The Interrogation Begins
"So," Captain Silvermoon settled back in her chair, crossing one armored leg over the other in a way that made Maya's brain temporarily forget how language worked. "Tokyo. Tell me about their army."
Maya's mouth opened and closed like a dying fish. The Captain's posture was so casually confident, so effortlessly commanding, that Maya felt like a mouse being studied by a very attractive hawk.
[Perfect opening! Compliment her tactical knowledge!]
"You have really nice... tactical positioning," Maya blurted out.
Elena and the Captain exchanged glances.
"I'm sorry?" Captain Silvermoon's eyebrow arched dangerously.
"I mean! Your sitting! The way you sit is very... strategic. Good sight lines to all exits, back protected by the wall, perfect angle to observe the prisoner—that's me—and you look really good doing it, which is probably also tactical because intimidation through attractiveness is a valid—"
"Maya." Elena's voice cut through the rambling disaster. "Breathe."
Maya took a shaky breath, acutely aware that both women were now staring at her with expressions somewhere between concern and secondhand embarrassment.
[Affection levels unchanged! Try being more direct!]
"Right. Tokyo. Military." Maya tried to gather her scattered thoughts. "Well, we don't really have a traditional army anymore. It's more of a... Self-Defense Force."
"Self-Defense?" Captain Silvermoon leaned forward, interest sharpening her features. Maya's brain immediately categorized this as 'predator preparing to pounce' and found it disturbingly attractive. "So Tokyo is a pacifist kingdom?"
"Not exactly pacifist, just... look, can someone untie me? It's hard to explain complex geopolitics when my hands are going numb."
The Captain looked to Elena, who shrugged. "She's been cooperative. And if she tries anything, we can always tie her up again."
"Please don't," Maya said quickly as Elena moved behind her. "I mean, not that I wouldn't enjoy—I mean, it's very professionally done, the knot work, very impressive rope skills you must practice a lot—"
Elena's hands paused on the ropes. "Are you... flirting with my restraining techniques?"
"Maybe? I don't know, I've never been tied up before and I'm having complicated feelings about it!" Maya's voice pitched higher with panic. "You're both very intimidating and attractive and I can't tell if I'm scared or turned on and that's probably not appropriate to say during an interrogation!"
Cultural Exchange Gone Wrong
The ropes fell away, and Maya rubbed her wrists gratefully. Elena returned to her position near the wall, but Maya caught her hiding what might have been a small smile.
"Fascinating," Captain Silvermoon said dryly. "In your kingdom, do all prisoners confess their inappropriate feelings to their captors?"
"We don't really have kingdoms anymore," Maya said, then immediately realized this required explanation. "We have a democracy. People vote for their leaders."
"Vote?"
"Everyone gets a say in who runs things. Well, everyone over eighteen. And you have to register. And actually show up to vote, which a lot of people don't, but that's a whole other problem—"
[This is boring! Tell them about your modern superior lifestyle!]
"—but the point is, I come from a very advanced civilization!" Maya continued, riding the system's encouragement. "We have technology you couldn't imagine! Machines that think, flying metal birds that carry hundreds of people, tiny devices that let you talk to anyone in the world!"
Elena stepped forward, suddenly interested. "Flying... birds?"
"Airplanes. Well, they're not actually birds, they're machines. Made of metal. People sit inside them and they fly through the sky using engines and physics." Maya was warming to the topic. "I've been in them. Many times. I'm very experienced with... riding things that go fast."
Elena's cheeks turned slightly pink. Captain Silvermoon's other eyebrow joined the first one.
"I meant airplanes!" Maya said quickly. "Just airplanes! Normal transportation!"
"These flying machines," Captain Silvermoon said slowly, "do they carry weapons? Could they be used in warfare?"
Maya's enthusiasm crashed into reality. "Oh. Oh no. You're thinking about military applications, aren't you?"
"I'm a military commander. It's my job."
"Right. Okay. Well, theoretically, yes, but—" Maya caught sight of Elena's fascinated expression and her brain derailed again. "Would you like to hear about trains instead? They're these long metal... things... that go really fast along tracks and you sit inside them pressed close together with lots of other people and sometimes there's swaying and the occasional tunnel where everything goes dark and—"
She realized both women were staring at her with identical expressions of 'what is wrong with you.'
"I should stop talking about transportation," Maya muttered.
Modern Conveniences and Medieval Confusion
"What about trade goods?" Captain Silvermoon pressed on. "What does Tokyo export?"
[Perfect chance to show your superiority! Tell them about Japanese technology!]
"Oh, we make amazing things! Like these tiny computers everyone carries around—they're called phones, and you can send messages instantly to anyone in the world, or look at pictures, or read books, or watch moving pictures with sound—"
"Magic?" Elena asked.
"No, science! Though honestly the difference gets pretty blurry sometimes. But the really impressive part is that everyone has one. Even peasants—I mean, regular people. Everyone can communicate with everyone else all the time."
Maya paused, realizing how this sounded to people who probably considered a written letter cutting-edge technology.
"Also," she continued, gaining confidence from their interested expressions, "we have machines that wash clothes automatically, boxes that keep food cold to preserve it, and devices that heat food in seconds using invisible energy."
"Invisible... energy?" Captain Silvermoon looked skeptical.
"Microwaves! They use radiation to make water molecules vibrate really fast and—you know what, that does sound like magic when I say it out loud."
[They're impressed! Now's your chance to be seductive!]
Maya straightened up, trying to channel confidence she absolutely did not possess. "The point is, I come from a very advanced world. I could teach you things. Share knowledge. Be... useful."
She attempted what she hoped was a sultry look, but given Elena's expression of confusion and the Captain's barely concealed amusement, she probably looked like she was having some kind of seizure.
"I mean, I could be very useful. In many ways. Educational ways. And other ways. If you wanted. Which you probably don't, but the offer stands for... useful... ness."
Elena coughed. "Are you propositioning us?"
"Maybe? I'm honestly not sure what I'm doing right now. This is all very overwhelming and you're both really pretty and I haven't eaten anything but porridge and I think my blood sugar is crashing which always makes me say inappropriate things and—"
"Maya," Captain Silvermoon's voice cut through the babbling. "Take a breath."
Maya obeyed, mostly because the alternative was continued verbal disaster.
"Now," the Captain continued, "assuming any of this is true—and I'm not saying I believe it—why are you here? If your Tokyo is so advanced, why did you end up in Elena's house in the middle of the night?"
Maya looked at the floating system screen that only she could see, cheerfully displaying unhelpful statistics about her failure rate.
"That," she said slowly, "is where things get really weird."
[Tell them about the system! What could go wrong?]
Everything. Everything could go wrong. Again.