Her search for such a general topic actually produces more than one result. There's four different alien texts and an offer for more results.

"Physics fundamentals, a reference" is a very dense text apparently intended for people with a great deal of patience and ability to focus. It has extensive indices and seems designed to help people used to using such indices fill gaps in their knowledge.

"Introductory spatial modelling" talks about how physics is a means of modelling the spaces around us and how objects will act. It covers a great deal of basic physics but it's focus is on how to simulate physical systems including where optimizations can be used safely and where they can't.

"Introduction to Consortium physics for new worlds" seems to be written for people with extensive knowledge in physics from other paradigms and focuses on common incorrect assumptions and the gaps that are often found in the understanding of physics possessed by other civilizations. It is careful to note that some of these gaps were discovered to have been the other way around with the Consortium's understanding expanding with the benefit of a new member's knowledge.

"Basic physical concepts" seems to be most promising for what she actually wants it's an introductory text for people seeking to learn about physics without much prior knowledge.

Yes, that last one will do nicely. Those other texts are interesting, though, especially "Introduction to Consortium physics for new worlds." It's rather more... respectful than she would have expected from what's been happening to her. Maybe she'll get to that one later.

She's going to read the first chapter of "Basic physical concepts" until she gets to a practice problem.

"Can I have something to write on, and something to write with?"

"I could give you a stylus to take notes on the terminal. If you're looking for something different that will take more time."

"A stylus will be fine."

"Hold out your hand palm up please."

She does so.

A stylus appears just above her palm and the drops gently onto it.

"Thank you."

She starts scribbling out notes, tries to answer the practice problems. She was a communications major but she's taken calculus, although she's gotten very rusty in the last five years or so. What kind of prerequisite knowledge do the problems assume?

The stylus feels much more like pen and paper than the styluses she's used to.

The tablet expands the blank space to make room for more writing when she starts to write.

The questions at the end of the introduction are not math so much as testing intuitions about how the world works and what you expect to happen. The effects of gravity on objects with different mass, the effects of air resistance, what happens in certain arrangements of forces. Whether certain things are possible or not.

The first chapter lays out common inverse square law approximations that work in most situations and the problems at the end of that chapter ask her to work out the forces between objects with various characteristics using these approximations.

She completes several problems with minor difficulty. Then she's going to try to compare the table of contents from the physics textbook with the terms mentioned in the teleporter instructions. Does anything seem to line up?

Most of the terms in the physics section of the text on teleporters are at least mentioned in either the table of contents or the index. A lot of them not until towards the end of the book though. A few of the engineering terms are also present but not a majority.

She's got a long way to go. But it's her only hope.

She'll keep working on physics until she starts to feel hungry again. She's finished about a third of the first chapter, but she managed to pick up some speed near the end.

"How many of the ingredients for chicken soup can you make?"

"Chicken soup is a recipe with an incredible variety of ingredients. Generally speaking it is made with a variety of produce and herbs it should be easy for me to make, a stock which seems fairly straightforward and the chicken itself which is the most challenging but not significantly complicated. It has a great deal of similarities to the work I'm doing to prepare for augmenting your muscles."

That's... pleasant. Adelaide supposes she is, in fact, made of meat.

She searches up chicken soup recipes on the terminal and scrolls until she finds one she likes. "I would like the ingredients for this recipe, please. Can I make a... shopping list in advance so I can cook things without having to ask you for the ingredients on the spot?"

"Certainly. That makes things easier on me too. The ingredients for the soup should be complete in half an hour."

She's going to spend that half hour finding recipes she likes and noting down the ingredients. Most are comfort foods, things she makes a lot at home, but partway through the process she realizes she no longer has to pay for the food she's eating. She starts finding simple recipes with expensive ingredients. Saffron, caviar, foie gras. All of them go on the list, alongside meat, vegetables, carbs, and dairy products.

"Is any of this going to be a problem?"

"I can make most of that, the bread and pasta I would need to outsource or give you ingredients to make yourself. Outsourcing would probably take a few days. Everything else is very doable."

That actually sounds kind of nice. "I can make them myself."

"Alright, I'll add the needed ingredients and equipment to the list."

"Thank you."

She glances across the room at the terminal. "How long can I have before you start experimenting on me again?"

"You can take the rest of today and we can begin again in the morning."

That is less time than she was hoping.

For the rest of the day, Adelaide studies physics, makes and eats soup, organizes the kitchen, and then tries to sleep. It's not easy.

AG notices this. Rest is important. She'll help her test subject sleep by adding a low dose sedative to her blood.

When she opens her eyes it takes her a moment to remember where she is. Once she remembers she closes her eyes again and curls up.