Phil waited patiently for Tyrone to emerge from his home; Michelle less so.
“What’s taking the man so long?” she complained. “We’ve got all of his luggage already.”
“Saying goodbye to his wife and kids whom he won’t see for a couple of weeks isn’t as simple as a quick kiss and a hug goodbye,” Phil reminded the woman. “Besides, it’s not as if we’ll miss the flight to Houston.”
Michelle grumpily conceded the point just as Tyrone emerged from the house. The man climbed into the back seat of the SUV and gave a final wave to his wife and children. Phil started the vehicle and they began their journey.
Tyrone said, “Makena made me promise to call her as soon as I get into Houston.”
“No problem,” Phil replied. “I’ll be tracking American Airlines flight 2751 to Houston to make sure of when it arrives so you can take your phone off of flight mode.”
“I’m not thrilled about deceiving her like this.”
“Not something we’re proud of either, but the thing about secrets is that the more people who know of them, the more likely they slip out. It’s too much of a risk as yet, and we don’t want to be hitting everyone with a geas-enforced NDA either.”
“I know. Still doesn’t sit right with me though.”
Conversation lapsed until Phil turned onto the highway. Michelle frowned in confusion.
“The office is in the other direction – why are we going this way?”
“We’re headed to the airport, right?” Phil answered cheerfully.
“What happened to using the portal?” Tyrone asked.
“Relax – we’re still going to take the quick route. However, it’s that phone call that you received yesterday that reminded me that we can’t take things for granted. Makena might call you again before your flight is due to depart. An app on your phone might accidentally reveal where you were instead of where you should have been. Anyway, we’re going to the airport, have a coffee and snack, and chat until your supposed flight boards. Then you turn off your phones and we’ll drive to the office.”
“That makes sense,” Tyrone conceded. “I suppose we’ll have to go to the Houston Airport also to keep up the pretense?”
“Yep. However, your new digs are not far from the airport, so we can drop off your luggage and allow you to settle in without wasting too much time.”
When the three finally reached the Charlotte office, Phil drove the SUV into the loading bay. After the roller door had been closed, the Security guard checked their I.D.s, the warehouse door was opened, the car was moved in, and the engine turned off. That door was also closed.
“Do we need to get out?” Michelle asked.
“No,” Phil replied. “This has all been prearranged. We won’t even be transforming as I’ve requested that the adaptation spell be turned off for the transfer.” The portal shutter rolled up revealing a huge mirrored surface. “And here comes the transfer team.”
A single yellow earth pony mare came through the portal and walked up to the driver side of the vehicle.
“Good morning, Mr. Martine.”
“Good morning, Careful Carter. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir. Are you ready to go through?”
“Yep. Go ahead.”
The mare nodded and moved to the rear of the vehicle as Phil put the SUV into neutral. Careful put one hoof on the bumper bar and started pushing the vehicle effortlessly toward the portal.
“Why don’t we drive through under our own power?” Tyrone asked.
“Three reasons,” Phil replied. “First – engines tend to misfire and sometimes stall when passing through the portal.” The front end of the car passed through the mirror without causing a ripple, then the passengers were pushed through it too. Phil continued, “And we also want to be under complete control when emerging from the portal. The mild disorientation from the transition might cause a driver to hit the gas rather than the brake and cause an accident. Lastly, we don’t want to be spewing exhaust fumes into the factory. Believe me, as bad as it smells for humans, it’s far worse for the Equestrians.”
As the SUV was brought to a halt a few meters from the portal, Michelle said, “I’m surprised that you don’t have an EV instead.”
“Rosa has ours. This is the vehicle I use when I go camping off the beaten track. I’m afraid that the range of electric vehicles is still too limited to rely on them under those circumstances. That’s one of the problems our company is working towards solving.”
While Phil was explaining, Careful Carter walked over to the control panel for the dimensional gateway and changed some settings. A light over the portal changed from green to red then back to green, and an LED sign next to it changed to read ‘Houston’. The mare jogged through the portal and returned a moment later. She then took position in front of the SUV. At a nod from Phil, she pushed the vehicle back through the portal, and they emerged into the Houston warehouse. Careful gave them a cheery wave before returning to Ponyville. A Security guard who had been waiting closed the shutter over the portal before opening the roller door to the loading bay. Phil started the SUV and moved the car out of the warehouse, then out onto the road after roller doors were closed to the storage area and opened to the outside.
