„Your leucocytes are good. Blood pressure is excellent. ECG is out of a textbook. You have been under observation for a night. I would like to isolate you further.“. The doctor is not happy. „But I need a better justification for that. The commander is unhappy enough with the delay. He would eat me alive and then release you anyway.“ The doctor is also a realist. „The theory of a magical relapse is as good as anything I can come up with.“

„You seem to think that we are breaking the laws of nature and natural science.“ Thomas replied.

„What else am I to think?“ The doctor is also honest.

„That we are adding another layer to science. I see no reason to not apply the scientific method to science.“ Thomas is, whatever be his failures, a hard-core rationalist.

The doctor is not much of a philosopher, demonstrating that by grunting and signing release papers.

Here comes another day on a road.

„That is, if human civilization survives“ Thomas avoids the cardinal sin of optimism.

D: You probed a guy up so thoroughly that he ended up in a field hospital.

U: You should have had dinner first. This is so uncivilized.

Sweet innocent youth.

P: There was absolutely no need to add a dinner to that mess.

T: You are all so funny.

P: Humoristic relativity. The funniness depends on the observer’s frame of reference.

T: Not getting funnier.

P: If it is any consolation to you, the probing has been fruitful.

He just sighs.

U: So what did it show?

P: Thomas had six racial gifts. I could also tell that his essences were bound to specific attributes.

U: Attributes?

Me having to operate the detection device Thomas launches into an explanation.

--

We are having a tanning respectively charging break at mid afternoon. He has managed to scrounge up a reclining chair and a pair of stylish sunglasses somewhere.

T: There is something else. You are much brighter than everybody else.

P: So are you. You also have a sixth sense now?

T: That is a stupid name, but yes. Only that it does not work like an eye, neither like an ear. If I strain to see more …

P: You are getting brighter.

T: So do you. Are you following suit?. Let’s see …

„Alarm! Gas masks!“ – We shout it out at the same time.

A man clad only in a gas mask, speedos and combat boots is a strange sight. Him showing a sixpack does not help. Wait, that is new. The commander and his escort are running up to us.

C: What is it?

T: Some kind of poison monster on both sides of the parking lot.

P: I sense four. Two on each side.

C: The day before yesterday you told me, again if I may add, that you can detect only doorways, not monsters.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

T: We have had some kind of breakthrough

C: Related to your unpleasant experience?

T: Possibly

C: Anyway, everybody is in position.

P: I get anticipation. I think they’ll attack if we leave.

That gets me a very odd look.

P: This calls for experimentation. Could you give me a hand grenade?

He hesitates.

C: Does it have to be you personally?

P: Yes. Rules of magic.

C: Remember, push the handle, pull the pin and then throw whatever happens.

C: Schmidt, supervise him.

I am getting a bulgy beverage can with quite some heft.

I am concentrating on matching my sixth sense to my conventional sight, which now is excellent.

P: By the way, shouldn’t the vegetation here be torched away?

C: This parking lot is officially associated with the gas station which is not directly attached to the highway but associated with it.

Bureaucracy will kill this country if monsters don’t do the job.

The target is quite aligned with a fairly hefty bush, almost a tree. Will my racial ability work with a grenade? It seems reluctant and requests more feed. I give in, pull and throw.

The explosion is loud and I am getting magical feedback. A few seconds nothing more happens. The commander is turning towards me, as four especially large versions of a monster we know as „gas cicadas“ hurl bushes into the air and jump towards us.

They have earned their name. Had we not put on gas masks, the convoy would have done badly. Even so, we need to decontaminate. Their gas works through your skin, if you give it enough time. But we have the chemical warfare vehicle and a specialized antidote to them. This earns us a night in tents on the spot.

We are down one bad casualty. Multiple broken ribs, a badly broken arm and a concussion. In its death throes a monster kicked a garbage container hard enough to propel it with considerable momentum. That would have been a ridiculous way to die. How long can we sustain steady losses like that? And we have used up a few RPGs and a lot of magical ammunition.

--

C: That breakthrough of yours includes looting at a distance without a ritual?

P: Yes. It was a big breakthrough.

C: So what is your detection range?

T: About 25 meters.

C: OK, this is not enough to be operationally useful. Still good work. I’ll mention you in my report. Maybe you’ll also get apprentices.

T: Apprentices?

C: The river navy’s wizards have gotten apprentices.

--

T: You are not going to probe me again. I still remember what happened last time. Probe somebody else.

P: OK, OK. It is still your turn for this. I’ve probed that. It is an Awakening Stone of the Locust.

Ulrike sighs.

I've conjured a sheath in the familiar color for my tricorder's probe leaving only the tip black.

Name: Ulrike Kleinfelder Race: Human Progress to iron rank: 0% Racial Gifts: [Human Ambition] [Special Attack Affinity] [Essence Gift] [Essence Gift] [Essence Gift] [Essence Gift]

P: See? She is tougher than you. No giant mess.