Ree involuntarily twitches at the sudden movement because before it was different, and he doesn’t have time to fully get used to such an innovation. Before he was transferred from the darkness into the grey mist, where he was allowed to collect himself, and only then was he switched on the memory scrolling or he carefully brought to memory if his viewing required broadcasting in normal time mode.
Such sharp, abrupt, unpleasant movement from the darkness immediately into the memories began after he became Ree, having made his choice that he wouldn’t accept any of the personalities – neither the one of the young man nor Harry’s.
On the other side, I need to look for positive points in everything, and there’re two of them. One of them was that now I don’t need to start my day together with Harry, accompanying him wherever he goes and following him like a shadow all day before he goes to bed. Though all this happened with dizzying speed, but still watching the monotonous days follow one after another particularly stressed me out.
The second positive point was that they began to transfer me to fragments of only those memories that, in my opinion, contained the information I should know. That’s why such a change in memory watching is useful for me; there’s no need to litter my head with extra information.
This time he appeared in Harry’s room, near the table where Harry is sitting. Only this time, in the armchair standing opposite, sits Alrus.
This time he’s appeared again in Harry's office, near the desk at which he’s sitting. Only this time, Alrus is sitting in the chair opposite the table.
Well, finally, because when Alrus is absent, almost nothing interesting happens!
Ree becomes very glad and begins to listen to the conversation in the office.
“What can you tell me?” asks his son Harry.
“Everything is fine, father; I managed to do everything as I wanted, so now I am at your disposal.”
“I already understood that. I'm more interested in how much time you managed to get?”
“One month.”
“Ooooh! One month? I didn't expect you to have a month. Great, great!” he rubbed his hands in anticipation. “In that case, we’ll have enough time for you to be able to first look at and evaluate the secret protection system I created. Maybe you can give some good advice or see some flaws.”
Alrus laughed a low, deep laugh, throwing back his head on the back of the armchair and looking at his father with admiration, he says:
“I knew that after learning about a month’s time, you’d come up with something else, so it for sure wouldn’t be enough. Well, let's go meet with your ferocious-scary secret, along with its protection”, having raised his armchair, he adds with irony in his voice. “Let’s not waste time when it’s so precious.”
“Yes, let's go now!" I need… a little… just a little bit…” Harry starts muttering unintelligibly, fussily trying to write something on the scroll.
Once again, I feel that I ‘m not quite the same as Harry; I wouldn’t have been so worried and feel nervous because of some secret ...
Albeit stop! How can I judge something I know nothing about? As well as about my attitude and behaviour if I were him. Because I completely don’t know myself. I guess it would be better to make such a decision. If I don’t know myself, then from this moment on, I will begin to know myself. And in the future, try to stick to this decision.
Alrus, who is about to rise from his armchair, has heard his father’s muttering and has to sit down again, but before he can sit comfortably, his father throws back his feather vexedly, stands up abruptly, and quickly heads for the exit from the office.
When he opened the door, he stumbles out of the office and, at a brisk jogging speed, heads down the hall. And only after running away at a reasonable distance does he finally remember that he isn’t alone today, so he stops, turning around abruptly, and rushing back. But when he sees his son coming out of the door, so he stops, turns around, and only then freezes in place, unable to understand what to do next. He stands like that until Alrus comes up to him, holding a vial in his hand. Passing it to his father, he says:
«Here, take a sedative; otherwise, I’m afraid that in such an unbalanced state you can do something ... even harm yourself.»
Having looked his son in the eyes, Harry gratefully nods to his son, takes a vial, drops three drops of his blood into it, and drinks. They stay a bit, wait for the potion to take effect, and move further down the hall.
***
Secrets can be different. Dangerous and not so dangerous, material and non- material, but every secret shares one thing: at all costs, they try to hide it. Someone succeeds, someone doesn’t. A lot here depends on the imagination and mental flexibility of the owner, but luck plays an even greater role in the concealment of a secret. If a fortune turns a man, then the secret, even if it’s poorly hidden, wouldn’t be found, and on the contrary, well-thought-out hiding and all the complex protection would be broken down if a fortune didn’t turn the owner of the secret.
But still, it’s easier for the owner of the secret in the form of a small thing to hide it because you can come up with many options for hiding places, but if the secret is a stationary object, then there’re very few options for hiding it.
So it’s not surprising that the passage to Harry’s secret is in the basement of the house, in one of its branches, behind the door leading to the warehouse, which is littered with old things from the category of those that are no longer needed, but it’s a pity to throw them away.
Gently skirting around the things scattered throughout the room, Harry came close to a huge wardrobe standing near the wall. Taking out his wand, he began to tap an intricate rhythm on the wardrobe door. A short pause, three more quick hits, and now the outline of the wardrobe changed, forming a passage to another room.
Ree has strained because, at the moment of opening the secret passage, he had a slight feeling of recognition that immediately disappeared, leaving him not even a small part of itself so that he could later try to remember it.
But pain has settled in his soul, and with it comes a belated regret that he hasn’t accepted Harry’s personality. Having harnessed his willpower, Ree discards unnecessary worries and hurries after Alrus.
The secret passage leads to a small square room in which all that is available are two similar doors. Harry makes a step towards one of them, stops, and, having turned to this so, says:
“For realism, we will play such a situation. You - it doesn’t matter how- “convinced” me to show a secret. I’ve led you to this door, assuring you that the secret is located behind it. What will you do?”