“And that’s how we’ll be doing our express deliveries,” Phil said cheerfully as he began the trip to the new accommodations for Tyrone and Michelle.
A similar scenario was played out by Rosa with Jules. Flight AA1769 to Phoenix and then AA2940 to Ontario Airport, California, left at 9:45 AM, so they couldn’t meet up with the other three. However, different plans had to be made for Jolene. Because she was a last-minute replacement for Shariq, she hadn’t had the time to make moving arrangements. Instead, she was allowed to pack her car and drive to the Charlotte office, although turning off her phone was also required. When Rosa turned up with Jules, they transferred to the Los Angeles facility, and then Jolene followed Rosa and Jules to their new accommodations. The Martines had leased two adjacent apartments for their new managers and they were able to unpack at leisure. Then, since it would be many hours before their supposed flight arrived at the airport, Rosa took them back to the new office.
“We’ll have a car on lease for you tomorrow, Jules. You have unlimited usage of it until your own is transported here along with your furniture and goods. However, if you want to carpool with Jolene to save on gas, that’s up to you.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Martine,” Jules replied.
“What’s on the agenda now?” Jolene asked.
“The original plan was to let Jules and Shariq have some free time to settle in and get familiar with the area. Instead, because you two are behind with the familiarization process for operations here and in Equestria, we’ll take this opportunity to get you caught up.”
Upon arrival at the facility, Jules and Jolene went to their respective offices and turned on their computers. After logging on, both found photographs posted there taken at their dinner at The Fig Tree while they were in their Equestrian forms. Jolene smiled fondly at the sight while Jules marveled over making more friends in Equestria during the past few days than he had in years. Neither had too much time to dwell on them because as soon as Rosa returned from the bathroom, work began.
Eventually, it was time to drive to the airport and await the arrival of their flight. After officially arriving in California and turning their phones back on, they returned to their new digs, thus completing the official tracking. Then they returned to the office with Rosa.
“It’s already quitting time. We’ll head over to Equestria to meet up with the others for dinner at the castle. Jolene – you’re going to have the opportunity to meet the royal family just as the others have done. That will be the last opportunity to do so because the next couple of days will be concentrating on finishing your training.”
Jules said, “One thing is bothering me. We went to a lot of effort to ensure that our phones didn’t betray our true positions, but what happens when we have them while we’re in Equestria?”
“The Vanhoover microcell is connected back to this office, so it still places you here,” Rosa replied.
“But what happens when we’re not at the factory and out of range of the microcell? Does Canterlot have one? And if so, where does it connect to on Earth?”
Rosa’s expression froze for a moment. “Oops.”
“We’re going to have to look into whether we can have the microcells spoof an innocuous location or something,” Phil said after some thought when Rosa presented him with the problem. “Not my area of expertise though so I’ll consult with the tech who provided us with the equipment. In the meantime, Tyrone had better give his wife a call to preempt her possibly calling him later. Same deal for anyone else who might possibly get a call from a friend.”
Jolene ended up making a call as well as Tyrone before they all headed to Canterlot. The pink mare was introduced to the royal family including Rarity. The unicorn’s eyes danced with humor as she formally met the new member of the Harmonic Composites team.
“As my dear friend Applejack might say, that was quite the shindig that you and Pinkie threw yesterday. Ponyville hasn’t completely recovered as yet.”
Joy leap blushed. “Ah don’t know what to say, Ms. Rarity. It was completely spontaneous. It was lahk Ah met mah long-lost sister and we just clicked.”
“More than just clicked, I would say. The citizens of Ponyville won’t soon forget about you and Jewel.” Rarity turned to the statuesque unicorn. “By the way, darling, do you think you could come by my boutique tomorrow? I have some ideas in mind that I would love to show you.”
Knowing the kind of ideas that the fashionista was proposing, Jewel blushed. “You don’t need to do that for me, really.”
