Bench Test Under the Desk

Night fell, and the living room got way too dim for precision work, so I hauled my gear under the study desk near a power strip. I wedged the stripped screwdriver into the seam of an old USB phone charger plugged into the surge protector. A tiny spark snapped—bite me, static—but the plastic shell popped loose. I took that salvaged copper spring from earlier and bridged the terminal pins. A faint green indicator LED flickered alive on the circuit board, casting a decent glow across the floor. Not a full railgun power core yet, but now I've got a live auxiliary light source and proof this power grid works.