glowfic | Comes with a free prize

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Comes with a free prize

Usually when Temperance calls a animal to sacrifice it doesn't come with a free prize, but here comes a hamster with a couple of rings tied to it by a red ribbon.

The thing likely belongs to someone, and Temperance catches him to see if she can return to it's owner...

...and now she is in a forest, that is unusual. There are trees as far as she can see and the landscape is doted with wide pools of water, in fact Temperance is standing on one of such pools, near the edge.

The tiny hamster jumps from her hand landing on a nearby log, it scurries off while the witch is distracted.

Temperance is very confused, but she still has her supplies and cloudpine with her, all she needs is to perform a quick spell to figure out where she is and then get home.

The spell works but answers only gibberish. She tries another and the result is equally confusing. A spell to point the north doesn't work at all.

She tries a spell to find the hamster and that works, she grabs the creature to see if she returns home, she touches the two rings, neither has any effect.

Temperance is very confused.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"None of my plants are inherently magical. Things that will easily grow here is a criteria I expected, though."

He goes into the cargo bay and comes back with a big wheeled cart with dozens of drawers, neatly labelled. "I've already prepared seed and adult samples of the things most agreeable to the soil and climate here."

"Most of my technology is nontrivial to maintain, but I can make you some simple things if you have an idea of what you want. Of things that don't need much maintenance, my armor is tougher than any non-magical material on this planet. I have supplies of medical nanos, which will keep most humans from dying of things like heart disease and cancer for a few decades. Hand tools like my plasma cutter and the molecular joiner are durable enough to last longer than their power sources (six to ten years of heavy use), but replacing the power sources would be beyond your capability."

Edited 2015-09-09 00:27 (UTC)

"I suggested exploration drones if they can travel between the pools," Temperance says "or even if they don't. Anything that might make exploration easier."

"You are very prepared," Queen Hemera says with approval "We don't have much use or desire for armor and the tools that you describe might be useful not ultimately necessary. I would like to know more about the medical nanos, specially when compared to witchcraft."

Another witch with a notebook steps nearby.

"This is Jasmine," The Queen says "she is heading the group that is going to magically analyze your samples and Jasmine will keep track of the properties both mundane and magical."

"Hello Jasmine. Let me know if you need other forms of any of these plants - I have two-week seedlings for a few of them."

After that, the queen can have a long explanation of the capabilities and limitations of medical nanos as compared to witchcraft. They don't do much to prevent disease or injury or damage from unhealthy life choices like smoking, but they hold off the accumulated damage of old age a fair bit better than witchcraft can.

Jasmine quietly organizes and distributes the samples around the witches, note taking everyone. Most of the group has dispersed right now. The witches under Jasmine spread out around the field making circles. Temperance volunteers to help while Nick is talking with the Queen, but that just means another pair of hands to make notes for Jasmine.

The queen finds that medical nanos require much less effort to maintain than witchcraft, and the aging effect is a major benefit, but wants to knows the limitations of keeping a steady supply. The queen daemon's - a owl with large eyes - strikes a conversation with Nina.

Nina doesn't have much practice... Being. She talks in almost exactly the same way Nick does, and Nick and Nina both keep getting distracted by each others' conversations.

The machine that makes medical nanos is one of the things that are nontrivial to maintain. If someone spent a month or so learning to use Nick's tools and bought lots of spare parts, it would last for a century or two, but without access to facilities that are not on Nick's ship it will not last forever. The nanos themselves keep indefinitely, though, and one dose covers one mortal for a whole month. He has entire crates full of them, they'll last for quite a while if she buys all of them.

Edited 2015-09-09 01:27 (UTC)

Hemera is non-committal about buying the crates, albeit she is obviously tempted, she reasons that mortals will be more able to use and distribute the nanos, while giving better prices for the nanos-making machine or importing multiple ones if Nick is willing.

Faramund takes the opportunity to get closer.

"Hey! Nina right?" Faramund asks "how is existing."

"She is a bit awkward about it," Hemera's daemon comments.

Edited 2015-09-09 01:45 (UTC)

"Well, I've never done it before," replies Nina, "It's surprisingly tricky. Nick is used to being alone for long periods of time, so I don't have a pattern to fall back on for what I should be doing."

"You're probably right that mortal governments or corporations would get me a better deal on the medical machines. Going all the way back to a core world to buy the infrastructure we'd need to make them a permanent industry would take months, and scads of fuel. Maybe later."

