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Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.
He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -
the Connecticut Yankee summons Demon Cam
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from_scratch
connecticut_yankee
"In that case, I'll see you at sunrise."
He goes back into the second door to the right, and stays in till morning.
At which time he and the other members of the Republic who were still at the fortress emerge from their respective spaces.
He goes back into the second door to the right, and stays in till morning.
At which time he and the other members of the Republic who were still at the fortress emerge from their respective spaces.
from_scratch
Cam took a shower overnight and is drying his feathers off with a set of space heater fans. "Morning," he says, lifting his coffee mug in greeting.
connecticut_yankee
"Morning," Hank agrees, "and a good one at that.
Business for today is stopping three wars and working on an election, but first, breakfast.
Cam, interested in trying sixth—ah, local food?"
Some of the earlier risers are already returning from the storerooms.
Business for today is stopping three wars and working on an election, but first, breakfast.
Cam, interested in trying sixth—ah, local food?"
Some of the earlier risers are already returning from the storerooms.
connecticut_yankee
"There's not as much variety, but the quality is quite good. Lots of fruit, fresh and dried. We have literally the original recipe for vegetable stew, but it turns out it's just "stew a bunch of vegetables." Eggs are a staple, the most common drink is beer, and a good cook can do amazing things with meat.
....Come to think of it, a fortress stocked for a siege probably isn't the best time to demonstrate our food."
....Come to think of it, a fortress stocked for a siege probably isn't the best time to demonstrate our food."
from_scratch
"I avoid drinking alcohol, but I'll try everything else. If you're short on fresh whatevers I can supply ingredients."
connecticut_yankee
One of the boys asks, "Can you do spices too?" Some of the others look up. The realization about the applications of "making arbitrary matter" is dawning again.
connecticut_yankee
This is an inordinately exciting answer. Cam is immediately bombarded with requests for items from plums to galangal to a spitted hog. Eventually they present him with a list.
Hank comments "Didn't know we had so many cooks here.
You should throw in a potato with the rest. See what they make of it."
Hank comments "Didn't know we had so many cooks here.
You should throw in a potato with the rest. See what they make of it."
from_scratch
"Ooh, right, potatoes are a New World crop, it's easy to forget that! All this and hash browns, coming right up. Ooh, and corn, let's see what they make of cornbread - aaaaand pumpkin muffins - and if those go over well we can get into other exciting dietary supplements."
All that: appears. It is a magnificent feast.
All that: appears. It is a magnificent feast.
connecticut_yankee
A typical medieval feast would be limited by what ingredients people manage to import. So this is magnificent even by feast standards. The never-before-seen but tasty food doesn't hurt either. Everyone just assumes it was someone else's idea.
All this is not remotely similar to a typical medieval breakfast, but nobody's going to quibble about that.
All this is not remotely similar to a typical medieval breakfast, but nobody's going to quibble about that.
connecticut_yankee
It's very deserved. He did just invent multiple never-before-seen forms of deliciousness.
During the feast, Hank and his lieutenants have worked out who's going where to explain elections. It's mostly determined by whose family lives close to what area.
"We can probably delay starting the race for the top job until after we've got a representative from each town in our Congress. We could hold those elections now if we had to.
Regardless, our current difficulties are what do we want in our Constitution and how do we go about getting people to accept it."
During the feast, Hank and his lieutenants have worked out who's going where to explain elections. It's mostly determined by whose family lives close to what area.
"We can probably delay starting the race for the top job until after we've got a representative from each town in our Congress. We could hold those elections now if we had to.
Regardless, our current difficulties are what do we want in our Constitution and how do we go about getting people to accept it."
from_scratch
"You're going to want to make sure the wording is exquisitely clear and have a really straightforward - if not easy - amendment process. People spent preposterous amounts of time wondering about what the US Constitution meant; I'm not sure how much of that was going on around when you were there but it seemed to keep getting worse when I was. But once you have a constitution, how about just presenting as a fait accompli that being elected to Congress involves swearing to uphold it? Pretend Arthur helped, if necessary."
connecticut_yankee
"It's not even entirely a lie; I had broached the subject if only mostly as a hypothetical. Of course what's clear now might not stay clear, but if future generations are arguing about what it means instead of whether they care then I'd consider that a win.
