506/Magic, Machinery, and Making people go 'huh'.

Magic, Machinery, and Making people go 'huh'.
Date of Scene:	27 August 2014
Location:	Njorun Station - Central Plaza
Synopsis:	Michael takes Marrik to meet with his boss to discuss an arrangement.
Cast of Characters:	541, 543

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Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Now a few dollars poorer than he was before dinner, Michael drives KITT down one of Njorun's many naturally-made roads. The sheer size of the place is still impressive to him, and he expects it will be for quite some time, but he's not here to sightsee. No, he's heading for the plaza to pick up Marrik. Speaking of... he turns the Eagles down for a minute, Don Henley's voice growing softer.

"Hey, Marrik," Michael says over the radio. "We're on our way to pick you up. Should be there in about fifteen minutes." Having sent the message, he turns the radio back up and continues to Take it Easy--albeit at 120 miles per hour. Having an experimental prototype for a car does tend to skew one's notion of 'normal speed.'

Marrik (541) has posed:
Marrik was leaned by what Michael would probably consider an antique world war two era harley when he saw Knight's trans-am pull up. He was frankly dressed like something out of tolkien. Nevermind the clothes though, he looked at Michael with mismatched eyes and gave a friendly smile before hopping in the passenger seat. "Where did you say this was?" He looked slightly uneasy, as if he hadn't ridden in a car that often and didn't know where to put his hands. Thankfully for KITT he was quite well kept and clean, so no mess or mud on the leather.

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Michael Knight says, "I didn't!" He smiles at Marrik as KITT closes the door. "Nice bike, by the way."

KITT scoffs. Apparently, the Trans-Am has something against motorcycles. "He needs some maintenance done, since he's got it in his head that he's gonna race this guy named Blurr. We need to touch base with my boss before I get you a testing area. So, we're gonna kill two birds with one stone!" The loner turns a knob on the radio transceiver, switching it from one frequency to another. "Hey, Bonnie, we need some roadside assistance and we've got a visitor for Devon. Bust out the semi for us?"

A woman's voice comes through the other end. "Sure thing, Michael. We'll be on I-90."

"Our Earth?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, see you guys soon!" Michael looks back to Marrik. "You're in for a real treat, bud," he says, promptly pressing down on the accelerator. Rather than the expected roar of an internal combustion engine, the unusually quiet whine of a turbine is heard."

Marrik (541) has posed:
The non roar made Marrik's eyebrow go up a notch. "The bike was a bit of payment for clearing a lot out for a dealer. Leyanne's gonna do what she can without swapping things out." He seemed to relax as he talked; maybe he didn't think going a buck twenty was fast? When KITT talked Marrik immediately looked at the between seat thing and hrmed softly. "Not any kind of engine I've heard on a car. What do you run off of?"

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
KITT replies, the red bars on his console expanding as his voice naturally fluctuates. "I can run on just about any liquid fuel, but my turbine engine was designed to run on hydrogen. The late Wilton Knight hoped to make engines like mine more commonplace, if somewhat less powerful than my model."

"I hope the eggheads can. Just the other day I was paying a /dollar fifty/ for gas. Can you believe that?" Michael shakes his head as the magitek surroundings of Njorun whiz by. His hands are on the wheel, which looks more like something out of a fighter pilot--the idea is only reinforced by all the digital displays and glowing buttons. He doesn't entirely seem to be paying attention to the road, but despite this, the car effortlessly avoids even the most minute potholes with grace and precision abound.

"I estimate we should arrive in forty-five minutes at our current speed, Michael, but I must insist we go faster."

"Relax, KITT. You'll get to push yourself soon enough."

Marrik (541) has posed:
"Faster?" Marrik let out a low whistle. "Just the suspension would make a pretty penny. Sure I know cost of going with the war horse back there was zero suspension, but last car I was in going half this speed it was bumpy and rattled and we were all over the place." Soft voice as he inclined his head to talk towards KITTs sensor. "Sorry. I mean we had a buggy back home for hauling to town, and the drow that keeps me in backpacks had me ride along in his Charger, but it was like... like...." He gestured before giving up, "Rougher than this."

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
The car scoffs. "I assure you, I am /far/ more than a buggy--furthermore, the designer of the Dodge Charger has a rudimentary understanding of aerodynamics at best. With my profile and thanks to modifications from Knight Industries, I can reach speeds of up to three hundred miles per hour with only a slight change in passenger comfort."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure Marrik doesn't wanna hear you toot your own horn--no pun intended--the whole way there."

