Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (19 page)

Gene and Randy had been best friends since the fifth grade, where they had met when Gene moved into the area from California. They’d had similar interests, and had hit it off immediately, working after school on odd projects, and becoming buddies as well as friendly competitors in class for the best grades. Gene had an original and brilliant mind, and had always been coming up with science projects that were at least a couple of steps beyond anything others ever were able to manage. After high school, they had both gone on to college here in Boulder, but Gene had been taken with computers and all manner of electronics, and had drifted in a slightly different direction than Randy. By the time they approached graduation, Gene had already released several top selling video games, which made him financially secure and independent, and supported his equipment needs for his other computing interests. When Randy had gone on to graduate school, Gene had decided he could do what he wanted better on his own, and had dropped out of the university. The two had remained friends, although they’d tended to see each other less often as their different careers intruded on their social activities.

“
What do you need from me?”

“
You’re the computer expert. I need data, lots of it. I want everything I can get that would help bring an eighteenth century society up to our level. That means both general background and specific how-to data. Drawings, with dimensions, and lists of materials to be used would be extremely useful. For example, how does one build a steam locomotive? I have them building a railroad over there, and they are trying to invent a locomotive from what I told them, but if I had specific drawings, it would be far easier.”

“
Another thing. I read somewhere that Bill Clinton had every patent we have stored on CD and handed over to the Chinese. Many would be useless, but there would be a wealth of information there. If it was put on CD, it must be available somewhere. I’d like to take a copy back.”

“
Anything else?”

“
Use your imagination. Anything and everything that might be useful should be considered. Power systems. Electronics. Vacuum tube technology. Radios. Metallurgy. Computers. Plastics. Basic science and technology. Weapons. Especially weapons. We have a war on. Gunpowder and explosives, etc.”

“
Why do you need weapons? I thought you had magic?”

“
It’s complicated. Most people don’t have the ability. In addition, there are pseudo religious restrictions the people I’m with have about using magic on non-wizards. That is making it harder to win.”

“
They’d be willing to lose over principle?”

“
They had a major war about a thousand years ago. They still haven’t fully recovered. That has made them careful about letting the use of magic get out of hand. I already have crossed their boundaries of what is appropriate on several occasions.”

“
You said you plan on taking guns back with you?”

“
I do. Believe it or not, that’s to take on the wizards. For reasons I don’t understand, copper defeats magic. A copper bullet can penetrate all magical protection the wizards have and bring them down. With the kind of weapons we have here on Earth, it would be possible to hit them at distances they wouldn’t consider possible.”

“
You’ve tried this?” You know it works?

“
Yes, actually we have. It works. It also works on some rather unfriendly magical creatures that are wandering around as a result of the last war I told you about.”

“
Can you take enough guns and ammunition to make a difference? Where would you get them?”

“
I can’t take what I’d like. I still haven’t worked out how to get what I want, which is a far smaller number. Even that is going to pose challenges. I can’t come to the attention of the authorities. I don’t have a way to verify where I’ve been, and they might be curious what I’m up to.”

“
I don’t know how long it will take to find what you are looking for. It could be a lot of data.”

“
If you’re willing, start gathering. Get as many drives as you need. Money won’t be an issue, or it shouldn’t be once I find the way to convert the gold without drawing too much attention to it.”

“
Gold?”

“
I brought about ten pounds of gold back with me.”

“
You say that so casually. Are you rich there?”

“
Not me, but I have a couple of kingdoms with a vested interest in my succeeding. I’ve spent far more than a few pounds of their gold on the various projects I’ve pulled them into. I can get all the gold I need. Turning it quietly into money here is the problem.”

“
My dad might be able to help with that.” Gene said.

“
Your dad?”

“
He’s in banking. He ought to know how to convert gold. I could ask him, without telling him why. I’ve had the feeling for years he bends the rules a bit anyway, so while you might not get the best rate, I’ll bet he would exchange it without your name ever coming into it.”

“
That would be fantastic. See what you can find out. I’ll check back and see what you have sometime Monday.”

“
Why Monday? I won’t have much by then.”

“
I’m going to try and return there on Tuesday morning. If you have anything, I’d like to take it back as an example. I’d be coming back here in a few days. That’s assuming this all works as it is supposed to. There’s a chance I can’t go back, in which case I’m going to look silly, and none of this matters.”

“
This is really real, isn’t it?” Gene asked.

Randy nodded. “What can I do for you in exchange. To be honest, at some point I suspect I’ll end up on the other side and won’t be coming back. I owe you something, but don’t know how to repay you.”

“
I have an idea, but let’s see what I can do first. I have one other thing you might find useful.”

Gene led him into another room and pulled open a drawer where he fished out a blue colored zippered bag. “I did a lot of research to select one of the best pistols available. Afterwards, the group I had joined decided to get into speed competitions. I need to get something different, in a smaller caliber.”

Gene unzipped the bag, and pulled out what appeared to be a new version of a government model. This one was colored differently, with a slightly greenish frame and dark black slide, with some very nice looking sights.

“
This is a Bill Wilson .45 auto. It is very accurate, has tritium night sights, and is one of the best around. I’ve been planning on selling it, but other things have had my attention of late.” He handed the pistol to Randy to inspect.

Not an expert on handguns, he could still tell immediately that he was holding something special. There was none of the wiggle and rattle that he’d come to associate with the old Colt. This was snug and solid. He held it up and was impressed with the sharp sight picture that he saw. There were two small dots on the back sight, and another on the front.

“
The dots glow in low light so you can still find the proper alignment,” Gene said, seeing where he was looking.

