"Gosh," she says, looking it over.

"I think I'm past the point where pretending serves me at all. Yes, I have lost technology. Several pieces of it, in fact. This is the kind of electricity the most interesting piece supposedly requires."

"If you have the plans how come you haven't built it yet?"

"I don't have plans. I have specifications - I have a list of qualities the electricity must have, and no blueprints for a device for actually making it."

The fairly demanding specifications indicate that it's probably something big or industrial. Possibly a big robot or manufacturing equipment of some kind.

She pages through it. "This looks pretty heavy-duty. How big is your lost technology?"

"Perhaps twice the size of my desk. Though much heavier." He looks slightly annoyed at that fact. (It's a big, fancy desk.)

"This much power output might run a few things that size but you probably don't need all that for just one. Can I see it?"

"...Oh, very well. It's not like it's stealable. And you do seem to know what you're doing. We'll have to go to my residence."

"Can't scare me."

Off they go, then. It's not a super long walk. Past the gardener and housekeeper, into the basement (as much as 'basements' are even a thing in such a vertically-oriented city.) The whole area is made out of non-flammable material and it's lit by oil lamps he starts as they go down - almost the first artificial light Tarinda has seen anywhere on Cloudbank.

It's a low bulky piece of industrial equipment. It's a little beat up and dusty, but not otherwise visibly damaged. The chromed label says Tranquility Industries General Purpose Fabricator.

"Gosh," she says. And she gives it a very thorough inspection.

"I hope you can see now why I'm so very cautious with it, and with any information surrounding it," Mr. Griffings says. "If it could be made to work... It would be like magic. Like a miracle. It would be the key to bringing the world of the ancestors, of abundance and security, back. It may very well be the most precious and irreplaceable object on Cloudbank."

It's sealed aside from some data ports and a very heavy-duty power socket on the back. The exact design is unfamiliar, but it looks like it can purify and synthesize things over here, and also act as an extremely precise 3D printer over there.

Page can figure out its actual power specs from the socket.

Mr. Griffings had it right, actually. What a power-hungry beast this is... Though it has a low-power mode and can run on much less, just probably a lot slower.

"So it can actually suck up all the juice your specs called for, or it can run probably pretty slow on less than that. And once we have it working I can see about having it spit out stuff I'd need to build some better power generation options and even better swag."

"That sounds like an extremely worthwhile project. Tell me what you need and I will get it."

"Now we're talking. Do you want to write this down -"

He takes out a notebook, gaze sharp. Eager.

She lists, carefully, precisely, gaze a little spacey as she reads off Page's results. "- and I'm willing to contribute my sword to the project if I get a free hand with some of the fabber's time after it's running at full speed."

"Of course. For continued assistance- We'll work out the details later. That may be necessary, I'll know tomorrow. I was thinking - can a fabricator make another fabricator?"

"I don't know if it can do that by default, but I can make something that can without having to exactly duplicate this one's parts."

"I want to try that. Tools making tools making tools. Redundancy. If you can make it work... Well, one step at a time. Before I go start acquiring things, may I ask what you want to make with it?"

"You have probably guessed that I'm from very far away. We have - we have everything. And I don't know how to make everything, but I know how to build something that does."

He nods, looking thoughtful. "Yes, you're from very far away. You have a superhuman body and see things nobody else does. And you told me as much, that you're from 'Mars'. I thought it was some sort of trick at first... Cloudbank could really use some 'everything'."

"I'd like nothing more than to supply it."