high-energy physics

[warpfairy]

Federation political prisons are not particularly uncomfortable. She's not going anywhere, but she can read, she's considering taking up an instrument, the only really awkward thing is that she doesn't particularly want to be supervised while she's sweating her way through her next pon farr one way or another but that's years off. That and she wishes she'd taken longer to get caught. But she was running out of the really low-hanging fruit anyway.

This is what she signed up for. She makes up imaginary profiles of people on the planets she got to, people who can live longer fuller lives with the stars in reach, one per day. One per day and she'll have loads of estimated impact left unused when she dies. Perfectly reasonable tradeoff and she can still read books.

Someone wants to interview her about Vulcan; they don't want to lose anything that anybody remembers; she gives the interview and then picks up some poetry.

Comments

[lintamande]

We landed here about a month ago. They speak so many languages here and I've mostly been learning them but also it's a real science fantasy paradise here, one with no gods, so eventually we're going to get starships and things and summon everyone here from Materia and Valinor who might not want to keep being in Materia or Valinor. My name is Curufinwë Fëanáro Finwion and I am going to be an epic wizard scientist and it shouldn't even take too long, I think this world is one of the places where I'll grow up faster.

We saw you on the news. My Bella went really pale, because you look like her, and then we looked up everything about you on the science ethernet.

[warpfairy]

You "landed here"? Not this moon, surely?

[lintamande]

No, I just mean on this plane. We landed near Phoenix, Arizona, because we were looking for something like the climate we'd shifted from, and we were in the south of Valinor which is kind of a desert because the Valar don't look there as often. Bella and Rúmil are both better than me at explaining things.

[warpfairy]

Well, if you take me to Earth I'll just be arrested again, she says, however it is you're planning to transport me.

[lintamande]

We can just do another planar shift, at worst, though I'd be really sad to leave this one when I don't even have starships yet or understand how they work or speak all the languages. And you can be invisible like I am, that'd make it hard for them to find you. Or Bella and Rúmil might have a better plan than me, they were working on one.

[warpfairy]

There are planets where I wouldn't be arrested, it's only the Federation that wants me locked up. How'd you get here?

[lintamande]

So I only have a planar shift, not a teleport, but you can really easily approximate the latter with the former. We can go to a planet where you won't be arrested but we have to get my Bella and Rúmil first.

[warpfairy]

And you're inclined to rescuing me solely because I look like 'your Bella'.

[lintamande]

Where I'm from there are no jails and only the Enemy held anyone prisoner.

[warpfairy]

...that's interesting.

[lintamande]

And I and Bella and Rúmil are all powerful wizards so if you turn out to like torturing people or something we can put you on an uninhabited plane or one where everyone can't be tortured or something like that.

[warpfairy]

I would be in a different jail if I had tortured people, this one's for nonviolent political prisoners.

[lintamande]

I think I object to jails for nonviolent political prisoners.

[warpfairy]

Well, if you can figure out how to get me to - let's say Davlia - I will be happy to be rescued from it, but you needn't consider it urgent.

[lintamande]

Do you want me to go build a house there and tell Rúmil and my Bella and everything, or should we just go now?

[warpfairy]

...I'm not sure why you'd need to build a house there, but I will cope if dropped off alone.

[lintamande]

We don't have any money yet. Bella's still getting used to not being small and Rúmil and I don't really understand the concept. And I'm not going to leave you alone! You haven't even met them!

[warpfairy]

This psychic child makes no sense. Davlia is reasonably likely to take me in as a refugee in spite of the fact that I'd have a hard time accessing my Federation accounts from there.

[lintamande]

And us? We're not really refugees, Bella's universe eats people and the Valar are scared of me but they didn't keep me in a jail or anything.

[warpfairy]

You I don't know about, but you can always teleport back to Federation space if Davlia doesn't care to have you as immigrants and the Federation will look after your basic needs. It's very good about that.

[lintamande]

Not as good as home, you can't eat the trees. We're developing a spell for that.

I'm going to go tell my Bella and Rúmil that we're taking you to Davlia.

[warpfairy]

Thank you.

[lintamande]

And he pops back and stops being invisible. One of them will have to do the rest of the planar shifts because he spent the morning doing research on the trees and he is out of mana. "Bella!" he says. "I met the other Bella and she's a nonviolent political prisoner and we're rescuing her and taking her to Davlia and I know you said we needed to think about this a lot first but that felt really time-slidey and anyway we can think about it on Davlia just as well."

[subtly_artistic]

"You - of course you did," sighs Bella. "I'm quite sure there is no time slide here. Do we know where Davlia is? Did she say what she was a nonviolent political prisoner for, it wasn't anywhere in the news and I'm not sure I want to go ask her mother?"

[lintamande]

"She didn't. I can't go ask her, it was two planar shifts each way and I'm out of mana. We can look up Davlia on the science ethernet."