“Nonsense, dear. You have been an inspiration to me and you would be doing me a favor.”
“I suppose I could come over during my lunch break.”
“Done! I’ll expect to see you then. You’re going to love it!” Rarity then left to join her herdmates.
Jewel turned to Joy and asked, “Am I going to love it?”
The pink mare giggled. “Hon, one thing to know about being female is that if someone lahk Rarity offers to make you look right pretty, take the opportunity. You have nothing to lose an’ you might discover somethin’ about your new self.”
Jewel reckoned she had more than a little to learn.
During dinner, Prince Mark inquired about their progress. Tyrone was the first to reply.
“It’s been fascinating to see how magic is used in so many of the processes.”
Mark nodded. “It might amuse you to learn that Equestrians thought the same about the modern machinery that we imported from Earth. To them, they seemed like enchanted artifacts.”
Michelle said, “It’s like that saying – ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’.”
“There’s a corollary to that which seems to be very true here,” Jewel said. “Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology.”
“Hence why it’s often called magitek nowadays,” agreed Mark.
“And it’s going to revolutionize two worlds,” Rosa said.
“I’ll drink to that!” Phil declared.
The next day was as busy as promised. However, during lunch break held on the Baltimare side, Tyrone found time to ask about something other than business.
“Do you think you could arrange someone to give me flying lessons,” he asked, raising his wings in emphasis.
Phil looked over to Precious Goods. “Is there anyone employed here that might be interested in doing that? I want to keep that in-house.”
The earth pony frowned in thought. “Hmm… If you’re willing to pay for the instruction, there are a couple of pegasi who might be willing. They’re both fairly familiar with humans – one’s formerly from Caleb Awad’s welding school while the other helped set up the Houston facility. I’ll ask them after lunch.”
Phil said, “It should go without saying that flight school will be outside company hours.”
“Of course,” Tyrone replied. “I’d like to take advantage of every day after work before Makena and the kids arrive in a couple of weeks.”
“Yeah, your wife might wonder what you’re doing with your time,” Michelle said with a smirk.
Tyrone cringed at the thought. “What about you, Michelle? Is there anything you need to learn about being a cat person?”
“She shrugged. “Basic fur and claw care are about it. I don’t have wings or a horn, so no special magic for me to learn.”
Tyrone said, “Speaking of unicorns, I wonder how Jewel is doing?”
“Mover has already given me some pointers and practice exercises,” Jewel explained. “He’s going to give me some after-hours lessons too.”
Rosa raised an eyebrow as she looked at the Vanhoover factory manager. “Won’t your mares be questioning why you’re late home?”
“The lessons won’t be that long. I’ll fill in Golden Touch and Subtle Breeze tonight anyway. I figured that it’s better than letting Jewel embed more equipment in the ceiling.”
Both Rosa and Joy looked at the unicorn mare who blushed brightly. “I tried carrying my clipboard by telekinesis and kind of overdid it.”
“By which she means that she buried it halfway through her office ceiling,” Mover clarified with a smirk. “Anyway, having had to teach a couple of foals, I figure it should be easier to teach an adult.”
Rosa nodded. “Mi esposo took about a week to get reasonably competent, and a month or so before it became second nature. Nowadays, Phillipe sometimes has to think twice when he’s human as he might try to use a non-existent horn.”
Joy grinned. “Ah bet there’ve been occasions when he’s forgotten.”
“Si, but not at the dinner table again!” She frowned. “I was not impressed by the mess he made.”
Everyone laughed at the image that evoked.
Friday morning, Phil raised an eyebrow at the sight of Tyrone limping into the factory, favoring his left foreleg. “Flight lessons not going well?”
“Crash lessons more like it,” Tyrone bemoaned. “Black Nimbus says it’s a pity that hippogriffs aren’t as resilient as pegasi. I would be able to shrug off a little thing like leaving a crater in the field.”
Phil chuckled. “Giving up on the idea of flying then?”
“Hell, no! I still have three good legs, and I sure liked being airborne right up until the moment I wasn’t.”
“Try not to let it affect your work. I don’t want to have to find somepony to push you around in a wheelchair!”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, boss.”