"Please," comes the AI's dismissive retort. "Whenever you have one of your pretty faces in my passenger seat, I hardly get a word in edgewise."

Michael pointedly turns the radio up in response to that. "Catch any good games lately, Marrik?" It's likely a long and awkward ride to Michael's earth, after that point.

Marrik (541) has posed:
"Actually," Marrik said cautiously, "I wouldn't mind a small run down. Still like my bike as a daily driver." He would not deny the comfort KITT provided, but something felt 'right' about his bike. "Don't expect me to understand all of it, but It'll help pass the time." Sorry Mike, the downside of being in a talking car with a mage is he's more interested in the car than you. Though through the trip he would give a small snort or chuckle at the interplay between car and driver.

From somewhere in his coat he pulled out a notepad and took notes. Then a pixie crawled out of a different pocket, a lovely looking woman wearing biker leathers and if it wasn't for the fact she was barbie doll sized flirting might happen.

Then she flew to Michael's shoulder and whispered something to the effect she liked her men big, and then giggled at whatever reaction that drew. That or she was giggling at Marrik's annoyed grunt.

Up ahead there was a semi. Marrik didn't know it but he was in for a bit of interesting.

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Michael Knight ... hm. Might have to get that pixie's number. She's small, sure, but she's at least not a horse or a lizard-person. Not that there's anything wrong with that! It's just, you know, not Michael's thing.

Anyway, I-90! Probably something else unusual for a mage, what with all of the cars speeding (relatively) by. KITT has dropped to a measly eighty miles an hour, as that's the legal limit here. That being said, there's a lot of jockeying for positions, some drivers more... aggressive than others, and the pine trees on the side of the interstate look lime prime places for highwaymen lying in ambush. Michael pulls up behind the semi--a bit close for comfort at this speed.

Click. He presses a button, and the back of the semi slowly lowers to reveal... what?! A man and a woman, the former sitting at a desk while the latter leans against the wall of the trailer, which is adorned with some sort of safety netting which holds... something against the wall. "Here we go," says Michael, as KITT rather calmly accelerates, then halts, then accelerates once more in a careful, exactingly calculated little dance. Up the ramp they go, climbing into a moving semi. The Trans-Am and its passengers find themselves neatly deposited in the trailer, which has a surprising degree of room... The back end then begins to close.

Marrik (541) has posed:
The transition was confusing for Marrik. he gripped the arm rest tight and anyone that could read posture could tell he was tense and trying to keep it bottled. It didn't help Sparks had decided to perch on Michael's shoulder while making rude faces. Only when the trailer closed did he start to relax. A slow exhale reminded Marrik he had been holding his breath the entire time just before he eased his door open. "Well this is new." He frowned as he looked around. If it wasn't for the rumble under foot he could have sworn they were in a small room. Interesting.

Then he made a small bow to the man at the desk and another to the, quite frankly more than a little attractive, woman. "Hello. KITT has told me a little about you, assuming you are Devon Ride."

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
As Michael and Marrik step out of the car, Devon gives Marrik a genteel smile. "Miles, actually. Who do I have the honor of addressing?" asks the aging man at the desk.

"Devon, this is Marrik. Marrik, Devon--and that's Bonnie," he says, pointing to the mechanic who's already busying herself with KITT. "Marrik wants to do some magical stress tests on some of that tri-helical plasteel stuff, and he also wants to try using some magic bags as fuel containers. I brought him along 'cause I figured you might be interested."

Marrik (541) has posed:
The last name caused Marrik to frown for a moment before offering his hand. "Apologies Mister Miles. Knew a devon back home." Slips of the tounge on first meetings were no good, but dwelling was even worse. If Devon took Marrik's hand he'd find it both calloused and quite firm, but not crushing. "Anyway." He pulled a bottle out of his coat pocket that couldn't possibly have fit there. Fancy green bottle corked and lacking a maker's mark or brand. "I don't know if you drink but this is pretty nice." Bottle sat on Devon's desk. "Absenth," Another bottle sat down, "Whiskey," And then a demted beat up aluminum thermose. "Tea." Then he made a gesture to include all three bottles before making a one finger raised 'wait' gesture and pulled several glasses from the same pocket. "Shall we?"

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Having finished with the formalities and introductions, Michael quietly excuses himself that he might chat with Bonnie about the reason for this checkup--namely, that KITT's big ego has pitted him against a fellow speedster. Meanwhile, Devon shakes Marrik's hand, standing up to do so, and gestures to a sturdy, but elegant chair.

