View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
The craft store where Anda[A] works is closed for the summer solstice, so A is at the park, sitting on a picnic blanket with A's back to a tree and embroidering geometric designs on one of A's shirts (not the one A is wearing). A was hoping to finish this cuff before sunset, but it's warm and there's a soft breeze blowing and there's really no rush, is there, so once he gets to a good stopping point A folds up the shirt and lies down on the blanket for a nap. What a lovely day it is to be alive.
an Anomalan in raveria
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
"It's a car." She looks over a tablet-like object which Anda can't see the screen of; the lantern obligingly tilts to light it without any apparent action on the stranger's part. "What do you want the handcomp for."
do-all-the-things
"To to look up where I am and how to get back to Bridgecity. That being where I was before someone apparently moved me in my sleep." This sounds like complete nonsense and Anda is totally dreaming. "I am aware that that sounds ridiculous."
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
"Hm. - Try this first," the stranger instructs, floating closer to pass Anda a waterskin embroidered less densely than the 'car' but not by very much.
do-all-the-things
What? Oh, maybe the stranger[A] thinks Anda[B] is dehydrated, because B's talking like a crazy person while in a desert and not dressed for the weather. A has a reasonable argument there, honestly. B takes the waterskin and drinks a bit, most expecting water but mentally prepared for the possibility of an electrolyte drink.
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
It tastes at least mostly like water, but it's kind of astoundingly refreshing so maybe there's a little of something else mixed in.
"Any idea who would have moved you?"
do-all-the-things
"I have a friend[A] who might have moved someone[B] in B's sleep as a prank, but not very far and given the terrain around here I think I was moved upwards of several hundred kilometers. And possibly drugged to sleep longer and that's not my friend's style either. So I don't know. What's the nearest city to us?"
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
"I dunno what they call it, I don't live there. Go ahead and get on the car."
do-all-the-things
Weird thing not to know but okay. Anda gets on the car. Which is a very weird contraption as well, though probably just because of being optimized for dunes and not because this is a portal fantasy with hovercars even though that would be extremely cool.
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
The car on closer inspection just seems to be a heavily embroidered piece of fabric, lacking any moving parts with which to contrapt. Despite this it supports Anda's weight just fine. The stranger picks up a sack and sets it down again a few inches closer to Anda. "If you're hungry."
And then they can zoom off back the way the stranger came from, much more slowly than a train goes but at quite a clip for an unenclosed rectangle hovering less than a meter above the sand.
do-all-the-things
"Thanks. I really don't understand how this vehicle is moving at all. Uh, is it safe to talk while you operate it?"
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
"Yes." The wind creates less inconvenience to conversation than one might expect. "I'm not a seamster; it probably works however flying carpets usually do."
do-all-the-things
"Flying carpets like the fiction trope? From the stories with the talking horses and the sandserpents?"
do-all-the-things
"Okay so it is using magnets or a fan or something and isn't a plot hook for a LARP. Sorry, I'm trying to figure out why I got put here and my top hypothesis is still 'surprise puzzle hunt'." Does Anda's handcomp have enough signal to look up real life flying carpet technology yet? No? Rats.
do-all-the-things
"Is this a LARP or are you actually claiming this vehicle is nonreductionist. True answers only please. Not that I don't appreciate you picking me up whatever it is."
do-all-the-things
"So, I can see how that is the sort of sentence someone would produce in response to the thing I said, but it doesn't actually answer my question about what physical principles you believe are involved in the function of this carpet. I was under the impression that nobody used the word 'magic' to refer to nonfictional things. Unless you were being sarcastic."
do-all-the-things
Someone on this conveyance is a fascinating case study in epistemic failure and it only probably is the one who's not fully oriented to time and place. Or this actually is a portal fantasy plot. "It's my handcomp. It's a portable computer that usually has a network connection but currently doesn't."
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
"That's not a handcomp," and then she frowns. "That's not a pocket," she tries, which is weird because she uses the exact same phonemes as her first statement to do it.
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
"This does translation." She touches her headscarf demonstratively. "But sometimes it's not great at it."
do-all-the-things
". . . Magic translation." That sounds insane but also there really isn't a better non-dream explanation for what Anda[A] just observed. It's a very good thing A is already sitting down so A can't fall down. "What language are you speaking on the other end? Is it connected to software translation or is the magic doing the computation? Is it interacting directly with my brain and I'm just perceiving it as you emitting sound waves?"
nothing-where-he-used-to-lie
"Zhmir. I don't know, it was a gift and I'm still not a seamster or a philosopher. But it's probably not part of the innernet."