"I'm expecting a lot of problems but I don't know which are actually likely or anything... Canada might be a good government to approach. America's northern neighbor, they have a lot of chilly unused remote wilderness and are generally regarded as relaxed and reasonable and friendly... Maybe you can put a dome on Mars instead and fill it with air or something."

He makes another confused face. "Oh, a planet, not a god. Yeah, there is no way which placing thousands of people somewhere unfamiliar won't cause problems, fatal problems." He says gravely. "Canada sounds good from that description. Could you elaborate on the Mars idea? It doesn't have breathable atmosphere?"

"We named the planets after gods, because of course we did. It's Earth's nearest neighbor planet. People talk about going to colonize the place eventually, sometimes. It has ground and gravity and a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and is very cold, but it's very far away and you wouldn't get visitors without going and fetching them yourselves for years, minimum, if you set up there."

"... It is at least worth as a place to exile the potentially dangerous. The dome idea might be practical, but requires air and weather controllers and purifiers. We can set up portals for food transport."

"Oh, lovely, you have prisoners? ...I vaguely recall something about using the lava tunnels?"

"We do, of course? I was mostly thinking of the less cooperative magical beings, specially dragons and spirits. Maybe the shape-shifting sea serpents that we trust less. Using lava tunnels, once emptied of lava, could be useful too, even if they are small enough to only work as cells."

"Well. Of course you do. That will be fun to discuss with a government. Not. Er. I know basically nothing about colonizing Mars. I'm sure the internet would have interesting things to say about it, though of course there's no substitute for experts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."

Well, the word internet sure makes him blink. "Your world is very interestingly different. And we expect a lot of fun things to discuss. How much of a hassle is it going to be to talk to people of that National Aeronautics and Space Administration?"

"You can probably tempt some by being from another world, but I don't know anyone there and if you cold-call them claiming to be an alien they'll just think you're pulling a prank. Hmm..."

"I mean, we could do a very showy and indirect display of power. Writing in the sky with my weather powers, maybe? And then cold-call them if they want to meet aliens. What is a cold-call? Also, elaborate on the internet?"

"I was sort of trying to test how much context you get. Cold calling is contacting someone remotely, by telephone - which transmits audio over long distances to targets chosen by a number you type in - without having any kind of personal connection or introduction. It can be annoying. The internet is... Many devices that can display and manipulate information all sending the information to each other. Sort of like an ethereal library that anyone can put a new book - website - into. Though it all runs on real hardware that someone has to pay to keep working. I work with telephones, fixing and maintaining the systems that run the whole network."

"Ooh. The context I got was something like connected network of number-based machines? Which prompted a gut reaction that all the nerds I know would be very interested in it. My gut reaction is confirmed and compounded. Is it hard to get an internet? and telephone network?"

"I have never tried to build a new internet from scratch before and honestly that sounds like a fascinating project. You'd need to buy a lot of things. Telephone network is probably easier, but I might be biased since I work with those."

"It definitely sounds like a long-term and complicated project. The nerds won't be deterred. Did it take you long to learn your trade?"

"Electrical engineering is the relevant academic credential. Formally speaking, it's a four-year course in college - formalized institutions of learning. Plus we have universal or nearly-so education - starting from the age of about six until about eighteen. College comes after the end of 'high school'. But I was also a nerd both before and after college and learned a lot of what I know now working in the industry."

Eli nods along. "That still sounds like a very practical time frame for something that I just heard of. Oh- your car is about to be summoned here." He tilts his head.

There is a pause and Eli flinches about the same time there is a slight tremor on the ground. "Well, we got all the pieces. Is there anything inside you might want sooner rather than later?"

"Black backpack has my laptop computer in it, if you want to see the shiny tech in action? Perhaps you will figure out how to make electricity with magic in time to keep using it for a while - the battery will last for an hour or so. It's old. D'you have a sense I don't? You seem oddly well informed about what's happening elsewhere."

Eli focus for a bit. "It broke. But we can just get the one of the people that were going to fix your car to fix it. And I can make electricity quite easily." He illustrates this with small sparks between his fingers. "Do you want some tea, since we are bringing things over? I can sense the weather through my weather power. But I know this stuff because... well, I have a companion, it's complicated, but one of the four-armed giants that you saw is a copy of my mind in a companion's body - which isn't the standard, but my life definitely isn't standard. We can communicate through telepathy."

"...Questions for days. For weeks. How does the repairing work, anyway? Perhaps you should grab the case in my trunk as well. My work tools. See if you can replicate wall outlet current so you don't fry my electronics. Does repairing a book restore the words written in it? Ah, tea, sure, why not."

"Okay, passing that along." He will report what else is in there in case Terence wants it as well. "Repairing brings objects to a past state based on the intentions of the last time they have been purposefully worked over by a person. Though, 'worked over' can be very indirect. The magic will both try to bring the object back to that state and possibly improve upon it. There are blurred lines, like when someone breaks a piece of something and then uses the broken piece to create something new. In which case, the magic defaults to the newer change, but can directed to an older state if the user is aware of what the old state was. Repairing a book does restore the words written in it, yes? If we fry anything it can be fixed, but I understand if you don't want to risk it. It's not possible to half-craft something and use this to take it all the way. It's possible to use it to duplicate things, but that often leaves the magic confused and can lead to loss of function in the separated parts."

"Electronic storage contains data written to extreme precision, sometimes as small as a few dozen nanometers. I'm not sure what odds to place that your repair can restore fragmented drive disks. Can duplicating things make more material or energy than one started with?"

"Okay. With something that small I don't know. Duplicating can create more materials, yes."

"That's a potential complication and potential route for profit at the same time. The most paranoid generals might be worried you could duplicate a nuclear weapon. I doubt that would actually come up, but it's what my mind lept to... Rare metals can be sold for a lot of money too, and if you destabilize things by making them less rare that could annoy people, too. Something to be at least slightly cautious about."

"Nuclear is… explosion through something related to transmutation? I should note that it is easier to duplicate stuff if you have base materials for it and you have to take steps to make the separated pieces not join each other or further damage themselves while trying to join each other. You also can only fix so much without a fraction of the original and triplicating is exponentially harder. That all said. The real danger of instability is from the transmutation gift which can directly change matter. I am gonna guess most gemstones are expensive where you are from too? They should be a bigger issue than rare metals."

There is a knock at the door and someone's head peeks through the half open door. It is a... maybe thirteen feet tall boy, hard to tell his age, he is wearing what could be a blacksmith apron. "Hi? May I come in?"