Can you create a copy of the U.S. one in simpler terms? Editing that sounds easier than trying to write one from scratch; I was never a politician back in the States."
To everyone else: "The United States is a place we both come from; it's a republic that works tolerably well."
Can you create a copy of the U.S. one in simpler terms? Editing that sounds easier than trying to write one from scratch; I was never a politician back in the States."
To everyone else: "The United States is a place we both come from; it's a republic that works tolerably well."
from_scratch
"The making process doesn't accept 'simplify' as a format transformation, but here's a copy of it as of 2159 with lots of space between lines for markup," says Cam, handing it over. "This time let's start with no property ownership requirement for voting. Also, ignore the bit about prohibiting alcohol, it goes really badly and gets overturned later on."
connecticut_yankee
Hank's surprised anyone tried. To everyone else, to whom beer is the most common drink, it sounds like Cam mentioned banning water.
Hank tries to restore the credibility of the United States. "Don't worry about that; the rest of it is full of good stuff like 'no killing people without trials' and 'you can insult politicians if you want.' And—ooh, women got the vote. Good for them."
Hank tries to restore the credibility of the United States. "Don't worry about that; the rest of it is full of good stuff like 'no killing people without trials' and 'you can insult politicians if you want.' And—ooh, women got the vote. Good for them."
from_scratch
"Yes, yes they did."
Later on in the constitution are exciting things like an acknowledgment that the internet is a utility access to which shall not be infringed, an amendment lowering the voting age to 15, and one stating that the right to marry shall not be restricted on the basis of sex, gender, or quantity.
"Obviously some things were going on that didn't involve constitutional amendments. But the legal code would take up a lot of space in paper form."
Later on in the constitution are exciting things like an acknowledgment that the internet is a utility access to which shall not be infringed, an amendment lowering the voting age to 15, and one stating that the right to marry shall not be restricted on the basis of sex, gender, or quantity.
"Obviously some things were going on that didn't involve constitutional amendments. But the legal code would take up a lot of space in paper form."
connecticut_yankee
Hank is surprised to learn that the right to a thing he's never heard of is not the most bizarre thing to happen to the Constitution. (He is still from the nineteenth century.)
"Um. Anyway, most of the differences between state and national governments wouldn't need to apply here. All the old stuff about slavery can definitely go.
The government's structure seems kind of arbitrary, but I don't exactly have any quarrels with it."
He passes the document around the table. "Anything that doesn't make sense when you read it twice we can edit."
"Um. Anyway, most of the differences between state and national governments wouldn't need to apply here. All the old stuff about slavery can definitely go.
The government's structure seems kind of arbitrary, but I don't exactly have any quarrels with it."
He passes the document around the table. "Anything that doesn't make sense when you read it twice we can edit."
connecticut_yankee
"That last amendment...really? What... when... why...
I'll just leave it at 'there's no way anybody's swearing to that no matter what we say Arthur said.'"
I'll just leave it at 'there's no way anybody's swearing to that no matter what we say Arthur said.'"
from_scratch
"Aw, man, really, no fully general right to marry? That's very disappointing. Suppose I'm not surprised, but I didn't think it would be that much harder than women's suffrage."
connecticut_yankee
"We can get women's suffrage included with the concept of suffrage. This...not so much. Also it would definitely mean the Church opposes us no matter what."
from_scratch
"What if I go ahead and appear to the Pope? Without including it to begin with I can't imagine it'll be much easier to get it done here than it was the first time around, and that was a long and unhappy struggle. Or - well, no, how much of the problem is the religious monopoly on marriages? There's baggage in the culture I'm familiar with on settling for civil union but that probably shouldn't be a consideration here."
connecticut_yankee
"Appearing to the Pope as an angel and telling him that gets you labeled a demon.
All marriages here are religious. Most have nothing whatever to do with the government though. Come to think of it, that Establishment Clause is going to be a hard thing to get passed but if we can solve that it might also get you what you want."
All marriages here are religious. Most have nothing whatever to do with the government though. Come to think of it, that Establishment Clause is going to be a hard thing to get passed but if we can solve that it might also get you what you want."