Hacker. Parent. Scientist. Rantist. Atheist. Roboticist. Treehugger.

Mastodon post 2026-01-30

The brace of manual typewriters caught my eye at this particular flea market stall. No, one typewriter, the other was a galactinet terminal from a Carragon type seven starlugger.

It doesn’t pay to appear too anxious. “Does the Smith-Corona typewriter run?”

“Yeah. You can still get new old ribbons”

“And the galactinet terminal…” did the seller even know what they had?

A sharp glance; they did. “Nah I’m parting out the flight systems. You’re not, uh, local then?”

Very much not. “Expat, involuntary. Looking for a voidgap collimator for a type nine”

“Sure, over there.”

No way. I could finally get off this rock. I looked at the collimator. I looked at the typewriter. Did I want to get off this rock. “Just the Smith-Corona thanks”.