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magic books. Some of these spells are, like, enormous! Translating them into
computer language will take & Jeez, I dunno.
Isis set the coffee cup in front of Jeremy. We might have compiler programs
that will do that automatically, she said.
We might? I ll have to check the file directory. But the problem for me is
the magic part. What spells would be effective? How do you stabilize the whole
universe? Lord Incarnadine will have to make it back, or we re sunk.
Maybe we can hold on till he does, Linda said. Gene s okay, and we should
be finding out about Mr.
Dalton and Thaxton soon. The guards at Halfway should be all right, too. I
mean, I can t believe anything s happened to Earth. The castle s temporarily
cut off, but we can live with that. And Sheila s world is fine, too. I checked
that out myself.
I hope we can hold on, Jeremy said. Because it s gonna be a while before I
can get this gadget working.
Osmirik came in carrying a stack of loose sheets. He went to the sheet feeder
and loaded it, then started the machine. The first sheet slid into the
scanner, which began to hum softly.
That is the last of the cosmology texts, he said.
Okay. Isis, can you analyze all that stuff and come up with the technical
parameters?
I can try, Jeremy, she said, lightly running her fingers through his hair.
Uh, good. Can you get started on it?
I ve already started, Jeremy. Did you know you had a lot of red in your
hair?
I do?
Red highlights. I like red hair.
Yeah. Well.
Linda stared uncomfortably at the screen. Really, she thought.
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Osmirik said, Jeremy, if I can be of further assistance &
Uh, I think that just about does it for the data input, Ozzie. If I can think
of anything, I ll let you know.
Please do. I shall be in the library.
Right.
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Osmirik bowed to Linda. If I may take my leave, your ladyship?
Huh? Oh, sure, Ozzie.
Bowing toward Isis, he said, Farewell, madam.
Goodbye, Osmirik. So nice to have met you.
Madam, the pleasure has been entirely mine.
As the lab door closed in Osmirik s wake, the printer began chattering.
Isis said, Jeremy, I m outputting a flowchart of the general shape the spell
would have to take. It would probably be best if we followed the form of a
spell for quieting the various humors in a human body. A
healing spell, basically.
Really? That s weird.
Mind you, that s only the form the spell might take. The content would be
entirely different. But for all intents and purposes, it s the cosmos that s
all upset and in need of equalization.
If you say so. Do you think we can get the content right?
That s going to be the problem. What we need are data on the energy state of
the cosmos. Especially on the condition of the interuniversal medium, what
Incarnadine s cosmology texts call the interstitial etherium.
Hell, how do we get that?
Isis sat on an empty wooden packing crate and crossed her beautiful legs.
That I don t know. Have any ideas?
Jeremy glanced at the alarming level the hem of her dress had risen to. Uh &
not really. That s
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Incarnadine s department. There were all kinds of instruments here in the lab
before it blew up. Some of them survived, but I don t really know what they re
for.
If only we could contact Lord Incarnadine, Linda said.
He said he d try to call in. Boy, if only we could use the
Sidewise Voyager
. We could just go and pick him up.
Could you get to Merydion easily? Linda asked.
Well, yeah, if the coordinates are in the files. We don t have coordinates
for all universes. But it doesn t matter, since we can t use the
Voyager
, anyway.
The traveler would be the ideal way to get readings from the interuniversal
medium, Isis said.
Yeah, I guess so. But Incarnadine said it would be dangerous.
We really need those readings.
Sure we do, Jeremy said. But if we were going to chance it, we might as
well chance picking up
Incarnadine.
Linda said, Once you got to Merydion, how would you find him?
Like we found Snowclaw that one time. We used Osmirik s locater spell.
But that was geared to Earth magic, Linda said. It might not work in
another world. I ve never heard of Merydion. It must be one of the castle s
more obscure aspects, so there s probably no one around here who would know
the magic.
Sheila?
Sheila might. She s good with strange magic, but she d have to go to Merydion
to figure it out.
So we re back to square one.
I could use the traveler, Isis said.
Jeremy blinked. Huh?
I could be loaded into the
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Voyager
s computer I assume it has one.
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Uh, sort of. What it does have is strange and kind of alien, but it s
interfaced with my Toshiba laptop.
Isis frowned. I don t think I can fit into a Toshiba laptop.
No, you re mainframe software. So forget it.
It was just a thought.
If anyone is going to do anything with the traveler, it s going to be me.
Isis rose, came to him, and cradled his head in her hands. My brave little
hero.
Linda s eyes rolled to the ceiling.
Jeremy looked up at her, eyes glazing over.
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