"Your world is not a space-traveling planet?"he asked, his back to her.
She stared at the round nodes on his back, two behind his shoulders, two about mid back and one lower on his spine.If the gauntlets were cultural, then what were those things on his back?Cultural too?
“What are those?”she asked, gesturing to his back.
“What?”
“Those round spots on your back.”
He twisted and attempted to look over his shoulder and gestured to one.“These?”
“Yes, those black spots.”
“My lysteel ports.For connection and meditation.”
“Well, okay then,” she said.How they aided in meditation, she could not begin to understand, but hey, it worked for him.“You were asking about my homeworld.”
“Yes.”
"We are not space explorers, not like what is here.We have been in orbit of our world and are planning an exhibition to one of the neighboring planets.We've sent quite a few satellites into our solar system to document the planets that surround us, but other than that, we have not done a lot of space travel."
"You're in your infancy."
She nodded.
"So how is it you understand what nanite technology is?"
"Again, in fiction.We have theorized how microscopic robotics could help with health issues and medical needs; however, we have not developed the tech to be used on a large scale yet."She took a step toward him."Is that why you have the little silver lines under your skin?Is that the nanites?"
"That is the lysteel, a metal polymer that moves like liquid, but can create whatever is necessary."He held out his hand, and a cup just sort of poured out of his skin.
"That's incredible," she said."And you can make anything?"
"I have yet to fail."
"So, you could make me a hairbrush?"
He blinked."I have to know what you mean."
She chuckled."A comb.Do you know what I mean when I say a comb?"
"Yes."
"A brush is like a comb, but with all the bristles together, and the teeth are a little wider."
"Hmm," he said, and held out his hand.
He took her literally, it seemed, for it looked like a bunch of wide-toothed combs were hooked together.But it would work for her hair.She hoped so, anyway.It felt pretty stable and solid.
She took it and started running it through her hair.While it wasn't her super nice detangling brush, it worked.She brushed and pulled at some of the tangles.
"Damn," she muttered, pulling at a spot in the back.
"Do you need assistance?"Marcin asked.
"It's just tough right there."She handed him the brush."We didn't get to freshen up before meeting you all.I would have thought we could have at least tried to get cleaned up a bit."
"This is not how you normally look?"
