Chain[01].Link[00]÷<α>

Sanna had read over the words a few times. They felt juvenile almost… overly simplified. It felt too clean and simple for even a good video game, let alone real life.

She felt like if this was a prank then they wouldn’t have made this with their impossible hologram trick.

But the weird boy had promised to prove it if she picked an option. She might as well take it seriously for a few minutes. Worst case scenario she could learn how they did the magic trick with the hologram.

She read it one more time.

There were also three locked choices apparently. In a window off to the side they were listed without stats: Space Ship, Air Ship, and Subterran Ship.

“Why are those locked? And do they have stats?” she asked pointing curiously.

Though she already knew what she was going to pick from names alone, even if she could choose the locked ones.

“We have not met their conditions, and so their stats are locked at this time,” he answered placidly in the same monotone he had been using the entire time.

“And what are those conditions?”

“I do not know at this time,” he simply said. And if that bothered him, he didn’t show it in a way Sanna could tell. He had been such font of details before she wondered why he suddenly didn’t have answers. Something to consider–later–once she figured out the scope of this farce.

Even though she knew what she would pick, she decided to do her due diligence first.

“What’s the difference between Sense and Skill?” she asked wrapping her jacket tight around her self, it was getting windier as the sun continued to set.

“They are both rankings which apply to a group of features that the form has or can have. Both innate capabilities, and tech usage. In general Sense describes the effectiveness and capabilities of the sensorium of a Form where as Skill describes the proficiency and versatility with abilities of a Form.”

“What about in this specific case?”

“The land ship form is capable of maneuvering effectively and precisely on solid land simply due to the nature of it where as the water ship form will often be at the mercy of the water it is traveling on. However the water ship has an intermediate sonar in addition to the generic visual, sonic, and electromagnetic sensors that the land ship is generally limited to. It is notable that both are rank three or below, which is considered poor.”

“What’s the scale?”

“One and above. Every three ranks is a broad ranking category, poor is one to three, average is then up to six, great is then up to nine, amazing is then up to twelve, anything beyond twelve is supreme.”

“So they both have amazing stability?”

“Correct, however it’s important to keep stability in the amazing range, ten or above.”

“Why?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Okay then” Sanna said with a raised eyebrow and a mental note to ask about it later, “moving on, what about the attribute differences, they seem minor as well?” Sanna asked in a leading way.

“They are minor” he replied without elaboration.

“Well all these differences are minor then, are they at least indicative of later trends?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then” Sanna paused, she was getting annoyed by his simple responses, but she decided to at least play along before addressing it, she had a lot of things to chew him out for at this point, but she’d at least try it all togeather now, “what do the attribute differences imply about later trends in this specific case?”

“Land Ships trade their internal computational power and assembly integrity for better nanite generation and field strength, which are important for abilities and raw combat capability. This is mitigated because they can instead rely on local infrastructure for computational support and repairs. Water Ships trade their energy and nanite generation for more matter generation and assembly integrity, which are important for long combat times and larger displacements. This is mitigated because they can instead hold large amounts of reserves rather than rely on instant generation.”

He paused for a moment as Sanna was thinking about how much to actually care about what was being said.

After a few moments he continued, “there are other implications as well. Land Ships sacrifice from two of the three attributes from the potential group, implying a general reliance on generation. Water ships sacrifice from two of the three generation attributes, implying a general reliance on potential.”

“What’s that actually mean though? Like I can guess at generation attributes, they would generate resources, but what do you mean by potential attributes?”

“In addition to their primary effects, potential attributes also improve how much of a generated resource I can store. It’s about throughput. A land ship will probably have less resources to deploy at once, even if it can restore them more quickly. Where as a water ship will probably have more resources to deploy at once, even if it takes it longer to restore them. I repeat that the differences are currently minor.”

“What are your thoughts? What would you prefer?”

“I have no preferences at this time. I am your weapon.”

“Do you even have any feelings or potential for preferences?” she asked him.

“I do not know for sure at this time, I think I probably will eventually.”

“Great,” she again replied with heavy sarcasm.

“You are welcome,” he again replied, apparently, oblivious.

