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Over the next week, Isabella gets the alethiometer to tell her that the planets they looked at don't contain microorganisms that know what to do with a human body (although the one with the giant bugs has some multicellular parasites that might be able to make do with the foreign macro-scale features of a human body if they got the chance). "The present", it includes in one of its answer phrasings, which is kind of worrying. But Adarin makes enough progress with his scry in little enough time that it's worth the double-check.
Isabella also hires ticket-takers, gives them little pots of ink to verify the authenticity of the passes she handed out, and opens the Los Angeles - New York route for the employees of her three companies of choice and anyone who shells out a cool fifteen thousand dollars per round trip (ten K for a one-way). This is steep, but it's within an order of magnitude of what people sometimes pay for short-notice first-class cross-country flights - with less novelty and more hassle. Albeit she doesn't supply inflight meals. She expects to have to raise the price when more people hear about it in response to volume and then be able to drop it again.
By the time the thing has been open for a few days she's fired and replaced one ticket-taker and the others have settled into a routine that she's willing to try out leaving unsupervised for awhile.
If Adarin's up for some up close and personal planet shopping and his results suggest it'll go well, anyway.
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"There's no guarantee that the invader scum left security holes so big you could drive a truck through them," Isabella points out.
dark_light
"How good were the - rather, how much of a threat were the invaders' robots the last time you got intel on them?" Isabella asks their robot.
"INVADER SCUM ROBOTICS IS MUCH INFERIOR TO THAT OF NOBLE NNSARXPH. ONE UNIT OF THIS TYPE WILL DEFEAT A SINGLE ONE OF THE VILE C'THKBRRI ROBOTS ONE HUNDRED TIMES OUT OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE. OUTNUMBERED INVADER SCUM ROBOTS HAVE INVARIABLY LOST CONFLICTS WITH UNITS OF THIS TYPE."
"INVADER SCUM ROBOTICS IS MUCH INFERIOR TO THAT OF NOBLE NNSARXPH. ONE UNIT OF THIS TYPE WILL DEFEAT A SINGLE ONE OF THE VILE C'THKBRRI ROBOTS ONE HUNDRED TIMES OUT OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE. OUTNUMBERED INVADER SCUM ROBOTS HAVE INVARIABLY LOST CONFLICTS WITH UNITS OF THIS TYPE."
prodigal_miser
"Hm. Okay, that helps. Guess we can drive the metaphorical truck through the huge holes in security without much trouble, then. Do you want an army of robots, or do I get it?"
dark_light
"I totally want an army of robots. I think I'll wait to promote myself till we're on that capital island, though, in case we learn something else or think of a better idea. Hey," she says to the robot, switching again, "how are you at learning new languages?"
"NEW LANGUAGE PROGRAMS MAY BE ADDED AT THE CAPITAL COMMAND CENTER"
"Pity. Okay... oh - besides the invader scum and your own noble people - what factions were there on this planet as of four hundred years ago?"
"OUR VALUED ALLIES THE BBNNSKT - OUR VALUED ALLIES THE AMNRLK - THE ALLIES OF THE INVADER SCUM, THE NYSTBLI - THE ALLIES OF THE INVADER SCUM, THE ENSZZGRTE - OUR WORTHY NEUTRAL ARBITER THE RRRWEN"
"NEW LANGUAGE PROGRAMS MAY BE ADDED AT THE CAPITAL COMMAND CENTER"
"Pity. Okay... oh - besides the invader scum and your own noble people - what factions were there on this planet as of four hundred years ago?"
"OUR VALUED ALLIES THE BBNNSKT - OUR VALUED ALLIES THE AMNRLK - THE ALLIES OF THE INVADER SCUM, THE NYSTBLI - THE ALLIES OF THE INVADER SCUM, THE ENSZZGRTE - OUR WORTHY NEUTRAL ARBITER THE RRRWEN"
prodigal_miser
"And how many robots to each of those factions have, as of four hundred years ago?" asks Adarin. Hey, if they can both get an army of robots, even better. He might need them.
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"NONE"
"Sorry, dear. If we mop up the invader scum effectively maybe you can be a senior equipment maintenance specialist too without cutting off our options."
"Sorry, dear. If we mop up the invader scum effectively maybe you can be a senior equipment maintenance specialist too without cutting off our options."
prodigal_miser
"My heart, it breaks," Adarin deadpans. "Oh well, I have at least three hundred years to figure out how to reverse engineer these robots to make more. I suppose I'll just have to make my own legion of robots. Bwuahahaha."
dark_light
"If you really want to field-promote yourself instead of me I will let you."
prodigal_miser
Kiss! "Thanks. Pass, though, you're adorable when you want an army of robots. You may have them, but if we travel to another planet or plane and find a cool thing that only one of us can be in charge of, I get dibs."
