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LiteratureCyber Core, Ch 32, V 02Log Entry: Project Day 0018 Addendum 08: "This is an example of very basic protective gear worn by... I believe you might call them the 'city watch'." Thakhibi considers the basic view of 'generic police duty armor' displayed on the clothing fabricator's main monitor. "Looks somewhat like a well-equipped foot soldier," she comments. And I must admit that she has a point. "The world I left was in troubled times, yes," I admit. "For more than two hundred years before then, our 'police' could get away with wearing little more than a special badge on their chest." "I only see a stick for a weapon here. You said your world had no magic, so what's so special about what seems like a shortsword for training purposes?" "This particular design is called a 'tonfa', and it has a bit more combat utility than just a stick..." "I swear, you two..." comes Snatdrure's voice from the bedroom. "Going on about weapons and armor without waking me... a body might feel left out." "Yeah, and I was inLiteratureCyber Core, Ch 10, V 02Log Entry: Project Day 0017 Addendum 02: Sudryal stared at the picture, his pen actually pausing for 10.28 seconds before a bout of furious scratching while he copied it onto the page as well as adding notes about the colors. That done, he added a final symbol or two before shutting the notebook with a decisive snap. "If you have no objection, Joachim, I think it would be wise for me to pause our conversation for some water, if not some food." I made the avatar nod his head, then raise one finger. "Well, you said something about having crumbs of rations left when I told you I didn't have any food." "Yes...?" "Well, that statement was true when I said it, but I've had time to make... something that the four of you could eat." I had the avatar point toward the kitchen. "Join me in there, if you would?" Sudryal got to his feet and stretched his lower back before heading in the indicated direction. I animated the avatar walking along behind the wall to the corner, then 'jumping'LiteratureCyber Core, Ch 03, V02Okay. Regardless of whether or not I'm the original Joachim Roarke, grad student in computer science, I refuse to give in to panic. I've got... Hell, I am... a cutting-edge suite of sensors, along with enough nanites and support technologies to eventually turn myself into a ten-story building out of any solid surface within human habitation limits. More importantly, I'm not human. I don't have to worry about supplies like food or water or medicine. I've got an on-board generator along with a couple other energy-absorption instruments to take care of 'food'. And as far as the sensors can detect, nothing in the local environment consumes the various compounds making up the architect module's structures. I make a mental note to 3D-print a 1:1 scale statue of Original Me bent at the knees and waist when I have the spare time and nanite-swarms available. I add in a reminder for one calendar year from today, as my onboard systems measure time; I can't forget anything, of course, but aLiteratureCyber Core, Ch 08, V 02Log Entry: Project Day 0016 Addendum 06: Scinjir looks up at the control panel with bleary eyes. "Sudryal, could you levitate me up to reach that?" he mutters. I animate the avatar slapping himself in the forehead with his other hand, indicating my own forgetfulness. The top of Scinjir's head barely reaches Sudryal's belt. The Gnome could, possibly, jump high enough to reach the panel as it is, or try to balance on top of his pack. Sudryal cracks open one eye to look at Scinjir, and figures out the problem. "Ugh, I might have enough energy to cast Tenser's Floating Disk once more today..." he says. Fortunately, I can offer a different solution. I bring the avatar's hand away from his face and make a dismissive wave. "Not necessary, Sudryal," I say. I make the avatar sink down onto his haunches... a slow and detailed bit of animation that fills me with an odd surge of pride... while lowering the control panel to where Scinjir can reach it without getting out of his covers. TheLiteratureCyber Core, Ch 12, V 02Log Entry: Project Day 0017 Addendum 03-A: The Gnome's huge eyes convey emotions with a clarity that cartoonists back on Earth might envy; he shoots a look of disbelief at the avatar before holding up his left pinkie-finger. "Smaller," he repeats. "Than this." I nod the avatar's head, matching the mining helmet to the movement. "How? And why?" "Ah," I say, while the avatar hangs the mining helmet back up on the hat-tree, and retrieves a set of safety-goggles, which he straps across his eyes. "... To answer both questions, will require a bit of introduction." I bring the avatar's hands together, palms flat, then separate them. A simple magnifying glass with a 'four panel window' reflection appears between them. It hovers in space for a moment before I have the avatar take it in his right hand. "Has everyone worked with lenses?" I ask. Only the Ork shakes her head. "Remember that alchemy lab, back in Grahurstir?" Sudryal reminds her. He nods at the magnifying glass. "TheLiteratureCyber Core, Ch 28, V 02Log Entry: Project Day 0018 Addendum 03 I'm not sure what sorts of things I can reasonably ask my guests to do for me, though 'collecting samples' and somehow getting them to a part of my underground area for proper analysis looks like the front-runner. To keep things organized, I spend a clock-cycle sorting through my files of personal equipment I can fabricate... Hmmm. Looks like I can present them with padded sample cases to hold 36 individual 60 mL sample-bottles. Not sure if anyone other than Sudryal has the equivalent of 'scientific discipline' to maintain rigorous data on location, condition and so on... Options, options... I can fabricate something like an inertial-tracking unit to keep tabs on where the sample case goes. I can also include a one-time trigger mechanism for each socket to record the inertial-reckoning data for where each sample-bottle gets returned to its socket. And, of course, I can adjust the fabrication files so that each bottle has a silicone lanyard forLiteratureCyber Core, Ch 14, V 02Log Entry: Project Day 0017 Addendum 03-C: I resisted the urge to start a philosophical discussion with my visiting 'adventuring party' about the puppy; e.g., "The 'puppy' is really just a drawing of a puppy that I can make move..." I let the avatar 'rest' for a while, observing my guests with a small portion of my attention while devoting the majority to the fabricators. The 'laundry area' would also let me have space for manufacturing simple household items, such as furniture, cooking utensils, the occasional artwork or two, and clothing. I needed to build up some goodwill with whatever passed for the powers that be regarding the local economy, especially whatever groups concerned themselves with construction. That tales would be spun about four adventurers who encountered a 'magic stone' that grew from a 'seed' roughly three times the size of a Half-Ork to a 'magic hut' would become the stuff of fanciful legends seemed academic. I fully intended to earn the adventurers' trust byLiteratureCyber Core, Ch 25, V 02Log Entry: Project Day 0017 Addendum 18: All I can say is... Hoo, boy. Turns out, Sudryal, Scinjir and Snatdrure all hail from what I would call a middling-sized town called 'Baerston Stronghold'. Thakhibi met them about three days after they escaped from what they called the 'Elemental Conquestery'. Yeah, that word's kind of an approximation of the Trade Tongue description. If I understand the concept, four Dungeons all got together and essentially 'caged' the Stronghold, blocking off all surface roads and underground routes while also providing a kind of 'wildlife tunnel' for a steady supply of increasingly hostile wandering monsters to get 'through' or 'past' the Dungeons' domains and attack the Stronghold. The town sat on a peninsula where the Windlams River flows into the Ghorthalke Sea. Under normal circumstances, my friends could probably walk back to the city gates from my currently-humble apartment-structure in about 14 days. They took something more like 52 days to cover