Once Anne left to park the truck, I began to notice a few things. First, this planet had three moons. One was grey, like I was used to seeing, one was an odd pale blue, and the other was green, like oxidized copper green; otherwise, the sky looked the same back home.
I figured out the list's numerical system, and could tell that it corresponded to how much of that full feeling that left, after each part I was able to, buy, I guess. so the part that said 'left lower control arm - 500' took a lot less of that feeling away versus the 'rear axle housing - 1,000' and there were some things that were red, even if I was completely full, like 'infotainment system upgrade - 5,000,000,000', then the ones that would be yellow, and I would feel empty after buying, like 'transmission housing 3spd automatic - 15,000' I am guessing, but fairly confident that I can only hold about 15,000 units of this stuff at a time. but I will need a lot more for anything substantial.
I also managed to figure out that Maggie wasn't kidding about me looking like I rolled. Anne came back about an hour after setting me on blocks, and set up a TV in front of me, then walked around me while carrying a video camera. No wonder I was feeling like I fell out of a tree, and hit a few branches on the way down. This car was twisted, bent, dented, and otherwise screwed. Even if I was able to get all four tires on the ground, I would have to dog-track everywhere. When the sun finally set, Anne had started playing kids shows on the TV. well, I do need a distraction from the constant waiting for my tank to fill back up, so I can move to the next thing on the lists.
She also told me to stop worrying about getting the rear axle done, as I wouldn't be allowed to move for a while. I guess the one good thing I have going for me is the parts on the list are color coded. I don't know cars, never really cared to learn, but parts on the car, have a green, yellow, orange, or red dot next to them, parts that I need have a black dot, the parts themselves are listed with similar colors, and black seems to be parts that conflict with something I already have, or are upgrades to them, not exactly sure; I will have to see how it goes.
The television did give me the idea to get a working radio, I figure I should be able to talk if I can get a speaker or two. so my current project is straightening the body. When I found the list named 'repair installed components' I nearly had a heart attack, well if I could. The first thing on the list was red, cost 90,000,000, and simply said 'repair all to factory new'. Umm... That can wait.
The option to 'straighten frame' cost too much, but there was another listed 'frame correction, maximum 1/4 deviation per use' was 6,000. Ive been able to use it twice an hour since I started this whole thing, and the cost of the overall frame straightening is going down. ironically, so is the cost of some of the other parts, I feel like the massive parts costs included straightening up the frame just enough to mount the part, but not fix the other problems. I kind of panicked at the cost of some of the repair options, but the cost of 'repair all to factory new' continuously dropped, and often times it dropped more than what I put into fixing the other issues.
When the sun rose, Anne came out of the little hut next to where she put me on blocks.
"Good morning, Foxy." She said as she tapped my hood with a knuckle. "I know the shows are boring, but they are free, we don't have to pay extra for them, they should also help teach you some things about our culture, and the way this world works." she looked at the TV for a moment, said she had to get to work, and walked back into the shack; coming out a few minutes later with a pack over her shoulder, and walked into the building on the other side of me.
Around noon, Maggie started walking up to me from a house on the edge of the property. A taller man in coveralls walked next to her, his hazel eyes seemed to pierce into me as they approached.
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"Foxy, this is Magus Matthew Gregor. His job is to assess you, and determine how to handle your legal situation. since every magical life is different, I can't tell you how this will go." she says.
"Do you think it understood?" he asked. I honked the horn twice. he looked back at me, "Okay, Foxy, I will try to word my questions as yes, or no, answer questions. can you give me a single honk for no, two for yes, and three for don't know." he asks.
I beep twice.
"Well, she can understand me. That's a good start." he chuckles at Maggie. "Alright, so the first question is: Were you an organic being before becoming this car?" I answer with two beeps. "Male?" one beep, "Female?" two beeps. "alright, does it cost you energy to answer my questions?" three beeps.
for the next four hours, he asks questions non-stop, was I considered an adult, did my dimension have magic, did I have a pet. All kind of weird to me, but each response elicited a quick mark on his clipboard. when he flipped the page over, I could tell he was only asking the questions on the board itself. When he started writing on the clipboard, he nonchalantly sat on my hood, I honked to get him off. I didn't like it. He apologized, and sat on a stool that Maggie had brought over for herself, and she had to leave an hour ago. He finished his writing, as she approached near the end of the work-day.
"Maggie, thanks for letting us know about this one. She is going to be an interesting one. Because she is a car, we will use a license plate for identification, we already have a precedent for doing so, although they didn't make it outside of the 3-month point. We won't be able to give her permission to leave here before she crosses the three month mark. you said she was found yesterday morning, so we will mark yesterday as her zero-day."
"Thanks for this. Let me know when I can pick up her temporary Identification, I know she has to stay on property for a while, but I don't want someone stealing her, while she is undocumented either. Especially once she finishes straightening herself out." Maggie says.
"I understand the concern. This area seems secure enough, but once she is able to move around on her own, the risks will go up exponentially. I am also giving her a television license for the magic learning channels, all of the kids channels, and two of the news channels. I know she won't be able to change the channel on her own for a while, but it will give her better options than toddler programs, and she will be able to make better use of the Mana that is now her life-line." I honked at that comment, hoping he would expand on it, however Maggie did instead.
"Mana is the medium with magic is used, its usually expressed numerically by magic-lifeforms; like they know exactly how much they have, and how much they can use. However, there is also a cost, every few days there is something that happens that can either make, or break a magic-life. We don't know exactly what it is, but every seven days for the first five months, and once a month for the first two years, the amount of Mana they can hold goes up. If they don't know enough about magic, or how to react to that change, they can die. so the Magus here is going to be giving you access to the magic learning channels so you know what to expect, and what you are doing."
I honk once, then two more in a drawn out way. she simply pats me on the hood, and goes back to talking about other things that Maggie is required to do, all because of me. I started slowly repairing myself again, and accidentally accepted something, and didn't see what it was. I quickly started going through the lists, trying to find what I had just used all of my points on.
"shit, shit, shit, shit." I heard myself say. "wait!" I shouted, and I saw Maggie, and the Magus turn to look at me. "I can talk!" I shouted, and felt my horn beep as well. "I can finally talk! I don't know what I did, and it cost me every last drop, but I can talk!" as I shout aloud, Anne comes out of the building to the cacophony of my shouts.
"well, it looks like I get to come back tomorrow and ask you more questions, Foxy. or is there another name you want to be called?" he asks.
"My name is Karla Kross, both spelled with the letter 'K'; can I use Foxy as a nickname? I mean, Maggie uses it, Anne seems like she would use it even if she knew my real name."
"yep, we will keep it on the paperwork, Karla. See you tomorrow." Matthew said as he left. Maggie sat on the vacated stool, and Anne pulled another one up. We talked for a while, then Anne left to get something to eat, changing the TV to one of the channels meant to teach kids magic, and Maggie left a few minutes later. as the sun set, I was still trying to straighten out the frame. The repair to my dash was below 20,000 now, but that only meant that I still had a long ways to go.