"I think the first visitor to my dimension ought to be someone with flashy or useful but not really harmful powers, if possible... You know what, I just realized, my boss is friends with a state Senator. So I do have a contact who can get you talking to the government in a reasonable number of steps. Better than walking up to a government building, at least."

"We might need some time to figure out who to send, given that there is also the constraint of looking human at a glance. Temperance still sounds like the default candidate. ...My boyfriend might be a good pick, he is half-giant, but can change size."

"I feel in over my head. I'm trying to roll with it, but I think I need some time to process."

"I am so sorry. Do you want a pause? Anything we can do to help?"

"To be perfectly honest I want to go home, with writing materials you can summon back, and an intact car, and pick this up again tomorrow afternoon."

Eli nods. "We will get to it then," he stands up. "I will provide everything. Stay and breathe a little."

Adamos also stands up.

"I am not risking suffocation, I assure you. Just developing a headache thinking about plans for the future."

Eli nods. "I will set things up then. Do you want to wait here? Actually, it might be a good idea for you to check your car's progress."

"Very well." He stands up. "Offering to fix someone's wrecked car or electronic device and successfully doing it is a nice, constructive, non-threatening display of magic, come to think of it!"

"True. ...The beings that can do that are either unicorns or giants. Or hybrids of those. Which one do you think would be better to send over?"

"There's some very positive mythology built up around unicorns, and less positive myths about giants. Which is... Strange, that we'd have concepts that match up with the kinds of beings that exist here. Unicorns - shaped like horses, a single horn on the head, magic relating to purification or protection in some way, pure and innocent and harmless. That's the mythos for us, anyway."

"Oh. It's not a coincidence. I don't think. The magic draws on connections and even weak ones can have effect. Vitek's world also had myths about species like ours. Unicorns are not innocent and harmless, but have a stereotype of being non-confrontational and team players. Their power set does include things like purification, granting protection and similar beneficial effects."

They get back to the summoning room and his car. Which is in fact in one piece, except for some glass panes that are quickly un-cracking themselves.

"...Not qualified for this, but that is seriously impressive, everyone. Let's see if it turns on."

He opens the door and leans in, pulling keys out of his pocket, and tries.

Various people acknowledge the compliment at various level of gratitude.

It works perfectly. Maybe even better than before if there was any problem beforehand.

He turns it off again.

"Uh, on the general principle of making people aware of appropriate warnings, you should not run any combustion engine in a confined or poorly-ventilated space for long. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide builds up. It's even sometimes a method of relatively painless suicide... Ahem! So, just to recap the plan I'll be ready to receive a unicorn in about twenty-four hours, to set up a summoning beacon and possibly be introduced to a colleague I know, who knows a senator? I'll write on a notepad you give me and you can summon back once I am ready. Can the beacon be moved once made? I can get food or prepare a place for my guest to stay if I know what to prepare."

People have been busying themselves, presumably, to prepare for his departure.

"We might send someone else to do the summoning beacon part, but they don't need to stick around for long if we time it right. We will send the unicorn with them. The beacon can be movable, and it's better if it's a single non-foldable object, but we might come up with something that can be folded. Otherwise, that sounds like the plan."

"If it can fit into the trunk or the back seats, here, that would be convenient. Though I might have to rent a truck to get a unicorn places, anyway." Deep breath. "It's Eli, right? I'm bad at names at the best of times, and this is not the best of times. Like I've said a dozen times already... This is surreal."

It's a smallish SUV, so the trunk is not tiny.

"Eli, yes. No worry if you forget and sorry for the overwhelming situation, again. That should be big enough to fit most unicorns."

"I meant the beacon but alright. So. Home, now?"

"Oh, silly me. Yes, that should be big enough for the beacon. And home now, just a second."

They get him the writing implements (thick paper leafs with graphite stick).

Then they can get on with the inverted summoning ritual. Which apparently involves a lot of dancing and chanting accompanied by a light show, their bodies leaving an after-image as they move around-

And then he is back on Earth.

With his car in a dirt field on the side of a small road. No cops seem to be around, at least, so perhaps nobody noticed his mysterious absence? One can hope, anyway. 

...Is he very sure he isn't tripping or anything.

His phone buzzes with two emails as it finds the network again. Both spam.

Yes, he's very sure he is not tripping or anything. He drives home, worries about colonialism or magic interacting badly with technology or paranoia a lot, puts in a distracted day of work, tells Sarah Hensdale that he might have a unique opportunity relating to some new innovations to discuss with her, away from the office, this is not a come-on or anything, it's possibly political is all and she knows people and the possible implications more than this stuffy engineer does. Please? Would some time this weekend be good?

She is a little suspicious about how vague he is being but suggests a time on Saturday.

He writes a short message on the paper with the graphite stick when he gets home from work in the evening.

They reply. There is a fourteen-year old unicorn with the gifts of repairing and purification which should do for the demonstration. They want to send Temperance for the beacon, since Ida (the unicorn) lacks hands for the finer details. He won't stay for very long.

He writes that he is putting the paper in a good spot to land and sets it down in his garage.

Eventually, there is a light show.

Now there are two more beings in his garage.

One is an equine-like creature the size of a large-dog, with a single horn made of what looks like white crystal, wearing what could be considered the horse-body equivalent of a dress. Her mane is orange, and her body is an almost lustrous ivory.

The other looks like a human boy, maybe ten years old, wrapped in a toga-like veil that looks too big for his frame. "Hello! I am Temperance and this is Ida."