The ferry docked at Jump Village Harbor about Second Two the next morning, and all passengers headed for their wagons, including the Chaos party. When instructed, they took their turn to fly out to the landing area on the shore. Alecstar then went off to hire a team of striders for the duration of their stay; they expected to be in town perhaps a few days. Just before Star left, Tiejo asked if it wouldn't make more sense to take the wagon, and Star explained that rental agencies often provided leader-spells, which are small hand-held devices specifically enchanted to coax animals into following the bearer, in a very tame, leisurely fashion. Such spells could also be used to let a stranger ride a strider, if he preferred. Tiejo found the idea fascinating, and thought of asking Star if he could go along, but after a few moments' vacillation, decided to wait with the others at the wagon.
After Alecstar had departed, Tom turned to Cameron and said, "Speaking of those internal enchantment engines-"
"Which, of course, we were speaking of a few days ago."
Tom gave him a quizzical look, as if he didn't see the point of Cameron's qualification, then simply shook his head and continued. "Of course. Anyway, speaking of them, what I want to know is, just how innovative are they, really? I mean to say, how exactly are they different from whatever sort of enchantment allows things to fly? Well first let me say, the differences I see are these: That what we got now can fly, but can't travel unaided on land; and the new thingamajigs can take land routes, but can't fly. What I really don't understand is, how can something that can move forward at great speeds in the air not move forward at all on land?"
"Well, to answer your first question- what I think was your first question- the main innovation is that the magic doesn't have to be recharged, as with current vehicles."
"Like gas," suggested Ginger.
"What have lights and stoves to do with transportation?" asked Tom.
"It's something Zephrey once told me about, vehicles on some planets use a kind of liquid gas-"
"Isn't that an oxymoron?" asked Darius.
"I'm afraid he never really got me to understand that myself, other than to say it was actually short for 'gasoline,' which was made of gases and other things, besides which it all depends on what temperature a substance is at, anyway. I'm afraid I haven't much of a head for alien sciences. He always consoled me about such things by reminding me how much faster everyone on the Land advanced than on other worlds. Here it is nine hundred twelve years into our world's existence, and where do you suppose Earth was in their 912th year? We've advanced thousands of years faster than they did, he says. It's just that they had a great head start on us.
"Anyway, I digress. They used gas to power their vehicles, all sorts that go over land, through air, and on water. Not for a long time now, on Earth, but some still do on other worlds. And they had to refill their gas tanks quite often. Much more often than magic must be recharged."
"You know," said Cameron, "magic is of course basically based on science, just much more advanced science than most planets have. And yet in time it will surely be replaced by lower sciences. So we'll probably use something like this gasoline to power vehicles ourselves, someday. Well, long after we here are all gone, though. And then in the distant future, science will even go beyond today's magic."
"Haven't we had a conversation like this before?" asked Tom. "Anyway, so how is it we won't have to go in to garages to have Sorreters recharge our magic? I don't understand what could be so different..."
"Well," said Cameron, "I don't fully understand it either. I'm sure it wouldn't take much studying to understand the fundamentals of it, though. All I've heard is that somehow, they've designed a sort of self-repeating, or looping spell. The magic doesn't drive the engine directly, as is the current method. Or I shouldn't even say engine perhaps, because that's not what we have now. What we have now is... well, probably not really explainable in layman's terms. Or at least it would take a while. But the new design does have a sort of engine, in fact come to think of it, probably very much akin to one that would be fueled by gasoline, except that we haven't the means to make gasoline yet, most likely. Based on introductory science courses I had to take at SMA, I would assume gas would be burned and converted into actual gas, as in a state of matter, which might...."
Cameron trailed off into silence for a few moments, before saying, "Um, forgive me. I've kind of lost.. where I was going with that. You ever get a picture in your head for just a moment, and then lose it, irretrievably?" They all nodded. "Anyway, maybe I'll get a chance to look at plans for one of the new engines someday. I expect this is rather a fusion of magic and science, that will work better than either one would alone. What I've heard is that the magic somehow drives the new engine, which actually provides the work that moves the wagon or carriage. Meanwhile, the magic doesn't dissipate because it hasn't done any real work itself. It merely cycles through the engine and back into the enchantment engine, and then repeats the process as long as the engine is engaged. I'm sorry, I'm speaking of two separate engines here. The enchantment engine is actually quite different from... the engine that does the real work...."
