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Description

(a little snippet of an RP. And a new character.)

Hock led Hortense through the fiery maze to a building actually made from what seemed to be scrap from ships. Each piece had a scrawl of text, some were a series of numbers, some seemed to be ship names and others words of warning or welcome.
Hock flung open the chainmail curtain. “Hey Tin! Got something for you!”
“Hock! Boy! You have brought me things? Good! Always happy to see you.” Tin was very much an appropriate name for the being behind the desk. The only thing organic Hortense could make out was a huge, grinning mouth, full of far too many teeth of seemingly random shapes. The mouth seemed to hover in the center of all manner of mechanical arms, hands digits of all brands of metals in every size. Where his eyes and forehead should have been were lenses, some long and telescoping, some domed and one glowing red one on one side. What could have been a body sat in a chair that seemed to move with its occupant.
Tin’s head turned and seemed to regard Hortense. “Is she a robot? Otherwise I’m not interested. You have failed me, boy!” The smile then spread even larger as it let out a hissing laugh. “What have we here?” One golden mechanical claw reached over his head and snatched Spyirdes from Hortense’s grasp.

“Excuse me, I WAS going to hand it over!”” Hortense said, appalled by his rudeness. She crossed her arms. “That thing was crawling around us earlier. We think it was spying. Can you identify where it comes from? Who it might belong to?”
Right at that moment, her hologram started to flicker, as the fields were finally beginning to affect her cospin.

He turned the little spider machine over in his whirring and clicking hands, testing the little limbs and poking at it. “Yes. It was spying on you. Well, it was spying anyway. Unremarkable, though. A camera, an audio recording device. Quite good workmanship. Yes. Quite good. The controlling range seems quite high as well.” He seemed to be speaking mostly to himself, completely engrossed in the new machine. His interest didn’t seem to stray for a moment from the thing. But after a few more moments of mumbling to himself he asked, “So you are one of those humans everyone is tick-talking about? I hear through the wires your tech is unusual.”
Hortense was startled. She looked down at herself and finally saw what her disguise was doing. She gasped and looked around, but the shop was otherwise empty. “My cospin,” She switched it off and removed it. “Can you fix it so it doesn’t do that?”
She nodded, warily. “It’s true, our tech is different from anything else we’ve encountered out here...” She didn’t want to say too much. The Captain wanted to keep most of said tech out of the hands of strangers, so as to keep up their mystique and prevent others from recognizing their weaknesses.
“Of course I can.” Said the creature as it snatched her pin up with another extendable arm, while another reached behind it to grab a little wooden box full of tools. “I can fix anything, you see? Anything at all. Anything that matters.” He put the pin down on the table beside the spider. “Bad power cell and an odd choice for connectors. Silly thing. I can fix it. But I require something of you. A piece of human tech. Anything will do. Anything at all. I make it a point to know all the technologies of this universe and any others.”
Hortense stared at him. At first she was inclined to bristle and object. They couldn’t share their tech with anybody- It was vitally important. It was a major reason why the VCRs, VHS tapes and speakers were all carted away every night to be stored safely with M’roo. Besides which, there just wasn’t much of it to go around, and they needed what they had.
But she stopped herself. Her expression changed from one of objection to one of reasonableness. “Anything will do. Anything at all.” She said, quoting him. “Have you got a knife handy?”
Tin regarded her for a long moment. “Anything human technology related, yes.” One of his arms reached somewhere behind him on the endless shelves and nooks full of bits of metal, fasteners and tools. It came back with a sharp, intricately carved knife. She could tell by the little controls on the handle that it was somehow more than what it appeared to be. But a sharp piece of metal it was.
Hock raised an eyebrow at the question. Curious what exactly it meant.
Hortense took the blade and considered it for a moment, before nodding approvingly. She looked up at them. “Excuse me for a moment.”
She turned away from them both so as to be facing the door, and went to work on something they couldn’t see. There were quiet sounds of ripping fabric.
When she was finished she turned around again and held something out to Tin. “Here you are, freshly cut from my jacket pocket. This is a fascinating bit of ancient Human technology known as a ‘zipper.’”
Inwardly she was quite anxious to see how he would take this little maneuver. Outwardly she remained cool as a cucumber.
Hock’s eyes widened. She had the guts to give the guy a fancy button? His estimation of her skipped up a few steps.
Tin looked down at the zipper for a long moment, then regarded Hortense with reflective, expressionless lenses. “You are a sly thing, aren’t you? Fine. Your impertinence amuses me, as does your little bit of clothing. Primitive, beyond belief, and yet quite clever.” He finally picked the zipper up and held it in front of one of his telescoping lenses, zipping and unzipping it under scrutiny. “Which… tells me much.” His snaggly mouth grinned broadly. “Yes. I will repair your little disguise. And your comm, whose wavelength is skittering about all over about now.”
Hortense couldn’t hold back a smile. That had been a total Anne move, and she was insanely proud of herself for thinking of it. “Thank you, Mr. Tin! Of course, I have no objection to paying you with credits, either.” She didn’t want to push it with this guy, after all. She took off her malfunctioning ship’s comm and held it out to him.
Tin eagerly took her comm, happy that he had got what he wanted anyway. A look at real human tech. He didn't need to keep it, he supposed. An examination was acceptable enough. “So, curiosity makes me ask: What is it about you people that the station has exploded about?”
Hortense shrugged. “We make good movies. It’s kind of our thing, as a species.”
There was more to it, of course- like the fact that Humans were new and exotic, not to mention extremely rare, and the way that an enthusiastic fan base tended to create its own momentum- but she didn’t want to undersell their product.
“Is that so?” Tin asked as he removed the backs from both the comm and the tiny cospin. With an arm on top of what should have been his shoulder he reached behind him, grabbed a little brass box and set it in front of him. Inside were tiny silver squares. With a hand made of tiny, flexible wires, he picked two up, placing one each into Hortense’s devices. “I do not watch films myself. I much prefer the drama, spark and heat from the wires and power conductors all around us. No one appreciates such things.”

