Chapter 1
Shomos joined the daily activities of the three men. She ended up getting into endless arguments with Adam, who relished the industrial modification of natural resources, in contrast to the druidess’ abhorrence of the same. She and Blargh mostly grunted at one another. She’d shown no interest in firearms, which had become his passion. Rurth talked at length to her about whatever he was currently working on, undeterred by her lack of questions or interest.
After Shomos left the pocket dimension to go to Stredath with Stephen, her card updated.
image [https://i.imgur.com/oLPGCga.png]
One evening, at dinner, she asked the group about their observations on growth in the pocket dimension.
“I don’t think there is growth here,” Stephen said. “Everything here we’ve brought with us. Either that I’ve captured or non-sentient objects that came with me when I travel, like the tank.” Rurth nodded and Blargh kept attacking his dinner, apparently disinterested in the topic, although he looked up at the mention of the military tank they’d used for protection on Phodynn.
“I understand your view, the plants in my grove haven’t gotten larger, buds haven’t developed, lifecycles haven’t continued,” she said. Rurth nodded sharply at this, while Stephen looked at her in confusion.
“But you have seen growth in your pocket dimension,” she continued. “All of you are changing every day while you’re here, learning and producing. You bring in food and materials, improve your expertise, and produce new firearms and enchanted items. Your relationship with the elements of reality that exist here changes them and each of you. Your Wizards' Guild didn’t have a workshop set up the way it is now, when it was on Mecond. Your clay golems were created here and are new inhabitants of this reality.”
“We’re enacting those changes, though,” objected Rurth. “And we’re moving between the pocket dimension and other dimensions, so maybe we’re bringing in the growth from them. The clay golems aren’t reproducing, we made them.”
“And did you know how to build them when you first arrived here?” asked Shomos.
“No, Adam taught us,” said Rurth. “And he figured it out at our request.”
“So, where there was once a single creature made of earth, now there are many. The new creatures come from the original. But you claim there’s no reproduction?” she asked.
Stephen grinned and said, “I don't think Rurth and I love the implications that Adam is the father. What does that make us?”
“Come with me,” the druidess insisted, and led the three men to Adam’s workshop. Clay golems were working at assigned tasks. Adam looked at the new arrivals with interest.
“Stephen,” she said. “Describe to me how you’ve organized the workshop layout, how you built your first golem, and how the design has evolved. Also tell me about how you’ve adapted firearms from your home world to the enchanting process. Explain what you’re working on with your ‘laptop computer’ and your plans to move forward with it.”
Stephen began hesitantly answering the questions the druidess had asked, and as she continued to pay attention to him and seemed to encourage his explanation, he began relishing his lecture more. At some points, when he described something Rurth or Blargh wasn’t aware of, the men made expressions of surprise and complimented the traveler. Stephen began getting into the lecture, remembering presentations at academic conferences before he’d left his graduate studies. He became increasingly enthusiastic and excited about the work, until all of a sudden he briefly felt a pressure in his mind, like the feeling when he captured a new card. It almost instantly disappeared.
“What’s that?” he asked. Shomos eyed him levelly. Stephen said, “It felt like I captured a new card.”
“Well, inspect yourself in a mirror,” suggested Blargh.
“I don’t have my cards in my mind when I’m in my pocket dimension,” Stephen said. Walking to the misty edge surrounding the pocket dimension, the group left the pocket dimension for Stredath.
He grabbed a mirror from the Fortune townhouse’s workshop and cast ‘identify’. Rurth joined him and the two wizards studied his new card.
image [https://i.imgur.com/3nIsjTV.png]
Stephen looked at Shomos and said, “A new card appeared. I captured Adam’s workshop. What just happened?”
The druidess gave a small shrug and smile and said, “You’re the one with the magical ‘identify’ spell, you tell me.”
“I’ve created a new card, which is the workshop we’ve been building here,” said Stephen. “How did you know that would happen?”
“I didn’t,” Shomos said. “I suspected it was possible, after seeing how things change in pocket dimensions and how those changes are reflected in your cards.”
***
A couple of days later, Stephen excitedly described what had happened to the members of the club he’d gathered for dinner. Two of them looked mildly interested, and the rest just looked at him in confusion.
“Yes,” said Falco. “I thought you realized that cards got updated when you left your pocket dimension.”
“Yes, I realized that, but not that new cards could be created in the pocket dimension,” said Stephen.