"Think nothing of it, Marrik. I see you're a man of taste," he says. "I'll gladly join you for a bit of tea." The administator is clearly in his twilight years, and when he was a younger man he likely had quite the dashing profile. Some of that still remains, but most of his youthful seems to have left, and dignity has taken up residence in its place. "But first, if you don't mind, let's talk business. What is Marrik the individual hoping to gain from this pursuit, if I might be so bold as to ask?"

Marrik (541) has posed:
The directness and the warmth Devon seemed to have as part of his nature made Marrik smile as he pocketed both bottles of alcohol. "Well Sir. I run a small business, generally with direct and personal links to my suppliers." He seemed quite aware Michael had ducked off and didn't seem to care. "While I have a few uses personally I do hope that getting a few of these people in touch with customers that would hsve more need." The thing about having a family having practically made a point to incorporate modern assembly line concepts was even though the bags were one of his best sellers he was just one point of sale for them.

"But business aside your people are able to do materials testing, and I don't even know if one of these bags can safely handle fuel." There were other applications but they all boiled down to 'making spaces on the inside bigger.' "Plus I'm sure a friend of mine would be interested in working with this plasteel and I'm nosing around so they don't have to take time from their business to do preliminary meetings."

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
"I see," says Devon, leaning forward at his desk. "Wilton did admire the personal touch, may he rest in peace. Now, if you've seen our Union file, you know that we've pledged ourselves to aiding it in any way we can. I can't give you the recipe for our plasteel coating, but I can certainly have enginners apply it to whatever surface your friend needs--within reason, of course. It is fairly expensive, as the process for creating it is a mite outside of the bounds of practicality. If you'd like to stress test it before you make a decision, we can certainly allow that, too--we have a few small spare samples lying around." 'Fairly expensive.' It's a very respectful understatement--Devon doesn't want to shock the small business owner out of his pants just yet.

The man clears his throat. "Now, with respect to your...bag idea, that will probably fall under Bonnie's purview, as she's our foremost mechanical expert. Securing an engine won't be a problem, and we can allow you the use of a secure testing facility for both the aforementioned stress test and this other idea of yours. All of the testing will be done under her supervision," states the well-dressed gentleman with a gesture to Bonnie.

Marrik (541) has posed:
"Define fairly expensive." Marrik understood cost well enough to understand even in the multiverse things can be quite costly. He pulled a notepad out of another pocket and wrote down his expense figures for the past three months. As small retail went it was respectable, but nothing steller. Enough to get a store in New York. Beneath that were listed 'favors owed' and rough estimates at how that might translate into man hours. "I can understand if these figures would keep me from being a realistic customer, but the stress testing isn't just for my sake but to help your people possibly find ways to account for forces that simply didn't exist in your world." A glance back to KITT's direction, "He's a box in a car, but he's person enough to me and I'd really rather he not get hurt because of unknowns."

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Devon reaches into his coat pocket and procures a couple of reading glasses that look very much at home on his face. Poring over Marrik's figures, he frowns. "The Knight Industries Two Thousand cost us upwards of eleven million dollars," he says. "A good portion of which was the man-hours and materials needed to create our patented multi-bonded shell." He looks up, the businesslike expression on his face... melting.

"That being said... /he/ is a person," he adds with a look of approval towards the mage. "And I believe Wilton would very much agree with your sentiment. I believe we can... misplace a small sample and sell the rest to you at cost, in exchange for your services. You'll have to cash in on a fair amount of these... favors, but you can rest assured we're not going to come beat your door down. Once upon a time, we were a small business much like yours." He reaches into his drawer and pulls out a calculator, as well as a sheet with information on the exchange rate of credits to dollars.

Marrik (541) has posed:
"Well I'd be quite willing to hold off on anything other than the sample til I actually have enough to make it feel less like you're donating to charity mister Miles." Marrik wasn't fazed by the pronouncement. Sure he was disappointed, but you don't build something next to indestructable cheap. Even magic had it's costs. Marrik stood with his notepad ready and watched as Devon ran the numbers. "Beyond simple stress testing though I do want to see how it simply reacts to magic. Take Gold, dense but next best thing to worthless in terms of strength. Makes for a good material to enchant because of it's solidity though and if you do it right," He pulled a solid gold gauntlet out of his coat. "At a minimum about four times as strong as steel." The gauntlet was sat on Devon's desk. Finely worked gold work with fully articulated joints and simiprecious stones at the knuckles. "Personally too heavy for my liking, far too heavy, plus you can imagine what the materials cost would be like." That is to say nightmarish.

