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"Well," says Isabella, peering at the disappointing results from the computer analysis of network activity on the planet below. "That's going to be... inconvenient."
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warpfairy
He can have his tea with nothing, then, and Isabella gets hers with a splash of milk and one lump of sugar. Renée takes three sugar lumps and considerably more milk; the "tea" part of her tea is underrerpresented. "Have you seen anything pretty in deep space?"
"There was one very lovely nebula. We took pictures," says Isabella.
"There was one very lovely nebula. We took pictures," says Isabella.
warpfairy
"And there was a ringed planet, but the pictures did not come out very well because of some electromagnetic disturbances."
warpfairy
"I like ringed planets," says Renée. "There's a teacher's conference coming up that takes place on a cruise around Saturn; I think I'm going to go."
warpfairy
"I think I will. So now you know what I do with myself, if you didn't already; what about you? Apart from accompanying Isabella on survey and teaching her Klingon."
dream-me-up
"Nothing really," he shrugs. "I had a ship for a while and I liked to travel in it, but then it broke down and I had to sell it to a museum, so now I travel with Isabella instead."
warpfairy
The visit to Renée lasts two weeks. They see tourist attractions and movies and are shown off to Renée's friends. Then Isabella and Lalita shuttle back up to the spacedock, board the fully supplied Prometheus, and hie off to a system (inhabited, but with stone-age people who wouldn't know what to make of a warp equation, alas).
Then they check out a black hole, and then they are off to their next recipient of largesse.
"Oh, this is easy," laughs Bella when the computer summarizes the state of scientific exchange on the planet.
Then they check out a black hole, and then they are off to their next recipient of largesse.
"Oh, this is easy," laughs Bella when the computer summarizes the state of scientific exchange on the planet.
dream-me-up
Lalita giggles.
"No plagiarism," he says. "In a slightly different way. Okay, let's find the right semi-anonymous network to post this to."
"No plagiarism," he says. "In a slightly different way. Okay, let's find the right semi-anonymous network to post this to."
warpfairy
"And come up with a clever pseudonym. I don't think 'polarbear' will blend in here."
warpfairy
"All right then." He can fuss with the language, she can guide the computer to tell her about the salient characteristics of the science networks.
dream-me-up
He fusses with the language. He dives into some literature.
About half an hour later, he announces that he's come up with a clever pun on a line from a play that was widely quoted several years ago but has fallen out of the public sphere since.
About half an hour later, he announces that he's come up with a clever pun on a line from a play that was widely quoted several years ago but has fallen out of the public sphere since.
warpfairy
"Lovely. And I have found a place to put it."
Putting the plans online rather than on paper means doing a lot of cutting-and-pasting, since their systems can't actually type these letters, but eventually the thing is done, the name is registered via elaborate proxy that pretends to terminate at a broken server, and the equations are posted.
(They get to watch reactions in real time: "Whoa, this is revolutionary!" "It'll never work in practice." "Where would you get enough material with the necessary properties?" "This is the most elegant equation set I've ever seen.")
And off they go! They "were never here".
Putting the plans online rather than on paper means doing a lot of cutting-and-pasting, since their systems can't actually type these letters, but eventually the thing is done, the name is registered via elaborate proxy that pretends to terminate at a broken server, and the equations are posted.
(They get to watch reactions in real time: "Whoa, this is revolutionary!" "It'll never work in practice." "Where would you get enough material with the necessary properties?" "This is the most elegant equation set I've ever seen.")
And off they go! They "were never here".
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