“But what’s the difference,” asked Feyrith. “If you create something inside your pocket dimension, or if you create it outside then capture it after its creation? I think I was aware of this, it certainly follows everything else I understood about cards and pocket dimensions, but I don’t understand why you’re so excited.”
“This is different from Phodynn,” said Stephen. “We aren’t taking anything away from an existing dimension. It’s being created within our own pocket dimension.”
“It seems like extra work to create a new card, instead of just capturing it,” said one of the travelers who had looked interested earlier. “Maybe it's good to know, in order to better understand our pocket dimensions, but not something useful.”
“But it doesn’t take anything away from another dimension, it creates something new,” said Stephen.
“But it uses the materials you’ve brought to your pocket dimension or things you’ve captured, so what’s the difference?” asked Feyrith. “If you capture a horse on Mecond or Earth, there remain other horses that can give birth to more. Same if you capture a person. People can make more people. If you start a breeding program in your pocket dimension, you’ll get more of what you’re breeding, but what’s special about doing it there instead of somewhere else?”
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Stephen continued, “If there’s something like my waterwheel that creates energy in my pocket dimension, that’s coming from nothing. On Earth or Mecond, something needs to power it. Anything I capture, that can produce tangible items can expand the pocket dimension, indefinitely, without taking from elsewhere. Can’t you see how exciting that is?”
“Well,” said Falco, “I’m glad that you’re excited by the discovery. I’m not sure how any of us can make use of this.”
***
The next week, Adam and the A.I. on the laptop that Stephen had named HAL were chatting when he entered the workshop. Rurth was doing some metalworking, assisted by two golems. Blargh had been working with some of the golems and had managed to teach them to fire guns, after Rurth and Stephen had reworked their hands and fingers.
“How’s it going, HAL,” asked Stephen.
“Good, Stephen, but I keep coming across references to ‘the internet’ in my operating system. Rurth told me it’s a repository of all knowledge on Earth,” said the laptop. “I am learning from Adam, Blargh, and Rurth. And you, of course, but I wonder if it might be quicker to give me access to the internet.”
“I’m not sure that we could bring the internet here to my pocket dimension,” said Stephen. “I could take you to Earth and leave you plugged in to a network there. Maybe I could leave you at my mother’s place. You wouldn’t be able to talk to her or anyone there, though, Earth doesn’t have intelligent computers.”
“I think that would be ok for a little while,” said HAL.
“If you could manage my investments on Earth, that would be worthwhile too,” said Stephen. “I’ve just been dumping cash that we get from selling gold into a checking account. I’ll take you to my mother’s, get you connected, and sign you in to all my websites and whatnot tomorrow.”
“Wonderful,” said the A.I.
***
The next day, Stephen sat across from Feyrith at the club. A light lunch was spread out between the two travelers.
“It took a fair bit of digging, but apparently the library artifacts are all made by Maggard, a dimensional traveler from a place called ‘Clodor’,” said the elf. “I didn’t make contact with the traveler. Honestly, I didn’t try, but I did visit Clodor, so I can take you there if it’s worthwhile going to his home dimension. He doesn’t visit the shop; he passes along the libraries to a worker somewhere off site, I couldn’t find out where. I also wasn’t able to find out how he makes them or if anyone else is involved. Apparently he’s been providing them, mysteriously, for well over a hundred years.”
“Do travelers age normally?” asked Stephen. “I never considered it before.”
“We age normally for whatever our background is,” said Feyrith. “Which is longer or shorter for the non-human travelers. Most travelers are eventually able to track down something to help them fight aging or regain their youth, such that a traveler dying unwillingly of old age would be quite unusual. It’s unheard of for a traveler to stay focused on one activity for so long.”
“Do most travelers die from violence with other travelers?” asked Stephen. “I’ve been told their card collections are lost if they die.”
“Death for travelers from violence is rare,” said Feyrith. “Murdering one another is frowned upon, despite our generally laissez-faire approach to one another. Some travelers just get tired and decide to die or get reckless. Others stop coming to Fortune or other gathering spots, and no one is sure what happens to them. If someone has their contact, it will disappear when they die, but that doesn’t tell you anything about how they died. Card collections are lost unless they’re in a retrievable library. Often a suicidal traveler will start giving their cards away. It’s a pretty sure sign that they’re in a dark place.”
“Any advice for not getting tired of life?” Stephen asked with a grin.
