Cam keeps an eye on them in case he needs to materialize airbags.

He doesn't.

Someone in Krimzon Guard armor asks who he is and what he's up to.

"I'm Cam! I put the statue over there and now I'm done. Do you like it?"

"Do I like it? I, um, I think it's kind of artistically lacking - are you the alien who arranged the truce with the metal heads?"

"That's me! I'm about to go visit them again, would you like to pass on any messages?"

"Messages. To the metal heads." She giggles slightly hysterically. "Sure, why not, ask if one of them wants to be my penpal!"

"I'll make a note of it." He writes this down on his computer and looks for a clear space to take off; fortunately in a zoomer-populated city this is not that hard.

Plenty of convenient clear space. There's even a ledge to jump off if that's better.

It doesn't!

To the metal heads.

To the metal heads. The very articulate one he spoke to before is busy somewhere but Billy is around.

"Hi Billy! I'm looking for a rift gate. Do y'all have a rift gate? Also somebody wants a metal head pen pal."

Yeah! There are specific humans we're supposed to let use the rift gate and an artifact for it if they ask. You're not one of them, though. What's a pen pal?

"A pen pal is someone who you exchange letters with. I don't want to go through the rift gate, I just want to make sure it's available for some people who need to go through it for time loop reasons; can you tell me who it is you mean to let through?"

A green one, a fake Precursor, and two I wouldn't recognize but our leader would. Not necessarily all at once. We're not completely sure who has to go to make the history we know happen. If it helps, one of them is young and important.

I'll ask around about the pen pal thing.

"How do you guys know who is supposed to go?"

Our leader saw them on the way out of the rift.

"Stands to reason. You guys want more snacks while I'm here?"

Sure! You know, they also eat meat in the city, in case you care about yakows and flut-fluts.

"I will set them up with vat meat infrastructure before I go home but if yakows and flut-fluts are animals I do not care about them all that urgently." Meat.

The way you do moral reasoning is weird. Thank you for the meat.

"How do you do moral reasoning? People keep telling me dark eco messes with that but I don't know if that's what you're noticing or something else."

I'll write up a summary but you might as well conjure it later, it might get long.

"Sure, that works fine. You can write me about would-be pen pals too."

He flies back in to report that the gate is available to the described parties.

Older Samos is still floating in the forest and glad to hear the gate is available. (Younger Samos is busy having a 3D video call with an architect.)

The one they call a fake Precursor is lying on top of the bar at the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon, flirting with the bartender.

Does Older Samos think they need to bring the fake Precursor and/or apprise him of anything such that Cam should go interrupt?