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Bella's on her way to kill a witch.
It usually hits Port Angeles, inspires arson, and then if allowed spins off a familiar that does the same in Forks. She's tracked it back far enough that she can reliably head it off before it makes that fellow set that apartment building on fire as long as she hops in the car without doing her hospital exit paperwork. If she's lucky, this time she's early enough to nab it before it lights up the bakery, too.
...The fuck is that? It's not usually there.
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onceandforall
onceandforall
"I can stop time, remember?" she says. "Hm, does it do escape velocity or will this all be moot next time I wake up in the hospital?"
"Can you stop time and go outside without tearing open my airlock? It will do any velocity eventually, as long as you plug in a new copy of the power supply every thirty minutes or so."
onceandforall
"It doesn't rip me off the surface of the earth when I stop time. I'm not sure how it'd handle a smaller gravitational reference frame. I meant that I can stop time so I'm not in the witch when the nuke goes off, not that I should do it right now. Anyway, if this jobbie will take me into space I should learn to handle it in vacuum."
So it is carried through the airlock, Gem inside, when they land. "By the way, in vacuum, you'll want to change the oxygen tank every so often."
Nick uses an up-sized ray gun on the side of his ship to start carving through lunar regolith.
Nick uses an up-sized ray gun on the side of his ship to start carving through lunar regolith.
Maneuvering in vacuum is tricky. And its inertial suppressor is less perfect than the ones on Nick's ship. If she does any hard maneuvering, it'll feel like a roller coaster you can aim.
At one point the autopilot decides she is too close to the moon and moving too fast. It overrides all her commands for two seconds, then hands control back to her.
At one point the autopilot decides she is too close to the moon and moving too fast. It overrides all her commands for two seconds, then hands control back to her.
onceandforall
Well, that's... sort of convenient.
She still has her communicator to Nick. "Hey, if I want to override the safeties for whatever reason, how do I do that?"
She still has her communicator to Nick. "Hey, if I want to override the safeties for whatever reason, how do I do that?"
"I didn't think you'd want to. The autopilot is baked right into the avionics. Give me a few minutes to think about it."
A few minutes later: "I can give you an override to the autopilot's override, but using it will turn off all the passive cues and stability assistance. It'll be a lot harder to fly. If you want it, I'll redo the electronics on the way back to Earth."
A few minutes later: "I can give you an override to the autopilot's override, but using it will turn off all the passive cues and stability assistance. It'll be a lot harder to fly. If you want it, I'll redo the electronics on the way back to Earth."
onceandforall
"I mean, I like the safeties, I'll usually want the safeties, but if I keep being stuck in a time loop for the next four hundred subjective years eventually I expect to be on the wrong end of a high-speed-chase where being caught is worse than death and I'm missing too many legs to dance my costume on."
"I'll redo the electronics."
After three hours, Nick has extracted a lump of greenish rock from deep inside the moon. They head for Earth. On the way, he installs the override and works with his green lump of rock.
Back on Earth: "Would you mind coming back tomorrow and duplicating the refined D-fuel a few hundred times? I'm probably dozens of hops from familiar parts of the 'verse and I'd rather not get stranded."
After three hours, Nick has extracted a lump of greenish rock from deep inside the moon. They head for Earth. On the way, he installs the override and works with his green lump of rock.
Back on Earth: "Would you mind coming back tomorrow and duplicating the refined D-fuel a few hundred times? I'm probably dozens of hops from familiar parts of the 'verse and I'd rather not get stranded."
onceandforall
"I don't mind. You're leaving right away? The world never ends this soon."
"I might stick around, get some interesting seeds, tinker a bit. But there's really not much more for me to do in this dimension. And I'd rather be far away from time travel sooner than later."
Almost a week later is the next time she hears from Nick. "I finally got the fuel to acceptable quality. Never refined it myself before, it was tricky. When is a good time to meet you so I have enough for more than one jump?"
onceandforall
"Well, I'm sufficiently grounded that Dad took my car, but since I have a swanky new vehicle I can just use that. Now'll do if you want to get a move on."
He does. He meets her in a new out-of-the-way spot (all the previous pickup spots are being staked out by various journalists or government types). Fuel is duplicated.
"Before I leave, any last tech requests?"
"Before I leave, any last tech requests?"
"Sorry, no nuke. I just realized, though - I'll give you a dose of medical nanos. They aren't panacea, but they'll keep you healthier for longer if you take at least one per month."
He drops her off. "I'll probably never see you again. Good luck saving the world."
He drops her off. "I'll probably never see you again. Good luck saving the world."
onceandforall
She dips the nanos. "Just real quick - I assume you'd have mentioned it if you had any really good defense swag. Force field generators or something like that."
"Yeah, I'd have mentioned that way earlier. Apart from armasail, good old metal-ceramic-carbon composites are the bleeding edge in armor where I come from."
Nick's ship lifts off. Far above the surface of the earth, there is a brief flash of light brighter than the sun.
The only thing her communicator can find now is the drone left next to the moon's witch seed.
Nick's ship lifts off. Far above the surface of the earth, there is a brief flash of light brighter than the sun.
The only thing her communicator can find now is the drone left next to the moon's witch seed.
onceandforall
Okay.
Back to business as usual plus background general freakouts over spaceship and beautiful new toys.
Delight.
Back to business as usual plus background general freakouts over spaceship and beautiful new toys.
Delight.
And Nick will be in a neighboring dimension, feeling very glad about the whole experience thanks in large part to the array of duplicated precious metals, fuel, and tech in his cargo hold.
Here Ends This Thread