Peter W. Prellwitz - The Science Of Magic

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TheScienceofMagic

The Science of Magic

by Double Dragon eBooks, a division of Double Dragon Publishing of Markham Ontario, Canada.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's

imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or

dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by:

Double Dragon eBooks

PO Box 54016 1-5762 Highway 7 East

Markham, Ontario L3P 7Y4 CANADA

http://double-dragon-ebooks.com

Layout and Cover Illustration by Deron Douglas

ISBN: 1-55404-142-2

First Edition eBook Publication May 20, 2004

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TheScienceofMagic

The Science of Magic

a collection of short stories

by Peter W. Prellwitz

Science. Magic. Both sources of unimaginable power. All that prevents ultimate control, and thus

ultimate power, is that science and magic do not exist in equality in the same dimension.

Until now.

It is the thirtieth century, and mankind has learned a new kind of programming. Pentrinsic code, which

uses zeros, ones, twos, threes, and fives, runs on a three-dimensional platform: reality. Running a

pentrinsic program results in a warping of realty. In other words, magic.

But still science had the superior position, for learning to "cast" even the most basic pentrinsic program

took decades of study.

Until now.

Kerri Marks was born of human parents, but she is also the first of an entire race:Homo Magicus, an

offshoot of mankind born with the inherent ability to understand and use pentrinsic code. Other children

with this powerful, inherent gift are born. And so a race is born. But their numbers are low. They are

young. They are not organized. They do not have a way to express their raw power, this blend of science

and magic.

Until now.

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TheScienceofMagic

POP QUIZ

October 12, 2953

Miss Hennessy had always been pretty, Kerri decided on the first day of school. She was pretty in their

normal classroom in the puterverse, where her brilliant pinks and glowing blacks always excited the

children with the way the colors wrapped and floated around her body. And now that Kerri was seeing

her in real life for the first time since school started two months ago, she was even more pretty than in

the puterverse. With a keen child's sense, Kerri could see Miss Hennessy as she looked when she was a

little girl like her: small frame, brown hair, blue eyes and even the same smile, with the same missing

front tooth, the grownup tooth not quite ready to show.

Kerri Marks had only been in school for two years; but at the age of six, she was quite certain no one

was as nice and wonderful and pretty as her teacher, Miss Hennessy. And now they were in the same

room!

"All right, children!" Miss Hennessy said in a firm voice that she softened by a smile. "Let's all have a

seat on the floor and introduce ourselves properly. I'm just as eager to know you as you are to see me."

She sat down on the floor and carefully spread her long skirt out just perfect. The nine children;

bouncing around only seconds before, hurriedly settled down, sitting on the soft, warm floor around her.

Kerri was very happy to see that she got the spot next to Miss Hennessy, on her left. Miss Hennessy

gave her a warm smile that made Kerri want to tell her absolutely everything about herself; but she did

not, knowing her teacher always did things just so. The last of them quieted, and all bright eyes looked

up at her.

"Very good!" Miss Hennessy said happily. She looked them over carefully, and if anything, she was

even happier with what she saw. "My! What lovely children you are! Bret, stop poking Maggie." Bret's

hand immediately jerked back, and Maggie gave him a quick smirk. "Maggie, you don't need to do that.

Well! I know you've been my pupils for two months now, but we've only met in the puterverse. Since I'll

be here on Coda for the next three weeks, we can do this properly. Please stand up and introduce

yourself. Tell me how old you are, what you like the most, what you don't like the most, and what you'd

like to be when you grow up. Victor," she said to the boy on her right, "we'll start with you."

Victor jumped to his feet and looked at his classmates, then at Miss Hennessy.

"My name is Victor Lu and I'm six and I like wiener dogs an' Codan jump birds an' I don' like girls!" he

said proudly, then blushed, "'cept you, Miss Hennessy. An' my mom. An' my sister, too, but only 'cause

my mom says I have to. An' when I grow up, I'm gonna be a ball chaser pilot like my dad!" He sat down,

certain no one could top his performance. The girl beside him stood.

"My name is Hana Yoshigawa.Hanameans 'flower' in the language of my ancestors," she said proudly.

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"An' I like flowers and the color blue and I don't like boys!" she said sternly, stomping a foot at Victor,

who laughed and buried his face in his hands. "And when I grow up, I wanna be an astro-namener, like

my mom AND dad!" she concluded, satisfied Victor had been bested and seated herself with a flounce

on the floor. Suddenly remembering, she jumped to her feet. "And I'm six years old!" she shouted and

then sat down again.

