milliways_bar | Milliways' guide for first-time patrons

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Milliways' guide for first-time patrons

Autor's been a bit busy recently. He posts his Milliways' Guide for First-time Patrons up on the bulletin board, spreading out the maps.

He also posts the following note:

Attention: I, Autor, am writing this guide for first-time patrons, and require help finishing it. If you see anything missing, please let me know either via note or in person. I'll be sitting by the bulletin board until I finish a pot of tea.

The boy acquires his libation and seats himself at the table nearest the board to wait.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"95% of the tech I learn about here either goes into improving the suit or the bike." Or his tools and weapons. "It's pretty damn impressive the things I can bounce back from in that suit."

"We'll negotiate the rule before we play but back home, standard rules involve instant disqualification the minute you turn up on an official police scanner. Hell, the local cops in the city I grew up in use to take bets on us!"

"That makes sense," Autor says, nodding along. "Take advantage of whatever you learn at the end of the universe. What sorts of things do you have on your suit?"

He tilts his head. "I'll be surprised if a vampire turns up on a police scanner. I'd think they wouldn't be able to track him."

He pulls up the specs on his palmtop computer, running through the features. "Thermoptic camouflage, non-Newtonian fluid armour around the joints and spine, impact activated neck protection, heads up guidance and tracking systems." He shrugs. "Just a few little tweaks."

"Probably not. I may need to call in a friend to adjudicate."

Autor blinks, stunned at the computer. "Oh, wow. I understood about half that. What does 'thermoptic' mean? Something to camouflage your heat signature?" he says, tilting his head. "And I have no idea how non-Newtonian armors work. The rest of it sounds amazing, though."

He points to the palmtop. "Is that a computer? It's tiny!"

Jay nods and spins it towards Autor, letting him play with the palmtop. "It is, do you want me to build you one? That's easy enough done."

"Thermoptics reflect heat and light signatures. Really powerful thermoptic can effectively make you invisible. non-Newtonian fluids are what really good bulletproof armour is made of. It's a gel until it's exposed to pressure then it becomes a solid. Top of the line."

Autor doesn't touch the palmtop, merely watches. "Wait, really? You'd build me one?" he says. "I don't know what I'd do with it. I've searched inside a book once on a computer and that was really useful."

He also approved of the paint program.

The boy listens to the description of the armor, and shakes his head in amazement. "That's incredible. Technology is fantastic, isn't it? Does your invisibility work for vampires, too?"

"I can build you one with enough storage to carry a small library in your pocket if you like?" Jay offers.

"It really is." Autor's enthusiasm makes him smile. "I don't know yet. I've only tested the suit in the forest so I wasn't getting close enough to be seen."

Autor's getting excited about the prospect of a laptop of his own. He can write on it, and even make his own fonts! "I've got that with my sylladex," Autor says, patting his pocket, "but a library on one device would be stupidly useful. How much will it cost? And can I pay you in tab or some other manner?"

He's just as enthusiastic about the description of the suit. "Ah, I see. Does it work in the sunlight or just shadowed areas?"

"I'll get onto that tonight. You can pay whatever you think it's worth off my tab when you can." He shrugs, unconcerned. It's been a while since Jay worries about money.

"I don't know. Haven't finished testing it. Wanna head out and have a play with it?"

"I have no idea how much a computer is worth," Autor admits, furrowing his brow. "Don't rush on my account."

He lights up at the offer, though. "Would I? Yes, I'd love to see."

"Won't cost me much in parts, or take me long." Jay shrugs.

He grins brightly. "Give me a few minutes to grab my gear and I'll meet you out in the garden."

Autor nods, sending his tea kettle off with the rats. "See you there."

In a few minutes, he's sitting on his carpet in the garden, low to the ground and reading a book to wait for Jay.

Jay kits up fully, pulling his hood down before he heads outside. With the thermoptic on, he's able to walk right up to Autor, his armour only slightly displacing the light as he moves.

Unfortunately for Autor, he doesn't see Jay at all. He licks his thumb to turn a page in his book, not really reading it as he waits.

Jay leans over and turns the next page for him, grinning under his helmet as he turns the thermoptic armour off. "Hi."

"Shiva wept!" Autor shrieks, dropping the book and skittering backwards off the edge of the carpet. "Oww... Double Carthaginean hell, Jay, warn me before you do that!"

He pops his head over the edge, kneeling awkwardly as he rests his elbows on it. His face looks like he has spent some time out in the sun, but his scowl quickly melts into an amazed smile. "I couldn't even seen you! I guess it works in the sunlight because you were basically undetectable--and you move so silently, too! Wow."

"I told you I was coming up to meet you." Jay grins and steps back, vanishing again. He's visible but only when he moves. There's a very slightly lag as the armour bends the light, almost unnoticeable if he moves slowly. And despite the heaviness of his suit, Jay's very light on his feet.

Autor stands, trying to find him. He thinks he spots him once or twice, but can't be sure.

"Well, yes, but you were invisible, and..." Autor has the survival instincts of a tadpole out of water, and he knows it. Still. No point in admitting the obvious. "That's still quite impressive. If you run and dodge about, does it become easier to see you?"

Jay moves slowly and silently around Autor, using a stone skipped off a leaf on the other side of him to act as a decoy for his movement.

And then he taps Autor on the shoulder. From behind.

Predictably, Autor turns his head towards the sound. And then he jumps three feet in the air. "Ohh! You scared me again!" he says, and whirls around, trying to see if he can spot Jay. "I have got to get one of these suits."

"And what would you do with it?" Jay teases, pushing back the helmet and turning off the camo.

"Scare the stuffing out of you, hopefully," Autor says, taking a playful swing at him. "Or turn it on and spend some time reading without anyone bothering me. What sorts of missions do you use it for?"

Jay chuckles and parries Autor's fist with the obvious gentleness of someone who could break an arm in exactly any spot he wanted to. "Ah but why would I design something that could be used against me without having countermeasures."

He offers the helmet, tilted forward to Autor can see the heads up display in the visor.

He considers the answer to that with some care, his voice soft and slightly sad. "I use to be a vigilante but that got me killed. Took up with a group of assassins to work off my debt for bring brought back but that didn't works out so well. Now... I don't know. Sometimes things just need to be done and I'm someone who can do it so I do." He shrugs.

Autor's fully aware that Jay could snap him like a twig. "Ooh, point. And that display tells you everything you need to know? Heat signatures and everything? Why is the helmet red?" Well, shoot. Ah, well, he'll startle Jay someday. Somehow.

He nods when Jay's tone changes. "I see. Well, I hope you find productive, challenging work. In the meantime, you've acquired some ridiculous skills and gear."

"One of the sensors tracks movement via air displacement. It's useless in a crowd but it's great for spotting something that is there even when it can't be seen. Other settings track heat, light through the spectrum, things like that. I'm still working on biometrics to track a single target by their face shape or height and gait."

He turns the helmet in his hand and looks at the skull like faceplate. "Red Hood was the name I took for myself when I can back. Partly to distance myself from who I had been but partly because it's a name that has history with me. It was an alias used by someone else a long time ago. Someone who became a monster because of other people's choices. I use it to remind me of the line in need to walk."

He snorts and looks up. "Fuck, you've got me talking serious today. What else did you want to know about the suit?"

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