"I wonder how hard it would be to get you a warehouse... Anyway, those might be slightly farther future concerns than - what exactly are your plans for the next, let's say the next month?"

"Orienting to the situation - the metal heads' language will likely help with that, and the language the book the oracle recommended me is in."

"Prudent of you. I can't say that I'd want to launch straight into a humanitarian project on your planet, if I found myself there, either. But, ah, there are ways I expect the situation might deteriorate unfixably in that time."

"Oh?"

"According to our sources there's currently enough eco in reserve to run the shield wall for another two days. The baron's mining operations are under attack by metal heads right now, and as best I can tell the reserve is shrinking. The city might well be overrun in a matter of weeks. Our plan of last resort is to get the Precursor Stone, which I doubt you can conjure a copy of, and use it to destroy their nest, with substantial risk of casualties - uh, on both sides." He doesn't particularly care about metal head casualties and isn't particularly convincing at pretending to but he has a feeling it'll play well with Cam to try. "And I don't even know what the baron is planning next but rest assured there's no chance it won't endanger anyone."

"Does the Precursor Stone look like, uh, this -" He rummages in his models for the rock the Baron's daughter was after.

"It would have a version of that symbol on it, but records indicate it would have been green and not made of metal."

"Okay, uh, I can't make eco, but I could - go wade into the fight and see if the metal heads will back off if I'm indestructible at them and when my translation's up try to talk to them?"

"That sounds like the best plan anyone has proposed this year." This may be damning it with faint praise, a bit. "Ah, you can probably have a conversation without the translation, but only with the ones who can sound... intelligible."

"Oh, even better. Okay, gimme directions?"

"Well, your best bet would be the nest, but they might take it amiss if you just barged in. You could leave the city through either the dead town exit or the north drain, and try talking to the metal heads there - they won't be able to talk back, but they might know who could."

"I assume I shouldn't fly. How do I get to those on foot?"

There is, conveniently, a map of the city already hanging on the wall for him to point at. "We're here. The drain is here." It's near the oracle. "You'll need to enter through the same exit you leave by and ideally not change shape while you're gone or bring anything living in with you."

"...okay! I don't change shape, as a rule. Other last-minute advice?"

"If you go for a swim you'll be shot. I don't imagine you'll care. - When you get done with that, I'll have written a wishlist, in case you want to consider doing some conjuration for me."

"Sure, you wanna title your wishlist and I can check it out if I have downtime?"

"Things I Want, Volume One. And good luck out there."

"Thanks!"

And Cam heads out.

By now it's dusk. There aren't really streetlights but there are fires and neon signs. As Cam passes it, the propaganda station is claiming the resistance is dead.

The exit is set up like an airlock, with two doors that never open at the same time. A computerized voice warns Cam that he's leaving the city.

Outside the city, there is a beach. A small part of the beach is taken up by sand and trees and palm trees and sparse grasses and a large chunk of shattered metal something; beyond that there are tall cliffs and lots of plumbing-related infrastructure that would be tricky but not impossible to climb. A tall metal head with four legs and two arms is pacing aimlessly on the sand and does not immediately notice the door open.

"Excuse me!" Cam calls to it, waving his arm.

That gets its attention and gets him shot at. Not by a weapon it's visibly holding, but directly from one of its arms.

Gosh. He falls over. Gets back up. Approaches it.

This gets him shot at again.

It's really inconvenient for this plan that he's so unsteady on his feet. He encases the metal head's arm in a lot of ballistic gel and tries again.

The metal head hesitates and then starts trying to bite and rip the gel off, backing a few steps away from Cam.