"I think lonely people aren't talkative with their daemons too," Faramund comments "but they maintain an quiet cooperation... It shouldn't be hard for you two to divide tasks."

Hemera's daemon nods approvingly.

"Does Nick tend to be suspicious of new people?" Faramund asks.

Meanwhile Hemera's conversation with Nick might drift towards the most interesting biological samples that he has offered for trade, even if Jasmine is taking care of that, there is no reason for them not to talk about it.

"He's... I think the best way to put it is careful. He had to deal with some very unpleasant people in the past. They cheated him and destroyed some of his things. He doesn't think everyone is out to hurt him, but he has a sort of background assumption that something bad will happen sooner or later unless he is vigilant against it."

And Nina is perfectly happy to chat about the properties of the various plants Nick is providing. Nick excuses himself and goes to tinker in his workshop, but Nina stays outside.

Hemera and eventually her daemon depart, Faramund stays chatting with Nina.

"It is really unusual for Daemons to talk with other people," Faramund explains "Too bad that your Nick got traumatized like that," there is a brief lull in the conversation "before I came here Temperance told me that a thing called limegrass showed some magical properties similar to actual lime," he says conversationally.

"That's weird. Limegrass isn't very biologically similar to lime. It's more like wheat or corn, really. I wonder if it's because of the name?"

"Our magic doesn't really work like that," Faramund says with a shrug "several mortal scientists tried to create theories that witches have a psychological conditioning or something, but it isn't like that," he tilts his head "what kinds of magic have you seen in other worlds?"

"There were a few dimensions where anybody who visited the place could do magic, but only while they were there. One planet had dragons, whose primary magical attribute was generating infinite amounts of fire. Another one of the magic-planets had a very strict and secretive theocracy, their magic seemed to be hereditary and based around pain. There was one planet where a small percentage of the population were randomly born with specific abilities, like invisibility or telekinesis. Most of these places tried to kill us, so we left pretty quick. This planet is the friendliest planet-with-magic we've ever encountered."

Edited 2015-09-09 02:52 (UTC)

"I expected witches to be better than average," Faramund says "but being the friendliest is disappointing. The theocratic one sounds nasty. Why those worlds tried to kill you? Which worlds are friendly? Or that would be friendly to us?"

"Nick didn't stick around long enough to ask why they were trying to kill us. Most worlds are uninhabited or sparsely populated, it's the crowded ones that give you trouble most of the time. The majority of crowded worlds with centralized governments are suspicious of and hostile to anything more powerful than they are. Even if all you do is take a look around and offer to trade. Say, I don't think I've gotten a rundown of what witch magic is like yet. Could you explain it?"

Nick pops out of the top of his spaceship and yells, "Can anyone help me lift some heavy things with your flying branches?"

Edited 2015-09-09 22:14 (UTC)

"Witchcraft it is at it's best when dealing with nature," Faramund explains "influence the growth of plants, curing or causing diseases, enhancing someone's health in general, influencing the environment to change the weather or make a room perpetually colder, freezing water permanently, or create a fire pit that doesn't consume fuel but produces flame at command, various form of protection, some minor forms of luck enhancement... mental influencing with magic is possible but extremely complicated both to cast and maintain, but witches can call and calm animals easily. Temperance was calling one to sacrifice and it attracted that hamster," Faramund thinks for a moment "divinations can gather all kinds of information with different levels of difficult. Summoning objects is possible but very impractical. It wouldn't be impossible to say... summon a ton of gold, but getting gold that no one knows would be extremely tricky and witches don't care that much about riches and much less about stealing... let me see, sculpting minerals and wood is also possible but this world technology would do it better... warding against harm and magic. Transforming living beings is also possible, healing and some wards are basically that, but it is tricky. A lot of Witchcraft potential goes on undiscovered because testing new spells is complicated, but our clan is pretty good about it. I don't know if you know, but Hemera used to be Temperance's magic tutor before the crown and they are both magic nerds. I don't think other clans would have managed to be so organized about this situation, at least spell casting wise."

The remaining witches are around the field casting divinations, it is quiet organized, people move around making notes with certainty and methodology.

A couple of witches volunteer when Nick calls, Temperance quickly talks with Jasmine and then volunteer as well.

"How many do you need?" Temperance asks "We can use our daemons to call for more hands to help."