“Somehow this is unexpected ...,” - Alrus drawls distantly after a short pause, taking out his wand and continuing to think hard about something.
After that, tapping his wand on the shoulder, he walks around the perimeter of the room, carefully examining the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Having returned to his father and standing in front of him, he says:
“You didn't quite set the task right.”
“And how should I do it?” with interest in his eyes, asks his father, being extremely interested in this matter.
“You see, father, if I, as you have said “convinced you to show me a secret”, he emphasises the last sentence. “Then you yourself must demonstratively switch off the traps set here so that they won’t harm you if they go off.”
“And why must I switch them demonstratively?”
“In order to show me now, acting as an evildoer, that you’re ready for cooperation, only I haven’t seen when you managed to switch the traps off.”
“Because I have no traps in this room,” Harry says with irritation.
After these statements, Alrus freezes for several seconds with astonishment, looking at the father. Then, having shaken off the freeze, he cautiously asks:
“Do you think the secret passage is sufficient protection?”
“No, besides the secret passage, I have traps and protection, just not in this room.”
Having heard his father’s answer, Alrus nods, showing that he has heard him, and immerses himself in thoughts. Having emerged from them for some time, he clarifies.
“I can do magic without fear for my life, can’t I?”
“Yes.”
After that, Alrus begins casting various diagnostic spells, inspecting the entire room thoroughly. After the end of the examination, he shakes his head and says:
“Really, there’re no traps. But still, I was able to detect something, and it’s located here,” he indicates with a wand on the wall near the door from the knob side at eye level.
“And here!” he utters, going away to another door and pointing to the same spot on the wall, commenting:
“If we don't talk about the various spells on the doors, those are the only two places that stand out against the general background. But knowing your developments, I may assume with confidence that there’re the mage-panels you designed.”
“I can't even see the slightest hindrance that would indicate the presence of the mage-panels with my diagnostic spells. And you found them just like that, on the run. As I understand it, I don't know this version of diagnostic charms. What else don't I know about you, son?”
The father’s question for a moment has made a son feel slightly embarrassed, but he quickly recovers and calmly answers:
“A lot, father! And not just because I keep things from you, but also because you don’t want to know more. Yes, you don’t know this spell because it’s a new development of your grandson.”
Because of the son’s words, Harry’s face becomes gloomy. And in order not to allow his father to become even more upset, Alrus swifts to distract him.
“Without relevant information, I can't judge the traps set or the level and complexity of your protection. Nor can I speak for other evildoers, for their reaction to the fact that there’re no traps in this room. But my intuition, if I were them, would immediately yell, warning of the danger.”
“I don’t quite understand what exactly would alarm you” a father inquires.
“You see, father, for me, everything looks like this. Even if you hadn't just told me that there’re traps next door, the mere fact that there’re no traps in this room would alert me, warning me that it's nonstandard protection, hence the traps are non-standard too.
After that, I would think hard about whether I could disarm these clearly non-standard traps and break an equally non-standard protection. Maybe it’s better to refuse this secret and do a runner before it’s too late?”
“And so what? Would you leave everything without even trying? ”
“Well, first, I'm not going to rob, and I haven't had much experience like this, so I can't say for sure what I would do in this or that situation. Secondly, the preliminary survey and information I would get before going out in the country would play a significant role in my decision to take the risk or not.”
“Please try to imagine, at least somehow, Alrus, what you would do next in this situation,” Harry has asked with a smile of the Cheshire cat on his face.
“All right, I would try. First of all, I would first increase my vigilance, then ,for reliability, I would put on you an artefact suppressing the will.”
“Yeah...”- Harry has scratched the back of his head, “but you... I'm shocked.”
After a short silence and coming to his senses, Harry asks:
“Son, tell me, when you got into this room together with me, how would you know that there weren’t any traps? In the event I decide not to demonstrate their switching off?”
“You forgot about the spell that shows magic traps, didn’t you? It was invented a couple of years ago; we already spoke with you about it.”
“I completely forgot about it,” Harry repents. “But how would you discover them? Because today, before using spells in this room, you clarified about a possible threat in the case of using magic.”
“And what are you for?”
“?!”
Alrus has sighed heavily and explains:
“I would make you cast a spell on the room, showing magic traps.”
“And you wouldn’t give me a wand? And if I attacked you?”
“With spells of double slow-down put on you?”
“Damn, son, do you, by chance, experiment with crime?”
“No,” Alrus laughs merrily. “It’s just a hobby of my son. Once he asked for help in some matters, and I helped him. So unnoticed for me, it became my hobby also, to design protection and traps for exact tasks from the scratch.
First, we develop protection and traps according to specified parameters, each of us separately; then, we create a specimen; and then I, if we test my son's development, I try to break the protection and neutralise the traps.
That's how we've been having fun with my son for many years, and in order to successfully break the protection created by my son and neutralise traps of varying difficulty, I had to learn to put myself in the burglar's shoes, learn to think and act like a burglar, so gradually I developed a criminal perception and thinking.”
“Really? I didn’t think it was possible.”
On this, Alrus just shrugs, showing that he doesn’t want to continue disputes on this matter, which leads to Harry not starting to develop this topic, and he speaks about the other theme.
