Coming out for breakfast, I had the startings of a plan as I spent most of the night awake after that train of thought.
First, I need to be able to talk easier, this game of charades crossed with hot potato: translator edition is getting real old real quick.
Second, I need to figure out how to charge my phone. Maybe a basic voltaic pile will work? Voltage is not the issue, but the current will be. Those will need to be some large plates.
Third, I need to figure out what that tower is about, without being caught. Maybe it has clues on why I am here. Looking at that image of the floor, one does not make an analog computer the size of a ballroom to play Doom, but maybe… no, it did pull me here, so their copy may be really broken or its designed to do something else. Also, from my quick time there, it did not look reprogrammable.
Finally, while I am here, I might as well make it a bit more comfortable to live, things like running water, an actual sewer pipe, maybe some automated systems? I don’t know if they grind flour by hand still, but cheap energy is the foundation of civilization.
What else can I do? Make a generator of course, but it still bugs me that they have not found electricity when they are literal self recharging capacitors.I have seen different metals around, so a voltaic pile should be really easy to put together, and they already have some advance math, so maybe they have some parts of the periodic table. Then again, the greeks had Pythagoras and the 4 elements model of everything…
Wandering to the table, I sit down and start eating my slice of smoky not peameal bacon (do they have anything else?) and realize I am being watched, this time by 3 sets of eyes. Silvra is here today, and is staring at me, eyes eager and gleaming with anticipation on what to learn.
“So, as you can see, Silvra is here. And she wants to learn quite badly.”
“Talk about understatement of the century, and I suppose a forest fire is just a little out of control as well! We had to leave her in the schoolroom for 3 hours, she was ready to start 3 hours before dawn, and was waiting for any light from the back room.” Lena stated, pulling the translation inscription out of Thallion’s hand.
“I was not that bad! It was only 2 hours before dawn! I know! I have a clock!” Silvra exclaims wresting control of the device.
I nod. Not like I can say anything. Nothing they can understand anyways. The conversation quickly degrades into arguing, the device is rapidly passed around, and then left on the table altogether. Seeing that this may take a while, I gingerly pick up the device, and pull out my modified USB C cable again. I just get everything set up, and suddenly, the device is snatched from the table.
“You crazy idiot! I told you not to play with this one! It is much more fragile than the one we found that was confiscated by the red guard! This one also costs more than half a year’s wages! No! No tinkering on this! I brought a bunch of others you could tinker on, but not this one.” Silvra screeches.
Uncovering my ears, I nod apprehensively, Lena looks at me concerned as I take the medium bag of assorted devices from her. Placing them on the table, the first one looks like it contains the light bulb that the
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“That there is an emergency flash. Dumping your entire
Yep definitely a lightbulb, or at least a poor one.
“This here is a tremorsense, I’ve never gotten one to work for me, but it makes the sound of quiet things able to be felt. Kind of like ‘whispers of the wind’ or ‘breath of the earth’”.
“It is actually quite useful to tune your hearing to the surrounding forest so you can be one more with the environment and sense the unseen” Lena chimes in, finally seeming to be interested in what Silvra is talking about.
“And finally, this is a choke, it slows down our discharge rate so we don’t fry everything right away,” Silvra continues, glaring at Lena.
That sounds familiar. I gesture towards that one and she passes it to me. Sure enough, this is a coil of wire, forming an inductor. Being that everything is run by capacitors it makes sense that they would have found a way to slow down the discharge.
Looking at the assortment of components, I point to the lightbulb, and grabbing its base, attach my phone to it. Sure enough, it glows about as well as an old flashlight. Silvra leans in close, “It’s not supposed to do that though! It should be much brighter, and shorter lived! Maybe that one is faulty?”
She heads out, and returns with a box of bulbs. Lena, rolls her eyes, and I am guessing she already knows that this is how its going to go. I’ve got the energy, but not the power output to fry the bulbs.
Sure enough we spend the next several minutes testing the entire box of bulbs, and save for a few with damaged filaments, and a few which burned up instead of glowing, they all have roughly the same brightness.
I shutdown my phone again, and starting my plan, get out a new sheet of paper, showing 2 different shaded circles stacked on top of each other. I also attempt to draw a lemon, or a bottle of wine and the image of someone making a puckered face from sour. The 2 circles, after I point at their pockets, they pull out their coins out of special pouches they wear around their waist. Looking at them, they are all iron. Turning to Silvra, I point at my drawing and circle the lighter disc I drew, and draw a happy face. Beside the darker one, I draw a frowny face. Silvra, looking back, eyes darting to Lena and Thallion, responds:
“I don’t know…”
She places the translator on the desk and starts talking with the others. After a few minutes, she leaves and comes back with a plain looking box, that has a lock on it.
Unlocking it, she pushes it gingerly towards me. I look in and see various copper plates, discs and wire.
I graciously accept the box and grab one. Silvra has her hand on my wrist immediately, but after seeing me hold it, lets go of me and stares at me inquisitively, as well as nervously looking at the box.
Selecting the copper pieces, and iron coins from before, I start stacking them up. This time, even Lena and Thallion are nervous. I look at them questioningly, but continue. Realizing I forgot the paper spacers, I take apart my tower and look for a bottle of wine or vinegar or something acidic. Finding a bottle of wine, glad that something like yeast made it here, I pour it on the paper pieces and begin stacking again. Everyone takes a step back.
Just as I start to touch the wires to the end of my voltaic pile, all 3 duck under the table. I connect the wires, and the light glows dimly.
They all come out from under the table, and look at the light, and me, and back at the light and me again.
“What?”
Shakily, Thallion reaches for the translator, careful to not touch the wine I spilled on the table, nor any of the coins.
“Why are you not screaming from burning?” Thallion Questions. “The pain of handling copper is that of falling into a fire! And using two different metals without years of training?! You could have killed us all!”
Huh.