Which meant it was a Future Bonnie problem. Which meant Current Bonnie got to sit back and relax!
The Watcher flopped regally onto an overstuffed couch and summoned a strawberry milkshake with whipped cream and sprinkles, as befitted a goddess.
She was about halfway through the milkshake when a notification tried getting her attention. Squinting suspiciously, she licked off her straw and used it to poke the flashing light.
- Notice: Kobolds in Owonyan have discovered goblin cave system.
Smiling broadly, Bonnie summoned a screen into existence and set it in front of the couch so she could watch.
One of the kobolds of the mining group ran off, and returned two milkshakes later with Bonnie’s newest Chosen, a young kobold named Kurt. Well, that just made it doubly proper for her to be watching.
She checked the location of the nearest goblins, and deduced it would take three or so hours for them to meet. Meanwhile, she could check how her other Chosen Ones were doing.
Taz, the elf, was working. Boring. Kate, the hobgoblin, was getting her hair done. Bonnie made a note to check on that in an hour. Jeff, the treant from Raddish, was doing paperwork in the office of the Supreme Priest, which was his title now. He wasn't quite in charge of the whole country, but close enough. Also, boring.
Jasmine was picking up her little brother from school. Bonnie made a note to check on them later, too. She had to make sure they were ok.
Which left Maeve, Luke, and Echo. Luke was carving runes while Maeve painted a big tarp thing nearby; cute but boring. And Echo was deep in conversation with Calvin.
Equally worried and curious, Bonnie focused in on that conversation.
“If that was a problem, it would have already been discovered,” Calvin said, shaking his head.
“How?” Echo asked.
“Have you removed anything from your class inventory while in the pocket dimension?” he asked in turn.
Echo thought it over. “No, but Maki has.”
“Then you’ve not only brought a second dimension into the first, but opened it while inside,” Calvin shrugged. “Nothing exploded or imploded, so you’re good.”
“Oh. Yeah, ok.” Echo looked back at her notebook, making a note. “If we transported goods through the dimension, what would the weight limit be? I assume size limit is going to be however big the portal is.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Wrong question,” Calvin said. “So, the dimensions are basically bubbles in the Void, right? They’re filled with a specific ratio of gasses which makes ‘air’, which inflates them. Thing is, air has mass. Weight won’t matter, and I don’t think volume will particularly impact the bubble, but the mass will. At some point, I suspect the bubble will destabilize and… ‘pop’. Honestly, I’d just have someone pump more oxygen into one of the pocket dimensions until something interesting happens and call that the limit.”
“What would happen if someone was inside when it pops?” Echo asked, writing as fast as she could.
“Bonnie would yell at them for a while before sending them home,” Calvin shrugged. “She’d for sure get a notification about it, and would fix it.”
On her couch, Bonnie debated sending them a note about how she’d let the idiots wander for an hour or so before yelling at them. She decided not to.
“So it’s safe? No one will die if one breaks?” Echo asked.
“Bonnie wouldn’t let anyone die in her Void, no.”
“Ok.” Echo turned a page. “Um, Luke said if you made a portal to a pocket dimension inside a pocket dimension, it would attach itself to the one it was in when you left. Is that right?”
“No,” Calvin said.
Echo stopped. “So, getting two portals to the same pocket dimension isn’t possible?”
“Oh, it’s possible, just not like that. Easiest method would be to make an extra-large portal out of metal, with twin ‘this is a portal’ runes on opposite sides, then once it’s activated, cinch the portal and cut it into two. Then you can add metal to make the second one as big as needed. Any master Runesmith should immediately know what runes are needed and where. A second portal like Luke was thinking of would work, but there would have to be something inside the pocket dimension to tether it to; kind of like how message stones function. But they’d have to have a serious mana supply to work. Or, you could-” He stopped, leaning back. “Hey Bonnie, will you ever allow duplication spells?”
Echo sat up, her eyes going wide. “Duplication?”
A full dimension away, Bonnie considered it. She reached a decision and sent a note.
On the planet, in Calvin’s workshop, a paper appeared on his table with a flash of gold light.
[Hell no, mortals can’t be trusted with that spell, no matter how many qualifiers are put on it.]
Calvin shrugged. “Well, there goes that idea.”
Echo pushed herself to her feet. “But it exists? The ability exists? There’s a rune somewhere that will duplicate anything?”
Bonnie groaned, rubbing her face.
[You’re going to spend the foreseeable future trying to find it, aren’t you?]
“Yeah! Bonnie, the biggest issue in this country right now is a lack of resources! People can’t rebuild in cities because there isn’t enough wood and stone! People are rationing their food because the supply chain has been disrupted and it’s not getting where it needs to get! If there was duplication, that wouldn’t be a problem! Deforestation wouldn’t be a concern if we could duplicate timber, and there would be no need to destroy whole ecosystems just for more farmland, and-”
[OK KID I GET IT.]
“Sorry.”
Bonnie slurped her milkshake, once again debating it.
Calvin looked up, towards Bonnie’s viewpoint. “She’s going to be a good empress.”
Echo sat back down, blushing faintly.
[Yeah, I hope so. Fine, Calvin, draw her the rune.]
He froze. “I… don’t have it?”
[Yes you do.]
Calvin hesitated, then flinched and opened a screen. He pulled Echo’s notebook over and started drawing.
Keeping their screen open, Bonnie turned her attention back to the kobolds.