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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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"It'll probably be faster if you help me restart the power core and engines on my ship instead of, er, flying there yourself. Can I tell you to do things without intending them to be enforceable orders? It would save some annoying verbal maneuvering."
imeanforever
"Yes. It only counts if you mean them, and you can't mean them at me right now."
"I can still mean them if I sincerely believe it to be in your best interests, as my model of your interests interprets them. For example, if you were doing something that might cause my fusion core to explode and wipe out the next hundred miles of landscape along with you and me, I would order you to stop since I don't think you want to die. At any rate..."
He walks out of the house and back towards the ship, still at the end of a long trail of smashed trees.
He walks out of the house and back towards the ship, still at the end of a long trail of smashed trees.
imeanforever
"I can't die." She follows him. She looks back over her shoulder at the house. "How sure are you that you'll be able to keep him from giving orders though the ship?"
"I'm fairly sure he won't be able to reach us, but I can't be certain since magic is, in fact, a thing. I'll turn off all exterior sound pickups, change the damper harmonics to create white noise, lower the resolution on all the cameras until we can't see him writing anything unless he writes it with trees, in which case I'll have enough warning to blast whatever he's trying to write with phasers. I apparently can't shoot him, but I could light fires between him and us. Can he project his voice through walls? That would be a problem."
imeanforever
"His kind has no magic like that. And Yellow isn't a sorcerer."
Behind them, the house goes up in extremely energetic flames.
"I'm a sorcerer."
Behind them, the house goes up in extremely energetic flames.
"I'm a sorcerer."
"Heh, I was going to do that myself. Here, let me help."
His eyes look distant for a moment, and a beam of light and heat arcs from a tube on the side of the ship to the burning house. The burning house stops being a burning house and starts being burning wreckage flying in all directions.
"I'm a little concerned he could tell our names to all and sundry. I might be able to hold him down and force-feed him if I shut off the sound on my environment suit, but tricking him into eating something is probably out of the question, considering the no-longer-a-house."
His eyes look distant for a moment, and a beam of light and heat arcs from a tube on the side of the ship to the burning house. The burning house stops being a burning house and starts being burning wreckage flying in all directions.
"I'm a little concerned he could tell our names to all and sundry. I might be able to hold him down and force-feed him if I shut off the sound on my environment suit, but tricking him into eating something is probably out of the question, considering the no-longer-a-house."
imeanforever
"Feeding him won't help. It's why you had to feed me before giving me your name - food from a vassal doesn't work. Your mistrustful stunt didn't permanently wreck anything but if the rules that you didn't know were slightly different or you'd tried some other stunt you could have left us both trapped."
"I stand by my mistrust, since one person already had me for a slave. See, this is why I try to stick to known places. Emphasis on try. Every once in a while I get dropped somewhere that tries to kill or enslave me. This place is the first one that's succeeded."
They're at the ship now. A big door opens to let them into a big room mostly full of tree trunks.
They're at the ship now. A big door opens to let them into a big room mostly full of tree trunks.
imeanforever
In goes Promise.
She cannot help fix the ship, probably, so she just finds someplace to sit.
She cannot help fix the ship, probably, so she just finds someplace to sit.
A miniature army of not very person-like metal things move on wheels and rails, carrying tools and parts around to help Nick fix the ship.
"Say, did you say you can't die? Is that a property of fairies or sorcery? Because I'd like to buy it."
"Say, did you say you can't die? Is that a property of fairies or sorcery? Because I'd like to buy it."
imeanforever
"Fairies. I could maybe de-age you but I'd have to keep doing it."
"I'd appreciate de-aging, but it might not be worth it. I've only got three decades on me right now, so I'm good for another dozen or so. I somewhat doubt that you want to come with me when I leave the world, and I intend to never get within half a dozen jumps of this place again if I can help it."
imeanforever
"No. I just want a cutting of my tree and then to get as far away from Yellow and Thorn as possible without going somewhere where all the food is dangerous and sorcery doesn't work. Another continent would be good if you don't mind."
"I can do another continent, but not much further than that. I only have so much fuel. Would you like a primer on how some of my stuff works in exchange for answering more sorcery questions, voluntarily this time?"
"Thorium, a deuterium/tritium mixture, and hyperium. Thorium and deutritium are somewhat interchangeable and power my normal-space engines, hyperium powers the jump drive that lets me hop between worlds. How much explanation do you need as to what these materials are? This world seems to use magic instead of science for most things."
imeanforever
"I'm not familiar with the substances. ...If you have any substances that are similar but cheaper I can try transmuting them into your fuel, though, given the chance to look at samples of both."
"How similar does it need to be? Deutritium fluid is basically water with extra neutrons. But thorium is a heavy metal with somewhat similar physical properties to some other metals, I have no idea if you can work with that. And hyperium is almost impossible to make without specialized facilities, I don't really have anything at all similar to it."
imeanforever
"Metal to metal and water to peculiar water should be close enough."
"Great. Will my workshop be a good place to try transmuting things?"
imeanforever
"If that's convenient for you, I don't see why not. It will take me a few hours and moving me while I'm working on it will slow me down."
"Conveniently, 'a few hours' is also the time it will take to get the ship back in working order. It would be a good idea to wear a radiation suit if you're going to work with thorium. Pure thorium is radioactive and catches on fire easily, you would be sick for a long time if you inhaled any even if it didn't kill you. We can skip it completely if you want, it's not even as useful as deutritium. Drinking deutritium could also hurt you, but not nearly as gratuitiously as thorium can. And just to be clear on the deal - you transmute some fuel and I'll take you as far away as the fuel will take us. And if you want, tech explanations for sorcery explanations once we're away from Mr. Yellow."
They arrive at the workshop. He produces a metal canister and a plastic bottle. "The deutritium is inside the metal thing. The bottle has water. Twist them to open them. I'll be working on the engines, call me if you need anything and I can hear you from anywhere in the ship."
They arrive at the workshop. He produces a metal canister and a plastic bottle. "The deutritium is inside the metal thing. The bottle has water. Twist them to open them. I'll be working on the engines, call me if you need anything and I can hear you from anywhere in the ship."
imeanforever
"All right."
When he's left her be, she gets to studying the properties of the fluids and learning the parameters of this workshop in which she is to cast.
When he's left her be, she gets to studying the properties of the fluids and learning the parameters of this workshop in which she is to cast.
The fuel-water is fractionally heavier than the regular water. The difference is very subtle, but it's there.
Various tool-ish and metallic sounds come from the rest of the ship. Other than that, she will be undisturbed in this room for about three and a half hours.
Various tool-ish and metallic sounds come from the rest of the ship. Other than that, she will be undisturbed in this room for about three and a half hours.