One by one the others took their turn until at last Kerri stood up. She had her hands folded behind her

jumper and twirled back and forth, her pigtails flopping against her small back.

"Hi. My name is Kerri Marks and I'm six years old. Umm . . . ." She giggled and looked at Miss

Hennessy, who smiled reassuringly. "Oh, yeah! I like my Uncle Paul and I like being in school and I like

making things pretty. I don't know what I don't like. Broccoli, I suppose, only just a little. And I want to

be a muser when I grow up, like my great grampa Marks was. Only maybe I want to be a teacher, too."

She sat down.

"Thank you, very much, children. That was nicely done. Shall we get started with today's lesson?"

"But you didn't say anything about yourself, Miss Hennessy!" Victor accused.

"You're right, Victor. I shall take care of that right now. My name is Deborah Hennessy and I'm . . . ."

"You gotta stand up, Miss Hennessy!" Megan and Donny both said.

"All right!" she laughed and stood up. She bowed to them. "My name is Deborah Hennessy and I'm

twenty-six years old. I like children and I like teaching and I like Begorian soul music. I don't like

broccoli, either." Kerri's heart jumped, and she suddenly thought that being a teacher was better than

being a muser. "And since I'm already grown up, I'll say that I'm happy to be a teacher and very happy to

be your teacher." She clapped her hands. "Now! Who knows why we're meeting here today, instead of in

the puterverse classroom?" Hands shot up excitedly. "Yes, Donny?"

"You're gonna show us penters . . . prentis . . . you know! Magic!"

"That's right, Donny. But who knows the name? Kerri?"

"It's called Pentrinsic code, Miss Hennessy," she said precisely.

"That's right. And do you know why we're not in the puterverse?"

"Uh-huh," Kerri said eagerly, happy to be the font of wisdom. "'Cause the puterverse is binary and

trinary code, an' pentrinsic codes gots threes an' fives in it, sorta, so it won't work there!"

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"Well, I'm impressed, Kerri!" Miss Hennessy exclaimed. Kerri beamed. "How is it that you know so

much about pentrinsic?"

"That's because I like it and my dad does it and so does my grampa and gramma." She took a deep

breath, then burst out, "I can do some, too!"

Miss Hennessy blinked a couple times, then nodded for her to sit down, which Kerri did, still glowing

with pride.

"I'm sure one day you will do some, Kerri. But that's only for older people, who study very hard. In fact,

that's why we're going to talk about it today. Even though it might be ten years, each of you could one

day code magic!" They all stared wide-eyed at her, not so much at the thought of becoming musers as

much as at the incredible amount of time she'd said. Ten years! She smiled understandingly and tapped

an access button, raising up a hologram of a blue and green planet in their midst.

"Who can tell me what planet this is?"

"Halo!"

"No, it's not! Where's the rings? That's Deerkin!"

"Huh-uh! That's Nojura!"

"Halo!"

"Soso!"

"Mant!"

"Imdlemodin!"

"Earth!"

"Halo!"

"Wait! Children! Wait!" Miss Hennessy held her hands up, only narrowly averting open hostilities.

"Someone was right, though I suspect it was a guess. That's Earth. Let me tell you about it.

"A long time ago, almost a thousand years, Earth was the only place that humans lived. Then we learned

how to travel through space and started finding planets like the ones you called out and started living on

them. The planets are all different. Halo has eight rings. Mant is a very hot planet, and Nojura is almost

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all water. Soso has no moons, and Imdlemodin has five. And our planet, Coda, has such clear air that we

can see stars even after the sun comes up.

"But they all have things in common, too. They all have air we can breathe and plants we can eat. They

all have animals, both wild and tame. They all have weiner dogs." Victor shouted yay! causing Miss

Hennessy to force down a smile. "And one other thing, too, children, they all have magic. In fact, the

entire universe has magic. Except Earth."

They all looked suddenly sad and gazed in pity at the solid hologram that rotated slowly inside their

circle.

"How come?" Hana said in a quiet voice.

"We don't know, Hana. That's just the way it is. Scientists keep trying to understand why, but haven't

found the answer." She nodded her head and the hologram flashed out.

