2025-04-30 21:05:03George and James had been sneaking up onto the roof of their school and hiding behind the parapet since they were in kindergarten together, even in the winter, when it was cold and sometimes icy up there. They could peek over the parapet and have a good view of Sutter’s Village since the school was one of the tallest buildings in the community.
Years had passed since kindergarten. George and James had grown much older. They were about to graduate from school. George would test at the Magic College of Praxis in Capitol City the next day, a very prestigious honor that George would have on account of his family heritage. James, born to a lesser bloodline, would be apprenticed to a local wizard right in Sutter’s Village. The two youths didn’t really expect to see each other much after they parted ways, so they were enjoying one of the last times that they thought they would ever hang out together.
That day, they were in for a real treat, a rare spectacle. Below them, in the town square that their parapet faced, a public trial was underway. A local washerwoman had been accused of committing science. Scientists were terrorists and insurrectionists against the governance of the Society of Sorcerers Born. Proponents of science claimed that anyone could do science. They claimed that one didn’t have to be born with the Gifting of Magic in their bloodline to understand the workings of the universe. The more outspoken and revolutionary scientists spoke of a day to come in which Sorcerers Born and common peasantry would be equals, sharing in the fruits of society side by side. Unthinkable!
The washerwoman who stood accused of practicing science sat in a chair with her back to the fountain that graced the middle of the town square. She was flanked by her guards, who seemed hardly necessary as the woman looked completely broken emotionally as well as physically exhausted. George didn’t doubt that Anti-Science Inquisitors had kept her up all night trying to convince her to confess.
Before her, upon a raised stage, sat a Wizard’s Tribunal, made up of three local ranking wizards from Sutter’s Village. One of them was one of George’s current teachers. One of them was the school principal. The third was an older teacher who had retired before George and James had grown old enough to attend his advanced classes.
Around the town square, about a hundred folk had gathered to see the trial. The Wizard’s Tribunal had called for witnesses. A competing washerwoman was testifying, not just looking at the faces of the Tribunal, but passionately presenting herself to the gathered crowd, trying to stir them up to her side of things.
“Mabel and I have, of course, had a friendly rivalry through the years in our respective laundry businesses…”
A heckler from the crowd interrupted. “It’s not so friendly now, is it?”
The witness, though she paused to glare wickedly at the heckler, was undeterred. “But, of late, Mabel’s business has taken all my customers, even generational customers, babies whose diapers I washed growing up and then paying me to wash their own children’s diapers. And why? Because she uses this!”
The witness pulled from her satchel a pouch. Untying the straps on the pouch, she dumped the contents, a white crystalline powder upon the ground dramatically. Though George and James, hidden behind their parapet, were behind the Tribunal’s stage, George could imagine them raising their eyebrows at this display.
“What is this?” asked the school principal, the central figure of the Tribunal.
“It’s–” began the witness.
“Let the defendant answer for herself,” instructed the principal.
The defendant, Mabel, looked up. There didn’t seem to be any hope on her face or in her voice. She looked resigned to her fate. She did, however, still possess some dignity about her. She would do her best to answer the questions presented to her with whatever honesty she could. George wondered how a nice lady like her could ever have gotten mixed up in science
“They are simple salts, m’lord. They soften the water.”
“Soften?” The principal seemed incredulous. “Why would water need softening? Water is not hard.”
“Unless it is ice.” The older, retired teacher on the Tribunal had not spoken until now. When he did, the crowd all “oooooooooed” and “aaaaaaaaaahed” as if that was the most profound thing they had ever heard.
A pause made it apparent that she wouldn’t interrupt one of the Tribunal members, so the witness took the opportunity to continue to testify against her business rival. “She makes Sutter’s grime go away.”
The crowd “oooooooooed” and “aaaaaaaaaahed” again. Everyone in Sutter’s Village knew that anything or anyone who washed in the local well water would be covered in a harmless but distinct crusty layer known as Sutter’s grime.
“Is this true?” the principal asked the crowd. “Are there any witnesses that can attest that this washer woman makes their clothes clean without Sutter’s grime?”
Several villagers came forward, guiltily confessing that they had preferred that Mabel do their laundry since it made their clothes, towels, and diapers softer and grime free. They swore on the graves of their ancestors that they had no idea whatsoever that science was involved..
