radio / oo3

[dragonaught]

[ That this is over radio is no coincidence. It helps hide the nervousness Casey has about approaching the foreigners for help, and also means this is just for the foreigners. Not that they wouldn't appreciate the help of the kedan, but... well, it's complicated, okay? ]

I have something important to ask, even if it sounds weird. Are there any foreigners here who can fly fair distances, especially in cold climates? I'm not good enough to carry myself at all yet. It's about the rakenga, the draconic-ish creatures on Tavimbi. I don't think they're insentient, at least not to the degree that hunting them simply for food variety is justified at all.

The thing is, nobody else in Hatal seems to have even thought about the possibility, and there's so much documentation in an entire city that I'd never be able to find records of any kind of attempted contact just by myself. Or, if I did, I'd definitely try entering the lottery next.

It's just... [ there's a slight pause, then a tired sigh ] not right. So if anyone wants to help, I'd appreciate it.

Comments

[dragonaught]

How many suits do you guys have here?

[ It's not a no. ]

[highprofilerichkid]

[That makes Tony chuckle.] Just the two we came with.

I've got more at home, but Keeliai doesn't really have the technology level I need to make more. Hatal might come close, but they've... gone in sort of a different direction than my world, technologically speaking. Not sure I'd be able to pull together some of the more specialized components. I'd have to re-engineer a lot of things with their tech in mind. [Tony, they didn't even ask. They just want to look at dragons.]

[dragonaught]

[ They didn't ask, but they are interested. ]

Isn't that assuming you'd have to make it exactly as it was before? Why not just... integrate instead of reinvent? Or is that not possible?

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony shakes his head.] It's not just mechanical. The suit is basically a flying supercomputer. I can't just make a bunch of microchips out of whatever's lying around. [Well... maybe eventually.]

Once you get into fields like particle physics and quantum computing and nanoengineering - the technology involved is so specialized that there'd be no way to get the same thing with another world's tech. Even if they were at the same level of scientific advancement, I'd still have to start from the ground up with fabrication.

[dragonaught]

Okay... I think I get it. You'd have to make a different kind of suit entirely just to make something equivalent, right?

[ That's dumbing it down, for certain, but Casey's pretty satisfied with being able to keep up on the general level. ]

That's too bad. They sound so useful.

[highprofilerichkid]

Pretty much. The mechanical and electrical framework wouldn't need to change, but everything else would. [His face breaks into a grin.] It could be fun to try, though. Maybe if we're here long enough I'll make a Tavimbi edition.

[dragonaught]

That could be a project to work on, definitely. You'd have a better chance there than in Keeliai, I think.

[highprofilerichkid]

Yeah. Especially if I can figure out how the Xunutane works. Whatever it is, its power output has to be orders of magnitude greater than anything I've ever come up with, to run the whole city. If I could replicate it, I could make an armor ten times more powerful than what I have now. And can you imagine what we could do for Keeliai if we had access to a power source like that?

[There are stars in his eyes right now. His engineer's kokoro goes doki doki.]