"What we do, know, however," she added with a cheerful note, "is that pentrinsic code does work here.

A muser can write code on reality, changing it. Some use it for healing. Others use it for fixing and

working with machines. Some use it to protect us in case we are attacked, though that hasn't happened

for almost a hundred years now. And some use magic for teaching it to others." She fell silent.

What she said slowly dawned on the children. They began gasping and smiling, their eyes widening

even further as they stared at Miss Hennessy, the absolute center of all their attention.

She moved her hands close together and made an imaginary ball. The children watched in stunned

fascination as Miss Hennessy's hands moved faster and faster. Within her hands, they imagined they

could see the ball. She whispered a brief word that they didn't understand and suddenly moved her hands

apart. Their faces went from wide-eyed to bug-eyed.

Floating in the air where her hands had been was a flashing blue and red ball! It smelled like chocolate

and bright white flowers. It hummed and sang a soft song, tickling their insides lightly and making them

feel safe and happy.

"This is called a Haven spell, children," Miss Hennessy explained, not at all perturbed that they

continued to stare at her glowing ball instead of her. "It can be used to make you feel better when you're

sad or if you're a little sick. There are stronger and larger haven spells that will do even more. And the

Haven spell is one of only hundreds of other spells. One day, if you work and study and practice, you

might be able to cast this same spell and make your friends feel better."

Kerri stared at it, mouth opened. She'd seen her Daddy do magic all the time, but he was the town muser.

He was supposed to do magic. But Miss Hennessy was a teacher! And she could muse! Kerri didn't have

to choose between being a teacher or a muser. She could be both, like Miss Hennessy! To Kerri, the

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world suddenly became an even brighter place than it had been before.

Miss Hennessy moved a gentle hand across the ball, and it faded out, causing the children to

immediately ask for her to do it again. She laughed but shook her head.

"Sorry, but I'm much more a teacher than a muser. I can only cast one or two small spells a day before

I'm too tired. Now, let's see what we've learned. Who can remember the name of the code?" Hands shot

up. "Greg?"

"Peterisic. I mean . . . Pen trin sic," he answered, nodding his head with each syllable.

"Very good. And what can it . . ."

"You can call it magic, too," Hana pointed out.

"Yes, you can, Hana. Pentrinsic code and magic are the same thing." Miss Hennessy eyed her with a

brief stare, only slightly less soft than normal. "But you should not interrupt."

Hana slapped her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry, Miss Hennessy!" she exclaimed through her fingers.

"That's all right, Hana. So, children, what can Pentrinsic code-or magic-be used for? Megan?"

"For healing!"

"Yes. Kerri?"

"For working on machines."

"That's correct. Victor?"

"For blowin' stuff up!" He emphasized his point with several sound effects.

"Almost, Victor. We use it for defense, but only when necessary. Good! Now, answer this question:

where is the one place you cannot use magic?"

"Earth!" three or four of them shouted.

"Good! And for the last question: which of these three planets is Earth?"

The children looked at the center of their area, waiting for the three solid holos to appear, but it remained

empty. Miss Hennessy frowned, then turned her head slightly, quickly accessing the puterverse.

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"Hello? Yes. This is Miss Hennessy from the Itinerant Teachers Association. I'm conducting a class on

Coda and seem to have lost partial phased access. Could you . . . thank you so much!" She turned her

head back to them, ending access and smiled.

"Sorry, children, but the building's access grid is acting up again. Puterverse repair says it'll be about

five minutes until I can bring up the holos. In the meantime . . . " she broke off. "My! That was quick!

And such incredible quality, too!"

Floating in front of them were three planets: one more blue than green, another more green than blue,

and another almost entirely blue and sporting a thin ring. Each had moving clouds patterns and even

showed the glistening of their respective, unseen suns reflecting off the water surfaces. The hemispheres

removed from the light were cast in the dark of night. Everyone could see the pinpoints of light that

indicated cities.

The kids started chattering, pointing at the vibrant and highly detailed images, but Miss Hennessy

shushed them.

"These are the best constructs I've ever seen! I still need someone to tell me which one is Earth,

however. Victor?"

"Ummm . . . it's this one!" He pointed to the blue planet with the thin ring.

"No, Victor. That's Nojura. Why don't you try, Kerri?"

"I can't, Miss Hennessy," Kerri said.

"Yes, you can, Kerri. Try to remember what I said about Earth; then use that knowledge to pick the

correct planet."

