Spontaneous Generation

[herblessedwind]

There were many strange things about the WITCH bus, but from Reinforce's perspective the most intriguing was the way, described by Matt and confirmed by a few experiments of her own, that it expanded to suit the demonstrated needs of its inhabitants. It was not unlike the dream realm within the Tome of the Night sky, and at first she thought it

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[lackofdarkwings]

The worst thing about the bus was that because it was all self-generating, it was always getting BIGGER by the minute. Matt was certain half of the new rooms weren't there the last time he took mop to the floor.

Pushing the handle, he looked up at the sound of footsteps. "Oh Rein," he said, noticing the woman with the items in her arms. "Out for a bit of star gazing?"

[herblessedwind]

Rein, for her part, wasn't sure why a bus that could do something like expand its own interior wasn't self-cleaning. Maybe it was just trying to keep Matt busy.

"I want to see if the bus can create an observatory with an external view," Rein explained. "And yes, I would like to see the stars. The observation deck and hydroponics access have good views, but they aren't set up for detailed viewing and aren't as private as I would like."

[lackofdarkwings]

"Hmm, well we could give it a shot," said Matt as he reached out and a doorknob formed. "Let's see..."

Pushing the door open, the room opened up into a vast interior with a huge external view, set up like a planetarium but with a massive outside look. "Wow..." said Matt with a little bit of a deadpan. "Didn't see THAT coming."

[herblessedwind]

"I think it likes you." Rein deadpanned. "I usually have to leave things overnight to see a change."

She stepped around Matt and into the room. "And it's very impressive. I wonder where the effective point of view is...?"

[lackofdarkwings]

"Yeah, being the caretaker I guess the magic really likes me." said Matt with a shrug.

When Rein said that, the walls slid open for an entire three hundred and sixty view of the stars and a platform raised, stairs emerging from it. He grinned and sort of shrugged in a "you had to ask?" sort of manner. "Let's get set up there."

[herblessedwind]

"How long have you had it?" Rein asked as she climed the stairs, coming to her occasional guilty realization that she spent far more time trying to figure out the bus or Matt's magic than inquiring after Matt himself. "Or has it had you...?"

He kept the bus, yes, but hardly seemed its master.

[lackofdarkwings]

"Me? Naw, I'm just the fill in," said Matt, getting her intent. He patted the walls as he stepped into the glow of the starlight; constellations both unfamiliar and alien, a nebula passing by, it was breathtaking.

"I'm the caretaker in only name. The real person who spends his time creating its secrets is Kandor, a guardsman that was chosen for this sort of thing. He was a man under me, back in Kandrakar when I was a Captain of the Guard." He ran a hand across the railing and smiled. "In fact, if he were here, I'd say he'd be taking care of this place, playing with We no matter how much his allergies kicked in. He was a big part in the creation of the bus, and the Lumia, the source of magic deep in the basement of this place."

[herblessedwind]

"It hadn't realized it was a recent work." Rein was, in her own understated way, clearly surprised. "In my place and time most great artifacts are relics of the past. No matter how much we advance we remain in the shadows of our predecessors."

Less-mysterious origins didn't make the Lumia any less intriguing to her... but she was wary of asking after it, or even thinking about it too much. However well-suppressed, it was still in her nature to consume other sources of magic. She did not care to test the Defense Program's level of power by offering it such a prize.

Instead she set up her telescope. She had considered trying to find or build a real one, but materials were always in short supply so she had instead created pseudo-device, one without its own core that depended on her for most of its functionality. It looked and worked like a normal telescope, though, except for the conveniently variable diameter of its false lenses.

"Would you like to look?"

[lackofdarkwings]

"Yeah, it's a definite feat of engineering," said Matt. "And sure. I'd love to look."

Going over, he peered through the telescope and whistled. "Wow, some of these star formations are incredible. There's a lot of familiar-looking ones but the resemblance to star charts known to earth is fairly superficial at best."

He took a minute longer and then withdrew. "It looks amazing out there."

[herblessedwind]

Reinforce took her own turn at the lens, with considerably less commentary. The view was impressive, even compared to the crowded skies of the inner realm worlds of the dimensional sea, but she was more prone to quiet reflection than Matt's amazement.

"It is certainly much brighter than my sky," she said wistfully.

[lackofdarkwings]

"Is the skyspace around your homeland crowded?" inquired Matt as he leaned on the railing.

He looked up into the observatory sky, watching the undiluted view of the bleed around them. It was spectacular at this slow pace, despite possibly racing past them at insane speeds.

[herblessedwind]

"In the denser parts of the dimensional sea many worlds are visible in the sky, and the nights are very bright. Though if anything remains of Belka I doubt any of that beauty remains." She bowed her head ever so slightly at the mention of the long-lost homeworld.

"I was referring, though, to my own sky. The one in my Book... in me."

[lackofdarkwings]

"Amazing," said Matt as he looked up into the sky. "Is it a representation of your knowledge or is it more metaphysical than anything else?"