"No, but I'm pretty sure turning cotton into denim does...I could be wrong, I don't pay a lot of attention to textiles, it's not an area of interest for me or anyone who lets me into their head a lot. I'm not doubting your word, mind, just trying to get as much of a feel for the system you have in place as possible."

"I don't pay attention to textiles either but I think there's... spinning? Weaving? Those being textile things."

"Science is a pretty comprehensive concept, though, you need to experiment to see what techniques will work and which ones won't. I think denim needs more processing than a lot of things? I don't know. I'm just taking shots in the dark. You know what, I live in a boarding school, surely someone amongst the teachers and students has a relevant expertise. I'm going to see if I can get anyone to volunteer advice if not direct help."

"If you like."

She heads toward the door.

The door ceases to exist. How impolite of it.

'...Bar, why did the door go away?' There is an edge of fear in Edie's mental voice.

I cannot speculate on the reasoning behind it, but it is very unlikely to keep you here for longer than a day or two. Probably less. I apologize; I cannot control the door or contact whoever does.

"...Um, do you have money to get yourself food here...? Like, I'm a college student but if you don't I can probably cover you for the day or two."

"What? Yeah, I have some money on me." she fidgets a little. "I just don't like being separated from my sister, that's all."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It could be worse. I get to go home when this is over, and everyone's going to be okay, and as long as I'm holding the door while other people go in and out we should still be able to improve the state of the art in medical technology, and that by itself would be worth it. It's just a little uncomfortable in the meanwhile."

"I'm an only child so I guess I don't know what it's like."

"Well, it's different for us than it is for normal siblings. We're twins, and I've been a telepath since before we were born. Not having her in the back of my head is literally physically uncomfortable."

"Wow. I've never heard of prenatal telepathy doing much of anything like that. Although I guess I don't know any subtle artist twins."

"Oh, my sister's not a telepath. She does magnetism. Which...you probably don't have in no-science world. She can manipulate metal and fly and do a couple of other things that make sense if you science at them."

"I think magnetism exists? I'm not actually sure. But if it exists it's obscure. The word translates, anyway."

"Well, you couldn't get half of what my sister and Dad do with it without the use of science, I'm sure. I wonder if your planet is a magnet like ours is."

"If it is I haven't heard about it."

"Do you have a north? I think magnetism is part of what distinguishes north from south..."

"There's a north, yeah, and a south and an east and a west."

"Magnetism has north and south poles, just like a planet. Compasses point north because they're a bit magnetic, and can be less accurate if you're close to another source of magnetic fields. Not that I can have any confidence that yours would work the same way."

"That doesn't sound really familiar."

"It would be foolish to expect it to, if I sound like a cartoon character to you. ...I wonder if you'd sound like a cartoon to me, if you were to describe how your world works. Well, to someone from my world, anyway, I've never been fond of cartoons. Or any other form of television, for that matter."