“For some reason, I thought that for the evildoer going with me would be completely unimportant if there’re traps in this room or not.”
And you're telling me, no, you're demonstrating to me that if an evildoer would think like you, the absence of traps in this room would alert him and give him information to think about. And if that would happen, such an evildoer could become very dangerous to me. I have absolutely no desire to expose myself to unnecessary danger,” and quietly, to himself, “I've had enough of it in my youth.”
And already, addressing Alrus in a normal voice:
“I’ve felt what you want to tell me. Really, it’s a remiss of me; in the near future, we'll have to get busy setting traps.”
“I will help you, father.”
“Thank you, Alrus!”
“Don’t thank me too soon.”
“Yes, yes, you're right,” Harry speaks too hastily, turning away from his son.
Alrus shakes his head sadly. Father often shows emotion, but there has never been he is embarrassed about it. Why does it manifest? He asks himself a question. Does it happen because of the appearance of a mystery in his life? Or because of his age? He will soon be eighty years old. By the way, it's a round anniversary; I need to think of something to present him, Alrus noted to himself. And he continues his interrupted thought. But eighty years for a mage is not such a great age. Or maybe, all together, the presence of a mystery and age led him to emotional instability? Or perhaps there's something I don't know? Anything is possible.
Harry, having mastered with his feelings, returns to the son and, in a deliberately cheerful tone, asks:
“Is it all? Or have you seen some other drawbacks?”
“No, I can’t think of anything,” and in this moment, his eye falls on the neighbouring door. “Wait!” he stops the father, willing to say something. “I didn’t ask you about what’s behind the second door?”
“There’re two laboratories for artefact science and potion making.”
“Laboratories for artefact science and potion making,” echoes Alrus his father. “It reminds me of something; it certainly does. Ah, I remember! In one of the books I presented to you, there’re calculations for a plurality of rooms connected by a single door. Are you saying that you managed to make something like this?”
“Yes!” Harry says with pride for himself and his achievements. “Both doors in this part open the passage to several rooms.
“I also thought about creating something like this but never got around to. If memory serves, then any thinking creature can get in the first room and speaking about the rest – only their owner and those whom he allowed to do this.
“Yes, you’re right; that’s why both rooms are designed the same, like a warehouse for artefacts. Along the walls, the shelves are standing on which different materials, defective articles, as well as artefacts that are unnecessary for various reason, but haven’t lost their value, are placed. Can you define that the abundance of things lying on the racks serves as a cover for laboratories?” smiling broadly father replies.
“Well, we have two doors that have similar protection and lead to two similarly designed rooms. Yes, I don't envy the thief. Go and find out which of the two rooms to enter. Well, father, accept my sincerest congratulations!”
“Thank you,” says Harry gratefully, smiling happily.
“How and what traps have you set in the warerooms?”
“Only one trap is placed in each room,” somewhat confused says Harry, “so it turns out I’ve made here the same mistake?”
Alrus just shrugs his shoulders in silence and asks:
“What intricate trap have you set that you didn’t cover with the presence of other traps?”
“The trap is created on the basis of non-mages’ technology; no searching spells can find it. I checked it,” he’s thought for a moment, then continues “I suppose a spell that manifests magic traps won't find it, either?”
On this, Alrus just nods yes, his eyes encouraging his father to continue.
“It’s triggered by the weight of a person stepping on one of the slabs, scattered randomly along the racks. The pressure activates the stasis artefact closest to the slab, which, along with the other artefacts, are on the racks.”
“What about you?”
“These particular stasis artefacts were designed and made by myself,” proudly states Harry, a little bit protruding his chest, but having seen that his son hasn’t evaluated his humour, fizzles out and, already without fanfare, adds:
“Everything is simple; these artefacts I made tied to my aura, so stasis won't affect me.”
“Great. A nice trap. You figured out the rest.”
”Yes, I can see that now!” he says irritably. “I invented a good trap, but I didn’t think about the fact that it should be covered in order not to alert the evildoer. Now that you’ve rubbed my nose in it, it becomes obvious. And I realise now that I would have been alarmed, too, by the fact that there’re absolutely no traps in one room or the other. What kind of secret is this that isn’t hidden and protected? So I’m cheating him somewhere.”
“The conclusion is that the secret is elsewhere,” Alrus continues the father’s line of thought.
Harry just shakes his head with sadness at his son's words.
“Don’t be upset, father! Nothing happened; smart evildoer hasn’t come to you. We’ll handle the rest.”
On this, the father beams and says:
“As they say, you need to look at everything with a fresh look in order to see the defects. So you did it. I’m glad, very glad I decided to show you the protection system of the secret.
The son just nods, agreeing with the obvious fact, and his father continues:
“Well, in that case, let’s continue! If the evildoer willing to know other people's secrets wouldn’t buy into the artefacts located in the room or would be able to find the mage-panel hidden in the wall as you did and try to use it, then in this case I have something else,” Harry says, and turning to face the door takes his wand and casting a spell on the wall.
The wall has shivered, and the mage-panel protrudes in the surface. The resemblance with the non-mage’s code-panel is that the vertical surfaces of both panels have buttons. If non-mage’s panels have figures, then figures of mage’s panels are replaced with runes.
