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Hank wakes up.
Of all the usual results of a blow to the head, this one probably isn’t even in the top four. One minute a misunderstanding with a crowbar and a man called Hercules—in retrospect that should have been a warning sign—the next…something else.
This isn’t the Colt Arms Factory, and it isn’t even Hartford. He’s in the middle of a ravine he’s never seen before. Must be a practical joke by someone who’s about to be unemployed. He groans, pushes himself to his feet, and works his way up the nearest slope. On second thought, this is less of a practical joke and more of a dream. The half-clockwork dog would be decidedly impractical to fake, and the enormous bipedal beetle is far too well-dressed.
At the top there’s a fence, with signs facing the other side. No gate is in evidence, but the fence isn’t too much of an obstacle. From the other side, the signs can be read as saying variations on “beware of the magic.” Huh.
From atop the slope, there’s at least a clearly visible destination. A nearby city, it may not be any city that was nearby when he was last conscious, but it’s better than here. He heads toward it.
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connecticut_yankee
namesthesky
"Incremental freedom is still an improvement. Discourages deliberate slave-breeding and means more children of mixed parentage are born free, cuts financial incentives to tweak the severity of crime for which sale is punishment."
connecticut_yankee
"Hm. What are the main tasks people employ slave labor for? I might have ways to reduce demand for more than just harvesting crops."
namesthesky
"Besides farming, slaves are used mostly for domestic servitude, construction, sex, and miscellaneous incidentals such as scribe work."
connecticut_yankee
"Most of the ways I could affect construction would take more startup time, house work and incidentals don't sound like a priority, and...we are going to end this as soon as possible."
connecticut_yankee
"Maybe publish designs for every agricultural invention I can think of, wait for everyone to have the best year on record, and then announce that the rest of everything stays out of backwards places like this one?
Down side of that one is we stay broke."
Down side of that one is we stay broke."
namesthesky
"You can certainly sell a few harvesters before anyone will allow them to be disassembled casually."
connecticut_yankee
"I suppose I could sell some and then publish the designs so everyone gets one. Bit hard on whoever buys them while they're rare, though...do you have a former master you'd like to see pay through the nose for it?
In any case, first order of business would still be a demonstration copy of the combine and as many related machines as possible."
In any case, first order of business would still be a demonstration copy of the combine and as many related machines as possible."
namesthesky
"I do remember the name of the fellow who owned me until I was six. And here is Sunrise Row." It is a residential street, containing residences. Some of them have signs advertising rooms and amenities.
connecticut_yankee
It doesn't look quite up to the standards of 1879 Connecticut, but that's hardly a priority.
"My main concern is access to a space where assembling machinery is less frowned on; presumably they don't take kindly to that sort of thing in the rooms. Other than that, any one is as good as the next."
"My main concern is access to a space where assembling machinery is less frowned on; presumably they don't take kindly to that sort of thing in the rooms. Other than that, any one is as good as the next."
connecticut_yankee
"Preferably, but the importance mainly depends on how likely people here are to try to walk off with a half-finished large object they don't understand."
namesthesky
"The person who sold me to the outfit you found me at was selling off other assets, too, and I know he inherited a small dairy farm and found the goats easier to be rid of than the land. It may still be available. Will that do?"
connecticut_yankee
"Absolutely. Meets all one of the criteria. Contingent on being able to buy it, of course, and still have enough left to hire some smiths."
namesthesky
"It might not pan out, but it's the lead I have. We could also park in the buffer zone near a magic if budgeting for workspace is impractical."
connecticut_yankee
Hank shrugs. "It sounds like a good idea. And the craftsmen aren't going to output pieces of machinery instantly; there's time."
namesthesky
"The buffer zone is rather dangerous if one doesn't know exactly where the magic starts, and sometimes embroidered animals can be destructive and it's likeliest near the magics, but this does mean no one is already using most of it. We'd have to maintain the signage around wherever we were set up, but wouldn't incur other land costs."
connecticut_yankee
"Good to know that's not much of a problem. Even if there are destructive animals, I can get a gun fairly quickly."
connecticut_yankee
"Think of a handheld explosion, propelling a slug of metal somewhere over half as fast as the speed of sound. Some animals need to be brought down by a bigger gun than others, but animals as a class get far less dangerous."
namesthesky
"While magics produce a wide range of effects, including harmless things from your timekeeper to you, there is no particular reason to believe that they definitely won't turn a fruit fly into a firebreathing elephant-shark hybrid with spikes, or something. The gun sounds very impressive but most people prefer to avoid dangerous magic results via distance for a reason. It's cheap to go there for a reason. It will probably not get us killed but it should not be the default option if it turns out we can afford something farther away from the magic."
connecticut_yankee
"I'm all for less risk; I just mean that it can be less dangerous than it would for most people.
Is it possible for a magic to stop being a magic?"
Is it possible for a magic to stop being a magic?"
namesthesky
"Occasionally. Or vice-versa. Usually if there's an earthquake or a flood or a volcanic eruption or something like that."
connecticut_yankee
"I'll put it on the to-do list.
Not that we're likely to run out of more important things for the foreseeable future, of course."
Not that we're likely to run out of more important things for the foreseeable future, of course."