i wasn't looking for this | Glowfic Constellation

The Weightminder asks, "Is helium more buoyant than floatstone? Properly protected floatstone is mostly not flammable already, and a gas would be difficult to work with."

from_scratch

"I haven't compared the two directly. I could make floatstone if you prefer that."

"It would be best to stay with what we know. I'll need to draw up a plan of where to add it, which may take some time."

The Head Grower then chimes up asking about the food, and Helric's Representative is very, very interested in medicine.

from_scratch

Cam can list and provide samples of food. What medicine they need will wind up being more specific to what health problems they find trouble them.

Diseases of various sorts. Vaccines in Cloudbank are crude at best, apparently. Accidental injuries are fairly common. There's probably some chemical exposure at work here, long term damage in everyone from the traces of less-than-ideal chemicals in the atmosphere. Occasional malnutrition - increased variety of food will hopefully solve that by itself.

from_scratch

Cam will need to do some work to get vaccines for local diseases up and running, but he can skip a lot of steps if they'll give him space to put a lab and list the common names of diseases. For injuries here are various things that are useful to promote healing, prevent infection generically, pin bones together, etc., etc. If anyone has acute poisoning problems he can address that personally but it's a little harder to give them the stuff to do it on their own.

Space for a lab can definitely be arranged. He can have a roof and extend its attached building, he can have room two floors down that is empty except for a water tank in the corner, that is a storehouse which can be filled or not to help keep the island balanced and is currently empty, he can have another open parkspace far from the city center. They can definitely list the local diseases.

The doctors... Are not up to Cam's standards, but they're not terrible at their jobs. The place also has more standard health woes, from eyesight problems (they have this covered mostly, they're good at glass), to cancer to heart/endocrine/mental health issues. But the diseases and injuries are definitely most urgent.

The Head of Construction wants electricity. For lights, elevators, power tools...

from_scratch

Cam can do electricity while his experiments with various viruses and bacteria are running in the water tank room. (He is exquisitely careful about making sure all his viruses and bacteria are sealed up.)

Cam gives them what he's got on heart disease and cancer and psychiatric drugs.

Where would they like their generators? He recommends wind power, considering.

When Cam is no longer in front of all the Important Ministers one of the doctors assigned to tell him about the place's health problems asks about contraception.

The Weightminder has finished his plans about where to add floatstone to the island.

The Head of Construction is going to need more information on the size, maintenance requirements, weight, etc, of the generators. "In all directions especially below the main city" is the general idea. There is a sort of rope scaffolding down there already, to catch accidental falls, that could be stiffened and hold generators.

from_scratch

Cam can do contraception! Is anybody here competent to learn surgery or should he go with the pill version?

He was planning to attach the generators to the floatstone itself; do they need to be mobile for reasons?

There's a surgeon and a surgeon-in-training who is apparently the first one's daughter. Whether Cam considers them sufficiently competent is probably a 'no' but they would clearly get a lot better with some modern sterilizers (as opposed to just soaking things in medical alcohol) and proper tools and textbooks.

The generators don't need to be mobile but most outside surface area of the floatstone is already occupied by windows, catwalks, etc.

from_scratch

Sterilizers: provided. IUDs are simple and noninvasive and probably better than the pill option for women's needs, but he declines to explain how to perform testicular surgery under the circumstances. The islands just jostle a little too much. Pills for dudes.

If they have so much trouble with finding good spots for wind generators maybe they'd like a little reactor? Or hydrogen generator, since they have no shortage of that.

There's a discussion of pros and cons, and eventually a decision that hydrogen generators are the better option.

from_scratch

Great. Those can go anywhere! He puts them where directed.

Most of them here, centralized for easy feeding and maintenance. And they get water out of it too, which is nice. The Head Librarian wants to know if she could have as many books as possible along with the new computers.

The lists of desired personal possessions are starting to come in, and clerks are boiling the lists down. The Weightminder has allotted 40 kilos per person, and changes this to 60 if Cam agrees to extend the place's floatstone.

from_scratch

Cam points out that paper books are heavy and he has not run out of other heavy things to make, yet; would she perhaps like digital books?

He is of course happy to extend the floatstone.

Yes, she meant digital books, she thought it was a given that she wanted computers for the library.

from_scratch

Computers she may have! And books, although he redacts the collection to omit information about summoning for the time being.

The librarian is not likely to notice this for a while, if ever.

The Head of Construction asks Cam, again, if he's quite sure he doesn't want anything in return.

Helric's Representative wonders if Cam would be willing to see if he can do anything for Helric's health. Which is heavily implied to be Not Good.

from_scratch

Cam does not want anything in return! When you are Cam, you basically don't need things!

What is wrong with Helric, pray tell?

Old age, more or less.

from_scratch

Well, Cam might be able to spruce him up a bit but he's not qualified to perform a brain transplant and neither is any of these people so that's the best he can do.

They'd like him to do that, at least, if he doesn't mind. Most of these people seem to genuinely like their King but there's a couple of disgruntled looks here and there.

(After the majority of useful stuff that uses electricity is installed, more than half of the lists of personal requests are done being collated and summarized.)

from_scratch

Cam spruces up the king. The procedures are mildly uncomfortable but over with pretty quickly.

He makes personal citizen request objects.