"No," Kerri said, shaking her head, "I mean I can't pick 'cause it wouldn't be fair."

"Why not, Kerri?"

"'Cause I made the planets appear, an' so I know which one is Earth already," she said simply.

The children giggled, but Miss Hennessy suddenly looked thoughtful. Still looking at young girl, she

accessed again.

"Yes . . . this is Miss . . . no, no, I'm not complaining. Yes, I'm sure you're working as quickly as

possible. I hate to sound silly, but is the interface already up by chance? No? I see. Thank you." Her eyes

readjusted to real light, and she took Kerri by the hands. The others were quiet.

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"Kerri. Child. Listen very closely. Did you make these planets?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded, now not at all certain she should have. She suddenly burst out, upset at

displeasing her most favorite, favorite teacher. "I'm sorry, Miss Hennessy! I just wanted to help! I'll

make them go away! I promise!"

She turned back to the images and motioned her hands in stuttered rhythm. One by one the planets

popped out of sight, leaving behind a gentle aroma of baked bread and fresh grass.

She turned back to her teacher, feeling very guilty. Miss Hennessy, seeing the girl's distress, smiled at

her.

"Don't be sad, Kerri. What you just did is impossible. Hopelessly, incredibly, wonderfully impossible!"

Kerri's eyes began to brighten in realization that she'd done something very good. She began twirling

back and forth with embarrassed pride.

"I just wanted to be like a teacher, like you, Miss Hennessy. And a muser, too," she said. "And I want to

be just like you, too!" she blurted out.

Miss Hennessy, her view of the world abruptly and joyously jarred, gave a happy laugh and held her

arms out to her pupil, who ran into them.

"Kerri, I think you'll be a very good teacher some day." She patted Kerri's head and straightened her

pigtails. "And I think your students are going to learn more than they ever dreamed possible!"

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THE THIRD COROLLARY

October 23, 2965

The classroom was all abuzz when Kerri arrived. She'd been held up in the puterverse when the

overloaded access of billions of people eager to find out the fate of theLynxforced Efwon-the

puterverse's ancient guardian-to carefully restrict entering and exiting. She'd always been lucky

whenever puterverse overload triggered Efwon's involvement, being among the first on and first off. But

the sheer volume of access this time was such that she still had to wait fifteen minutes to get off. It

would have been easier for her had she still attended classes in the puterverse, as she had for the past

fourteen years. It was required, however, that all juniors and seniors wishing to join the Itinerant

Teachers Association attend live instruction their final two years.

The babble from the classroom, belied the actual attendance, though; and Kerri breathed a sigh of relief.

Of the normal fifteen students, there were only six, counting herself. Not even Professor Westfall had

arrived yet. She sank gratefully into her chair and listened in to her schoolmates' conversation.

"I heard they opened fire while theLynxwas still in docking approach," Henry, the class know-it-all, said.

"Not only were all hands lost, the damage was so severe that the Modins even fried some of their own

people when the ship blew."

"I can't believe that, Henry," Theresa objected. Her grandparents were raised on Imdlemodin, and she'd

always struggled with her loyalties and beliefs that the planet could be so aggressive. "Where did you

hear that?"

"On-verse," Henry replied with a shrug. "My dad is one of Coda's top trinary coders, so I get pretty good

access."

"Not as good as Kerri, though," Yuri countered, jerking his thumb at her. "Her dad's only a town muser

and he . . ."

"Hey!" Kerri barked. "Watch it, Yuri! What do you mean,only?"

"Sorry, Kerri," Yuri apologized quickly and sincerely. "I meant compared to Hank's dad. Everyone

knows that your dad's the best muser on the planet. I'm glad he's Hinman's muser."

"Got that straight!" Kerri said firmly, then smiled. "But, yeah, you're right. Dad has great access. Don't

know why, but I'm not complaining."

"So what have you heard, then, Kerri?" Theresa asked hopefully. Kerri felt a pang of sympathy for her

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TheScienceofMagicTheScienceofMagicCopyright©2004PeterW.PrellwitzAllrightsreservedunderInternationalandPan-AmericanCopyrightConve tions.PublishedinCanadabyDoubleDragoneBooks,adivisionofDoubleDragonPublishingofMarkhamOntario,Canada.Thisbookisaworkoffiction.Names,characters,placesandincidentsareprod...

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