tushanshu | [Video]

[the screen turns on to reveal Carlos in his ever-present lab coat, pushing his glasses up his nose as he nervously grins at the screen]

I believe this is the point where introductions are in order, so...my name is Carlos and I am a scientist. I am not of this world, but from what I have been told neither are any of you. I'll need to run some surveys on that later - scientifically speaking, other worlds are very exciting. I mean, I'm here in a world where an entire city can be built on the back of a giant turtle the size of - well I don't know what size yet, I'll need to run some tests, or maybe just find an accurate map - but it's got to be at least the size of Rhode Island! There are just so many rules of physics that this thing must be breaking! Like, how does a turtle that large even float? And that's just in this world, I can't even begin to hypothesise about what else might be...

[Carlos coughs, suddenly remembering that this is actually the time for introductions, and figuring out what on earth (or in this case, what on turtle) he is meant to be doing next, and not time for Science]

Um. Yes. But I can figure that all out later, I'll need time to organise a proper survey questionnaire anyway. In the meantime - this is me, hello [Carlos waves quickly], and I would really appreciate it if someone could tell me where to get food, groceries, that sort of thing. Also is all of this [Carlos waves around him to indicate the place he's been set up in] something paid for, or am I going to need to pay this all back? I meant to ask, but I kind of got distracted with all of my questions about the turtle.

Also I...I realise this is a long shot, but the last otherworldly universe I got stuck in had this fantastic wifi, and I didn't have to worry about my phone's battery dying either. Which meant being stuck in a desert that was not of this world wasn't so bad, because I could still ring home. That...that's not going to be possible here, is it? I mean, obviously if time is not passing in my world then there is no time in which anyone will be able to answer the phone, but I...I just thought I'd check. Just in case.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Right, right, but how big is the city? Is it a city the size of Oklahoma or the size of Sacramento? Assuming you even know what those cities are, I'm not sure yet how similar or different all our words are geographically.

There's a number of factors that go into what size an animal can be, but when we're talking about big creatures like this the biggest influence is gravity. Basically if you are big, you weigh more, and the greater the pressures are on your body. And there's only so much weight that your bones can support! And you could just have bigger, stronger bones, but they're heavy too, so eventually you'd just collapse under your own weight.

Of course this isn't as big an issue for creatures that live in the ocean, as the buoyancy effects of water means that you weigh less. So sea animals can get a lot bigger - but those pressures are still there, and this turtle has got to be way over the limit! Unless somehow it's got something that gives it really, really, really good buoyancy to offset the issues...

A city is a city.

[Wan shrugged.]

This city is about the same size as the one on the back of the Lion Turtle I grew up on. But The Lion Turtle didn't have as much space between the city and the edge of it's shell. About six to seven Lion Turtles could probably ride on the back of the Great Turtle. Not that they would, but they could.

As for how the Great Turtle floats... well, it has lungs and needs lots of air. Air makes things float...

[Wan shrugged again. Science was not his thing.]

Well, air does help a lot with buoyancy, but there's a lot more that goes into it than just that...

[and Carlos could try to explain more, but he's also bursting to ask more about these Lion Turtles]

But you actually grew up on a turtle like this? Was it a similar species of turtle? How did you build on it's back? What did it eat?

Well, it was a Lion Turtle. They're very big, but not as big as the Great Turtle. They aren't related at all, either. And I'm not really sure what it ate, but building on it's back was easy. You built on it the same as you build on ground. Dig a foundation in the dirt, then build up from there.

I don't think I'm familiar with that species of turtle, but then I'm not really a biologist. But it had dirt on it's shell? How did the dirt get there? Did your community carry it on? You'd have to be pretty dedicated to bring on enough dirt to build on.

Well, I know the people here carry earth from the mainlands when they make landfall to help replenish what's on the Great Turtle's back. But if the people of my city ever did that, it was a very long time ago. The city has been there for as long as anyone can remember, and the trees outside it's walls, too.

Aargh, this is so frustrating! I wish I could see your turtle, then I could make proper comparisons...maybe do a soil analysis or two...

I can't get you the soil, but I could make a model of the Lion Turtle for you.

[What is your fascination with dirt?]

That would be great! Yes, that would be really helpful, I mean, depending on how accurate your model is I might be able to identify what species it's related to...

[Not dirt. Scientifically interesting dirt!]

I don't think they're related to anyone but each other.

[Wan shrugged and raised a hand, spinning it in the air to 'call' water from a nearby bowl over to him. The stream floated through the space between before forming a ball in front of Wan. He brought his other hand up and after some fancier gestures the water had taken the shape of a Lion Turtle, complete with city on it's back. Then he took a deep breath and blew on the water, freezing it so there was now an ice sculpture on the desk in front of the computer.]

This is the one I was born on.

[It wasn't a perfect model, but it was enough to get the features of the Lion Turtle across as well as the scale of the city compared to it.]

[Carlos blinks. Then he blinks again. And then he grins]

You...did you do that? How did you do that? Water is not supposed to float and shape itself into turtle sculptures!

Yeah, I did. Sorry. I forget a lot of people here aren't familiar with the power of the elements being used by a human. It's just the power of water.

'Just'? 'Just' That's not 'just' anything, that's...that's a scientific miracle! You've just broken all of the laws about what water should and should not be able to do! That's amazing!

[Wan has never heard of these laws that water must adhere to.]

I didn't break any laws!

Ah - no, not municipal laws. Scientific laws - statements about the way the universe works according to experimental observations and recorded data. Not laws made by a government.

I didn't break any of those either. Water is moved by the push and pull of the moon and ocean upon each other and I used those same movements to direct the water.

Yes, the moon and the ocean are significant forces in the movement of water, although generally people are not supposed to be able to manipulate that. Of course, this is also running on the assumption that rules of your universe are similar to mine, it's entirely possible if not likely that different universes will work on different scientific laws...without being able to visit your universe myself it's impossible to say for certain.

Okay. People in your world can't. People in mine, can. Some of them. Others can control one of the other four elements. I'm the only one that can control all four. And... yeah, I might have broken a few unspoken rules to get there.

Edited 2014-08-21 17:18 (UTC)

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