Nine runes are individually selected by the customer, and below the buttons there’s a plate for the cast recipient, which the owner of a mage-panel chooses and records as an additional code. This is the second level of protection, and the third level is a small recess next to the plate, in the depth of which a barely visible needle sticks out to draw blood.
Harry, as usual, presses a code on the mage-panel and then reaches the door’s knob to open it when his son stops him.
“Wait, you forgot to enter the spell and leave a drop of your blood for identification.”
Pause. The puzzled look on Harry's face, coupled with a sly smile, has made Alrus wary, then snicker, and after assessing everything correctly, he speaks, his words confirming that he’s understood everything from his father's clue.
“Since you've now missed the two operations required to be entered on a standard mage panel, there's a valid reason for that, right?
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Yes.”
Having looked at the father once again, Alrus shakes his head in agreement, then not aristocratically scratches the back of his head and says:
“Good thinking, father! If I didn’t wait for a catch plus the absence of the trap in this room and if you wouldn’t be smiling mysteriously now, all together led me to the suggestion that…”
Having stopped speakingm Alrus begins to step the distance from wall to wall, reasoning aloud:
“If you execute the operations you’ve missed on purpose now, that's it! Good thinking, father; I'm thrilled! If I understand correctly, the second level of protection will be switched on. Which won't be so easy to break in the end.”
“Impossible,” he corrects his son.
“What?” Alrus doesn’t understand the father.
“It would be impossible to break into the second level of protection. Because even I, who know where and what to do, would need several days to switch it off. That's why I corrected you that the second level of protection is not simple; as you said, it’s impossible to break. Because its components are hidden in different parts of the manor.”
“Well, you’re really paranoid! I can't wait to know what this mystery is that requires so much complex protection.”
“You'll be paranoid too when you know it.”
“It’s good”, Alrus says, frowning, “but here’s what I don't like. You can protect the secret, but who would protect you from the evildoer when he would understand that the secret has slipped away from his hands? What would you do when you're near him without your wand?”
In reply, Harry just fervently winks and then decisively opens a door and steps into a dark doorway.
Part 1. Chapter 3.
As soon as Harry has crossed the threshold of the room, a light spot appears under his feet, and cheerful sparks run in all directions, illuminating the room covered in darkness. Without stopping, he passes to the middle of the small, perfectly round hall and stands waiting, giving Alrus, who has followed him, time to look around. In fact, there isn't much to see in the room, except for the single podium to the left of the door.
«Instead of my secret, I’ll present another my project that isn’t so dangerous to me, but it will be no less interesting,» answers Harry with a hand circling a room and stopping it on some strange construction.
«I called this room the Hall of Memories, and this is,» he goes to the podium, and having raised on it, puts a hand on something a little bit resembling a computer table. «I called this a magethinker.»
Alrus gets closer at the same time, turning to the magical vision and beginning to investigate the magethinker. In several minutes, he stands still in admiration.
In general, if to discard the monitor and the horizontal surface protruding a little bit forward, the magethinker looks more like a crystal lump from which the embedded artefacts, made of various materials of different value and colour, protrude in different directions.
What appeared before Alrus can’t be explained in simple words, for only an artefactor, a professional in his field, can really appreciate what Harry had created. Alrus can do it, and therefore, continuing to examine the masterpiece, barely audible whispers:
«It’s amazing, father, to combine into a single whole and moreover make it work ... um, the magethinker works, doesn't it?»
«Yes, it works great.»
«So what was I talking about? Here, not everyone can make to work at once so many artefacts, both simple and complex. You're a genius! I admit, you’re right! After seeing this masterpiece, anyone will believe that this is precisely the secret that you hide.»
«Yeah, right!» Harry says cheerfully, his son's appraisal and recognition of his achievements are pleasant for him.
After examining the magethinker for a while, Alrus places his attention on the podium and the two chairs standing on it, for they aren’t as simple as they might appear at first glance.
First of all, his attraction is drawn by the material from which they were made. The complex alloy of different types of tree species intricately intertwined with each other, creating an unusual colour pattern. The thin, barely discernible chains of runes twist all over the surface of the chairs and the podium, fitting into the pattern of the material, underlining and complementing it.
Waiting for his son to have a good look at his creation, Harry sits on the chair. With difficulty tearing him away from contemplating the artifactual wonder created by his father's genius, Alrus shifts his gaze to him and raises his left eyebrow in a mute question. His father understands him correctly; he waves his hand invitingly towards the second chair and waits until Alrus nestles seated to begin his narration.
«Let me tell you a story of a magethinker's creation from the beginning.»
After receiving a sign of agreement in the form of a nod, Harry thinks for a while bringing his thoughts into some order, and only after that does he begin to tell.
«One day, after you and I went to the movie and I listened to your dreams about the appearance of something like that with a magical component in the magical world, a picture passed through my mind of how I watch memories while sitting on a comfy couch. This vision inspired me to attempt the creation of something like this. Properly having thought over this the idea, first of all, I began to study the thoughtdropper and simultaneously began to seek any available information about it or anything related to it.
I knew from the beginning that the way of its creation was lost, but even these small data I could find helped me understand the method of work.
The magethinker‘s work is based on the use of mental magic. At the moment of contact between the mage’s face and a thoughtdropper’s surface, a separation of a thin mental body occurs, and with its help, the mage can see the memories in the thoughtdropper.
