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One day in fairyland, there is an immensely bright flash of light a about a mile above the ground. Something like a metal house is suddenly flying through as if it came through a portal, faster than all but the fastest fairies.
It's flying, not directly down, but still very much towards the ground. It does not take long for it to stop flying and start carving through earth and trees. Eventually it runs out of momentum near a certain lake. The thing seems to still be in one piece, which is rather miraculous considering the two miles of destroyed trees behind it.
After a few minutes, a mortal covered in unusually bulky clothes emerges from the thing. All that is visible is his face. He starts inspecting the outside of his space oddity.
A short, winged person with insect wings and highlighter-yellow hair lands in one of the nearby intact trees.
"Why hello mortal," he says.
"Hello. My sincere apologies for the destruction. My jump drive malfunctioned pretty badly and I ended up here. Somehow. This place smells like magic. It doesn't seem to have a curvature, for one thing. Is this place magic?"
"This place? Not more than most places," comes the reply. "I'm Yellow, what's your name?"
"Most places I've been don't have magic at all, I don't like not knowing the rules. I'm Nick."
Yellow laughs at him. "Don't tell anyone else that. Follow me," he adds, and he heads in a direction.
"What." He follows. He looks very distracted, if Yellow is paying any attention.
"You'll learn the rules soon enough," Yellow comments. "Oh, and don't do anything creative or try to get away. And don't hurt my other vassal."
He doesn't say not to hurt him. Maybe he doesn't have to.
He doesn't say not to hurt him. Maybe he doesn't have to.
Just to see, Nick tries to draw and aim and fire something on his belt. He gets stuck at 'fire'. He swears and puts it away.
What counts as creative? Can he mess with the inertial dampers' settings, try to immobilize everything nearby? No, he can't, apparently that's 'creative'.
He can turn off his environment suit's microphone. That's not creative, really, it's a standard feature. He turns it back on so he doesn't end up suspiciously failing to notice orders, but he's ready to shut it off again.
"What do you want?"
What counts as creative? Can he mess with the inertial dampers' settings, try to immobilize everything nearby? No, he can't, apparently that's 'creative'.
He can turn off his environment suit's microphone. That's not creative, really, it's a standard feature. He turns it back on so he doesn't end up suspiciously failing to notice orders, but he's ready to shut it off again.
"What do you want?"
"A mortal of my very own, what else?" They're approaching the lake; there's a little house at the shore.
He follows, silent and glaring angrily.
"You'll need a nickname; pick something and tell me what it is. In you go. Don't do any damage, the ceilings are a bit low."
He considers making a nickname from his last name- No, being under more than one other person's control can't possibly be an improvement. "Liam." He goes in and doesn't do any damage.
"So tell me, Liam," says Yellow, "what is that contraption you crashed?"
"It's my ship. I built most of it. And I didn't crash it, this world crashed it by suddenly appearing in front of me." He takes a good look around, what is this house like?
The house is built on a smaller-than-human scale, but not so tiny that he can't move around in it if he watches his head. It has in the main area some seating and a sort of kitchen-esque area and a bookshelf, and two doors into other rooms; it's roomy, comfortable, the sort of place one would build if this were the space one wanted without considering showing off to the neighbors, of whom there are none. A bit in the back opens into the lake.
"Don't drink the lakewater, don't eat anything I don't give you," mentions Yellow, "you may have some of the water out of that basin there if you're thirsty, don't leave the house without permission... Explain in more detail what your ship is and does."
"Don't drink the lakewater, don't eat anything I don't give you," mentions Yellow, "you may have some of the water out of that basin there if you're thirsty, don't leave the house without permission... Explain in more detail what your ship is and does."
He turns off the suit microphone (with no visible action) at the first 'if' after 'you may have some water' and turns it back on halfway through 'permission'. He neglects to mention the IV feed in his suit.
"My ship is a two-engine single-core jump capable cargo vessel. It uses the Endriel II power schema, very reliable, if a bit inefficient. It is designed to carry large amounts of things between planets and survive on its own in the hostile vacuum of space for months or years if necessary. Length is 42 meters, beam is 26 meters, height is 14 meters. Cargo volume is 6000 cubic meters. It's twenty-nine years old. It's probably badly damaged by the crash, but I haven't checked."
"My ship is a two-engine single-core jump capable cargo vessel. It uses the Endriel II power schema, very reliable, if a bit inefficient. It is designed to carry large amounts of things between planets and survive on its own in the hostile vacuum of space for months or years if necessary. Length is 42 meters, beam is 26 meters, height is 14 meters. Cargo volume is 6000 cubic meters. It's twenty-nine years old. It's probably badly damaged by the crash, but I haven't checked."
"What's a planet?"
Nick could choose not to answer this question, if he wanted to see what that would do to Yellow's disposition.
Nick could choose not to answer this question, if he wanted to see what that would do to Yellow's disposition.
"A planet is a large ball of rock, surrounded by a thin layer of air, surrounded by nothingness. Most places are planets. Is here not?"
"No. What does jump capable mean? Oh - and never lie to me."
"Jump capable means it can cross between worlds under the right conditions, at considerable cost in fuel. I don't think it can jump from here." Left unsaid: In its current state, at least. "The laws of physics are different. What is this place's geography like? How is there a down without gravity? It doesn't make any sense!"
"We're on the Queenscontinent, if that's what you mean, but what would there be if not a down? What was your ship carrying?"
"Wood, mostly. I harvested it from a forest in the middle of nowhere, so I got it for free."
"Huh. What else is there on the ship? Order it from most to least interesting."
"Weapons, tools, seeds, medicine, food, fuel, spare parts, my personal effects, water and air supplies, probably some dust and trash."
"What kind of weapons?"