“I do, actually,” said the elf. “Humans and other short-lived species are so impatient. And easily frustrated when they don’t immediately get everything they want. Cultivating patience and gratitude for what you have, instead of anger at what you don’t, helps you age more gracefully.”
“How old are you, anyway?” asked Stephen.
“I’ll be 400 years old in a few years,” said the elf.
“Well, thanks so much for the information,” Stephen said and started to get up. Feyrith watched him closely. After a few awkward seconds, the elf said, “There was the matter of the Wizards' Guild battery.” Stephen apologized for forgetting and gripped arms with the elf, beginning the trade.
***
That evening, Stephen sat in the dining room at the new Wizards' Guild with Shomos, Rurth, and Blargh.
“So you traded away the other building,” asked Shomos incredulously. “And you didn’t even get anything in return?”
“I got some useful information to make progress on our real goal, figuring out how to release the three of you,” said Stephen. “I could probably capture the newly built Wizards' Guild if we needed a replacement, or I could have worked to capture it to trade to Feyrith, but we have everything we need here. We don’t need the second site. I can bring some other cards out of my library or trade for some more batteries if we want more land in the pocket dimension. Right now, more land would just make it harder to use the mist on the periphery to travel to other dimensions.”
“How so?” asked Blargh.
“The bigger the pocket dimension, the more spread out the mists that surround it, the longer it’ll take us to get to a traveler or a dimension marker,” explained Stephen.
“So you’re bartering away pieces of reality for a shorter walk?” asked Shomos.
“No,” said Stephen. “Like I already said, I traded it for important information.”
“What do you know about this Maggard traveler of the Clodor dimension?” asked Rurth.
“Almost nothing,” admitted Stephen. “Feyrith led me to Clodor, and it’s kind of a spooky, gothic looking place. I have no idea how to track down Maggard, but maybe if we were moving around in Clodor it would get his attention? Or we could write him a letter and drop it off at the store that sells the library artifacts, ‘Exquisite Artifacts.’”
“Or you could keep looking for information, dueling other travelers, and tell each one you meet that you’re trying to find Maggard,” suggested Blargh.
“Or, you could focus on what little you have here, guard what’s left, and try to grow it,” said Shomos. “Your approach to this feels reckless.”
“In chess, you sometimes have to sacrifice a piece for victory,” said Stephen. The other three people looked at him in confusion. Stephen sighed and said, “Let me teach you a pretty great game, and we can all think more about this while you learn and we play. Let’s go to the workshop and get Adam in on this.”
***
The next day Stephen, Shomos, Blargh, and Rurth stood in the small village. The architecture looked vaguely Victorian, and wind swept through the narrow street they were on. In the distance, foreboding woods and menacing hills surrounded the dwellings. Across the muddy road, a pub was the liveliest building, while the other buildings were dark or had faint light coming from their translucent windows. A morose tune came from the drinking establishment, performed by some sort of string instrument.
Entering the pub, they saw a half dozen tables with drably dressed townspeople focused on drinking. The musician was in a corner playing what looked like a violin or a fiddle. The bartender gave them a hostile look. Rurth and Stephen had cast ‘comprehend languages’ on the party, distributing the necessary chicken tongues, before they’d left the pocket dimension.
Approaching the bar, Stephen said, “Good evening, barkeep. We’ve lost our way and were hoping to secure food and lodgings for the night. We’re not familiar with the local currency. Would any of this payment be sufficient?” He held open his purse and displayed a collection of coins, crystals, and small gemstones that he carried as a form of universal currency.
The bartenders eyes widened and, with a nod, he selected a small ruby then jerked his chin at a small, rickety staircase leading upstairs.
“You’ll send up food and drink?” Stephen confirmed. The barkeep silently nodded, staring at the man from Earth.
Walking up the stairs, Blargh muttered, “Friendly folk.”
Inside their room, they found the beds lumpy and the amenities rough. The barkeep brought up a hearty stew and carafes of sour wine. After he’d departed, and they’d eaten, Stephen asked, “Does anyone actually want to sleep here, or should we just go back and sleep in my pocket dimension and come back in the morning?”
No one was particularly excited about spending the night there, so they went back to the pocket dimension and headed off to sleep in their individual quarters.
When Stephen woke up, he felt incredibly groggy and ravenous. He almost fell down as vertigo hit him while getting out of his bed. Checking his digital watch that he’d brought from Earth, he saw that a day and a half had passed since he’d gone to bed.