"A planet's what happens when there's not an infinite plane declaring that this direction is down.  ...I wonder if there's a bottom of the world, here.  Or a top.  I think you'd have probably observed something eventually happen to evidence the latter, though.

"...hang on, how the fuck do you even have minerals without stellar fusion?  Who created this universe?  It shouldn't have this much similarity to mine!  The nuclear stuff just doesn't work in - what if it's the pressure - but then you have no upwelling - and what makes suns?

"Maybe the suns and the bottom of the world or lack thereof have something in common, some sort of weird spatial shenanigans, because I'm pretty sure this shouldn't be stable, and that the suns would have to either have had some very weird universe formation conditions occur or, honestly more likely in my opinion, have been designed and then scattered somehow, leaving alone whatever the hell keeps them moving stably!

"Anyway.  Businesspersoning is Ophelia's job."

"And it is my pleasure to demonstrate to you that I can in fact speak sensible Nlaaki, given the chance; despite having quite a tendency to ramble on when prompted, our Mira does know the virtue of letting professionals work in their fields of expertise.  She simply thinks that she is often the most knowledgeable in the room, or in our head, I suppose.  It's not that we don't share information, but she does find connections other mindsets simply wouldn't."

"Well, I hope that works for you... If you're going to switch that seamlessly you should maybe get a swatch to change the color of your shirt whenever you do it."

"It does seem like it might be useful; I'll add it to our list.  My thanks.  Might I inquire as to the appropriate nonverbal cues with which one might politely show appreciation for services rendered?  And, one supposes, other useful gestural communication.  Mira's quite curious if any particularly enterprising linguists have invented sign language, speaking of - and furthermore, if there's any analogue to Deaf culture here, given the very differing social pressures involved when it is at most an outpatient procedure to alter the capability to hear, or lack thereof, on a body, especially when it seems like that would happen in the lifecycle of a born-deaf local without particular intervention, given the nature of most cohabitation.  Then again, one imagines it is hard to determine if a child is deaf before introspection, thought, and, therefore, opinion comes to them, including such about their body and its proper form and function...

"...Ah.  We have stumbled on to my particular field of interest.  My apologies; that is a discussion for sociologists, and likely in and of itself a rather fraught topic.  There is certainly heated discourse levied on this subject at home, and I wouldn't recommend bringing it here without particular need.  I would, however, be gladdened to have an opportunity to talk about the workings of the mind in more detail, if you have such interests.  One thing we, Mira and I, do share is a love of spreading knowledge, even if she is a much poorer teacher than I."

"...none of my kids are deaf so, yeah, I have no idea."

"And in the off-chance that Mira's right about something truly absurd, we would prefer to avoid stoking discourse.

"Let's move on to some other topic of discussion, shall we?  I believe there are a few projects we could talk about, if you have the time."

"I don't have forever but I've got the rest of this sand."

"Of blackpowder, our letter, and...bother, what was the third thing?  Well.  The thought will eventually come back, we hope.

"We did have an idea for arranging a method of lighter-than-air flight through troportation, in other news.  As contrasted with methods of also-possible heavier-than-air flight.  That's not your field, however."

"It's not, but it sounds maybe interesting? I think flying vehicles are hard to steer."

"Yes, lighter-than-air flight has quite the problem of getting tossed around in the air that it's lighter than.  Powered flight works more like..."  She finishes folding, then tosses, a paper airplane...  "This, exploiting aerodynamics, but would likely, even with troportation, require first reinventing the engine."

"Like sailing?" Wheat asks, peering at the paper plane.

"Something like that, yes.  Or like skipping rocks."

"I've never gotten the hang of that."

"Me neither.  Anyway, yeah, it's something to do with airflow over the wings having less pressure than the other side because of reasons, and thereby turning lateral movement into a buoyant, contra-gravitic force.  At least I think that's the way it went.  I remember a lot more of the details of building things than the theory."

"Well, it might be promising, but a lot of things you talk about might be promising and I don't know if this one is especially so."

"There are so many promising things but this promising thing wants engines to exist first."

"Are engines themselves promising?"

"Emphatically so.  Probably the most promising thing."

"- are you still going to think they're the most promising thing in two sands?"

"Yes.  Almost everything I have the slightest idea how to make works better with engines, or is effectively a precursor thereto."

"Are you going to pick a precursor and stick with it long enough to get it built?"

"I should be able to work out a heat engine before my attention span Happens."

"What does that kind of engine do?"

"Turns heat differentials, which troportation can easily produce, into motion."

"Like with ice?"