First Crash [Voice]

[broji]

Hello everyone. For those I haven't gotten the chance to meet yet, I'm Ginji. I wanted to apologize for the trouble I've caused this past week, and to thank you all for looking after my sister and me. We're grateful for your help.

[A thoughtful pause, and what sounds like pages being flipped through.] So I've been wondering, are there any other craftsmen or engineers in Luceti? Pilots? I figure if our worlds are different, then our technologies must be too. There's a lot we could learn from each other.

Comments

[broji]

[He's reminded for a moment of the Dark Wings, even if they're not a model of airship. Hopefully Noir and the others are faring okay.]

Haha... That sounds familiar. [The comment about Cid reminds him of Grandfather.]

I can't say I've heard of any of those models before, though. Our airship's called the Albiore. We've only built three so far, but some members of the team think we'll be ready for mass production soon.

[paladinlost]

I suspect every world has its own overly devoted engineers.

[With bonus points for grandfathers.

I do hope you will reach that point quickly. Flying with a whole fleet, and knowing that a hundred other men can feel the wind around them as you do, is one of the greatest feelings I've known.

[broji]

I hope so. [Because a devoted engineer is a good engineer.]

Yes, but even then we'll have to train people to fly them, so it'll be a while before something like that can happen. It sounds nice, though. I'd love to be able to share that with everyone else.

[paladinlost]

You should have little trouble finding students, as long as you show them your enthusiasm. Flying is a dream many share.

[broji]

I don't know about my enthusiasm, but I doubt finding them will be a problem. There's a little boy who plays around the hangar most days - he's already telling everyone he's going to be the pilot of the 'Albiore DCCLXV'. [Laughs lightly.] Who knows? Maybe he'll be the one to build her, too.

I wonder if there are people in every world who dream of flying.

[paladinlost]

[He laughs softly in return.]

That is either a very fast production chain you have, or a very young boy you place your hopes on. Unless you all live a thousand years? ...But the only world where no one dreams of flying is certainly a world where everyone already does.

[broji]

Well, we've only made three so far. I'd say it means he's got big dreams, but there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone in Sheridan's a dreamer first and a craftsman second, it seems like.

[Wow. A thousand years? He can't even imagine how many flights he could make if he lived to be that old.] Oh, no. None of us is anywhere near that old! But yes. Maybe you're right about that.

[paladinlost]

Dreams are a good reason to craft and build, I say. Even the more ambitious ones, no matter how unlikely. In that case, you'll simply have to find a way to build new airships that quickly, or else he'll undoubtedly do it himself.

[broji]

And maybe crafting and building are good ways to dream, too.

[Sigh.] I'm afraid it won't be quite that simple, though. For one, there are some parts we can't find anymore; we'd have to reproduce them somehow.

With the Albiore III out of commission, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he beat us to it.

[paladinlost]

If you have the machinery necessary to build an airship in the first place, you should have what you'd need to reverse engineer the pieces you might need. Unless they are too delicate to dismantle, of course... But perhaps you could encourage him to find a way to deal with that problem?

[broji]

Well, the part that allows our aircraft to fly was manufactured about 2,000 years ago, and we're still trying to figure out some details of how they were made. Since only two of them have been recovered so far, if something were to happen before then, we'd be out of luck until another was unearthed.

I'm sure I could try... [But the kid's probably only about six years old.]

[paladinlost]

2000 years ago? Even Lunarian technology is not that old, I believe... That you managed to make them work is quite surprising in the first place. I don't suppose they were found in the remains of an ancient, fully-equiped hangar? That'd be quite convenient.

[broji]

"Lunarian"...?

Ah... That sure would be convenient, but we weren't quite that lucky. The Order found them in some ruins, but as far as we know, only the hover drives were recovered. [Chances are they weren't even looking for them in the first place (read: fonstones), but then Ginji's never followed Order of Lorelei business too closely anyhow.]

According to history, the world was far more advanced during the Dawn Age than it is now.

[paladinlost]

People with a greater knowledge of technology and magic than ours. Their ships can not only travel in the sky, but between planets... However, they only approached us a few hundred years ago. That 'Dawn Age' of yours seems to be much older and longer than that.

[broji]

That might be, but a great deal of the knowledge and technology of the time has been lost to us. Getting a hold of ancient records can be pretty tough, too.

[Even more than being on another world now, knowing that someone out there has achieved transportation between planets.] Can they really travel through outer space?

[paladinlost]

I suppose that's no surprise. Even under the best conditions, writing is quick to fade away, and even the strongest metals rust over the years.

They can. Their moon itself is a ship, in fact, though I've not had the chance to see its controls. Even one of their smaller ships can travel between that moon and the planet easily.

[broji]

True. Though depending on the climate, some materials can be preserved for a long time. [It's still amazing what good shape some Dawn Age architecture is in, after centuries of apparent neglect.]

A moonship... I'd like to get a good look at one.

[paladinlost]

...The Battle Dome can replicate locations, if you can work the computer. I doubt it could copy the parts I've never seen, but the rest of it...

[broji]

The Battle Dome...? [He sounds confused. He hasn't visited it yet.] Is that the coliseum here?

[paladinlost]

It's a building where you can create battle scenarios and play them out. You can choose your opponents, the location...

[broji]

[Ginji's no fighter, that's for sure, but the technology behind the dome does sound pretty awesome.]

And you think it can be programmed to look like the aircraft you were talking about?

[paladinlost]

Parts of it, at least. Probably the monster-filled, crystalline parts, as they're the ones we visited.

[broji]

[Oh.] But if it's a simulator of sorts, won't the monsters...

["Won't the monsters be a problem?"]

[paladinlost]

It might be possible to replace the usual monsters with goblins. Those are nearly harmless.

[Someone should tell him the monsters are now optional, really.]

[broji]

[Yeah, that might be nice.]

All right. So what is it these goblins do, and what works well against them?

[It's always best to be prepared when you're about to do something crazy.]