He winks.
He winks.
dark_light
"But what if I like that thing even more than a robot army, will you be able to handle the puppy eyes?"
prodigal_miser
"I will have to try," says Adarin gravely. "Or we could decide to switch. Either."
dark_light
"Okay. Robot - is there a way to address this particular unit or your group consciousness?"
"NO"
"If I start calling you 'Juniper', will you acknowledge the designation?"
"YES"
"Okay, so Juniper, if we - infiltrate invader scum territory, or their allies' territory, then if I've promoted myself to senior equipment maintenance specialist and made changes at the command center, will I be able to command an escort of you to come with me?"
"YES"
"NO"
"If I start calling you 'Juniper', will you acknowledge the designation?"
"YES"
"Okay, so Juniper, if we - infiltrate invader scum territory, or their allies' territory, then if I've promoted myself to senior equipment maintenance specialist and made changes at the command center, will I be able to command an escort of you to come with me?"
"YES"
prodigal_miser
Adarin snickers at 'Juniper.'
"That's rather helpful. Robot bodyguards. I support this!"
"That's rather helpful. Robot bodyguards. I support this!"
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"Juniper, can you fly?"
"NO"
"Can the invader scum's robots fly?"
"NO - ONE KNOWN MODEL CAN JUMP UP TO FORTY-FIVE MRR"
"How effective are their robots at attacking airborne targets? Or any stationary weapons they might have still operational."
"THERE ARE NO AIRBORNE TARGETS"
Isabella tilts her head. "Huh. They never invented airplanes, or at least don't have a word for them. Weird," she comments in English.
"NO"
"Can the invader scum's robots fly?"
"NO - ONE KNOWN MODEL CAN JUMP UP TO FORTY-FIVE MRR"
"How effective are their robots at attacking airborne targets? Or any stationary weapons they might have still operational."
"THERE ARE NO AIRBORNE TARGETS"
Isabella tilts her head. "Huh. They never invented airplanes, or at least don't have a word for them. Weird," she comments in English.
prodigal_miser
"Extremely convenient for us, though," says Adarin, looking relieved. Another factor helping the both of them be a little bit safer. "They can probably still use their weapons, but it's nice that they wouldn't be able to follow if we flew off."
"How far can your weaponry fly up in the air if an airborne target were to appear?"
"How far can your weaponry fly up in the air if an airborne target were to appear?"
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"AIMING CONDITIONS ARE NOT OPTIMAL FOR A TARGET ABOVE THE UNIT - LESS THAN THREE HUNDRED MRR ASSUMING NO INTERVENING OBSTACLES"
"Are the capabilities of the invaders' robots similar?"
"IT IS LIKELY BUT NOT GUARANTEED"
"Okay, so if I just fly several hundred mrr above the tallest buildings we should actually be fine regardless."
"YES"
"Are the capabilities of the invaders' robots similar?"
"IT IS LIKELY BUT NOT GUARANTEED"
"Okay, so if I just fly several hundred mrr above the tallest buildings we should actually be fine regardless."
"YES"
prodigal_miser
"Good, that's nice to hear," says Adarin in English. Then, he switches to the awkward language.
"If I ask for instructions on - how you are built, how to repair you, would you be able to give them if I were allied with you?"
Long-term, that would help greatly for technology thievery. He'd already planned to do it with Earth's technology, why not do it with this planet's?
"If I ask for instructions on - how you are built, how to repair you, would you be able to give them if I were allied with you?"
Long-term, that would help greatly for technology thievery. He'd already planned to do it with Earth's technology, why not do it with this planet's?
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"UNITS ARE EQUIPPED WITH SUFFICIENT INFORMATION TO CANNIBALIZE DAMAGED OR SACRIFICIAL UNITS FOR PARTS - UNITS ARE INCAPABLE OF GENERATING NEW UNITS OR NEW PARTS FROM RAW MATERIALS"
prodigal_miser
"Are you capable of giving me information to cannibalize things for parts?"
prodigal_miser
Adarin grins. He tells Isabella, "I think I'm going to make that another side project of mine. 'How does the robot army work'?"
dark_light
"Okay, but don't make too many of them disassemble themselves for you, please."
prodigal_miser
"Of course not. It would ruin your army. I want to understand how they work so I can make more."