a short trip

[dotted_lines]

The Carlsbergs are gathered in the kitchen. Or, most of them.

Steve and Janice are gathered in the kitchen, and waiting, with a suitcase packed suitably for a short trip to another world. To which they are definitely not fleeing for their lives, officer, no need to worry, just stay in that bush outside.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

An interdimensional portal opens up, from their kitchen to... a broadly ordinary-looking living room, actually. Although the architecture and decor are subtly strange. There is a short man standing on the other side of the portal. He beckons them through.

[dotted_lines]

That is definitely not someone or somewhere Steve recognizes, and therefore, probably not a portal-creating Secret Police officer impersonating Leaf.

Janice pushes her chair through the portal, and Steve follows.

[thisvorlunatic]

The portal closes neatly behind them.

"Welcome to Barrayar," says probably-Leaf. "I'm Leaf, as you may have guessed. How long did you pack for? I didn't think to ask."

[dotted_lines]

"Thank you," says probably-Dotted-Lines. "We packed enough for a long weekend, if one of the days was a holiday. More than that and it would look like we might be doing something suspicious."

He glances at the suitcase. "Is it going to be a problem? If necessary, we've both got scout training, and some of it should still work in another universe. Is Barrayar this town, country, or planet?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Planet," he says. "The capital of the Barrayaran Empire. No, it shouldn't be a problem at all. I don't tend to mention this on the forums, but I belong to a kind of local aristocracy, which means among other things both that I am legally empowered to grant asylum to refugees and that I'm not short on resources with which to house them afterward."

[dotted_lines]

"Oh, that's convenient. I think the forum member who doesn't exist must have guessed somehow, because he was calling you 'Prince Leaf.' Are we officially refugees?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"That depends on whether you'd like to be. I am not a prince, but I am the son of a Count. I think Gabriael was just entertaining himself with bizarre notions."

[dotted_lines]

"It's probably a good idea, if someone's likely to get upset about us not having an official status here. But if they aren't, it shouldn't matter. That sounds like something he might do, yeah. But even a clock is sometimes close to the right time."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Even a clock...?"

[dotted_lines]

"Clocks are machines that try to display the time, but they only work well if there's the same amount of time each day. But sometimes they get lucky and show a time that makes sense for what time of day it actually is."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Clocks in this universe do not have that problem."

[dotted_lines]

"I'm glad to hear it! Do they take input from sunlight or something, to correct themselves to closer to the actual time of day?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"No, days just come in very predictable lengths. Although they differ by planet, so there are a lot of conversions to deal with."

[dotted_lines]

"I guess that would do it. And all of these planets have predictable day lengths?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I haven't personally verified the rotational stability of every planet in the galaxy, but certainly all the ones I've ever been to or heard of."

[dotted_lines]

"All of them, everywhere? No late sunsets, or cancelled or combined days, or repeated days, or weeks that pass at different rates in different locations? At all? That sounds... very helpful to live with."

[thisvorlunatic]

"It's definitely more convenient than the alternative."

[kelardry]

Janice clears her throat. "Are you two using code names on purpose and I should pick one, and can I re-use an old one, or not and we should do introductions?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"No, the ah, 'code names' are just an artifact of how we met. My real name is Miles."

[kelardry]

"Alright, I'm Janice Carlsberg, and he's Steve."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Pleased to meet you both."

[dotted_lines]

"It's nice to meet you too! In person and everything."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah. So," he gestures around at the small cottagey house, "this place is yours. I have a house a little ways along the lakeshore where I conduct most of my interdimensional nonsense, but it's rather emphatically not wheelchair-accessible, so I found you this one."

[dotted_lines]

"Thank you so much!" He glances around the room without appearing to focus on any objects. "Will it still be possible to get to the forum from here? And how much interdimensional nonsense do you have going on here?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah, one of the first stops on my loosely planned tour is showing you how to use a comconsole so you can connect to the forum. And, uh, a moderate amount of interdimensional nonsense."

[dotted_lines]

"Okay, that sounds like a plan. Is it probably safe for Janice, if she wants, to join the forum from here too? And would you like help with any of your interdimensional nonsense?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"As safe as joining the forum ever is. Very low risk of being interdimensionally kidnapped unless you're openly meddlesome like me. And I'd certainly like help with some of my interdimensional nonsense, but there's no rush. Get settled in first."

[dotted_lines]

"And are there any local laws that would affect how it's a good idea to use the forum? I'm usually up for helping with things, although I would rather wait a bit before trying to find new information."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Nothing I think is likely to come up... unless you actually try to arrange an assassination or something along those general lines, your forum use isn't going to be illegal."

[dotted_lines]

"I mean, are there things that'd be illegal to say on the forum, or for that matter off of it, that we might not expect?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"In general you don't need to worry about things being illegal to say unless, like I said, you are actually trying to arrange an assassination. The only thing I can think of that might actually get you in trouble is swearing false oaths, but that's easy to avoid - 'don't make any promises you don't intend to keep, particularly not to someone who seems very serious about them' pretty much covers it. And swearing false oaths only gets you in trouble if you do it to Barrayarans, so you can say what you like to other forum members."

[dotted_lines]

"Um, okay? If you're sure? But yes, we can both avoid arranging assassinations pretty easily, and swearing oaths we don't mean."

[thisvorlunatic]

"'Things that are illegal to say' is a nearly empty category on Barrayar for strong cultural and historical reasons."

[dotted_lines]

"That sounds... very good. I'm glad this planet is like that."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Me too."

[dotted_lines]

"Could you show us where everything is, and then we'll start unpacking?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Of course," he says. He gives them a tour of the house, a brief introduction to the comconsole, and shows them the lake outside and the much bigger house visible in the distance.