imthepilot | Honeymoon in Hong Kong

Bodhi takes the card Jay give them and opens the door. It opens into large five star hotel suite - champagne chilling in a bucket and roses by the bed. In the corner of the living room are several large crates labelled climbing equipment. There's a welcome pack with maps and travel guides, ferry tickets and the number a car service.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

galen_erso

"Neither do I -- oh, I know that one! It tests wire conduits."

There is a shopping cart, and in goes the cable tester -- and soon, several other things, including a few books on engineering, in English.

"I'll cobble up something in the evening, between dinner and bedtime," Galen says. "Oh look, a cleaning android -- but we don't need that, the hotel will have their owns. And it seems to be not very intelligent."

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi spots a display of flying drones and action cameras, somewhat fascinated by them. "We could use one of these, to plan our climbs. or scout ahead. The controls are pretty primitive, no intelligence here either but I'm pretty sure I could build something more intuitive."

From:

galen_erso

"Oh yes," Galen agrees, "that would be very useful. But what are 'smart phones'?"

The copy on the drone packaging mentions them.

"They come as Android and ios? Where the ios symbol is an apple with a bite taken out of it?"

What on any planet has that to do with engineering?

From:

imthepilot

"Personal communicators. I've seen them at the bar." He looks around, finding a whole section of things with the half eaten fruit logo.

A well dressed little sales girl comes bustling over, chattering brightly in Cantonese. None of which Bodhi understands.

From:

galen_erso

"Excuse me," Galen says. "We don't speak that language; that's bad form of us, I know. But we might need one of those to fly that drone here?"

From:

imthepilot

She bows and swaps to good if accented English. She's quick to recite all the products benefits, piling up all the things they need for it. And a few things more like a better (read more expensive) camera.

From:

galen_erso

"Do we have funds for that?" Galen whispers to Bodhi.

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi shrugs. "I really don't know. Did Jay say anything about it?"

He taps his wallet against his chin a moment. "Let's found out. Worst comes to worst, we go back to the bar and ask for more credit." He holds out the plastic credit-chip card Jay gave them.

It's returned a moment later without concern and the sales girl starts boxing everything up.

From:

galen_erso

"So, we now have adequate machinery to deal with local conditions and to document our climbing adventures," Galen says.

It's quite a lot of electronics.

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi grins. "I still want those goggle. I miss mine."

From:

galen_erso

"Course you get goggles!" Galen says. "Goggles, messy hair, shapeless coveralls and talking a mile a minute -- essential Bodhi in working mode! I like."

From:

imthepilot

"Hey!" He bumps against Galen as he carries their purchases out of the shop. "I don't dress all that shapeless any more. I look good in this jacket!" It was nice of Jay to ask the bar to set them up with local clothing styles.

From:

galen_erso

"Very good!" Galen murmurs under his breath. It's short enough that I get to see nice things when following you through the food market -- but those, I get to taste only when we're back in the hotel."

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi growls a protest then dumps all the bags on Galen as they reach the stall with the sunglasses and goggles. He spots a cute pair - round yellow lenses and brass rims, slightly steampunk, if either of them knew what that was.

"These ones?"

From:

galen_erso

"For the moment," Galen agrees. "You might need others if the sun contains anything unusual. But they do look good!"

From:

imthepilot

"You're being practical again." Bodhi chides, trying on an oversized pair of mirror shades. Pulling them down to look at Galen smoulderingly over the top of the frames.

From:

galen_erso

"I am a scientist and engineer!" Galen says, by way of explanation. Of course he's practical -- that's what he is all about!

"What shades would suit me as well as those do you?"

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi grins and picks up a perfectly ridiculous heart-shaped shades and slips them on Galen. Laughing.

From:

galen_erso

"Stars, everything is pink!" Galen says, chuckling. "Nope."

From:

imthepilot

"I don't know." Bodhi grins. "I think they look great on you."

He picks up another pair. "There. These look more protective."

From:

galen_erso

Galen puts them on. "Much better!" he declares.

From:

imthepilot

"You look very stylish. Like a professional pod-racer or something."

From:

galen_erso

"I was never allowed to try, as a kid," Galen chuckles. "Too dangerous. My mum would have had a fit."

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi grins playfully. "I was arrested when I was a kid. Unsafe operating of an airspeeder. I got into a race with some friends, out past the fallen ones."