Marcus entered his common room with his phone attached to his ear, waiting for Baran to pick up.

  He saw Tyler still working on a giant computer case in the corner. The thing was massive. Bigger than any gaming PC Marcus had ever seen. He gestured with his head to ask what it was but Tyler made a shushing gesture.

  "Half an hour until finished." Tyler whispered.

  His call finally picked up. Marcus directed his focus to Baran.

  "Hello Baran this is Marcus."

  "What do you mean Marcus? I am watching the courtyard. He is here building some sort of..." A pause. "Ohhh."

  "Yes I am other Marcus. The one actually from here."

  "Hello Marcus. You two are actually the same right?"

  "We lag behind one day but he knows what I am doing. He mentioned you yesterday but today he will be busy so I am calling."

  "About the thing?" Baran asked.

  "Yes. I will be transferring to your crypto account."

  "That makes sense."

  "Also about the leather bags. I have a little bit of money. I will send those through official channels so you can start the import-export process."

  "You are seriously selling these kinds of stuff?"

  "Yeah why?"

  "I mean you are walking between planets and I...."

  "Yeah." Marcus laughed. "I was expecting myself to be more impressive too."

  "Okay okay. We all need to eat. I will arrange everything. Don't worry. Your cousin and your twin are in good hands."

  Marcus closed the call with relief. He had worried about not delivering his counterpart the necessary items to return. But the Keepers were coming through in the clutch.

  "Was that the call to buy the thing?" Tyler asked. He was still bent over the giant computer case, soldering something.

  "Yeah. My new supplier said he will handle it." Marcus walked up to the machine Tyler was working on. "Now what is this? A new machine for streaming? It looks like a server."

  The case had an LED screen attached to the front. Ports and connectors lined the back. Solar panels were folded along the sides.

  "This my friend is a gift to Marcus of Millhaven from me and my chat."

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "What?" Marcus asked. "What would..."

  Tyler cut him off. "This giant case has one hundred terabytes of memory and every byte is full with a local and open-sourced large language model and its data."

  "You mean AI?"

  "Yes. It also has one hundred twenty-eight gigs of RAM and dual GPUs."

  Marcus picked up his phone and started recording. "Start from the beginning. Tell me the specs again." He insisted.

  "What why?" Tyler asked but shrugged. "Okay."

  Since he was already a seasoned streamer he started with energy and repeated the specs of the machine with practiced ease.

  "The case doesn't need any external hardware. I call it the Technology Seed. You can use it anywhere." He winked at the camera. "Even on other planets. You just need sunshine." His face changed suddenly and walked a step toward Marcus and wispered "You have sun right?" he asked.

  Marcus smiled and nodded.

  He gestured at the screen and pulled the bottom to reveal a keyboard and mouse. Then he pulled the sides to reveal the solar panels in all their glory.

  "Now come here." He pulled the camera to show the inside. "It has a battery. You might ask why it is so huge. That's because it is not lithium or any other high-tech battery. It works with a modular zinc-air battery system. If it dies you can replace it easily."

  "But," he paused for effect, "since the specs are so high it can only be fully operational for one hour with just the battery. Also the solar panels are made from copper-oxide since you can't find silicon or other semiconductors when you need a replacement."

  Marcus closed the video. "Technology Seed huh? That actually makes sense." He was in awe.

  "Right?" Tyler opened his arms proudly. "Right? You need nothing for this to work. I am very proud. We built it for Marcus to be his advisor."

  "Thank you so much Tyler. This must have cost you a fortune considering GPU and RAM prices."

  "Noooo." Tyler waved his hand, embarrassed. "Never mind. We did it with my chat and it was an amazing project." He tilted his head. "But why did you film it?"

  "So you can upload it and sell it."

  Tyler laughed. "Who would buy it? I can do everything with my phone."

  "Tyler... think bigger. You are smart but business is kind of my thing now. Put this video on YouTube, TikTok, and create a Kickstarter page. See what happens."

  "Really?" Tyler looked surprised. "I don't want to reveal how much my gift cost but this is too expensive for regular people to buy."

  "For a regular person, sure. But do you know how many millionaires want something like this in their bunkers?"

  Tyler bowed his head in thought. "Thanks Marcus. That actually makes sense. I didn't expect to make money from a gift."

  "No, thank you man. Between everything happening I just bought a walkie-talkie and a lighter." Marcus laughed. "I didn't even dream of taking a computer to Ephus."

  "Today your new partner is coming right? Gerald?"

  "Yeah for official signings and procedures. I was going to give the walkie-talkie to him to send with the mind machines. But we can send your gift with him too."

  Tyler smiled wide. "Marcus of Millhaven is going to have an AI advisor. That's insane."

  "You know what's more insane?" Marcus looked at the Technology Seed. "That this might actually help save a world."

  Tyler's smile faded into something more serious. "Then let's make sure it gets there."

  They both looked at the machine. One hundred terabytes of human knowledge, ready to travel between stars.

  Marcus had brought simple things to Ephus before. Soap recipes. Basic machinery. Agricultural techniques.

  Now he was bringing artificial intelligence.

  He wondered what that would mean for a world still fighting with swords and magic.

  He wondered if it would be enough.