The principal looked at Mabel. “Whence did you learn this water softening science?”
“M’lord, I took in a traveler for the night a few weeks ago, one who was poor and could not pay. He wanted to offer me something in repayment, so he showed me how to make my laundry business prosper by softening the water. He said the water from our wells here in Sutter’s Village was hard. I laughed at first. Whoever had heard of hard water, lest it be ice, as the good old master has rightly said? But the traveler bade me to do a load of laundry after he had treated the water with salts. And the results, many assembled here are wearing right now.”
The crowd got nervous and shifted uncomfortably, as if their clothes had somehow contaminated them with science.
“We’ve heard enough,” the principal proclaimed. “Washerwoman Mabel, we, this lawfully assembled Wizard’s Tribunal, hereby find you guilty of practicing science.”
Ominously, at that moment, the town bell rang the hour, signaling to George and James that they had to leave their special spot and return to their classes, both of them vowing to never, ever have anything to do with science.
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Ch. 75 Where the Sea Sings to the Fire
The morning of George’s sixteenth birthday arrived. He was bathing in a pool soon after sunrise when a familiar voice called to him from the bushes on shore. “Hey, kid!” “Yörg!” The Staff of Xee carefully looked around, right and left, before levitating itself, slowly drifting out of the concealing jungle undergrowth and hovering over the water near George. Suddenly, the staff disappeared. “Yörg! You just got here! What’s the deal?” “I’d tell ya to keep your britches on, but you’re not wearing any.” Yörg’s voice came from the same space he’d disappeared from. “I turned invisible because you don’t need to be seen with me. In case you hadn’t figured it out, this place is hostile to magic-users.” “Yeah. It kind of is. A lot of bitterness toward the Society here.” “Well with me being invisible, if you keep your voice down, it’ll just seem like you talk to yourself when you bathe. A lot of folks do that. You’re going to stay around here awhile, aren’t ya? These folks are your peopl
Ch. 74 Lunch with Cynthia
Maverick did indeed have the power left to make it to Beacon City, just barely. The scientist technicians there were able to improvise something that would act as an adapter between their power systems and Maverick’s, so that he could begin to charge up again. Charging all the way up from zero percent would take about eight hours, giving George just that long to figure out how he and Stingray were going to function on Science Island while maintaining the cover stories they’d concocted for themselves. If they wanted to leave, George could probably call Yörg who would brag about being able to take them ‘anywhere in the multiverse’. But George didn’t want that to be necessary. Nereia had had the AI sub bring them here for a reason. It couldn’t be a coincidence that this was an anti-Society science colony. He remembered what the Oracle had said in her farewell letter about “finding a family”. Were these people that family? “They will not look like a family. They will not sound like on
Ch. 73 What Do You Do With a Powered-Down Warbot Early in the Morning?
Milton stepped forward. “I’m very sorry to interrupt, Chemistry Chair, but there is a warbot on Shark Man Beach in what appears to be a powered down state. I have two men guarding it and I have just confirmed with them over comlink that it has not reactivated or moved.” George realized he would have to learn the origins of the science colonists’ animosity for elves some other time. Maverick would be a momentous topic. “A warbot!” The Biology Chair exclaimed. “Are you mad? You have us here fraternizing with elves and elf-lovers while a warbot occupies our shores?” George decided to step in again to exert some influence on the direction things were going. He didn’t like the way the Biology Chair saw things. It reminded George too much of the pomposity of many of the mages in the Society. “The golem that this man Milton refers to as a robot, was cargo aboard my ship before it went down. Our captain wanted to take it to Siren Island, believing it would be immune to siren charms.” Geo
Ch. 72 Beacon City
Even though the Sun was rising, clearly not everyone in Beacon City on Science Island was used to getting up with it. George and Stingray were forced to wait while some of the Science Committee were summoned, and, when the members that took the longest arrived, they looked sleepy.As far as looks went, however, the most unpleasant ones were reserved for Stingray. George thought the humans here on Science Island were looking at his orca calling friend far worse than he and his friends had looked at him when he’d been rescued from a kraken in the ocean. That day, the sea elves had looked at George with a passive contempt for terakva and ambergris. The Science Islanders weren’t looking at Stingray with passive contempt, however. Their looks at him were easily described as active hatred, as if Stingray himself had done something to each of them personally.The assembled humans of Science Island looked like their lands of origin were diverse and widespread. This made sense, since they had