“
I never knew you were into guns,” Randy said, still admiring the pistol.

“
A friend got me interested a couple of years ago. He was insistent that I should get a high quality firearm if I was going to start shooting. Better one really good one, than several marginal ones, he insisted. As it turns out, I didn’t get into it as much as I thought I might.”

“
How much is this one?”

“
You can have it,” Gene said.

“
That’s not fair. Add its cost to my bill.” Randy already knew he had to take this gem back to Asari, who had been crushed at the loss of the old beat up Colt.

Gene dug around and came up with four more Wilson magazines. “I don’t have any ammunition, but here’s a couple of spare springs and a couple of holsters. They recommend changing the springs every few thousand rounds.”

Randy laughed. “We’ll never fire a fraction of that number, but they’ll be handy anyway. I can get ammunition tomorrow.”

Sunday seemed to slip away somehow. Randy had woken up later than he’d planned, the extended session with Gene with a few too many beers taking a toll on him. He wasn’t used to drinking quite so much any more, and he’d had a thick head. Janie and the kids had slipped off somewhere, probably to church, so he’d wandered downstairs and foraged a breakfast, and then gone to work on his new computer. Despite the fact Gene had promised to gather the kind of information he wanted, he had decided to see what he could find himself. Duplication wouldn’t be a problem, but if he missed something and it turned out to be his only chance, he would be extremely annoyed with himself.

Using Janie’s accounts and passwords, he’d been able to get the new computer configured and logged onto Amazon, where he spent a couple of hours in a somewhat random search for materials. Despite having thought about the kind of materials that he wanted, when it actually came down to looking for specifics he’d been far less organized than he’d expected. Maybe it was the beer. Maybe not. After a couple of hours he’d down-loaded almost a thousand dollars worth of books that he’d be able to view on the computer, iPad, or his Kindle which was still back on Gaea. Tired of sitting in front of the screen, and surprised that Janie wasn’t back yet, he’d shut it down and headed off downtown.

At the gun store he’d talked with the salesman about ammunition for the Wilson .45, and they had finally come up with some Speer Lawman ammunition. It was loaded with the standard weight 230 grain bullet, but this one was fully jacketed and had a special flat nose rather than the blunt rounded nose of standard military hardball. It was said to feed extremely reliably, and with the special bullet shape was as effective as one could hope, since the .45 ACP wasn’t a cartridge that relied on bullet expansion to do the job. The choice was far better than the hardball Randy had taken with him last time, and he bought two hundred and fifty rounds, which was all the store had at the moment.

He’d then visited the mall bookstore and purchased paper copies of a few books against any possible issues with the computers on the other side. He found a large volume on steam driven trains, a couple on older radio design, and several on power systems. He’d looked for books with lots of detail and good drawings. A lot of tasks would become much easier if a reasonable power system could be established on Gaea, even if only for their use at the College at first. Not everything he’d like to bring could easily be powered off batteries, and even those that could, the battery technology currently available there was marginal at best.

He also picked up a large attache case and a digital camera. Rather than get one of the small point and shoot cameras, he decided he wanted to take high quality photos, so he purchased a Nikon with several lenses. More weight, but something he thought would be worth it in the end.

When he’d returned home, Timmy and Shauna had pestered him about trying out the iPad, which he dug out and handed over to them. Having it checked out thoroughly made sense, and they could have fun doing it.

“
Load it up with whatever you think might be useful,” he’d told them, and they disappeared with the treasure.

“
Now I’m going to have to buy them one,” Janie had complained.

“
Get them each one,” Randy had offered. “I’m leaving all the gold. If for some reason I don’t get back, use it as you see fit. Gene said his dad can help with the gold I brought from Gaea, and the coins are good anywhere. We only exchanged half of them the other day.”

“
You really think there’s a chance you won’t be back?” she asked.

“
I’m more concerned that I’ll be stuck here. If I can go back to Gaea, returning here shouldn’t be a problem, although there might be a delay of a week or so. This trip I know it will be a couple of days before I return, since I need to show the right people on the other end how to use what I’m taking. I’m hoping that once this trip is over, the delay on either end will be short.”

“
Will you ever come back to stay?”

“
I don’t know. A lot depends on how the war turns out, and what Shyar wants to do. She really wanted to visit, but to be honest, I’m inclined to stay on there. I like it, and there’s so much I can do to help the place.”

“
What else can we do to get ready?” she’d finally asked.

“
I’ve run out of ideas. There are things I need to do and other things to buy, but I’ve already got more than I’ll be able to take this trip. It doesn’t make sense to go after more until I know this is going to work. The one thing I really want that I haven’t had any luck with is finding Oscar’s stuff. Gramps told me there was a journal and a number of items he’d personally seen, but didn’t know what to do with. From his description, I think I know what one item might be, and it has a lot of potential to be useful. I’m really hoping they will be in the safe.”

“
The man said he would be here in the morning. We’ll just have to wait.”

* * * *

The kids were off in school and the locksmith was hard at work on the safe. While they’d been waiting for the man to arrive, he and Janie had made yet another search of the study, but nothing had turned up that he hadn’t seen before. If there was anything to lead him to Oscar’s old possessions, it had to be in the safe. While he waited he scanned the iPad to see what had been added to it by Janie’s kids. There were over a hundred Apps, many of them games, and basically useless, but there were a few items he could see coming in handy. They’d also loaded it up with more than twenty movies, something he suspected Asari would be pleased to see. Timmy had insisted that he watch a couple of specific titles that were supposedly very good. Some of the titles had been chosen because he’d told them what Asari had liked from viewing the selection on his old iPhone.