"Then you can end- No. Transportation issues. You could alleviate material scarcity with that."

Hmm?

"Fresh metal is pretty hard to come by. Recycling and old wrecks are where we get at least ninety nine point nine percent of it. Lots of useful stuff, like air conditioning, we use sparingly because there's only so much metal to go around. So if you make yourself be wearing something with a lot of steel hanging off it, or something, and then take it off over and over again it'd improve everyone's lives in a sort of... Distributed way... Or does it not work that way?"

It doesn't work that way. She can make organic things like that - most organic things are dangerous and painful to remove, though, she has to make them as part of her body - but clothes and anything that couldn't've been part of a plant or animal will disappear if she removes them. If they want a bunch of, like, pearls, or wool, she can do that, but not metal.

"Ouch."

Pause.

"...Blood contains... No, fu- Forget I mentioned anything. We can get wood and cotton and stuff from regular old farming. No need for anything drastic and dangerous or painful."

"So, time to actually open up the engine?"

"Yeah, time to open up the engine."

He turns and grabs a wrench.

She watches.

It's the air filter. They spend twenty minutes pulling it out, fifteen fixing it, and ten putting it back in, then turn the engine on, chatting about the mechanics of it a bit during the process.

Engine turns on. They rev it up some. "Seems good!"

That was really cool! She appreciates them letting her watch.

"Yeah, mechanics is neat - I first started watching people work when I was, like, ten. Actual classes came a bit later."

She didn't have a chance until recently, but she's been learning a lot. She hasn't had any classes, though, she mostly learned from books.

"Well, we have some books, but mostly it's experts teaching new people. We build or fix ships and engines and everything else and sell them to keep our stocks of food up, so we have to be good at it."

That's very cool. Are the teachers nice? Does he think they might be interested in taking her on as a student?

"The teachers are... Teachers. I'm not sure how to tell if they're nice. Mr. Dunlop criticizes assignments very thoroughly and says 'the laws of physics don't give partial credit'?"

Hm. She might have to just meet them. (She's still calm, but it seems a little forced, now.)

"It's pretty useful for getting everything right, actually. And he'll help you fix what you overlooked." He shrugs.

The engine cuts off behind him, and his friend says, "Not to interrupt but, uh, we should look over everything again and then tell Vane it's working again."

She's not in a rush, she can wait.