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Devon takes a look at the gauntlet, admiring its construction and its beauty. How different it is from KITT--the sleek, fast hunter versus the ornate and unwieldy implement. It's intriguing how different they are. "Interesting," he says. He's not above picking the gauntlet up and toying with the fingers to observe their articulation. Apparently, he enjoys fine details. A beat later, he sets the gauntlet down and gives Marrik his full attention. "If you'll agree to sign a non-disclosure agreement, I can begin processing your requests and have the relevant accomodations made and ready for you by next week? We'd all prefer if this didn't reach the civilian sector of the Union, the fuel project especially. It might have a destabilizing effect on the economy, and the oil companies of our world are already debating raising their prices to match that of more modernized worlds."

Marrik (541) has posed:
With a small bow Marrik took the gauntlet and tucked it away. "Naturally." A small thin smile, "I've had to find and make avalible books on what magic can and cannot do easily just to ease people away from the fearmongers. So I am very much in the 'not wanting panic' camp." Another item came out of his cost; a leather bound book declaring itself as an entry level primer to magic and the fundamental force. "A gift from me to you, since information is always the best way to fight ignorance, and I do not want friends and allies left in the dark."

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Once again, Devon finds himself surprised at Marrik's generosity and impressed with the character of Michael's friends. Perhaps Wilton's decision to place him in the Pilot Program was more astute than he originally thought. "Thank you very much, Marrik," says Devon. He stands up, brushing off his three-piece suit more as a practiced gesture than out of any necessity, and untacks one of the plastic nets keeping the books above him from toppling onto his head. He files the book away for safe-keeping, then opens a drawer on his desk, putting away the calculator and the papers from before. He then opens a different drawer and retrieves a couple of legal forms. "Here you are," he says, handing them over to the mage. "Non-disclosure agreements, liability waivers, business arrangements."

Marrik (541) has posed:
Once these forms were brought out Marrik read them over exceedingly carefully. It wasn't that he didn't trust Devon or Knight Industries, but he had been gifted with power by people that would delight in the idea of catching prey in the details. To him it all seemed quite sensible, and provided both parties with obligations they had to follow that boiled down, to him, 'don't try cheating the other guy,' and in the waver's case 'You're about to do something dangerous. whatever happens is on your own head.'

Then he signed both forms before pulling out a hard shelled binder in preperation to take his copy once Miles signed. "Actually very reasonable." A small chuckle as he sat your pen back on the desk. "Apologies for the tedious re reading, but I have had to deal with would be business partners that try slipping unreasonable demands," like eternal servitude even after death, "Into legal papers."

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Devon... chuckles. "We're more than familiar with the concept. Aerospace and defense are rather... competitive fields, shall we say, and we often do see that behavior from our less scrupulous competitors." A pause is afforded to those competitors.

"Well, now that that's in order, I believe we should formalize the deal with a bit of tea in my office--my real office. We should be there quite soon."

Marrik (541) has posed:
"That is always a good way to finalize a deal." Marrik agreed as he tucked his copies of each form away. "With any luck at all this will give your people useful material to work with for down the road." He found himself relaxing around Devon. There was much the same feel he had now that he had with the man who had both showed him the ropes with commerce and gave him the store he had worked out of before he unified. "A pity this material is so costly. Would make pretty good body armor." Then again forces had to go somewhere, and while Marrik wasn't an engineer he understood there was no such thing as a free lunch. There was always a trade off.

Michael Knight (543) has posed:
Devon nods in agreement.

Eventually, the semi comes to a halt, its air brakes hissing. The back of the trailer opens up, revealing the regional headquarters of Knight Industries. KITT and Bonnie promptly exit, though Michael does stick around to clap Marrik on the shoulders. "You two have fun working out the kinks. i'm gonna go hit the snack machine." With that, the loner is down the ramp and on his way to the building proper.

Devon gathers a few of his things into a smartly made leather briefcase, then gestures to the ramp. "After you, Marrik," he says with that same genteel smile from before.

Marrik (541) has posed:
There was an approving nod before Marrik walked off the ramp and waited by the front door in order to open it for Devon. Plus he had no idea where anything was. Politeness cost nothing and these 'modern' worlds interested him. He didn't like the level of automation, but there seemed to be plenty to go around. Granted he didn't see the poor chunks of these worlds yet, but just from what he'd seen it wasn't nearly as bad as he feared.