He shook his head, and continued, "Now, to get into your other questions, Tom, magic is still an expensive thing. You know that it takes a Sorreter a certain amount of mental and physical energy to produce and direct magic; or rather, well... the common usage of the term 'magic' is a bit inaccurate. It's tricky to explain the proper technical definition, really. The word's actually an abstract concept, more than anything tangible. Um... and before I go any further, I need to explain that most of the terminology used by Sorreters consists of words borrowed from Earth, when spirits were instructing the first generation of magic-users, centuries ago. The thing is, as you probably know, there are lots of different cultures on Earth, and lots of different languages which have different words which express the same basic concepts. And most if not all Earth cultures have long since abandoned their belief in... well, all sorts of supernatural things like magic and religion, in favor of science as the one true explanation of everything in the Universe. But of course, even if the people of Earth no longer believe in such things, the ideas remain popular in stories and games. And such entertainments use terminology which originated out of various supernatural theories which were developed to explain things. Actually, these theories may not have been considered supernatural at the time, but actually scientific, even if they were later refuted by more advanced science. The funny thing is, and yes, I've said this before, while the current scientific understanding on Earth, which replaced the earlier beliefs, is in its own way correct, someday even more advanced science will find a way to prove the old theories were right, after a fashion, and so science will come full circle. Of course, the use of magic on the Land jumps ahead... but never mind. I'm getting redundant, again.
"The point I intended to make is that to explain the underlying principles of magic to us, spirits selected various words that were used on Earth by different cultures long ago, which today are considered fantastic. And while various words might mean essentially the same things in different languages or belief systems, spirits chose to use them in slightly different ways on the Land. The words in a Sorreter's lexicon may not mean precisely what those words mean on Earth, but close enough. One word might mean exactly what it meant on Earth, whereas another word which means the same thing on Earth as the first word, on the Land might mean something slightly different. I think it was all rather arbitrary, in the beginning; spirits could just do all this stuff naturally, and had no reason to give names to these things, for themselves, since none of it works for mortal beings in quite the same way it does for spirits. So they pretty much just mixed and matched words from various Terran languages to use for their own purposes, in explaining it to the first Sorreters.
"Anyway. We all have within us various energies, as I said. I called them 'physical' and 'mental' energies, but that's oversimplifying. There are actually several different types of energies, collectively referred to as 'chakra.' It would be too complicated to go into in detail about all the different kinds of chakra, and not really necessary. Suffice to say, Sorreters learn to direct and mix their chakra in specific ways to create desired 'energy compounds,' of which there are a great deal more types than the original energies. Kind of like mixing three primary colors in different ways to produce an entire spectrum of different colors. Anyway, while the chakra in its original forms perform natural functions autonomically, there's not much it could do that we'd think of as 'magic,' per se. However, the energy compounds, collectively referred to as 'mana,' are the source of our magic; or rather, our ability to cast spells. The word 'magic' is what Sorreters use to refer to the results of those spells, even if non-Sorreters think of the word as referring to the casting of spells, and would probably also use it for the energy source that powers those spells in the first place. Anyway, using up our mana to cast spells drains us of the chakra of which it's made up, the same as any normal physical or mental work would. And of course, just as with normal exertions, our energies may be replenished with food and rest. And just as with normal labors, it's reasonable to expect suitable compensation for magical work. Hence, as I said to begin with, magic is expensive."
"Okay," said Tom. "But it still sounds like magic is... well, magic. I don't quite get what you mean when you say it's just an abstract concept. Isn't magic the same as the spells you cast? I mean, I understand the distinction between cause and effect, but even so, we're talking about something where both the cause and the effect, and yes, even the energy source, are all beyond the means of non-Sorreters. It's not natural. So I don't get why normal magic dissipates and that in these new engines doesn't."
"Right, well... just now I've only been describing one kind of magic. The energies within us- all of us, not just Sorreters- are quite natural, and scientific, though not really observable or measurable or manipulable by means of the Land's current level of technology. So the way Sorreters work with it... well it's largely done through force of sentient will, but that's hard to explain and takes a lot of training to be able to manage. And not everyone who studies magic turns out to have a great aptitude for it. But we also perform other types of magic which require certain scientific instruments or elements or any number of things... and it's not all about energy. Some of it is physical, such as the DNA manipulation that was used to create various mythical creatures as well as intelligent races such as Elves and Merfolk, all originating from human stock. To be honest, in the past few centhours I've already said more than we're supposed to say to non-Sorreters, though I suppose it's common knowledge that most if not all Sorreters are technically spirit-talkers, and basically none of what we do would be possible without at some point having received assistance from spirits. In any event, I fear I can't go into too much specific detail not only because it would be too complicated, but also because of binding restrictions against the divulgence of certain matters. We're literally incapable of saying some things to outsiders; if we tried, our vocal chords (or hands if we're writing it), or whatever, would just seize up. And magical authorities would be alerted and dispatched to our location to deal with such transgressions."
"Wait, do you mean to say that you're being constantly monitored?"
Cameron waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, no, of course not. There are rules against that sort of thing, as well. But it's like with Surreal, for example. If anyone attempted to play a real game of it, the magical authorities would be alerted and immediately deal with the offenders, because it could be catastrophic. But the alert would come from a sort of autoscry. Just like with the use of off-world technology. A spell, or rather network of spells, cast over the populated area of the world, which only activates itself for the authorities if it detects a specific thing it's listening for. And no one can hack into this autoscry, by any kind of magic. So in a sense we're being monitored, but by a mindless, inanimate object. You might as well worry that you're being watched by a rock."