Why the thought dropper was created like this and not otherwise, I found out later during complex experiments. Eventually, I learned the following information: the environment in which memories are reproduced is dangerous for the physical body of a mage.
I conducted a series of experiments from which I found out that the physical body of a simple mouse, after being in this medium, begins immediately to destroy at the cellar level, and already on the third day, a death occurs.
In a magical mouse, after being in a thoughtdropper while viewing memories, its magical essence is first destroyed for a month, and only after that does it die.
From these and a number of other experiments, I had a theory as to why the magicians of the past, having created a thoughtdropper, left everything like this. My guess is that it was for one of two reasons: either they didn't do any more research after getting the results according to the principle- it works, let’s leave it or because they couldn't find a way to solve the problem of not harming the physical body during a viewing.»
«I think both of those variants have a right to exist,» Alrus says thoughtfully.
Harry only nods in a sign of consent, and in order not to lose the train of thought, he continues.
«And since at that point in my life I had no useful ideas to solve this problem, I decided for some time to switch to the magebook’s creation.»
The formed pause is disrupted by a loud Harry’s exclamation.
«Twinkie!»
«What does Master Harry want?»
«Water to soak my throat, light wine, and food.»
When the wish is fulfilled, he pours himself some water, drinks it, and only after this continues.
«While I was engaged in the creation of the magobook I had an idea how to solve the problem of harmful influence on the physical body,» he smiles fervently. A funny spark flashes in his green eyes, and he winks at his son.
«This platform, as well as the armchairs themselves, allows to create and hold around us a static protective field that completely neutralises the harmful influence on the organism.»
After he becomes thoughtful, he drums on the armrest.
«That's it for the preamble; let's go on to a demonstration.»
After these words, Harry runs his hand across the horizontal surface, which immediately lights up, simultaneously explaining.
« It is a universal keyboard, based on the touch keyboard, but with much more capabilities. It contains all the alphabets of the leading languages in our world, as well as all the rune alphabets I know at the moment. In addition, it has a sensory mode for the magethinker. Such a solution makes the work much easier.»
A few touches of the fingertips and there the floor ceases to shine, and the walls of the room, as well as a ceiling made in the form of a small dome starting at a height of about two meters, begin to shimmer dimly, scattering the darkness that has appeared for a moment.
A few more strokes of the fingers, and around the podium appears a thin film of protection, looking through which one may have thought that the walls have disappeared, replaced by a haze of compressed, heated air that can be observed in the desert when the sun is at its zenith.
Ree enchantedly gazes at the haze and recollects himself only when the haze is replaced by a picture of memory.
«…a huge summer pavilion, the roof of which is supported by gentle columns located along its perimeter. A light, almost airy decoration consisting of light fabrics and flowers that show the delicateness of forged railings and doors located between the columns.
From dynamics invisible to the eye, enchanting soft music is flowing that didn't prevent people present in the hall from communicating.
«These are my memories from some movie I watched while studying the 3D effect. »
The movement of a finger and the playback stop; people freeze; music stops.
«You’ve seen everything that I made then, » says Harry, not taking his eyes off the pavilion with people freezing in different postures.
«I didn’t understand, » with confusion in his voice, Alrus says.
«That’s all I managed to achieve. As you see, it’s impossible to get out of the protection field without causing physical harm to your health in order to see the memories near. And also because of the fact that during the magethinker’s creation, somewhere in the calculations there was an error; that’s why it was impossible to zoom in and enlarge the picture in order to see the desired thing near the platform. »
« It's not really convenient to look at the memories from a distance, right? But you’ve said it was, so it means now everything is ok? » somehow uncertainly Alrus asks.
«Yes, to both questions. But in the beginning, I tried to correct this defect with additional artefacts, but then I suffered a complete fiasco in this matter. I already decided to declare the project failed and to start dismantling it when you returned from the wanderings and presented me with books on various directions of magic development in OTHER worlds. »
When he looks at his son's face, which, with all its appearance, radiates complete incomprehension, he grins and says.
« Yes, yes, I quickly understood that the books you gave me were written in other worlds because many of the concepts are based on magical approaches unknown on Earth; that’s why don’t pretend you don’t understand me. »
Though for some reasons you don't want or can't tell me how and where you managed to get them, I can handle this, » Harry says with irritation, pursing his lips.
«Actually, no! » he immediately exclaims and again becomes quiet for a moment, and then, with anger, mutters.
«To say the condition that was said at which I could know the details about the appearance of these books to you didn't suit me. I've told you that, and nothing has changed since then.»
I can’t see what’s wrong. Why does a threat come to my life from Harry's words?
Irrational fear comes over Ree, and his thoughts begin to dart back and forth like frightened rabbits, but he can’t find and understand the reason for such a reaction. In the meantime, having vented his accumulated anger at his son, Harry calms down a little bit and continues more or less calmly:
«What I can't understand is, why simply not accept that the books given by you contain discoveries made in other worlds? When you gave them, didn't you assume that I would be able to understand it according to the information they contained? Explain to me why you take me for an idiot who cannot understand basic things. »
After a short pause that is filled with grutch and misunderstanding eliminating from Harry Alrus, with remorseful remarks in his voice, says.
