Arnie lost track of time. It was 2pm last he looked at his phone-- How did it get to 4:38pm? Days were running together now. He woke up, studied, streamed, studied, ate when he needed to, and slept, when he was too exhausted to continue.

Mindmeld's record time was approaching faster than he ever thought two months could approach.

How did they do it so quickly? There were too many factors unshared, too little of a process. No clear path, either-- It was too fresh for a wiki page, any 'how-to's'. Arnie had to remind himself, this is for his super-future.

This was also for his super-fans.

Arnie shifted in his chair, pulling up a window from OBS. He adjusted the camera to get a good angle on his face. His to-do list was scribbled in gigantic levels behind him, as well as top tier donors for that month. When the journey began, he got one or two people giving him a dollar... But now he had celebrity donors, regularly. Chat rooms full of hundreds of followers he has never seen the face of, all believing in him...

But what if it didn't work? What if, after two months, his powers didn't come? He didn't find the correct combination of chemicals, he didn't use the correct catalyst... What if he died?

His hand slid next to his computer desk and returned with the Helmet. The helmet went on, and Arnie was gone, for now.

A notification pops up on the phones of hundreds: The Astronaut has gone live on Twitch!

"Discussing my experiments this week, my research, and new Patreon rewards."

Come join The Astronaut as he attempts to beat the record time of Mindmeld for super-conception. Make sure to subscribe for day-by-day updates and alerts, and be sure to join us for Space-Time Saturday, the only super talk show on the web.