Searching Far and Wide

[intricate_engineer]

Glen was creating a prototype for a new gate design. It was meant to be affordable and provide quick transport between individual homes. She tests several objects and a rat and everything seems to be working.

She steps through. Instead of finding herself in the room next door, she finds herself standing on a sidewalk in an empty city. The buildings are tall and perfect, colorless with doorways far too tall for any human. The roads have no straight lines and twist in on themselves. There is no life or sound.
Glen tries to stay calm. She begins to walk along the road, randomly opening doors and exploring buildings that are as silent as the rest of the world.

She opens a door that she hopes will lead onto a roof and is instead met with warmth, and soft noise, and color.

Comments

[intricate_engineer]

"How long have Pokéballs existed?"

[the_very_best]

"Like... coming up on a century? They've improved since then and before that we used these fruits that do the same thing but not nearly as well, if you hollow 'em out."

[intricate_engineer]

"Do Pokémon age when they're inside?"

[the_very_best]

"In balls yes, in computers no."

[intricate_engineer]

"And you can rewrite aging the way you can heal?"

[the_very_best]

"No, haven't tackled that one yet."

[intricate_engineer]

"But there's no hard rule to prevent it?"

[the_very_best]

"Don't think so. Their age is stored like everything else, we just don't know what to toggle. They figured out healing because you can look at a before and after and narrow it way down, age changes over a long enough time that lots of other things change."

[intricate_engineer]

"Your tech is fascinating. I don't know if it will work anywhere else, but do you think we could make some kind of trade?"

[the_very_best]

"Bar'll sell you anything nonmagic you want," Bella says, gesturing at her napkin, "but I'm listening."

[intricate_engineer]

"Bar, do Pokéballs count as magic?"

[alicornucopia]

No.

[intricate_engineer]

"Could I please buy one?" Glen asks Bar.

Glen turns to Bella, "I don't have many physical items I can offer you, but I do have knowledge. You could buy books from bar, but sometimes it helps to talk to a person. You've already helped me understand more than a book from your world would, since I'm sure Pokémon would have been considered general knowledge."

[the_very_best]

Bar quotes a price; it's in the "IKEA furniture" price range.

"Yeah, you'd probably have to go to, like, kindergartener range books for a ground-up introduction and even then you'd be patching a lot of gaps. All right, what cool stuff do you know?"

[intricate_engineer]

"I know how to build inter-dimensional gates which have the downside of opening to mostly empty universes unless they are connected to another gate. I have a strong general knowledge in physics, chemistry, and engineering which may exceed your own world's in some aspects. I have a large number of textbooks and blueprints which I can help explain. I have the exact instructions for various medicines and vaccines which I can explain how to make, but do not understand very well."

[the_very_best]

"Wow, cool. I'm short on cash for getting stuff from Bar, how much of an obstacle to me taking home all the cool stuff you know is that?"

[intricate_engineer]

"Bar, how much would it cost to create a physical copy of all of my documents?"

[alicornucopia]

I can sell you a printer but I cannot directly do data conversion.

[intricate_engineer]

"Thank you."
Glen turns to Bella, "I'm assuming that would cost less than you trying to buy everything directly from Bar. Would you be willing to trade me any tech from your world you're not currently using? The cost of a Pokeball was how much it would cost to buy a mediocre piece of furniture. Is that how much it would cost you at home?"

[the_very_best]

"Thereabouts, I guess? If you mean seriously mediocre furniture. They're a substantial expense for people who routinely catch new ones. I'm nnnnnot really carrying anything nonessential, no spare balls, I guess I could replace my Pokétch..."

[intricate_engineer]

"Is that a type of computer? Maybe I could transfer the files directly."

[the_very_best]

"Yeah, it's a computer-watch." Bella taps her watch. "What're the odds on interuniverse compatibility, though?"

[intricate_engineer]

"Zero, but this is a problem we deal with a lot. If your computer isn't too unusual, I have software that can try to convert it to your version of a text file."

[the_very_best]

"Okay, have at it," says Bella, handing over her watch thing.

[intricate_engineer]

"Does it require physical input?"