«Yes, you're right, father. I'm sorry! It seems I became keen on secretness and had gone beyond the realm of acceptable. Indeed, the books I gave you were translated by me into English, and they belong to magicians who lived in five different worlds. »
« And why couldn't you admit this at the beginnin? »
Harry exclaims, but without waiting for an answer to his question, staring at his son fiercely for a while, he calms down, deciding that now isn’t a good time to sort things out, and so when he speaks, it’s like nothing had happened.
« As I immersed myself in the study of the books you gave me, I realised that my life wouldn’t be enough to comprehend everything they contained. That's why I decided to create a complex composite artefact, the volume of which corresponds to several non-mages’ servers, to merge all the information from the books, not only from those you brought to me but from all the books available to me, and, above all, all this I hoped to systematise by analogy with the scheme accepted by non-mages.
Another reason for making this decision was that I had a workpiece for this project, »Harry says, stroking the magethinker gently.
«For the realisation of the project, I needed to make many different changes to increase the power of the magethinker, as well as I needed to solve many other problems. And the most difficult was to create and embed a magoscanner. Such as it could scan not only simple magical books but also grimoires and dangerously aggressive books with increased magical protection. »
Harry has stopped in order to pour himself some wine. Having drunk it up, he continues.
«As a result, having overcome all the obstacles and difficulties that occurred during the mage thinker’s creation, I was able to finally start the process of loading all the books I had
Every day I tried to allocate a few hours to upload information from books to magethinker and for the creation of different mage programmes for book sorting. Thankfully, the scanning of simple books is fast. It takes only a few minutes to work with one book, but grimoires and protected magical books take half an hour to two. »
Having soaked the throat, Harry continues a little bit pathetic:
«One day, while working with a mage thinker, I came across a book that somehow caught my attention. Having taken it in my hands, I did not notice how I immersed myself in the study of it. I was delighted because it was entirely devoted to the creation of animate artefacts, from the simplest to the most complex. »
There’s a theatrical pause. Having looked at the father, who is assuming a dignified air, Alrus smiles subtly and decides to cheer him up.
«And what, did you manage to create an animated artefact? Don’t keep me in suspense; tell me! »
«I managed, » for some reason, sadly says Harry. «Let me introduce you to the mage thinker named Sirius.»
«Sirius? Are you serious? »
« He himself chose such a name, and I couldn't do anything about it. At first, it was very painful, but gradually, addressing him by his name, I did not notice how the pain went. After fifteen years already, I’m grateful that he chose that name, because through him I was finally able to forgive myself for my godfather's death and let him go. »
They keep quiet for some time, allowing themselves to plunge into memories. Having noticed that he and his father are enveloped by gloom and sadness, Alrus has shaken his head, thus banishing a delusion, and deliberately loud asks a question:
«Did I understand you right that something went wrong during the creation of the Sirius’s mage thinker? »
Taken out of his melancholy, Harry doesn’t at once understand the meaning of the question. But when he does, he shakes his head sadly, and it’s unclear whether he agrees with his son's suggestion or rejects it.
«The book contained clear instructions on how to prepare the artefact for the ritual as well as a description of the ritual itself.
Before animating the mage thinker, I performed several rituals to animate artefacts of different sizes and complexity. This provided me with data that helped me make calculations and adjustments to the original ritual due to the fact that the mage thinker was a complex artefact with a large mass. This was the first complex task.
The second most difficult task was to determine and calculate everything so that the mage thinker gained maximal abilities. It was also not an easy choice for me to choose abilities for him and their number. The third most difficult task was to calculate everything in such a way that the abilities I chose for the mage thinker wouldn’t interfere with each other during operation. »
Interrupting his narration, Harry, having smiled warmly, gently strokes the magethinker and continues.
«He's a clever boy; he completely restored order in the books uploaded for him, correctly sorted them, and himself developed a system of search and references to all mentions in different topics.
Now I only need to set the task, and all the calculations will be performed both for the ritual and for the artefact creation. Once, » Harry smiles brightly, «I gave him the task of calculating a potion according to the given parameters, just for fun. »
«And how did it go? » Alrus asks with genuine interest, leaning forward.
«Excellent! He gave me three variants of the recipe, though with a vague dosage from start to finish that I needed to determine in practice. Still, it saved a lot of time. As a result, based on them, I was able to create the portion I needed without asking you at that time.»
«How interesting! Сan we talk about this later? And I still don’t understand what is wrong with Sirius. »
« Under the book’s author's assumption, the bigger the artefact, the bigger the possibilities it has. I performed calculations and figured out that besides making different computer functions, he could also have hearing, sight, and the ability to speak. »
«But...?! » hurries Alrus his father, when he's realised that Harry doesn't really want to continue.
«What- but? As you’ve probably already understood, I had no success. Or rather, things got down except Sirius can’t speak, hear, and talk. »
« Come to think of it, » Harry, for some reason, lowers his voice at these words, « I think he has a dual personality. When he's working on the tasks he's given, he's an adult who has his own opinions and can offer interesting ideas. Also, he was able to fix a bug that occurred in the creation of the mage thinker, and now the memories can be turned out to make it easier to watch.
But when there's nothing demanding the performance of any tasks, then he becomes different, and I have the impression that I'm speaking with a child of tender years. »
« No more than five years, yes? »
«Yes, how did you know? »
«I’ll tell you later, » Alrus brushes off his father. «Let me think. »
After a long silence, when Harry’s patience is about to run out, Alrus emerges from his thoughts and, noticing his father’s state, asks.