“You’re welcome. Now, time to get to work. This is the final day that Rosa and I will be spending with you new managers. We need to get back to Charlotte and catch up with other pressing matters.”
“This is the last dinner on the company’s dime, so make the most of it,” Phil told the four probationary managers at The Fig Tree that evening.
“We’re very grateful,” Joy said. “Ah’m certainly going to have to get a large portion of mah salary paid in Equestrian bits so Ah can come here often. The food here is heavenly!”
“Did I hear my name called?” asked the pegasus with a grin as she brought over a couple of bottles of Sweet Apple Acres Premium Cider.
“No, mi querida yegua,” Rosa replied, “but you can help us make a toast to the success of our new branches and the people who will run them.”
“Gladly. Always willing to make the customers happy,” Heavenly Aroma said as she poured the cider into fancy fluted glasses and passed them around to everyone.
“Thanks for including Fast Mover and me in this little celebration,” Precious Goods said as she picked up her drink.
Phil replied, “You two will be working hoof in glove with these four – it will be a team effort to make your branches as successful as they can be.” He raised his glass now that everyone had theirs filled. “May the Magic of Harmony bring prosperity to the company and to all those who make it the best place to work in Equestria.”
# # # # # # # # #
Aww never got to see joy with pinkie
So nothing obvious... right now at least, something might come up in the future
not bad. Pretty good so far.
Or, you could simply have everyone go into their phone's Settings menu and disable all of the location-tracking and location-sharing functions. None of those functions, or the apps which use them, will be of any particular use to them in Equestria anyway, since they don't have a constellation of GPS satellites to get positioning signals from, and I highly doubt Mapquest or Google Maps have any Equestrian road-map information in their databases. (And frankly, you shouldn't be letting apps constantly track and share your location anyway.)
Or, just provide everyone with a "work phone" that stays on the Equestrian side of the portal, then have them use *72 to forward calls from their regular phones to their work phones when they're on the Equestrian side. Their regular phone remains in the office on the Earth side, and there won't be anything to indicate that it -- or its owner -- isn't where they're supposed to be.
11309025
I honestly didn't know about the *72 option which sounds like a great idea. Now Phil just has to persuade the four to leave their favorite phones back on Earth!
Actually, now that I think about it some more -- the lack of GPS satellites is a problem with having "microcells" in Equestria, too. We used to have those set up in our office building because of reception issues, and they all required us to have a GPS antenna mounted against an outside window so that it could get a GPS fix and give the cell network its physical location. Apparently, microcells also use the GPS signal for timing purposes to keep the data packets synchronized to the nearby towers when handing off calls.
It also looks like the major US carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc.) have mosttly discontinued microcells now anyway. It looks like they want you to use signal boosters --
which would also solve the location problem quite neatly(edit: no, it wouldn't, would it; it still has the same issue of the respective cells appearing to be in different cities than where each of them is supposed to be whenever they visit Canterlot or each others' facilities via portal-hopping.)11309032
The only downside I can see to the *72 solution is that it only forwards voice calls, not text messages. Given how many people text rather than call these days, that might still be a problem. (I think there is a way you can have the phone automatically forward a text to another number, but I don't think it works both ways; i.e. if Phone A forwards a text to Phone B, and the user of Phone B replies to it, the response will appear to come from Phone B's number; it doesn't go back through Phone A first.)
It's possible that an app exists to do that -- or could be written by a reasonably clever programmer, but then you'd have another person you'd have to bring in on The Big Secret...
Off The Mark
Chapter 14 - Challenge
Sooo... What is the great Pink one doing this days?!
Have a Counsel of Pinkies started to meet with Mark Wells having founded a dimension spanning Alliance with one another...
Off The Mark
Chapter 24 - Books
Sooo... Any counter measures in case someone pulled something stupid?
Mark had years, i wonder what they have prepared...
Off The Mark
Chapter 25 - Strange Visit
Is Equestria also in Trading with the Mirror world?
11309043
I think the Martines (and I) will have to leave that to people with a better working knowledge of the systems than us.
