signs of intelligent life | Glowfic Constellation

They get her green dye. Would she like help with that?

to better see the light

Nah, DZ can do it.

Does she want anyone in particular as an escort?

to better see the light

Not as such; she's interested in doing an art tour and going to some poetry readings, and maybe spending some time in a park or something, if they have someone available who'd be a good companion for that sort of thing.

Her language tutor will go.

to better see the light

Cool, that'll work.

They present her with an itinerary that hits all the things she mentioned!

to better see the light

Itinerary looks good; let's go!

Gosh there are a lot of people. It's not a surprise, but it hits her a little harder than she was expecting.

"Are you all right?" asks the tutor.

to better see the light

"It's too crowded. One minute." She leans against the wall and closes her eyes, and when she opens them again she's calmer, but a little warier.

"...okay."

Poems read by green students at a university! Art museums! Park!

to better see the light

Happy alien!

Can they stay at the park long enough to catch a sunset, or does her tutor want to head home before that?

Sunset is acceptable.

to better see the light

Very happy alien.

The sun goes down. It gets less crowded outdoors, and chillier.

to better see the light

Doesn't bother her. Doesn't have to bother her companion, either; magic. But it is time to go home, DZ'll be missing her.

Back to hotel!

to better see the light

Yup.

(DZ's all right, nobody came and bothered her or anything? They had their everythings set up with an emergency buzzer thing, it should have been fine, but.)

Nobody has bothered the valuable cooperative space robot.

to better see the light

Good.

And she's ready whenever they are to start on hyperdrives proper.

They were born ready.

to better see the light

So. Here's the math she remembers; here's the design components; here's how hyperspace is commonly talked about by people who'd know; here's how piloting a hyperspace ship works in practice. These add up to 75%, maybe 80% of a working drive. They might be able to jog her memory for more, and she should be able to tell them when they're on the wrong track at least sometimes. Now to fill in the blanks.

They turn a bunch of greens loose on this and get back to her with clarifying questions on a pretty rapid feedback cycle (planets planets planets planets).

to better see the light

Planets planets planets indeed; wouldn't it have been so obnoxious to try to do this through a translator. Planets!