Hortense gave a wry smile. “I feel like you’d get along with our chief of security.”
She looked at the spider. “That spying device… do you recognize the tech as being from anybody or any group here on this asteroid?” Answering that question had been their real purpose in coming here.
Tin’s bizarre mechanical body clicked and whirred as he moved. “That is entirely the wrong question, and a foolish one at that. There are some species and groups that are technologically prejudice. And, of course some do have homeworld preferences. But most traveling creatures will use whatever suits their needs no matter where the tech came from. You, for example, have your human comm…which is now repaired, with shielding from interference…” He dangled it above her before setting it in her hands. “...and you also have this coscloak, which is very certainly not made in the same manner by the same creators. However YOU possess both of them. This little spy could be Swwileen technology but that does not mean it belonged to a Swwileen. What you SHOULD be asking me is if I can give you a device that will track the person controlling it when the two ragain their connection. And the answer is yes. Yes I can.”
Hock chuckled and leaned against the wall. The tinkerer had come through for him again.

Description

(a little snippet of an RP. And a new character.)

Hock led Hortense through the fiery maze to a building actually made from what seemed to be scrap from ships. Each piece had a scrawl of text, some were a series of numbers, some seemed to be ship names and others words of warning or welcome.
Hock flung open the chainmail curtain. “Hey Tin! Got something for you!”
“Hock! Boy! You have brought me things? Good! Always happy to see you.” Tin was very much an appropriate name for the being behind the desk. The only thing organic Hortense could make out was a huge, grinning mouth, full of far too many teeth of seemingly random shapes. The mouth seemed to hover in the center of all manner of mechanical arms, hands digits of all brands of metals in every size. Where his eyes and forehead should have been were lenses, some long and telescoping, some domed and one glowing red one on one side. What could have been a body sat in a chair that seemed to move with its occupant.
Tin’s head turned and seemed to regard Hortense. “Is she a robot? Otherwise I’m not interested. You have failed me, boy!” The smile then spread even larger as it let out a hissing laugh. “What have we here?” One golden mechanical claw reached over his head and snatched Spyirdes from Hortense’s grasp.

“Excuse me, I WAS going to hand it over!”” Hortense said, appalled by his rudeness. She crossed her arms. “That thing was crawling around us earlier. We think it was spying. Can you identify where it comes from? Who it might belong to?”
Right at that moment, her hologram started to flicker, as the fields were finally beginning to affect her cospin.

