jumped without a jump drive

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Nick, in a full environment suit like any sensible person would wear in untamed wilderness, is overseeing a small swarm of robots harvesting various useful plantlife from the uninhabited parts of a sparsely settled planet, when something suddenly comes tearing through the undergrowth towards him and it's not showing up on scanners-

He raises his hand-phaser, notices it has a mirror for a face and hesitates a little too long. And then he is in a clearing, cut off from his ship and 'bots, with all available sources of data telling him he just went through a jump.

What.

Comments

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Wait, or bother the Bright Sister?

He elects to wait outside the temple, even if it's a while before Kaja is finished. Best to be polite to those with the attention of gods, and magic.

[segreant]

Kaja comes out with some other paladins in about half an hour. "Hello, Nicholas. What brings you here?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Your communication devices are ready. You can call me Nick, by the way. To make them work best I will need to place equipment somewhere high up in the compound, and the generator that will power your batteries requires a fire so it should ideally be shielded from the rain but in a place that is in no danger of catching fire. I can also install candle-less lights, if the Bright Sister wishes."

[segreant]

"The lights would be most useful in the kitchen, probably, and perhaps an empty stall for the generator, the stable being made of stone and needing to be kept warm anyway? Unless it would disturb the griffins and winged horses. The tallest point of the compound is the temple spire but I don't think you should put things on it; perhaps the top of the novices' dormitory."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"The generator makes some noise, but I am not familiar enough with animals to guess if they will be disturbed by it. The novices' dormitories would be sufficiently high. I'd like to explain the radios to you and the Bright Sister before installing these things."

[segreant]

"How much noise? And we can go wait for her to have a moment if you need to speak to her anyway."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"I can wait, yes. Not too much more noise than a crackling fire. My large-scale generators in town will be quite loud, though."

[segreant]

To the Bright Sister's office they go. "That might or might not bother our companions but it's probably difficult to move, isn't it?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Once installed it will be fairly difficult to move, yes. Perhaps another place."

[segreant]

"Maybe the armory. It doesn't matter if the armory is loud."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Speaking of the armory, is there anything that could use joining while I am already here?"

[segreant]

"I checked; someone did break a staff recently but the sword was fine and it's already been attached to a new staff. You could still fix it for next time someone needs one, though."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"I don't plan to be here too often, alas, and I only have the one joiner. I'm working on improving the city. Once I'm selling everyone electric light I can move on to clean water, medicine perhaps. I still want to leave eventually but hopefully I can leave behind enough education to spread useful things around the world."

[segreant]

"That sounds nice."

Here is the office. They sit down to wait.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Nick looks distracted. Waiting is only really boring if you don't have a database of movies in your eyelid.

[segreant]

Kaja just sits patiently.

Eventually the door opens and in they go. Kaja relates the plans. The Bright Sister thinks the best place for the generator will be in a specific dormitory, which Kaja says she will show Nick, but otherwise has no modifications to suggest to the plan.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Nick would like to demonstrate the radios first. He offers a hand-sized device to the Bright Sister. After a quick explanation of how they are controlled by pressing some little buttons, he speaks into the one he is holding and his voice comes through clearly and obviously from the other one.

Then, it's off to the dormitory with some equipment.

[segreant]

Kaja goes along to make it clear that he is authorized and show him where things are.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

The work will take a while, and a paladin's strength would be a handy shortcut. Not that Nick is particularly weak for a non-paladin.

Batteries are furnished and explained. A dozen radios are produced. "If you want any more I'll need two silver apiece for them, the materials are expensive. The radios will operate properly anywhere within 400 miles of the compound, or within 50 miles of each other elsewise. I make no guarantees for greater distances."

[segreant]

"Do they need maintenance besides the batteries?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"No, but eventually they will break and I will need to fix them. I give them at least three years as long as you don't treat them too roughly. It would be a while teaching someone to repair radios themselves."

[segreant]

"All right. Thank you very much."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"You're welcome."

So Nick goes back to being a utility company. He builds a crude printing press while continuing to work on the big generator and investigates which books would profit best from being printed in this way. And he starts advertising that he'll take apprenticies who want to learn the ways of chained lightning.

[alicornucopia]

The most popular books around here seem to be Precepts of the Winter Light, an almanac, an epic poem called The Morning Sword, and the collected plays of a playwright from the capital city of this country.

There are a few enterprising young underemployed persons who'd like to check out his offer.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

The enterprising young unemployed people get interviewed. He looks for two people who are literate and decent at arithmetic, or who at least seem clever if they aren't.

And he asks around, tries to find out if anyone owns the almanac or the Morning Sword. He knows where to ask about the Precepts of the Winter Light. He makes his way back to the paladins' compound once again and seeks out Kaja.