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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[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!

It's a helicopter. It's not as fast as an airplane, but it's more maneuverable. [He grins.] And the hovering is pretty handy.

I can totally see it being the most useful thing ever! You could fly over to a friend's house and get their attention by hovering outside. Plus grocery shopping would be a total breeze in a helicopter, huh? It's kinda like a super mini-shuttle, only with a whirly party on top.

Ah... it also has a very powerful downdraft, so you have to be a little careful what you hover over.

Like I said, totally a great way of grabbing the attention of a buddy! [If your friends ignore the sound and damage caused by a helicopter outside their windows then they're not your friends. True fact.]

[Don doesn't remember April being too pleased when he tried to land a helicopter on her store, but maybe Pascal's friends are as odd as she is.]

Do you want to fly it?

[Nope! She's the one crackpot amongst all the pottery. They probably wouldn't be too happy about a helicopter swooping in either.]

Do I! Lemme at it, let's go go go!

[That would be a yes. Sorry car, you've been put on the backburner until Pascal gets her dose of helicopter riding for the day.]

[Don pulls up the virtual keyboard again, and quickly ports the helicopter into his New York simulation. He and Pascal are now standing on a roof, the clear night sky above them, and with no one to complain about anything they might choose to hover over.]

Hop in.

[She doesn't get in right away, instead taking a moment to admire the scenery. Talk about flashy! Pascal keeps staring at the simulation as she backs up toward the helicopter, finally turning around and getting in once she reaches it.]

Ohmigosh, this is way more intense than I thought it was gonna be! It was like whoah before, but this has to be a double whoah, or even more than that. Whoah-hoh-hoh!

[Don watches Pascal study the proliferation of controls, and feels the need to say:]

For the record, I'm only letting you do this because it's a simulation and we can't die.

Hey, we're not gonna die, that's silly! Y'know, even if this wasn't a simulation or whatever. I've totally got this so don't worry!

[Man, look at all those dongles and doohickeys to press. As tempting as it is to just start pressing things and see where to go from there, Pascal decides ti might be a better idea to ask where to start first.]

Now which one of these thingies do I tappatap on to make it fly?

[Yeah, that's why he wouldn't do this outside a simulation.]

[Don starts talking Pascal through the steps of starting a helicopter and getting it airborne. Hopefully she'll pay more attention to this than to his earlier explanations.]

[She's all ears! It's a good thing she's paying attention really, especially when there's less 'tappatapping' and more lever pulling involved in flying a helicopter than she first assumed by just looking at the controls.

She follows along with Don's instructions, eventually getting to the point where adjusting the collective control is all that's left to do for the helicopter to take off. A quick yank of a level and voila, they're in the air!]

Woohoo, got it! Look at that, we're totally floating now.

[And nothing went wrong! She shoots Don a grin. See? She's got this helicoptering thing down.]

[Don grins back, because that was actually really good.]

Where do you want to go, Captain?

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