Sanna shrugged, it was probably problematic of her to ask in the first place, she thought, since she knew what she was going to choose the moment she saw the options. On the other hand, despite how much she was getting into it—not that she would ever admit it—this was an elaborate fabrication. She didn’t have to feel bad about being the rude one here was her current opinion.

“I choose, jesus that’s a stupid name, water ship.”

The other holograms faded away, leaving only the one option, which then re-drew itself as a single layout of stats, with a three-dimensional view of an orb in the upper right. Sanna was quite impressed by the display trick they were doing here.

Just as Sanna was about to ask what happened next she noticed that he had walked the orb down to the water. A swirl of golden motes was forming around it, he took a few steps into the water and let it hover there before taking a few steps back.

Sanna walked up next to him. She was beginning to believe.

“What shape?” he asked.

“Uh, how big are we talking?”

“The scale restrictions are complicated. Think small, more than a couple people would be crowded.”

“So like a car or a truck,” Sanna said lost in thought.

“If I was a land ship yes, water ships can be a little bit bigger I think. There are less complex moving parts.”

Sanna, again, already knew exactly what she wanted. It was kind of one of those small fantasies—to be asked to design a personal boat without any restructions.

“Sailboat, catamaran hull, in a SWATH style if that’s possible, and a fractional rig sloop,” she paused, no longer having a good mental model of where this was going, “did you understand all those terms?”

“I understand now, I have the internet, I looked them up”, he said as the golden light began spilling onto the water, “one moment.”

Shapes began coming into existence beneath the orb. Golden motes spilled from it’s hexagonal surface in streams and started forming solid shapes. The motes would flow into the edges of what already existed before their glow faded and matter appeared. Most of it becoming a pearlescent navy blue. She was also seeing the inside of the hull, including the web like weaves that held it together inside as violet-red lit smoke flickered at the open ends of it.

For Sanna this whole situation had rapidly spiraled into the surreal. She believed something impossible was happening here, and was only just realizing how stupid it was to ask an alien super weapon to be a sailboat.

“A sailboat is fine right?” Sanna asked suddenly much less confident, “am I supposed to ask for one of those inflatable coastguard cutters or something?”

“This design is interesting, I had not considered this approach.”

“So that’s good?”

“It is different, diversity is useful. It is also, in many factors, an improvement over what I would have designed. There are many reasons we find local owners to wield us. This is one of them.”

Matter was now forming around the orb itself, creating an awkward bulge in the center between the two catamaran hulls and at the base of the mast. Which is when Sanna noticed something strange about the configuration.

“Are those the SWATH keels,” she said pointing at the four rice shaped cylinders hanging underneath the hulls, “why–how aren’t they connected?”

“They are connected. I am using diamond bonded carbon nanotubes thinner than human hairs. Which means you can’t see them.”

Sanna laughed, “well that will certainly reduce waterplane drag! Simply amazing.”

“Thank you, I used a significant amount of my stored nanites to assemble it.”

“No, I mean this whole thing is amazing.”

“I do not know how to respond.”

Sanna laughed happily again, “that’s fair.”

The mast of the ship was now forming, along with the sail at the same time. Both were a transparent sky blue, the mast being more glass like, and the sail more transparent and white like a sheer piece of cloth. The sail was also covered in a hexagonal weave that caught the light slightly differently on the edges of each hex. It was truly alien in the details, even if it looked vaguely of human design.

“Do you actually need a sail?” she asked as she watched it materialize out of thin air.

“I do not need one.”

Sanna waited a moment, before motioning for him to expand. Hoping to—assuming he was actually a few hours old or whatever—get him to expand more in the future without her prompting.

“I can use my Lifshitz field to provide propulsion by forming a construct against the water in range and pushing. However the sail will, according to your science, function better and in addition to that. Both methods will soon be rendered obsolete when I level up and you choose a more advanced propulsion technology for me to use.”

“So mundane—for lack of a better word—solutions are still useful.”

“Until you choose a technology unlock that out performs them, yes.”

And with a plop, the sailboat finished and fell into the water.

“I am now fully operational,” he said as he generated a new hologram.

Sanna read it as she periodically glanced back to the very real sailboat bobbing in the ocean, now throughly convinced this wasn’t some sort of prank.