i_speak_softly | Sixty-Ninth Theory [Voice]

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Sixty-Ninth Theory [Voice]

[Yesterday the village grew quiet, as many villagers were called on a draft, and many others began the anxious wait to see if their friends and loved ones would return to the village safely.]

[Also yesterday, a breath of warm weather arrived in Luceti. Don has been out enjoying it, trying not to dwell on those who are fighting on a flying island right now. He has enough other things on his mind, and around midday he does something about one of them.]

Filtered to Beast || Unhackable

Beast... I haven't thanked you properly for what you did for Robert and me. For everything you've done for us.

End Filter

[Later, he leaves a brief, unfiltered message:]

Would anyone be interested in learning how to program computers and fix cars?

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[~~Because innuendos--~~ She would love to pop the hood and get down and dirt with Don too! Seriously. Her hygiene really isn't the best, dirty tends to be her default state.]

Ohmigosh, a whole fleet? That's like a whole lot of chuggachugging vehicles! I'll be right there!

[As in 'right now' right there. She's ran off and left her journal open in the process, so hopefully Don catches on and doesn't leave her hanging around for too long.]

[With a more direct route and a headstart, Pascal gets to the Battle Dome first. She doesn't have to wait long, though, before Don jogs in the door and starts firing up a sim, skipping the small talk.]

I call it my Garage.

[The simulation flickers into existence, a seemingly endless space filled with row upon row of mismatched vehicles - everything from bicycles to stealth jets.]

[Holy Overseer of vehicles, that's one heck of a garage. Granted, she's not very familiar with that a garage actually is, but if it means 'big place chock full of things to ride around on' then she's got it.]

Whoaaahoh. You weren't kidding when you said a fleet, were ya'? [Oh. Now seems like a good idea to ask that question she thought up while she ran over here.] Sooo anyway, what's a car?

[Don saunters into the simulation room and pats the hood of a roadster.]

This one is a car.

[Ooh, fancy. Pascal skips over and taps the car a few times with her hand.]

Oh wow, really? This thing would beat a Turtlez transport hands down! It's got these wheely dealies, lights on the back- Ooh!

[Getting down on her hands and knees she cranes her head down to get a good look at the underside of the car.]

Where's the thingy that makes it go? There's gotta be an engine or somethin' around here.

[No, the Turtles' transport is -- oh, never mind.]

[Don pops the hood, fitting the prop into place and leaning over the engine block like he does this all the time, which he does.]

280 cubic inch V8 with 9,000 power and 6,000 torque. Zero to sixty in three and a half seconds. Nice, huh?

Yuh-huh, this is pretty sweet.

[She's not too sure what a V8 is though. Or how good 6,000 torques might be. Or what's counting from zero to sixty in an engine of all places. But hey, it's her first time around a car.

Pascal pushes herself off the floor and walks over to peer into the engine. Aw yeah. Now they're getting to the good stuff.]

When does the learning part start, huh? Awh bananas, I should've brought my own tools and stuff along. Got any extras laying around? Ooh, and what do those pointy thingies do?

[Enjoy the barrage of questions as Pascal reaches into the engine and taps one of the engine cylinders.]

[To no one in particular, Don says:] Render toolbox.

[Immediately, an impressive set of tools appears on the floor by the car's bumper. Leaving them within reach, Don begins a detailed lecture on the structure and function of every part of a standard automotive engine. He assumes that Pascal is knowledgeable about physics and engineering, but not about vehicles in particular.]

[While Don goes on with his lecture, Pascal continues poking and prodding different parts of the engine. It's nothing like what powered the shuttle back home, if anything this all seems a lot simpler. In fact, before Don is even finished with his explanation, Pascal snatches up a spanner from the set of tools on the ground and starts haphazardly tapping different parts of the engine with it.]

Y'know, I could totally get this thingamajig to whoosh along faster than it does now. Like from zero to sixty in three seconds flat. Or zero to seventy.

[Don is suitably impressed, and quits the lecture to let Pascal work.]

Be my guest.

Alright! You might wanna take a step back though, just a teeny tiny one.

[She takes a moment or so to give the engine one more look over before she starts tearing into it in the spanner. Next she grabs a hammer and starts smacking away with that, then back to the spanner.]

Lemme see, don't need that. That part would totally just get in the way, so maybe if I- Nope! Need that part, better screw around with this doodad so the whirly-thing does it's job...

["Stand back, I'm doing science" is not usually a thing that's said to Don, so at first he's not sure how to react. But when tools and engine parts start flying, he thinks he'd better get out of the way.]

[Normally he wouldn't let anyone do anything like this to one of his vehicles, but since the car is virtual and can be repaired with the press of a button, he just watches in amazement as Pascal employs her unconventional methods.]

[A thwack thwack here, a turn or something there... Oh yeah, this is coming along great. Pascal's hand reaches out and swipes at the air for a moment as though expecting something to be there.]

Wanna pass me a screwdriver? I've just gotta put a little more twist on the dongle back here so it does fly off or hit somethin'.

[Wordlessly, Don gives Pascal the screwdriver. She really does have the oddest methods.]

Thanks! [Just another few tweaks over here now...] So hey, I get this is a V8 or whatever because its got eight cylermajigs on the crankycase. You could totally whack some more of those things on there and make a bigger V-number, right?

Sure, but you start to get a diminishing rate of return.

Uh-huh, gotcha. [...] But you could totally whip out a V1168 if you really wanted to, right? Man, think of the work you would have to do on that! You'd need a huuuge car to fit all those cylermajigs! Oh, and you would need some way to count for all the shaky-shaking that would be goin' on so the firing rate would be super intense on that thing.

[Don boggles, trying to imagine the design of a car that could fit over a thousand cylinders in its engine space.]

You know, you could program a car with any specs you want.

Ohmigosh, we should try that sometime! We could design it so it can do whatever we wanted, maybe even fit some laser firing headlights in. Or put missile launchers under the hood, but there wouldn't be much room for that sorta thing with a V-thousand-n'-stuff engine in there!

[Sometimes she forgets there's a wonderful piece of technology capable of creating anything she can program in. Even if she's using said technology right now.]

Dude, we could make our own cars and race them or something cool like that!

[Stunned silence, and then:]

Pascal, where have you been my whole life?

Well I dunno how old you are, but for most of it I've been in Ephinea and stuff. I've only been in the village for like nine, ten or somethin' months, sooo yeah! I've been in a totally different world.

[Don was looking for a proper answer to that, right?]

[This is exactly the answer he was looking for.]

So you were new here when I met you.

[He leans against the car, trying to imagine what his childhood might have been like if Pascal had been his sister.]

Yuh-huh, fresh in with my wingamajigs and everything! Wowzers, it's like nearly been a year now. Weird how time totally gets away from you when you're stuck in a village and you're being watched by sciencey-type guys, huh?

[There's a slight pause as she wonders about the past few months... And then a shrug and an 'oh well!' as she goes back to tinkering with the car.]

Uh... yeah.

[Actually it's not his favorite way to pass the time. He prefers tinkering with vehicles, so he will move over to a neighboring helicopter and do exactly that.]

[One does not simply start working on a spinny-blade flyingmabob without catching Pascal's attention. Even with her hands full with the car she can't resist coming over to check it out.]

So what's this thing? Looks like it would be good for hovering in place in the air, or looking for stuff from above!

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