It All Started With Magnets

.10.

It took me a bit before I had been able to get away from the scientists. It wasn't that I hadn't enjoyed their excitement or their enthusiasm, it was the fact they were throwing out theoretical physics, mathematical problems, and using words I could barely comprehend. I wasn't a scientist, I didn't understand how my engine worked, just that it did. So having them talk about the Laws of Magnetism, the theoretical possibilities of monopoles, reversing magnetic attraction, and everything else just left me feeling a bit out of my depth.

Loril-ee and the other antwyn scientists had been so excited their wings had flapped so quickly they hovered over the floor and the table as they rapidly discussed what my invention meant for the scientific field with the others. Even Bof'jag, who had been a bit disappointed with my lack of more monster trucks, had grown excited as they spoke more. At'kat'vo had even found himself in the thick of the discussions. It was interesting to see just how many of the Ambassadors were members of the scientific community. In fact it seemed like the Galactic community was mainly focussed on the advancements of science. Which was a nice change from what I was used to.

Even Mare-aidee, who had some interest in my engine but not a lot, was now looking over my laptop and phone in utter fascination. It turned out her field of interest was technology and Earth technology seemed to be both fascinating and utterly frustrating to her.

"But it uses no frequencies and resonance?" She asked it as she flipped my phone in her hand, staring at it so intently her eyes were glowing white.

"No. A lot of binary code, ones and zeros." I shrugged slightly as I continued to transfer my photos to my laptop so I could write it to the large hard drive I had. I didn't want to risk losing them before I could share them with others. I felt a little giddy at the thought of editing a video to throw at my youtube channel. I knew my tiny amount of viewers would go nuts over the pictures of the aliens and the videos of the carnivorous plants

"Numbers. It uses numbers." She said it with a touch of incredulity and I nodded. "But it is made of this...plasteec?" She looked up at me and I nodded.

"Refined oil basically." Not that I could get in-depth on how to explain it. My area of expertise was electrical systems, which on Torin was utterly useless because their electrical systems were vastly different to what I was used to.

"No nano carbon technology." She said it with a confused sort of hum. "I think the ilthi used this kind of technology over five hundred thousand years ago. I would have to contact our foremost technology historian in order to see if we could perhaps get a connection to your technology so we can more freely share information." She said it quickly before she gently set my phone down. "Are you alright if I leave you to go to the comms room?" She looked at me intently, her ilithari swaying around her head and I nodded.

"I'll be alright. I have the others to keep me company." I gestured to where Gal'rug, Hint, and Liress were in a rather intense conversation about what I could only assume was monster trucks because Gal'rug had demanded they watch the video and now they were talking rather animatedly.

"If we can find a way to connect to your technology then we could make an intergalactic communication system that would reach your planet!" She sounded so excited and I grinned at her. I honestly believed that would be amazing. Having a system that would allow us to pick up the phone can make a call to our new friends seemed like such an amazing step forward. "Please, excuse me!" With that she turned and pretty much sprinted from the room.

I chuckled unable to help myself as I turned back to my computer. The transfer was just about complete and Dunnerton lumbered over, pulling out a chair as he set a glass of water on the table. "Thanks!" I gave him a quick smile before I grabbed it and took a drink.