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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.
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"Phasers. They - hm. They're hard to explain. Basically they explode the first thing they hit."
"Interesting. What kind of tools?"
"Cutter, joiner, reshaper, threader, power sources, various electronics, a metal purifier, and mechanical things like wrenches and screwdrivers and so on. I had a flying thing smaller than the ship, but it broke in the crash. Oh, and medical machines and kitchen utensils. Am I really that interesting? Shall I list my forks and spoons?"
"Only volunteer extraneous remarks if you think they'll help me," says Yellow. "But to answer your question, you are in fact very interesting. One doesn't see mortals too often here."
"By the way, my weapons are all disabled. It looks like they don't like this world. They're safetied and trying to remove the safeties will destroy them."
Not technically lying.
Not technically lying.
"Don't like the world?" wonders Yellow.
"The laws of physics, the rules of how materials and forces interact, are subtly different here. That's why I crashed instead of pulling up and flying somewhere else - my engines died when I got here."
"Huh. Will other things in your ship still work?"
"Some of them, maybe. I don't think I can tell without going and checking each individual thing."
"Mm. How easy is it for someone to get into the ship and take the stuff without you helping?"
"I would be extremely surprised if anyone managed it."
"Assume they have sorcery."
"What's sorcery?"
"Magic. My other vassal's a sorcerer, she could answer your questions about it whenever she gets home. What would go wrong if someone tried to loot the ship without you?"
"They would probably break lots of stuff if they don't know how to handle it right. If they breached the fusion core or tried to open any of the tools, they might explode."
Hesitation. Can he avoid mentioning the security AI? Yes, apparently.
Hesitation. Can he avoid mentioning the security AI? Yes, apparently.
"Well, your crash was pretty visible. I'm going to want your help clearing everything useful and portable out of it sooner rather than later, anyone might have seen it. Think about the most efficient least destructive way to do that for me until further notice, a clear-cut emergency, or my other vassal's return."
He thinks about using his robots to move things around. He doesn't actually activate them.
"Hmm. Got any paper? I can draw up procedures."
"Hmm. Got any paper? I can draw up procedures."
"Lots. She likes to draw. Go into her room, it's that one, and take some out of the stack on her desk, and something to write with."
So he does that. And starts writing about how to dig tunnels under the lake and store things space-efficiently.
imeanforever
Yellow goes into his own room.
And then a girl who looks almost human except for the hawthorn-leaf wings comes into the house.
She is surprised and alarmed to see Nick.
And then a girl who looks almost human except for the hawthorn-leaf wings comes into the house.
She is surprised and alarmed to see Nick.
"I am as unhappy about this as you seem to be. Would you mind explaining why I am unable to disobey that irritating man?"
"I told him my name. Hm, that explains why he ordered me not to eat anything. Is that what causes it? Eating and names?"
"Thinking about the best way to cannibalize my ship for his personal use. He didn't order me to actually start, or to not make it harder, though." A little smirk.