"Ah, cells malfunctioning and replicating out of control is what causes cancer. Some other age-related illnesses happen when cells stop dividing enough to repair damage so it accumulates. Biology is a balancing act."

"I see."

"I could probably say more, but everything I know of biology is probably on the uplift tablet. It seems like your world might not have as much to gain as most do from industrialization. Of course, the near immortality of uploading will probably drive you to it industrialize to some extent regardless."

"I think we're actually pretty close to the beginnings of it on our own."

"Interesting, what signs have you seen?"

"The knowledge is out there, it's just scattered. It's a matter of putting it all together. Ellayania has collected most of the pieces, but she's not big enough to do distribution easily. If communication was easier, I bet it would already have happened."

"I think there are plans for a few types of radios on the uplift tablet. That should solve the communications problem."

"Yeah, plus all the other stuff that's there."

"It is kinda a lot."

"So how big a workspace will you need?"

"I think it depends a bit on which parts Ellayania is willing to do. I think I can build most of it myself with the right materials but there are a few bits of detail work that I can't do very easily. It occurs to me that I haven't asked how hard what I'm asking is. I can likely reuse my existing solar fabric if manufacturing more is difficult for her. Otherwise, as long as she keeps the rain away I just need a couple work tables and an area a little wider than the wing span in one direction and maybe half that in the other."

"It's more- tedious than hard. She has to concentrate. so that's why it's going to take a while."

"That's fascinating. If our magic systems are built on some common basis, which I'm starting to doubt, you have a very different set of abilities and limitations exposed. If they aren't built on a common basis I wonder why my diagnostic tools function. I can't think of a principled reason for two unrelated systems to be interoperable that way."

"Gods do translation. I wouldn't be surprised if your tools were interfacing with that bit."

"That's an interesting idea." He pulls out one of his little displays and fiddles with it. "This device is fully charged so at least some of the ambient magic it's detecting has to be my type; but this isn't exactly an magic intensive device, nothing I carry is. The antimagic is apparently compatible enough to keep Ellayania from speaking to me directly though." He shakes his head. "If all goes well, there'll be a research team here trying to puzzle out the answer soon enough."

"Are your devices covered by the antimagic?"

"Nope, they're not excepted from it, but they're designed in such a way that the antimagic just keeps them switched off rather than destroying them."

"So it makes sense that a god would be able to 'talk' with them even though they can't with you."

"Yes... but that leaves the question of why the antimagic works unanswered."

"Unless it feeds on magic or something I don't see why it wouldn't."

"So, I guess when I said if our magic systems are built on a common basis I had an implicit assumption that if they weren't built without a common basis that they wouldn't both be made of the same substance, call it mana for clarity's sake."

"It's a little bit strange to think of gods in that sort of terms."

"I guess it's a difference in perspective. I'm used to thinking of things from a reductionist point of view, where everything, including people and magic, is made from smaller pieces which can be analyzed individually. Maybe the gods here are an exception to that perspective, but I'm not going to assume that given that they would be the first exception."

"I bet that study will be exciting."

"It should be. I'm not sure precisely what methods they'll use, but when you're studying magic coming up with the experimental protocols is half the fun."