«Father, asks Sirius, can he hear and see what people say in memories? »
«I'll answer you. Yes, he can hear, see, speak, and look. » With these words, Harry launches the picture from his memory that froze in front of them.
The music starts playing again, and people move and talk. A few finger movements, a quick rewind and then a couple consisting of a man and a woman, who are at a reasonable distance away from Harry and Alrus , sharply approach them just steps from the protective barrier so that they can be viewed properly and one can hear what they’re saying:
« John, stop making me angry, or the director will get angry. According to the scenario, I should smile easily, » a girl says spitefully, and it’s unclear to whom she’s angrier—to John or to the director.
« Yes, you're right, the director will be angry when he sees an animal grin instead of a smile, » the man pokes fun at the girl, to which she growls, but then she sharply melts and asks almost pitifully.
« Please, John, stop bugging me! You know, if something goes wrong, I'll have to pay a penalty, and I don't have any money. Why, do you think, did I sign up to act in this crowd?»
«Forgive me, Sara, I'm just kind of bored .…»
The movement of a finger and everything stops, people freeze in various poses, and the music and the hum of voices accompanying it fall silent.
« Kind of like this. »
« So you're telling me that in addition to being able to work with memories by zooming in on them now, Sirius can also lip-read and reproduce what he's read?»
« Everything is right. »
« Oh! Then helping Sirius might be a lot easier. »
« What exactly would be easier? »
« Wait, you see it yourself if this works. Ask Sirius to choose an image with which he associates himself and show it to you. »
After listening to his son, Harry turns to the mage thinker and begins to quickly tape a text.
Ree watches from the sidelines as lines appear on the screen and, with detachment, wonders why all magical things stop, causing him rejection. Before him is an animate artefact, and he feels nothing except interest.
Not having come to any conclusions, Ree continues to observe how Harry corresponds with Sirius. Driven by curiosity, he comes to grips and begins to read the correspondence. From this, he understands that Sirius truly is like a child who is afraid to make mistakes in choosing his image. And if that happens, Harry will stop loving him because of that. In response, Harry assures Sirius that he will accept any of his images and won’t stop loving him, as well as try to calm him down, saying that Sirius can change his image at any time to the one that is closer to him. And now Sirius should choose some images.
After long and difficult persuasion, a drawn representative of felids appears in front of them. To which Harry only says, "Hmm, and to the questioningly raised eyebrow of his son, he asks with amazement.
«Didn't you recognise? »
«No. »
«Sirius took the image of Simba from your favourite cartoon, ‘The Lion King’. »
«I hardly remember this cartoon, » says Alrus, averting his eyes.
« This is very strange! How can you forget it? » a short pause, and then a question.
«Ah, it doesn't matter; you won't tell me anyway. What to do next? »
«Next, » gladly repeats Alrus, enjoying that they have gone from the topic unpleasant for him, « asks Sirius to try to hear us using this image similar to how he hears conversations in memories. »
Having waited for some time Alrus after his father stops taping and looking at the painted lion asks:
«Sirius, can you hear me? »
The tension that seized the men after the question is asked can be felt. Maybe for this reason or maybe for some other, but the moment that has separated the question from the answer feels like an eternity. But then it’s over, and they can see the nod of the drawn lion cub.
Harry immediately turns around, wiping away tears; Ree smiles brightly; and only Alrus immediately makes a new proposal.
«And now, Urs, similar to how you were able to hear me try to say something and look at us. »
«To say wwwwhaat? » a squeaky, terrified , quavering and barely audible voice is heard.
« No matter what, the most important thing is that you can speak. Tell us, why are you so scared? »
«I dooon’t knnnow. I’m always very scared. »
«Is there any way we can help you? »
«No. We can’t be helped. » a lion cub has disappeared, and the voice heard is absolutely non-emotional and some kind of mechanical.
«I made calculations and found out that the animation of artefacts exceeding the definite level of complexity would lead to such a result as we have. I can switch off a fear of my emotional part for some time so that you can talk with it. »
There’s a long pause. Harry, off the hinges, opens and closes his mouth, trying to say something. Alrus becomes lost in thought while trying to remember something. It’s unknown for how long it would continue, but a cub lion again appears in front of them, and it looks not so frightened and shivering. Alrus immediately startles and, in a businesslike manner, addresses him.
«We already found out that you can hear us and talk to us; now we should know if you can see us. »
«I can. It turns out that this is very simple. Why wasn't I able to do this before? » answers Sirius in a normal voice.
«Because I wasn’t able to explain this in plain, simple language as Alrus did, » responds already calmed Harry.
«And not only like this, besides this fear and dual personality stops Urs from this, » Alrus disagrees with his father.
Harry nods, agreeing, but having seen how Sirius has felt down, he decides to change the subject.
«Why did you call Sirius Urs? »
«I just shortened his name; I took the last syllable of his name and placed the letter “r” which is in his full name, between two letters.
Once I saw what form he took, it immediately appeared in my head: Urs. If you, Sirius, don’t like such shortening, tell me, and I won’t call you by this name.