This is actually less of a problem than you might think. My phone browser, if I don’t explicitly allow it access to the phone’s gps based location data, guesses at my location based on IP address, and is frequently several hundred miles wrong.
The other thing they could do if they’ve got personal phones with spouses connected and able to see location is leave their personal phones in their Earth offices and set them to forward all calls and messages to company phones used while in Equestria that wouldn’t have the issue of reporting odd locations.
Really, the biggest danger is someone getting face timed by the spouse while in their Equestrian forms and having to explain why they can’t accept.
I’ve heard it put “Any sufficiently rigorous magic is indistinguishable from science,” myself. But as those particular words were attributed to The Mare Most Adorkable, I’m obligated to prefer them.
I find the requirement of GPS for tracking a phone extremely confusing, as back in the 1960s, Jodrel Bank use video tape recordnings of pulsar signals to later synchrinise the distributed detection signals of the MERLIN array. For next gen location tracking, between cell towers, before the internet, HAM operators using Packet Radio had to explicitly and manually dial in the sequence of tower link identifications for the data to be routed. these days, all the cell phone towers usse internet routing, so Traceroute equivalent should get you at least the ID of the tower, and thhe Installation database should tell you where that tower is? And thats only if you use one tower? For smooth handover, a cell phone while moving is usually communicating withe two or more towers, and theres a whole bunk of behind the scenes data processing can be done to not only track where your phone is, but if are the one who is holding it through your breathing patterns, detected via variation in the AGC feedback values. An additional coding plug in created for cell phones for emergancy disaster recovery enviroments.
Sending audio and not texts is a gypout, because the cellular data packets used for detecting and synchronising the phones and towers consist of phone ID, and a 150 byte or so block of empty data that was coopeted for fitting SMS text in. at least from what I saw of the bit level description back in the 1990s.
Moving the car back and forth through the portal reminded me of an old idea, where you have tramlines, or railway tracks in the floot, a flatbed on the tracks, and rails on the flatbed running sde to side. Container on one side of th flatbed one side of the portal, is pushed on, pushing the container there off the other side, and same repeats the other side of the portal? For anyone complaining about the complexity of alighning, over 100 years ago we had Train Ferries, where whole trains would ride on the tracks onto the deck of a floating ship. Which to me is a Lot more complex than a small gap on a solid surface?
Back in the 70s there was even a driverles Maglev Pod public transfer system in the UK for Birmingham Airport. It got scrapped because it was getting to expensive to maintain. Theres little Hovercraft left also. Its like all the advanced stuff is being erased, and we will be lucky to have bicycles eventually.
I wonder if they have contingencies for flights being diverted midflight
a super duper amazing chapter.
and never deny the power of Pink X two.
As long no Flight end up in a emergency water landing etc... Than things get complicated...
Great chapter
Mares ate in places of power in Equestria a male.oriented religion will have difficulty there. Then there is the magoc aspect.
11309174
GPS is semi-required because phones no longer have to broadcast. Their signal can be re-routed or redirected by multiple elements of local infrastructure, so you'll get a location of antenna instead of phone.
But actually networking devices do its own version of location based on signal, it just cannot be more precise.
11309831
Ah, that was it, NHS track An Trace, The Bluetooth power level feedback from phone to phone and phone to node? It depends if the manufactuer alows access to the registers required or the hackers discover what values are needed to access them?
At least I dont think they use Read Only and Write Only Registers, Addresses much these days for security?
11309774
You can not make fun of islam without massive protest. While you can dunk a cross in urine and call.ot art.
It's been a long time since I looked in, nice to see 6 chapters available.
11309857
You're over-thinking the problem, here, Their concern isn't that the phone's true locations can be uncovered through the determined efforts of NSA-level investigative agencies, with the active cooperation of the phone companies themselves, to triangulate based on nanosecond variations in packet arrival times at different receivers, and all that -- the Martines' concern is that the locations of the candidates' phones might be inadvertently given away by one or more apps on the phone which, using the "location services" functions available to them through the OS, will helpfully try to update your Fakebook status and inform your friends and family where you are, or will try to "check you in" to local businesses trying to entice you to buy something, or geotag your photographs with the location the photo was taken in, or any of the other myriad ways in which smartphone apps invade your privacy in the name of "convenience."