Edited 2015-09-09 22:39 (UTC)

Nina practically bounces. She tells Faramund, "We're going to want some permanent cold. Health magic too. How does summoning work? Can you summon things from anywhere? Other planets? And Nick likes to eat meat, do you have any?"

Nick tells the witches, "Thanks! This work can count towards any of the plants you want to trade for. How much can each one of you lift? It's time to replace the buffer panels on both engines - the new ones weigh about 900 pounds, and I need them held steady for about five minutes each. I'll go get some rope, meet me in the cargo bay?"

"We are glad to provide health magic and permanent cold!" Faramund says amused, he starts explaining how summoning works - it makes even less sense to her than dimensional travel to witches - but then he interrupts himself "...in practical terms we should be able to make a circle capable to summon things from other planets but the magic will pick things that are nearest so no one bothers trying. Are you thinking in taking us to a dimension without people and summon a mountain of gold? we can totally do that. We do have meat, the hospitality thing actually includes some old traditions about feeding the best food that we have, Hemera isn't big on tradition but she will certainly uphold that aspect, we raise goats and fish, but buying other meats would be easy."

"You look happy..." Temperance comments absently "We three should be enough to do help you with that.

The three witches will meet Nick in the cargo bay and obey his instructions.

It takes a little figuring to get the big, hulking pieces of metal suspended from three cloudpines via ropes and oriented correctly next to the engines. After that all they have to do is hover perfectly still while Nick applies various tools. All told, it'll take about an hour.

"We like getting a good deal," Nina explains, "I'd just as soon summon a mountain of silver or titanium or thorium if you can summon anything, though. Gold works, but silver is traditional where Nick grew up, titanium is an excellent building material, and thorium is used as fuel."

The witches are very cooperative about it. They strike a conversation when they have to keep still, mostly about the new plants potential uses, most of the terminology would be completely lost on Nick, but one comments about better treatments to diabetes as a possible application.

"We can summon those," Faramund says "If thorium is radioactive we will want protection while summoning it. A literal mountain is too much but... if we gather a dozen witches, don't require some of the safety precautions..." Faramund thinks a bit muttering numbers "...I am pretty sure we can fill your entire ship to a impractical degree in a week without working too hard."

At one point Nick remarks to the witches that he can make personal communicators. They work a lot like telephones, but without the inconveniences of having to recharge them, signing up to and continuing to pay a network, and sometimes being out of range. They'll last a century easily, if he designs them to.

Nina replies, "That sounds like an excellent idea. I'll tell Nick and we'll write up a plan. Probably get some titanium and graphite first, and thorium last. We can make containment cells. Say, can daemons undergo surgery? I might get a mental implant installed if it works like that. I guess I can just wear a computer if it doesn't."

Edited 2015-09-09 23:47 (UTC)

"Only a century?" Temperance asks obviously not serious "actually those sound pretty great. Most of the clan's technophobes tend to complain how telephones are impractical because of the problems you mentioned. How cold resistant a communicator can get?"

"I should tell Temperance about it and get the Queen informed too," Faramund ponders "Daemons can undergo surgery, we aren't made of regular matter but it behaves remarkable like flesh, both you and Nick will need to be on a induced coma though."

Edited 2015-09-10 00:44 (UTC)

"I'll have to build them custom if you want them to last a century and be cold-resistant. Hmm. At about 120 Kelvin microprocessors shut down completely. Anything above 180K, pretty far below the freezing point of water, should be fine on the condition that you don't repeatedly cool and heat them - that'll lead to cracking."

Sounding vaguely afraid, Nina decides, "Hmm. I think I'll just wear a computer. We don't like being unconscious."

Nick glances around. "By any chance, are the strangely timed bursts of emotion I've been feeling lately linked to my daemon?"

Edited 2015-09-10 01:42 (UTC)

"Those specifications are better than perfect," Temperance says "if any technophobe complains I will make then eat the communicator. You and Nina are connected so likely yes, she was talking with Faramund and I am guessing it is good news."

Faramund says vaguely sympathetic "It's okay."

Nina nods. "I think I'll go talk to Nick now."

Nick tells Temperance, "You will need to set them out in the sun for a few hours once every few days. And, of course, I haven't built them yet. I'll make them so that when they turn black it means they're low on power, hungry for sunlight. Heh, like a plant. For now I'd like to get something to eat, if you don't mind?"

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