Fixer-Uppers, Monday

[endsthegame]

"So this is all we know about the geography of Shakespeare?" Ender asked, tapping his chin as he stared at the holographic depiction of the planet. At least eighty percent of its surface was unaccounted for.

The little blueish holographic figurine in the corner shrugged her shoulders. "They're making good time exploring," Jane said, "For people, with your spindly little legs."

"Sadly, we haven't figured out how to teleport ourselves through the internet yet," Ender said, though he sounded a little amused. "Though Tony told me about someone using special rings to do it."

Jane's avatar made big eyes, and then shifted: suddenly she was wearing a host of necklaces, rings and bracelets, and there was a tiara sitting on her head. "Are you saying I should be dressed for the occasion?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "No," he said, "But it's something to ponder. Though like with Ben's tech, I'm not sure how much of it communicates over to our universe anyway."

Jane sighed, and in that one expressive motion she conjured a holographic cloud of smoke, and when it faded she was back to normal. "Most of Shakespeare will be inhabited in a century or two," she said. "You're going to need to keep looking if you want to find her some place."

"I know," he said, rubbing at his temple. "Which is why I can't stop hoping we'll find something that'll make the process quicker."

"I don't know," Jane mused, "Relativity is better than age cream."

"I'll give you that," he granted, "But not today, and not tomorrow."

Jane might have vanished eventually - at least physically, because they were both trying to avoid calling any attention to her existence - but the hologram of Shakespeare, the mostly-empty planet with so many black spots they took up most of the display, that one remained.

Eventually, Ender dragged his laptop over and started working there, in front of the projector. It helped him put some pieces in the right places.

[[ open! Jane is nfb. ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben wandered in with sandwiches and coffee right around lunchtime. "Ho, kreetle," he said, tilting his head to get a better view of what Ender was looking at. "Which planet is this?"

[endsthegame]

"Shakespeare," Ender said, gesturing at the small fraction of the globe that was actually filled in. "I've been getting some map data."

[momslilassassin]

"You have to feel bad for how much more the colonists still have to explore when you put it on a globe like this," Ben replied, moving closer.

[endsthegame]

"They've only been at it for a few years," Ender pointed out, turning the globe around with a motion of his hand. "I'd say they've been preoccupied with setting up an infrastructure and battling the environment so far."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, I'm not trying to disparage how they've been spending their time," Ben said quickly. "'Not dying' is a very good goal. It's just that even a small planet is still, you know, a planet."

[endsthegame]

"Exploring the frontier is the part they signed on for, though," Ender said, glancing at him, "Or at least making sure we could get there. I think they're pretty eager for the time when they can go out and explore, though."

[momslilassassin]

"Definitely," Ben said, putting the sack of food down within Ender's reach. "Being on a new planet and only seeing your own camp kind of defeats the point of being there."

[endsthegame]

Ender reached for a sandwich and took a bite. "Have you ever had the chance to explore an unknown planet?" he asked. "Your universe must be fairly well-charted by now."

[momslilassassin]

Ben waggled his hand. "There are still patches we haven't explored, especially in the aptly named Unknown Regions. I haven't been to one of those, but I've been to a planet I wasn't supposed to be on."

[endsthegame]

"Color me surprised," Ender said, shooting him a wry look. "What happened?"

[momslilassassin]

"I crashed on an errand for Jacen," Ben admitted, looking a little annoyed with himself. "Looking back now, the whole thing was probably a set-up."

[endsthegame]

He took another bite of his sandwich, running that over in his head. "It's possible," he said, "Depends on the circumstances, though."

[momslilassassin]

"He sent me there to recover a Sith amulet," Ben replied. "I got shot down by pirates who really had no reason to be there. They certainly didn't expect me to find another way off the planet."

[endsthegame]

That definitely pointed towards a set-up. "Stupid," Ender mused. "The pirates, that is." You didn't go away without being sure your quarry was done with. "Not that I'm not grateful for it. What did he want with the amulet?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben's lips quirked up. "This was right before I came to Fandom, so you wouldn't have met me at all if they'd done their jobs correctly. Jacen said that it was to keep it out of dangerous hands." He snorted. "So I handed to him. I was an idiot."

[endsthegame]

"Mostly, you were uninformed," Ender said, putting his sandwich down. "How did you get off planet?"

[momslilassassin]

"I haven't told you about Ship, have I?" Ben replied, taking a bite from his lunch.

[endsthegame]

"I'm taking it that's not a 'I forgot the definitive article' Ship," Ender commented, looking interested.

[momslilassassin]

"Nope, more like an 'if it weren't so terrifying, I'd make fun of its super creative name' Ship," Ben replied. "It's really a Sith training device."

[endsthegame]

"Which is a ship," Ender checked. Going by the 'super creative name' part. "And it was on the planet."

[momslilassassin]

"For thousands of years," Ben added, nodding. "It was pretty surprised to see me."

Because Ship was semi-sentient.

[endsthegame]

"How about I just sit here and let you tell me about Ship," Ender suggested, taking another bite of his sandwich, "So you don't leave out details like 'why was an inanimate object surprised'."

[momslilassassin]

"It wasn't inanimate," Ben said. "It talked to me. Well, in here," he said, pointing to his head. "It responded to my will, which is one of the weirder flying and shooting experiences I've ever had."

[endsthegame]

That explanation made him think of Jane, somehow, and he sat forward unconsciously. "Like some kind of integrated programming?" he said, "Or is this a Force thing?"

[momslilassassin]

"Force thing," Ben said. "It could even find Jacen's ship when it was out of communication contact, which is something I certainly couldn't manage."