Project Unnamed: Memories

by Ingvar Mattson

part 3 of 4

Spring, 2077

Johan sat down, the lecture hall was slowly filling, but he’d managed to snag one of the chairs in the back. As the lecture hall filled, in walked Sara, from ITV. She was the most experienced of the doctorate mages from the institution for thaumaturgic science at the University of Linköping.

When the trickle of students had stopped, Sara looked out over the audience and arranged her papers. “Welcome. Today we shall discuss the theory of teleportation and how we believe it works. Towards the end, I will hand out visualisation exercises and I hope you will have time to familiarise yourselves with them before tomorrow’s lab session. I understand that some of you are having a bit of tuition on the side and you will be expected to perform flawlessly in tomorrow’s lab.

“Teleportation. As you all know, it was the first magic application discovered. And it was discovered here at LiU, almost 70 years ago. The best theory to explain how it works is a re-writing of the teleported object’s wave-function, to make it collapse elsewhere. Think of it as an instantaneous change of position, not an appearance and disappearance. What was there is now here.”

Old hat, the FSMC tutor had had them ’porting from room to room for weeks now. Johan relaxed back in his seat, idly scribbling in his notes. Time to worry about things tomorrow, during the lab session. Still, shouldn’t be a problem, all of them were doing well.

After the lecture, Johan stuffed all his things into his backpack, went outside and waited for Lina. She appeared a minute or so later. “Sorry, Johan, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting, but I just wanted to check a few things with Sara.”

“I’m not in a hurry, Lina. So, coffee on campus or should we head back to Ryd? Coffee’s more expensive, but they have a wider selection of sweet things there.”

“Let’s stay on campus, I need to get some books from the library anyway. You worried about the lab tomorrow?”

“Not really. We’ve got a practice session scheduled tonight anyway, don’t we?”

“Think so. It’s Tuesday, isn’t it? Two coffee, black, please. Yeah, it’s tonight.”

“Thanks, Lina. So, getting any exciting books from the library?”

“Depends, I guess. I thought I’d see if they have The Art of Computer Programming, it’s supposed to be one of the odder computer science volumes, and Sara swears she found it useful for getting better at magic. Can’t hurt, can it?”

After they’d finished coffee and had a refill, Johan looked at his watch. “Oh, Lina, I need to dash! See you tonight, then!” He grabbed his backpack and ambled off.

In the evening, Johan, Lina, Ronnie and Per, the FSMC battle mage trainees for 2076, walked to the Ryd forest for a private practice session. As they reached the practice glade, they saw a man in a white lab coat, leaning on what looked more like a large sword than anything else. Johan stopped, there was something familiar about that man.

Thinking back, Johan suddenly recognised the older man. It was Dr. Söderberg. “Hoy, Doctor! What brings you this far from Stockholm? And what is that thing?”

Dr. Söderberg looked at the youngsters. “What does it look like? It’s a two-handed sword. I’m in Linköping to try some experiments with you, though tonight I’d intended to practice forms.” The doctor picked the sword up and started moving slowly, wielding it in slow, precise arcs.

“Ah, bother. You’re here. I’m here. We might as well start straight off. You youngsters ready? What we’re going to try today is a combined memory exercise and an excavation exercise. First we dig holes underground, without disturbing the surface. Dig one each.

“Then, we ’port into the holes and then ’port back to the surface. That concludes the excavation part. In three days, we have a battle exercise and you will eventually be forced to cross this field, under pursuit. As you approach the field, your opposition will switch from blanks to sharps.

You will then have to recall where the holes are. Or sense them. It’s a bit harsh, but we need to know that you can function under extreme duress. You’re all had basic, so you know how stressful it is being in a firefight. Before now, however, you haven’t been in mortal danger and that takes things that extra step, you will notice. Who wants to start? Svensson? Eriksson? Yes. Eriksson.”

Lina concentrated and picked a paper-clip out of her pocket. Concentrating, she visualised the paper-clip being some five meters straight down. Down into the ground. Not here, at all. Not... her hand was suddenly empty. She could still feel the paper-clip, at the back of her mind. It was deep down, surrounded by earth. “So, Doctor, what do I do now?”

“Well, do you still have a ghost touch with the paper clip? If so, try to bring it up, with as much earth as you think you can handle. Don’t over-do it, it just might cook your brain.”

Lina concentrated and felt the paper-clip again. Slowly, slowly, she grew a sphere from the paper-clip recognising, cataloguing, changing earth around it, then concentrating even harder. That sphere was above-ground. Soon, above-ground. Not moving, just there. Like. So. As her concentration snapped, Lina looked down and saw a head-sized lump of earth falling apart in front of her feet.

The young soldiers-cum-students practiced until the small hours of the morning, until Dr. Söderberg stopped them. “It’s getting early, I am no longer as young as I used to be and must go home, for a good morning’s sleep. I suggest you return to your dorm rooms; there is a lab tomorrow. You shall perform well, I understand. Can someone tell me what lessons we have learned tonight? Lina? No? Johan.” Johan cleared his throat. “Have an ace up your sleeve, sir.”

“I am no ‘sir’, I am me. How do you mean, ‘ace’?”

“Well. We’re digging holes that are inaccessible to anyone who cannot teleport. It wouldn’t surprise me if the depth we’re digging at is deep enough to fool most passive scanners.”

“Well done, lad. You are, indeed, building aces up your sleeves. Foxholes. It will soon be recommended that all battle mages prepare enough bolt-holes for their whole group, should things go awry. You are the first to test this theory, outside the lab.”

2082-04-23 T00:57

That was close! They paused on top of me, for almost 15 minutes. Well, they’ve continued on, now.

Anyway, half the squad ran away and I took half with me, trying to get at least half of us home. I guess you’re wondering about these hidey-holes? You see, we’re not far from where I went to university, and we created them partly as an exercise and partly as a memory test. Seems to have worked, I still remember, five years later.

So, anyway. We split up. One half dashing to drive off in vehicles, creating a diversion and other assorted “save us” activities. I ran with the other half, depositing them in underground cubby holes, hoping my memory was as good as I wished. Then I got myself down into a hole.

Now, I wait. I wait and hope that I didn’t kill half my squad. I hope I will have enough energy to ’port up to the surface. I hope I will have enough oxygen to last me until the surface is safe. Once on the surface, I might have to go nasty on a car, so I can get at a battery. That should be enough to get my squaddies up, at least.

The search party is still up there, if I concentrate, I can feel them walking around, probing. About fifteen hours left, I think. I could, possibly, refresh my air, but I can’t do that for the rest of my squad. Right now, I am just hoping they’ll go away. If I haven’t sensed anyone for, I don’t know, three hours, I’ll probably get myself back up, find a battery and then get the rest of the men up and get ourselves out of here.

Proceed to part 4...