space oddity

[rockeye_stonetoe]

One day in fairyland, there is an immensely bright flash of light a about a mile above the ground. Something like a metal house is suddenly flying through as if it came through a portal, faster than all but the fastest fairies.

It's flying, not directly down, but still very much towards the ground. It does not take long for it to stop flying and start carving through earth and trees. Eventually it runs out of momentum near a certain lake. The thing seems to still be in one piece, which is rather miraculous considering the two miles of destroyed trees behind it.

After a few minutes, a mortal covered in unusually bulky clothes emerges from the thing. All that is visible is his face. He starts inspecting the outside of his space oddity.

Comments

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Maybe I'll do that, most everyone isn't very busy since the ship is just sitting there instead of flying places. I should really leave soon, I like this place but almost everyone else wants to go home. Any idea when you'll be ready to de-age the five of us who want it?"

[imeanforever]

"Another few sessions of sitting there watching them play cards should do it. You I could do now; I will if you like."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Not quite yet. I haven't held up to age as well as most humans, so I'm taking lots of medicine. It needs to wear off first or it'll hurt me instead. I'll stop taking it now, and tomorrow morning should be enough time."

[imeanforever]

"Okay."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

And tomorrow morning, he visits again. He's paler, slower, weaker, visibly in pain. "Good morning." (cough cough) "I'm ready to be young again. And I've started a few people transcribing books like you suggested, it was a good idea."

[imeanforever]

Promise looks him over, up and down, and then: he is de-aged to how old he was when she first met him.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

He suddenly stands up straight. "Oh, thank you. I'd almost forgotten what it's like not to be in pain."

[imeanforever]

"That sounds unpleasant."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Being human is rather unpleasant sometimes, yes. Our bodies aren't magically immortal like yours is. Medical technology has gotten very good over the last 200 years, but it only helps so much."

[imeanforever]

"Well, as long as I don't have reason to want you dead I'll de-age you on a regular basis."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"And I thank you for it. And I'm sure my crew members thank you for it. I'm a bit concerned that a great many more people will want de-aging, even after I explain the dangers of fairyland. And of course I can't give it to them myself without bringing them into the world and a couple decades of study to make sure I've got it right... But that's a problem for another day."

[imeanforever]

"I don't mind de-aging more mortals. I lead a pretty dull life most of the time now I'm safe."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"If I brought all the mortals in all the worlds who wanted it, you'd be watching them twenty four hours a day to learn their harmonics, and still not be able to get them all before the first ones were old again. I wonder if I could start a sorcery school for humans somewhere isolated."

[imeanforever]

"I'm not learning their harmonics. I can't observe their harmonics without doing other sorcery near them to measure and map the effect they have on a known background. But, yes, it sounds like there are too many mortals for me to personally de-age. I don't know what your standards for isolation are."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Preferably large enough that we can build things and grow food and far enough away from any fairies that we can see them coming and generally not risk anyone being vasallized on either side... Climate wouldn't matter necessarily, though under an ocean would be difficult."

[imeanforever]

"The oceans are less populated than the continents, but not overwhelmingly so. Unfortunately, I'm not sure you will be able to tell how populated an area is from the air, and you probably want to be several continents away from the Queen, which means well away from anyplace I could confidently map for you."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"We can have a sealed dome to stop anything food-like getting in. And ways to suddenly evacuate and destroy our things once we leave, if necessary. It'd save so many people to have ten thousand mortals who know how to sorcerously heal aging. There are always risks, the question is whether the risks are worth it."

[imeanforever]

"It sounds it - the dome would have to prevent a sorcerer from just stepping through, though. I can walk through walls."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"I can do some experiments, see what might interfere with sorcery. This isn't something I'm planning to do tomorrow, after all, I've got about 60 years before I have to find you again or learn to de-age myself. Would you mind trying to be undetectable while near my ship? You're new at this compared to the queen's sorcerors, yes, but any information is better than no information."

[imeanforever]

"I can go invisible, inaudible, and unsmellable, but not insubstantial, harmonically neutral, or weightless."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"My ship has a large number of ways to detect things. You'll learn about most of them if you read the entire library I gave you. It can detect weight, it can detect any heat you give off, it can detect the patterns of air left when you fly, it can detect subtle changes in the air you breathe out, it can detect you by the fact that there's not as much air in the space you're occupying than around you... And so on and so forth. I want to make a list of what stuff I have that can find a sorcerer when she's trying to hide."

[imeanforever]

"All right."

And then Promise goes invisible, inaudible, and unsmellable.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Nick makes interested sounds. When she moves he turns to follow. "Hm. I don't have everything I wanted to try me. I can tell you're somewhere here-ish..." He waves at her general area, "But not quite exactly where you are. Would you mind following me to the ship? Just stay here if so." He goes back to the ship.

[imeanforever]

She follows.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

And once they're within a few hundred feet of the ship Nick reports, "Now I can tell where you are. That's interesting. Thank you, by the by, and do you want some of these sensors for yourself?"