"Speaking of eating, I'll be back in ten with your lunch, please don't suddenly turn evil or anything." Off she goes in her stompy boots.

Bella's back in a little under ten minutes with two trays. She has gotten them both grilled chicken and a heap of potatoes and broccoli in some sort of sauce and sugar cookies, and coffee for him and water for her.

"Aha, caffeine, the precious." He floats his tray in front of him rather than use the table, and also declines to use utensils.

She watches the chicken disassemble itself in fascination. "So what are you doing right now?"

"I'm moving two small layers of the chicken slightly parallel and opposite from each other. It doesn't go down to the molecular level, but it's better than any knife."

"Huh. And what've you got going on with your tablet? It didn't sound like you were expecting to be transported to a low-tech world full of hostile demons so you must have to work with whatever was already on it..."

"Yeah, but I'm a bit of a tinker, which helps. If I can't swing it with just what's on me I was planning to write out a summoning diagram geared to get me and only me, and gather some stuff from my workshop, download a library or two, buy a few esoteric tools I don't already have."

"What do fairies use for currency?"

"There's fiat currency in some places, but there's also plenty of barter, at least in my part of Fairyland. Things like salt, cloth, and steel are pretty fungible and weight's not really an issue. Postal service workers get paid with prioritized imports from, well, the word in this language is Hell. The place where the 'makers' live."

"Can you bring any amount of stuff back with you when dismissed?"

"It's a bit fuzzy but, basically, stuff that is clearly in my direct control. A crate that I'm touching, yes. A car, if I had any reason to want one, probably not."

"But if we supply you with steel or salt or cloth to cover expenses...?"

"Or other kinds of food. Coffee and tea are very valuable there and just don't keep indefinitely. But yes, I could buy a lot of fancy tech in Fairyland if repeatedly dismissed and resummoned. Possibly a simpler solution would be summoning and making a deal with a maker - but that's probably more risky, the ones that answer summons tend to be sadistic assholes."

"Why's that?"

"They make whatever they want, so the things they want as pay are what they can't easily get. The name of your favorite author or musician or actor so they can conjure up all their works if you're lucky. Sex or a soul or similar, if you're not. It's definitely possible to just not agree to anything, not dangerous if the bindings are tight. And then you just dismiss and resummon until you get one who'll play ball. If I was significantly less paranoid I'd think that's a much faster route, but I don't have a sense of just how threatening your demons are day-to-day so I don't know if it's worth the risk."

"There is a daily body count, worldwide, but this base in particular's pretty quiet because the town is a walled enclave."

"...Summoning a maker sounds like a better plan now. You'd have to do it, daeva can't summon daeva."

"Me personally?"

"Not you personally, sorry. A human. Using strict adherence to the circle I write out. If I write out a proper, safe circle it might become clear how to make more circles, which could be an infosec leak."

Nod. "A supply of - daeva's the catchall? - could completely turn around the way the world's gone to shit in the last while."

"I agree there. And USADI has enough institutional paranoia to be properly cautious about summoning. But it wouldn't do to be too hasty and make things worse. Do you think you could ask if they want to risk the maker-summoning, or have me ferry things from Fairyland? I do think it's safe with precautions and care, just very slightly less safe than the other way."

"I can ask. They probably want to sound you out a bit more before they summon up lots and lots of you, but the resource is too big to ignore long-term."

"It'd be faster." He shrugs. "I guess I'll keep poking at plans for the UV thing for now."

"Sure." She pulls a radio off her uniform belt and frowns at the controls and eventually figures out how to radio Roxbury and relay the thing about makers. Roxbury says she'll take it under advisement. And then Bella pulls a book out of her bag, keeping half an eye on Nick, and reads.