«Urrrss, » a lion cub literally purrs his name listening to its sounding and then renders a verdict. «I like it, you can call me like this. »
«That's great! » Alrus smiles. « I have an idea, » and he pulls a box out of the air like a circus magician. « But I can't guarantee that it’ll work for sure and solve Urs' problem with dual personalities. But we can try. What if it could work! »
At Alrus's action, Ree looks with amazement before information appears in his head. Everything is simple—the pocket dimension—and there is no other additional information about this pocket. Think of it as you will!
«I'll start from afar. The archemage who wrote the book on the creation of animated artefacts was more of a scientist than a politician; that’s why he was framed to free up his position. As a result of this, he was banished from the Magical Academy, and his scientific works were declared heresy and strictly prohibited.
Some of his books were hidden by his students, some by his colleagues in artefactorics. So, in the library of one of the artefactors I found a book on animating artifacts. With the owner's permission, I made a copy of it, and when I had time, I slowly translated it.
Having familiarised myself with this book, I was looking for his other works all the time I was in that world. But I was lucky, just before my departure from that world. Quite by accident, I was able to find the tower in which he lived after his exile. This book was discovered in hiding.» He pats the box resting on his lap.
«It so happened that I had a little time, so I skimmed through the book, left it in the stasis box, and put it in the dimension pocket, having decided to study it later, but it happened that I completely forgot about it. And only a today reminder about the book on the animation of artefacts helped me remember it. »
Having made a little pause in order to gather his thoughts and having rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, Alrus continues:
«This book, » and he again pats the box, «contains the last scientific work of that disgraced archemage.
According to my assumptions, disgraced and having lost all of his students at once and also having obtained the ban to take new pupils, he had to remember about his work on the animation of the artefacts. I suppose he decided to reduce his loneliness with the help of animated artefacts.
After a series of experiments, he faced the problem of the low intelligence of artefacts. After this, he proposed a theory that he himself began to prove. The essence of his theory was that if an animated artefact turns into an animal, he would be able to independently move around him. Thus, its constant presence near a human would allow the primitive to develop and eventually become smarter.
Finally, he conducted two successful experiments with animals. With one animal a little bit larger than a rat and the second one like a dog. According to the results of observation, it turned out that the development and maturation of the artefact's personality directly depend on the development of the animal used for it.
«Yes, yes, yes! » screams a cub jumping on the spot, «I want to be a lion and run everywhere! »
«Calm down, Urs! It’s not all rosy. There’re a number of conditions that are obligatory. »
«What conditions? »
«The first one. The animal must be a magical one, and there are no magical lions. The second one. At the start of the work, it must be alive. The third one. Its volume and the artefact’s volume must completely be the same. »
«I didn’t understand the last condition, » with meowlike notes, sustains Urs.
« How can I put it to you in a simpler way? The artefact's volume should completely fill the animal's skin, as it did when it was alive. »
«Do I understand you right, Alrus? »Harry interjects, « If we take, for example, a manticore, would we havehave to add a volume to the Urs’s receptacle to completely fill the manticore's skin? »
«That’s right, father, but in this case there are positive aspects. »
«Like what? »
«Urs can be added to as many additional functions as he can have. »
«Yes, yes, yees, I can have hands! » Urs begins to squeal and immediately becomes sad. «I just don’t like manticore. »
«Don’t worry, Sirius, »Harry addresses him, «You can choose the animal yourself. »
«We’ll deal with this later. Father, I didn’t understand completely. What hands should be added? »
To this Harry is a little embarrassed.
«You know, son, » he starts his explanations from afar, «By the time I began the ritual of Sirius animation, I was got by another idea.
As soon as I performed a ritual of animation and affirmed that Sirius completely corresponded to my needs, I immediately loaded him down with calculations in order to start turning my new idea into reality.
When I started to create in reality everything we calculated with Sirius and to the following trials, I couldn't devote much time to it, and Sirius got bored. That’s why I hold an Internet for him. »
«And what hands did he find for himself? It’s even scary to imagine this! »
« It’s not all that bad, believe me. On the Internet, Urs found science fiction that describes the creation and capabilities of AI. In these books, artificial intelligence has different types of drones and robots under control, with the help of which it can independently perform certain actions.
Having read the books about the AI, Sirius got passionate about an idea to get helpers for him, part of which would replace his hands.
«What can I say? This is a great ideaIf I remember correctly, there’re a lot of different types and sizes of drones and robots. »
«Yes, » confirms Urs.
«Well, we’ll talk about it later. Father, I and Urs make the plans, but you still don’t say anything, and don’t say out loud your choice. Will you take part in this project?»
«I thought you forgot about me or you don’t need me in this business, » huffed grumbles Harry, then he smiles and adds, «Of course I’m with you. I won't miss a project like this. »
« That's what I thought, » says his son, and addresses Urs.
«This book isn’t translated, so you’ll have to translate it yourself. But I’ll load all the materials that will help you in this work as well as my remaining drafts of the translation of the artefact animation book. »
«I'll translate. » Sirius answers seriously and nods in addition to his words.
«That's good! » Alrus says, opening the box and taking a book out of it, then hands it to his father with the words:
«Here, take this, father. »
Harry, meanwhile, carries out the corresponding manipulations. A flat box has emerged from the vertical part of the artefact, into which Harry places the book he has opened on the first page.
Ree watches with interest how the three of them plunge into the process of discussing assumptions and searching of variants.