start with n.”