remote station

[synchrosyntheses]

Teytis tel Jobont is not living up to her lantelis.

She had been en route to her usual position after a rest-and-resupply period. Instead of the expected uneventful trip, somehow she loses her anchors, falls through a bizarrely shaped storm, then finds herself impossibly over land instead of water and with her upper antennas chopped off like they were never there.

She was able to stabilize with only minor damage to the uninhabited land, but she cannot hear a single intelligible signal, and a hundred other things add up to this is no place anyone has ever seen before. Or rather, reported seeing before.

So here she sits in the sky, relaying nothing, thinking about everything.

Comments

[calescent]

Plop.

[synchrosyntheses]

Best attempt at companionable silence. Looking upon the tower.

(If it takes Kiri ten minutes to recover, then this will obviously have been an entirely bad idea.)

[calescent]

A minute and a half will do it. She gets up. "Right then. What now?"

[synchrosyntheses]

“Well, we’re here, and you know how you work better than I do. Most of the computer is just on the other side of the outer wall."

Also, there is a doorway where there wasn't one.

[calescent]

Kiri goes through the door.

[synchrosyntheses]

The middle of the tower is full of objects of diverse appearance but no obvious purpose, arrayed in the interior volume neatly but in complete disregard of gravity. Some of them seem to be solid lumps of glass, metal, or less identifiable substances, and some of them look like pictures of radio gear that were in the introductory books.

The walls around Kiri are covered in more objects, but these have cables connecting them to their neighbors, and are frequently covered in black panels with ribs on them.

The black panels and what is under them are a bit warm, and air flows into the tower through the door Kiri used.

[calescent]

And no mind.

Kiri comes out again after a long curious look at everything.

"Can't read it," she says.

[synchrosyntheses]

“Well, that's the least informative result we could get, at least if we want to know how computers compare to brains. Not very useful to you, either.”

[calescent]

"Yep. Oh well."

[synchrosyntheses]

“Er. How do you want to return? I'm sure you don't want a repeat of the last trip — sorry I forgot motion sickness was a thing — but I could go slower, or make something that you're in control of instead, or ask someone to bring your horse.”

[calescent]

"Going slower should do it for this time. I didn't suffer any permanent harm. But next time I'll probably just bring a horse."

[synchrosyntheses]

“If you're sure that's enough.”

The not-moving seat turns back into one that looks like it's going to be going places.

[calescent]

Sit. Belt.

[synchrosyntheses]

This trip will take more than one minute! It's more of a drifting along, comparatively.

“In case you're wondering, my understanding is that most people can get used to that sort of motion. I just forgot that getting used to it is something that has to happen first. It also makes a difference whether you're controlling the movement or just riding along. Sorry again.”

[calescent]

"I'm fine, really."

[synchrosyntheses]

“Okay.”

Quiet! Wheat passing by underneath!

Other sorts of land!

House!

[calescent]

House sweet house. Out Kiri gets.

[synchrosyntheses]

The overly exciting transportation device puts itself away into an innocent-looking box.

“I believe before we got on the subject of things that think, I was asking you whether you wanted more to read?”

[calescent]

"I would like more to read! And I can start sending out instructions to buy things, if you can tell me specifically what things I need to buy to make parts for radios."

[synchrosyntheses]

Indoors!

“Heh, sorry, I should have asked what you wanted to read instead. But I can certainly start with material on electronic components. There will be some different options depending on what you can obtain and how good you want the products to be, and I'll have to make you some tools to get started with processing the raw materials.”

[calescent]

"Well, having you make tools is more efficient than having you make products."

[synchrosyntheses]

“And eventually more helpful towards my not having to be involved at all. Not that I mind having something useful to do, but I am unique right now.”

Teytis is, of course, heading back to the library.

[calescent]

"Right. It's sometimes annoying to be unique."

[synchrosyntheses]

“More than sometimes, for me; one reason I like being a jobont is that it's all about sharing information, making whatever knowledge I have less unique. Nobody’s depending on me in particular, and I wouldn’t like it if they were. And since I mysteriously vanished yesterday —”

[calescent]

"...then at least nobody's in the lurch. Yeah. If I died a new Ardelay prime would replace me, but if I vanished I don't know what would happen."