"Location services" on modern cell phones use GPS when it's available, simply because it's the most precise. Without it, the "location service" can still try to figure out the phone's approximate location based on other data, such as the IDs of the cell towers it's currently connected to (whose GPS locations are known to the network), or the name(s) of any WiFi networks which are within range if they're public networks known to belong to a particular business at a known location. Location via IP address alone is usually the last resort, since it can be wildly inaccurate for all kinds of reasons, especially when you're dealing with gateways between different networks.
11309483
Good point.
Then it’s Capricorn One all over again!
11310137
Very fitting actualy
Nice
11309908
Yep, sound legit. Never see someone explode personaly other man Muslims.
Just saying...
11309126
*Universe can't take it and explodes*
11309237
Diversions or sudden cancellations. Last August, I was stuck at DFW for a day because they cancelled my flight to LAS at 1030 at night. Rebooked a flight leaving at 9 am, but it was delayed until almost 2 before takeoff, destination LAX. I didn't get to LAS until 10pm the next night. Travelling on August 2nd is not a good thing for me. Had a bad wreck 8.2.82 and the day has been unlucky since.
11310558
One year when flying out from Pittsburgh after attending Anthrocon, I was told that I was not going to get to Los Angeles because my connecting flight was cancelled. I had to stay overnight in Fort Worth and missed out on an event.
However, far worse was the time I was headed for LAX to catch a flight back to Australia. We got to DFW but a storm at the airport stopped us from getting into the gate due to lightning risk removing all the ground staff. We were sitting on the tarmac for over an hour and I missed my connection. They rebooked me on the next available flight but it got into LAX too late and I missed that flight too. I didn't get another flight to Australia until two days later! Nowadays, I never schedule an overseas flight for the same day as an interstate flight.
11310693
Such is the state of air travel now. Wondering how to get from SLC to San Angelo without flying. I'm getting scared of going through DFW.
11310908
11310796
ENOUGH! Any further comments on Muslims will be deleted. I will probably delete these too. This is not the place for this dispute.
Off The Mark
Chapter 64 - The Light of Truth
I wonder what the Pillars doing this days and the Sirens for that matter...
11310693
Damn... A lot that could go wrong for Equestrias operations if a flight every get canceld. Or is there a private Plane somewhere for exacly that kind of situation to cover up?
Any plans to cover 'Off The Mark' left open points?
11310693
Off The Mark
Chapter 67 - Stormed
The Changeling Crown, did Mark become proficent with it by now? Can it be used in the Mirror world or on Marks and Phils Earth?
Would be useful
Off The Mark
Chapter 69 - A New Dawn
Have all Hives recieving Thorax Changeling King upgrades? More importantly, have the Queens?
11309032
11309043
Leaving the employee's phones at the Earth-based side staff offices of the shipping portals takes care of the GPS issue, while *72 takes care of calls.
Yes, a in-story specialized-created app linking the company phones with their Earth-side counterparts would be the best route to take care of text messaging, and a second in-story specialized-created app could also be created to do relaying of any audio-visual transmissions--since such apps either don't exist in the real world ... or if they do, they're likely proprietary and/or restricted by various legal shit. However, there is STILL a minor issue of the people who took advantage of transforming to their Equestrian forms rather than opted to not change for the day such a call comes in....during a VIDEO call!!??
Off The Mark
Chapter 75 - Surf And Turf
Has that changed by now?
Isn't it time for the press to be present this time in the Queen Counsel meetng?
Off The Mark
Chapter 81 - Learning Their Place
What jave the Queen been up to? Has Thorax spread his evolution and seed to others?
How about magictech development?
The press will love to know
Even the most careful plans can have glaring holes. It's probably good enough for the passerby.
Last point from 'Off the Mark'
Off the Mark
Chapter 100 - Mark's World
Griffon x Dragon = Feathered/Fluffy Dragon?
11316382
Well galus is the eldest child in the family so he probably will have a family first.
Reminds me of this story about astronauts and letting things go mid-air... :D
11316382
Something that lookes like a velocoraptor, maybe