"If you say so," Tom dubiously allowed.
"In any event, I digress from the point at hand. Some kinds of spells or magics require actually little if any of our personal mana, but such things are fairly rare and extremely complicated, pretty much exclusively the province of master-adepts, and usually not something that can even be done by individuals, but rather by groups working on major projects. Though our friend Emma, here, is an obvious example that there are exceptions to every rule, as Roderick proved a century and a half ago." At this, Emma just grinned. "Anyway, most magic which is performed on a day-to-day basis by your average Sorreter- or sorcerer- does involve the expenditure of personal mana. You might say that the word 'spell' means 'mana that has left the body,' or that has fulfilled or is in the continuous process of fulfilling its purpose; or in a slightly more accurate yet abstract sense, 'spell' refers to the direction a Sorreter gives their mana. Except... it's more complicated than that, sometimes.
"Ahem. I don't mean to lecture, I'm sure you're all very bored and/or confused. After all, I'm just an adept, not a master-adept. And obviously the term 'master' doesn't just connote a greater aptitude for the practice of magic, but also, more specifically, denotes having attained the level of a teacher of magic. And I'm clearly not a teacher."
"I dunno," said Darius, "I mean I don't think I'm ready for a pop quiz, or anything, but I think you're doing alright. At least I think my layman's sense of magic is improving."
"Uh... what the heck is a 'pop quiz'?" asked Tom.
"Oh, sorry. It's a technique they use in schools, a spur-of-the-moment sort of test for students, to see if they've absorbed the material they're being taught without warning, or time to prepare."
Tom shook his head. "Schools. Feh. Another innovation of the Order. I prefer the old days of one master teaching one apprentice one trade."
"One at a time, anyway, in your case," suggested Ginger with a wry smile. "In a way, I think people like you, jacks-of-all-trades, are like the prototypes for schools. Many masters, many subjects... just without the convenience and efficiency of teaching it all in one place in just a few years. Must be easier than travelling the world to learn so many subjects over the course of a lifetime."
Tom didn't bother replying to this. Instead, he looked back to Cameron and asked, "So, how is it sometimes more complicated?"
"Hmmm? Oh, well... it's sort of about whether the spell has a direct effect, or if it affects an object which then... becomes sort of magical, itself. And different spells take different amounts of energy, some hardly any at all, and some a great deal. And then there are the indirect spells which can be used by non-Sorreters. These can be things like t-mail bubbles, recording devices, or flying spells. For the latter, an object must be thoroughly infused with magic, or rather externalized mana, enough to lift it and any passengers and cargo. A flying carpet takes about as much mana as a translocation, for a month of continued usage. Of course, most anything one flies will have mana enough in it for several months, or up to a year. And the bigger the object, the more mana it requires. A full sized wagon, which may be required to carry a great deal of weight, takes more mana than I know how to describe, and can generally only be trusted for about two months before it should be recharged. Needless to say, that kind of mana isn't going to be produced by a single Sorreter in a single sitting, but rather it has to be built up by a team of Sorreters over time.
"Now, I suppose they could use flying spells in conjunction with the new engines, but... that much mana... the mana to make it fly plus the enchantment to move it forward... would be prohibitively expensive, and also, there's only so much mana an object can bear at one time. Too much could damage its structural integrity. Even traditional flying spells have to be precisely calculated by teams of trained engineers and Sorreters, in conjunction. Besides which, different types of spells sometimes interfere with each other. So it probably wouldn't be very safe flying in a wagon with an enchantment engine. There may well be other reasons they aren't made to fly; as I say, I haven't read too much about them, and I'm mostly making educated guesses here."
"Fine, whatever. But I still don't see why what we have now can't move on land. Surely if it can move forward in the air, it can do so on the ground, and use less magic in doing so. I mean, it sounds as if traditional flying devices would need two separate spells, anyway; one for levitation and one for forward movement..."
"You're quite right; there are two spells used to make a vehicle fly. As I've already said, the spells have to be carefully coordinated. It's a delicate balance, so trying to use just one spell at a time would throw the balance out of whack; that's why a flying vehicle can only use magic for air travel, not for land travel. Now, internal enchantment is a different type of spell altogether, and from what I understand, they haven't yet figured out a way to strike a safe balance between that, and a traditional levitation spell. And while, in its own way, it's potentially more powerful and efficient than a traditional locomotion spell, it's still not nearly powerful enough to generate lift on its own. It isn't even entirely a matter of magic, but rather of simple physics."
"I really don't think that makes sense."
"Listen, aerodynamically-"
"Hey, this has been real fun and educational," said Darius, "but I think I'm going to stretch my legs." What he was mainly thinking was he didn't want to sit around listening to Tom in one of his argumentative moods, but in truth, he did feel a little cramped in the wagon.
"Tiejo too!" exclaimed the street rat.
And so the two of them climbed out the back, picked a random direction, and started walking.
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