Chapter 54: Howard's Invention

When Penny returned to her apartment, she still hadn't decided whether to pursue a relationship with Leonard. Martin advised patience, urging her to take time to explore their connection. 

Opening his own door, Martin found the science squad—Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj—huddled in his living room. Sheldon sat sulking on the couch with an Xbox controller, while the others buzzed around Howard's latest creation. 

"Did I miss the plot to overthrow Sheldon's reign of terror?" Martin quipped, loosening his tie. 

Leonard grinned. "Depends—will you bail us out if things go sideways?" 

"Only if you fail," Martin shot back. "Success means *I* get to finish the job." 

The group high-fived as Sheldon recoiled in mock horror. 

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Howard stepped forward, brandishing a Motorola flip phone. "Behold… *the future*." He flipped it open and commanded: "Call Martin Scott." 

Two seconds later, Martin's phone rang—a rudimentary **voice-activated dialing system** in **2007**, years before Siri's 2011 debut. 

Martin's eyes widened. "How'd you pull this off?" 

Howard explained it was a hobby project: a custom database storing their contacts, paired with a decoder sourced from a programming forum. The catch? Commercializing it required bypassing copyrighted code. 

"Can you build your own decoder?" Martin pressed. 

Howard hesitated. "Maybe… but I'd need time to reverse-engineer it." 

Seizing the opportunity, Martin outlined the potential: "This could be huge. Voice tech's the next frontier." The trio instantly formed a startup—Howard as engineer, Leonard and Raj as support, and Martin as legal advisor. 

Sheldon, excluded, bristled. "You clearly lack a *technical visionary*." 

"*You?*" Leonard scoffed. "Howard hacked your WoW account last year!" 

"Using NASA's supercomputer!" Sheldon hissed, prompting Martin to feign alarm: "Tampering with federal systems? That's a *national security risk*." 

The group froze—Sheldon genuinely spooked, the others rolling their eyes—before dissolving into gaming laughter. 

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As Howard packed up, Sheldon micromanaged the Xbox's return to its box, obsessive-compulsive as ever. Martin shook his head: *Some things never change*. 

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