Every year for Wonderfest, there’s a group build challenge. This year the task was to go to one of the dollar stores, spend $20 max on parts, then make something out of it.

On my first trip, I spotted an almost-disk-shaped clear Christmas ornament, grabbed it, then walked around until I spotted a pencil sharpener. The two together gave me Star Trek vibes, so I ran with that. It was a couple of months until I found suitable “engines”, which are some sort of travel vacuum tube/bottles for makeup. At this point I’m less than $10 spent.