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>Unboxing video
"Gil," you say. "These are shapes."
They are shapes: a rectangular box, a small cylinder, and a disc with holes in it. None of them obviously shoot fire. You raise your eyebrows at Gil, who flinches.
"They— they do— I-I-I know they don't look that impressive, but they—"
"I hope this one's a bomb," you say, and hold the cylinder up to your eye. (Something's the matter with its strings. Like they're distorted, or overlapping, or... you can't tell in detail unless you concentrate.)
"No, i-it's not... can I explain them?" Gil holds up the disc. "This i-is a refractor. I-i-it... uh... it's usually more of a part in a machine than anything on its own, but..."
"You had Horse Face's entire hoard, and you got a <span class="mu-i">part?</span>"
"Hold on! Look! I-I-It's meant to change the path of strings. They filter through these prisms—" Gil taps the disc's holes, which are covered with translucent material. "—and come out skewed. I-I-I was thinking... uh... my beetles..."
"Yes?"
"You know how I-I can't really come too far apart?" He flexes his hand open and closed. "I-I-I just... stop. Even though there's nothing really physical in the way. Richard's told me it's my strings. I-I-If I can get them through the refractor, then I'll get more slack, so there'll be more room to—"
"It doesn't make more beetles, though? It just lets them fly further?"
"Um..." Gil says. "...Yeah..."
"Huh. What's the other ones?"
"Oh. I-I-I was only going to pick one of them... I don't want to be in Garvin's debt or anything, ha-ha. I-I was thinking maybe you could help?" He lifts the box. "This is—"
"A box," you volunteer. (Shoebox-sized, heavy-looking, with black sides and a clear top.)
"Uh... yeah. A box. But it's lined with glass, see?" Gil tilts it so you can see the glossy interior. "The outside's coated, so it's safe to touch, but... I-I mean, it's glass-lined. I-It'll suck the reality out of anything you put in in there."
That's more like it. "Cool! What do we need to suck the reality out of?"
"Uh... nothing. I-I don't know if it'd have that much of a practical effect, really... but!" Gil looks proud of himself. "I-I-It can't suck the reality out of something that's already not real! I-It'd just keep it safe! Like an icebox, right? Or a..."
His gaze goes muddled for a second. "Gil?" you say.
"...a freezer... I-I guess. Like a freezer. You put hot things in and they get cold; you put cold things in and they stay cold. <span class="mu-i">I-I'm</span> a cold thing, Lottie. I-I can't survive out here that long when I'm not in something. But if I was in there..."
"Then you'd be in a box?"
"You're quite a critic, Charlotte," Horse Face says.
"I'm not a critic, I'm just—"
Gil works his mouth. "I-i-it's fine. I-I just thought it could be... cool. Uh, the other thing's that canister. Can I have it back?"
(1/3)
