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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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?

Huh, I dunno. Let's have a looksee!

[With that, Pascal nudges at the controls and moves the helicopter off the roof and into the sky.]

Are there any cool things to see in wherever-we-are? Ooh, or didja maybe katappatap in a helithingy assault course?

[What, no he did not.]

It's Manhattan. You can't miss the cool things.

[For example, the giant buildings lit up against the night sky, their spires poking into the clouds.]

Well if you don't miss 'em then we might end up slamming into something!

[The helicopter banks to one side as Pascal weaves her way around a building in front of them. This is fun!]

Anyway, I don't know a thing about this Manhattan place. There might be all sorts of cool things hiding around these pointy buildings, waiting to be uncovered!

[Facepalm. Pascal. No.]

One thing you should know about "this Manhattan place" is that aircraft crashing into buildings is not considered to be very funny.

Duh, I don't think that sorta thing makes anyone wanna bust a gut.

[Unless there's a world out there where people do laugh at that sort of thing! Who knows.]

I'm not going to crash it anyway, have a little faith in me and stuff!

I'm trying. Why don't you take it over there?

[He points towards a graceful bridge.]

Y'okay, here we go!

[Off to the bridge they go! No banking all over the place this time though, Pascal makes sure to take things gentler than before.]

[Not bad. The bridge is outlined by blinking lights, and cars can be seen driving smoothly across it. Don didn't waste any time trying to simulate realistic New York driving behavior, though Pascal probably won't notice.]

I liked to climb this bridge, back in the real Manhattan.

Lookie there, way more car thingies! These ones don't have anything on the one I was workin' on before though.

[Wait, was Don saying something? Uh.]

Huh, wassat? Climbing stuff?

[Wow. Is this what Don's brothers feel like, trying to talk to him when he's focused on something else?]

Yes, I climbed... a lot of stuff.

Neato! I'm not really much of a climber. I've climbed stuff, yeah, but I've never gone and seriously climbed anything like the side of a mountain or whatever before.

[Okay, back to staring at the cars. Wanting to take a closer look, Pascal maneuvers around so the helicopter is facing the bridge. Aw yeah, look at all those car thingies whizzing by.]

[Don grins across the central control panel.]

We could go. Out in the real Luceti, I mean.

[... Oh crud, maybe he should not have distracted her from the task of flying a helicopter.]

We could? [...] Oh, duh, there are tons of mountains sitting around! There could be all sortsa cool secrets hidden up those things.

[She said she wasn't going to crash it and she means it, really! Her attention might be divide between mountains and piloting a helicopter but she's keeping things steady right now...

That is, until she decides to take the helicopter up and over the bridge's supports so it's more hovering over the bridge rather than next to it. Hopefully none of the drivers are programmed to flip out too badly at the sight of a helicopter flying just above them.]

Sixty-Ninth Theory [Voice]

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