Ch. 71 Science Island
Though it was dark, the islanders had plenty of torches and there was a well-established path through the trees. Two men had come up to Stingray with rope, as if to tie him up. The man who’d already questioned them, shook his head and waved them away. “Are you kidding?” One of them asked. “He apparently saved the human from drowning. Let’s not take him prisoner…yet.” Both of the men with rope looked at their superior as if he was crazy, but they left Stingray alone, if begrudgingly. As they walked, George noticed that at any given time, at least two guns were pointed at Stingray, but no one was covering George anymore. The man who was apparently their liaison strode next to George. He introduced himself as Milton. He didn’t clarify whether Milton was a first name or a surname. “Do you know where your ship acquired that golem cargo or where they were delivering it to?” George spun as much truth as possible into his story, to make it all the more believable and have the least num
Ch. 70 Guns and Shark People
Once again, George thought of calling Yörg, but he still waited, thinking the irrepressible staff might draw fire at them, either intentionally or unintentionally. Of the four of them that were there without Yörg, George and Stingray were prone and not the targets of bullets that were flying well above them. Starstorm had opted to sleep in his pocket dimension, saying something about air conditioning on humid nights. Maverick, however, when he had powered down, had been sitting. In the dark, in the moonlight, his hulking form looked like a statue of some kind. It drew some fire. George could see sparks on Maverick’s exterior when bullets struck him. He didn’t think those rounds had any penetrative power against Mav’s armoring, but he’d want to do a visual inspection with adequate light to be sure. He was glad that Maverick’s powered down rest hadn’t included a pre-set condition upon which to auto-wake, such as being attacked. Maverick would need to be manually reactivated. Even if h
Ch. 69 A Night on the Beach
With Maverick and Stingray in the water, and George and Starstorm in an orange rubber life raft (a color that Starstorm felt compelled to voice as far less pretty and appealing than his own bright yellow life raft), they got themselves to the beach as quickly as possible. The Untamed Seas were in the tropics, so the night was warm. They didn’t think they’d need a fire for warmth. They had taken the liberty of assuming that it was ok to “borrow” some of the sub’s dried military rations as “complimentary”.(“After all, how’s it gonna stop us?” Starstorm had asked. George had replied, “Just hurry up. Let’s not find out.”)The beach extended about one hundred fifty yards inland. Beyond that was a treeline that would be better explored in daylight. George thought, too late, of course, that he should have thought to ask the sub’s AI how many hours it would be until daylight.Maverick powered down to conserve what little energy he had left. He had not recharged since before his scheduled fig
Ch. 68 Nereia's Letter
“Where are we going, Pilot?” George asked the AI. It was morning, an honest-to-goodness morning. The sub was cruising at a shallow depth that was sunlit. For George to wake up from a long sleep and see sunlight through the sub’s front viewport was a subtle, yet powerful reminder for George that Wonderdome was gone. Wonderdome had had the Three Periods: Work, Family, and Sleep. The surface world had day and night. “We are headed to an island in what surface world maps refer to as the Untamed Seas.” “Why? What’s there?” “My files do not contain that information. I apologize for any inconvenience that may cause.” Well, that’s a dead end, George thought. “Maybe this will help,” said Stingray as he rose from his own bunk area and stepped over to the front viewport with George. He brought with him a scroll made from Wonderdomian sea grass paper. “Nereia made me promise to give it to you. She had already written it out before I arrived. She called me to her deathbed.” “Deathbed?” “W
Ch. 67 Beyond Wonderdome
George had always known the dome was not glass. It was a magical see-through metal. So, when a piece of it broke off the main body of the dome, it did so with a metallic groan, as metal bending and snapping rather than glass shattering and breaking. The piece that broke off and fell first was the size of several city blocks combined. It fell with enough force to crush buildings beneath it and to vibrate the very earth under the city. Screams filled the air as the ocean, held back for so long, sought to reclaim the volume of the dome. At first, water rushed in through the original hole opened by the twin krakens’ relentless battering for several long moments, but then, with its original structural strength so greatly compromised, the edges of the hole started to bend inward under the unimaginable pressure. As the edges of the hole lost their resilience against the impossible pressure, the hole widened, letting in even more water, accelerating the dome’s impending, eventual total colla
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