"Mm-hmm. In fact, I think I'm going to stop at that Best Buy. Some laptops and a little TV. We can set up a message board forum thing that's less erasable than markers and whiteboards."

"I wonder if there's a way to transfer the Encyclopedia onto a laptop. That could be useful."

"Sounds like something else to poke Nick about. Or Zahn. He'll get peeved off for being asked for every random task eventually though. Guess I'll try to figure it out first."

"Yeah, it's a shame we don't have more engineers with us. A party invitation is a stupid way to select who from Earth to save."

"...It's a pretty sneaky way, relative to several other options, when you think about it."

"It is, if they were trying to hide, I wish I understood who they were hiding from though. I think I heard one person suggesting that there were two groups of aliens, one trying to kill us and one trying to save us."

"Yeah, I heard Nick musing about that. It's one possible explanation for stealthy abductions and a relatively nice environment, and yet a neutron star on collision course with the sun."

"Yeah, anyway, ready to head back?"

She writes down all the inscriptions. "Now I am."

Off they go, when they reach the Best Buy Walta mentioned they stop. "Do you know specifically what you want to get?"

"I've got a pretty good idea. There's probably an alien power supply around, that's the only piece I'm missing."

"Mkay," They walk into the store. The computers section has all the familiar brands. Most of the computers on display look entirely ordinary, but there's a couple with the new familiar hexagonal data port. They're embossed with a familiar Earth brand name but when Alice turns it on it shows the now familiar interface, this one is missing the employment section, but in it's place are a note-taking app and several simple games. "Well then, I guess we won't have to ask Nick or Zahn about mobile encyclopedia access. I wonder what other disguised products are around here."

"We should investigate! At least for a while. Media and electric type stuff seems most likely, you think?"

"Well it's the only thing we've seen replaced so far." Alice starts walking around the store and looking. There is a curious absence of the cell phones that most best-buys sell. There are also branded 'portable chargers' that look plausibly like the chargers made by Earth companies but without any mechanism for refilling an internal battery if they have one. Most of the other departments are quite normal. The software department seems to also include Ebooks, generally in the form of large omnibus collections. These come on usb-sticks but are otherwise normal. It also includes several cases with a hexagon icon in the corner. These open up to reveal the hexagonal equivalent of a USB stick. The titles include things like Maps, Notes, Library, Music Player, Software Studio, Translations, Networking Suite, Spreadsheets, Physics simulator and Designworks. There are also a number of games. The final discovery is a USB to hex adaptor nestled unobtrusively in a shelf of cables.

"So this is how these aliens package their software, I suppose." She attempts to install Maps on a laptop. Tab A, adapter B, slot C.

The Icon shows up on the home screen as soon as the tab is inserted. When it's opened it shows a labelled map of the entire mall. It isn't more information than the encyclopedia has it looks like, but it's better organized for the purposes of navigation. There's a mode slider at the bottom, when she switches to the second mode an overlay of a large hexagon appears around the edges of the map. There's a distinct lack of detail, if she zooms out it'll show the outlines of the continents that she remembers from her visit to the science museum. "That's interesting." Alice says looking over her shoulder. "At least we now know where we are on the planet."

"Yeah. And that science museum I found - did I tell you about that? - might tell us what to expect from the geology and weather, given where we are."

"Having a weather forecast would be useful, this place is pretty big so if we want to explore the surface it'd be good to know if we're going to get heavy rain, or depending on how the seasons work out, snow."

"I can totally work on that when we get back, then. Hey, we're being productive!"

Alice smiles. "Well, we have a bunch of new discoveries to show for our expedition." Alice loads up with a couple computers and half the pile of software so she can carry it.

Walta was foresighted enough to pick a bike with a big basket. They can get about a dozen laptops and a few random accessories too.

And they're off back towards the home complex.

"You know, I think linking is going to make it easier for everyone to deal with all this. But it could make conflicts and fights worse too, maybe. If two people beam annoyance at each other, turn it into hate..."

"I think that depends a lot on how stubborn people are. If you send someone the reason why you're annoyed, maybe they'll actually fix it. But yes, hate built on intimacy is a lot harder to fix than hate built on ignorance."

Nothing to do at this point but to head back, pedaling steadily.

They pass someone recognizable from the home complex on the way back. He's dragging a sled laden with all sorts of stuff.