Nathanael sighed as he closed out another report.
He really wanted to spend more time looking for the cause of all the incidents along his wavelength of reality, if only to make sure it couldn't happen again, but his boss had caught up with him only moments after he began looking just to tell him that he needed to get all the disturbances documented before he did anything else.
It was pointless busy-work and Nathanael would be happy to tell that to anyone that asked his opinion. Unfortunately for him, his boss obviously didn't care about his opinion which meant Nathanael was busy filling out ten different forms for each incursion noted even if it had only been registered for a few moments before disappearing again.
All while his own actual work piled up in the background.
He still needed to figure out why ALG-184-G had given him an Avatar Already Uploaded error when he definitely hadn't finished the process to upload one. It was probably a read error or something equally annoying that was the result of a malfunction somewhere. Unfortunately, he just had his workstation replaced three millennia ago so there was almost no chance of getting another upgrade so soon unless he could prove what was causing issues. And even then his boss would probably just tell him to reset whatever it was and see if that fixed it.
Speaking of his boss, another note just arrived. 'Good job resolving the 901 issue. Keep up the good work.'
Nathanael could only stare at the message because he hadn't even gotten around to looking at ALG-184-G again, let alone actually doing anything to resolve the issues there but ultimately he shrugged his shoulders and decided to accept the rare praise.
He would just look at the logs to get an idea of what happened later so if anyone asked he could pretend he knew what had happened.
…after he got through the rest of those incidents…
-o-
"You got most of them right that time." I complimented as I finished looking over the primer I had given Leona.
My assistant turned companion had a lot to learn about what more advanced societies took for granted. And while I had taught her quite a few things about some of the more abstract concepts like physics, biology, and math…I hadn't exactly done the same for things I hadn't expected her to ever encounter. Like a car or light switch.
Some of it was easy to explain using magic as a metaphor or comparison, but there was plenty that Leona had trouble wrapping her head around which would have people familiar with certain things looking at her oddly.
Not being familiar with how to use certain technology could be excused to some extent, but insisting that a computer was powered by a bound spirit would definitely get the wrong type of attention.
So I was trying to teach a hedge-witch from a pre-industrial world how to blend in with a low sci-fi one by giving her a series of tests and seeing how she replied to a bunch of pictures and scenarios and then giving feedback based on her answers.
Leona just sighed and closed her eyes, obviously annoyed that she didn't get a perfect score. "It was my answer on what to do with a runaway vehicle, wasn't it? You said it was better to simply get out of the way but I figured removing the 'engine' would get it to stop quicker."
I waggled my hand. "Eh, I gave you partial credit for that one because if we absolutely did want to stop a vehicle that could work, but lighting it on fire could cause an explosion that could either destroy the vehicle or hurt bystanders. In certain situations it's worth a try but not if we want to be able to use it later. No, the main one you got wrong this time was regarding what to do when you see several brightly colored liquids."
"...I'm guessing 'tasting them to determine what they are' was wrong?"
I snorted at her. "Considering the liquids I had in mind were all cleaning products that would be poisonous to you? Yes, yes it was. I would have accepted pretty much anything other than 'drink the unknown liquid' as an answer. Remember lab safety tip number five…"
"...If I don't know what it is, it shouldn't go near my mouth." Leona completed with a sigh. "Alright, I'm ready for the next test."
"Don't worry, you're doing much better than I expected." I gave her some light encouragement as I handed her the next test. "And we should reach our destination in a day or so."
Leona gave the stack of papers I handed her a look of resignation.
"It cannot come soon enough…"