He turned the little spider machine over in his whirring and clicking hands, testing the little limbs and poking at it. “Yes. It was spying on you. Well, it was spying anyway. Unremarkable, though. A camera, an audio recording device. Quite good workmanship. Yes. Quite good. The controlling range seems quite high as well.” He seemed to be speaking mostly to himself, completely engrossed in the new machine. His interest didn’t seem to stray for a moment from the thing. But after a few more moments of mumbling to himself he asked, “So you are one of those humans everyone is tick-talking about? I hear through the wires your tech is unusual.”
Hortense was startled. She looked down at herself and finally saw what her disguise was doing. She gasped and looked around, but the shop was otherwise empty. “My cospin,” She switched it off and removed it. “Can you fix it so it doesn’t do that?”
She nodded, warily. “It’s true, our tech is different from anything else we’ve encountered out here...” She didn’t want to say too much. The Captain wanted to keep most of said tech out of the hands of strangers, so as to keep up their mystique and prevent others from recognizing their weaknesses.
“Of course I can.” Said the creature as it snatched her pin up with another extendable arm, while another reached behind it to grab a little wooden box full of tools. “I can fix anything, you see? Anything at all. Anything that matters.” He put the pin down on the table beside the spider. “Bad power cell and an odd choice for connectors. Silly thing. I can fix it. But I require something of you. A piece of human tech. Anything will do. Anything at all. I make it a point to know all the technologies of this universe and any others.”
Hortense stared at him. At first she was inclined to bristle and object. They couldn’t share their tech with anybody- It was vitally important. It was a major reason why the VCRs, VHS tapes and speakers were all carted away every night to be stored safely with M’roo. Besides which, there just wasn’t much of it to go around, and they needed what they had.
But she stopped herself. Her expression changed from one of objection to one of reasonableness. “Anything will do. Anything at all.” She said, quoting him. “Have you got a knife handy?”
Tin regarded her for a long moment. “Anything human technology related, yes.” One of his arms reached somewhere behind him on the endless shelves and nooks full of bits of metal, fasteners and tools. It came back with a sharp, intricately carved knife. She could tell by the little controls on the handle that it was somehow more than what it appeared to be. But a sharp piece of metal it was.
Hock raised an eyebrow at the question. Curious what exactly it meant.
Hortense took the blade and considered it for a moment, before nodding approvingly. She looked up at them. “Excuse me for a moment.”
She turned away from them both so as to be facing the door, and went to work on something they couldn’t see. There were quiet sounds of ripping fabric.
When she was finished she turned around again and held something out to Tin. “Here you are, freshly cut from my jacket pocket. This is a fascinating bit of ancient Human technology known as a ‘zipper.’”
Inwardly she was quite anxious to see how he would take this little maneuver. Outwardly she remained cool as a cucumber.
Hock’s eyes widened. She had the guts to give the guy a fancy button? His estimation of her skipped up a few steps.
Tin looked down at the zipper for a long moment, then regarded Hortense with reflective, expressionless lenses. “You are a sly thing, aren’t you? Fine. Your impertinence amuses me, as does your little bit of clothing. Primitive, beyond belief, and yet quite clever.” He finally picked the zipper up and held it in front of one of his telescoping lenses, zipping and unzipping it under scrutiny. “Which… tells me much.” His snaggly mouth grinned broadly. “Yes. I will repair your little disguise. And your comm, whose wavelength is skittering about all over about now.”
Hortense couldn’t hold back a smile. That had been a total Anne move, and she was insanely proud of herself for thinking of it. “Thank you, Mr. Tin! Of course, I have no objection to paying you with credits, either.” She didn’t want to push it with this guy, after all. She took off her malfunctioning ship’s comm and held it out to him.
Tin eagerly took her comm, happy that he had got what he wanted anyway. A look at real human tech. He didn't need to keep it, he supposed. An examination was acceptable enough. “So, curiosity makes me ask: What is it about you people that the station has exploded about?”
Hortense shrugged. “We make good movies. It’s kind of our thing, as a species.”
There was more to it, of course- like the fact that Humans were new and exotic, not to mention extremely rare, and the way that an enthusiastic fan base tended to create its own momentum- but she didn’t want to undersell their product.
“Is that so?” Tin asked as he removed the backs from both the comm and the tiny cospin. With an arm on top of what should have been his shoulder he reached behind him, grabbed a little brass box and set it in front of him. Inside were tiny silver squares. With a hand made of tiny, flexible wires, he picked two up, placing one each into Hortense’s devices. “I do not watch films myself. I much prefer the drama, spark and heat from the wires and power conductors all around us. No one appreciates such things.”

Hortense gave a wry smile. “I feel like you’d get along with our chief of security.”
She looked at the spider. “That spying device… do you recognize the tech as being from anybody or any group here on this asteroid?” Answering that question had been their real purpose in coming here.
Tin’s bizarre mechanical body clicked and whirred as he moved. “That is entirely the wrong question, and a foolish one at that. There are some species and groups that are technologically prejudice. And, of course some do have homeworld preferences. But most traveling creatures will use whatever suits their needs no matter where the tech came from. You, for example, have your human comm…which is now repaired, with shielding from interference…” He dangled it above her before setting it in her hands. “...and you also have this coscloak, which is very certainly not made in the same manner by the same creators. However YOU possess both of them. This little spy could be Swwileen technology but that does not mean it belonged to a Swwileen. What you SHOULD be asking me is if I can give you a device that will track the person controlling it when the two ragain their connection. And the answer is yes. Yes I can.”
Hock chuckled and leaned against the wall. The tinkerer had come through for him again.