The Neverchanging Story

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 6:

"Will you quite staring at that wand, Neutron?" Cindy complained. "It's been nearly ten minutes now. You're starting to creep me out. And we have more important things to think about." The four of them were sitting in a secluded alcove, waiting for the next class to begin.

Jimmy looked up in annoyance. "This is important, Vortex. Although I can't fully explain how, these wands appear to be a source of considerable power and are somehow activated by phonetic sequences and combinations. If I can figure out how they work I might be able to get us out of here."

"You really don't get it, do you?" said Cindy with a knowing half-smile on her face.

"I'm not sure I get it," responded Libby. "How was Sheen able to turn Miss Trelawney into a cat? Did the wand go off by accident or something?"

Cindy shook her head. "It wasn't the wand."

"If it wasn't the wand, then what was it?" asked Carl.

Jimmy gave up trying to figure out the wand. "Yeah, Vortex. If you're so smart about these things, why don't you explain it?"

Cindy sighed. "Look. We don't get magic from the wand. The wand gets the magic from us. That's because the magic is in us. The wand just…focuses it."

"Are you saying that people are magic?" Jimmy demanded.

"Well, some people are, like the people here. This whole school, and others like it, are to teach people how to use it." Cindy paused to collect her thoughts. "Okay. Let's see if I can get it across. Most people are nommies –"

"Mommies?" Carl asked.

"No, Carl, nommies. It's from the letters NOME, which stands for 'no obvious magical energy'. Nommies are people who don't have magical abilities. The people who do have magical abilities are wizards and witches, depending on whether they're male or female. There's no real difference between the two, although witches tend to be better at some things and wizards at others, kind of like girls tend to be better at math than boys. Now, Jimmy is a boy, so obviously he's a wizard."

"And," said Jimmy thoughtfully, "you're a girl, so clearly you're a witch."

"Exactly!" said Cindy triumphantly. Then she glared at Jimmy. "Hey, wait a minute…"

"You were talking about types of magical people," Jimmy pointed out.

"Right," Cindy answered, giving Jimmy a suspicious look. "So there are nommies, wizards, and witches. But there are also tweeners, who sometimes have magical abilities and sometimes don't. No one knows exactly what causes it, but tweeners can be the most powerful of the lot. It's like their magical energies build up and get used up over and over again like a rechargeable battery they can't fully control. The stories kind of hint that Lord Folderol is a tweener."

"And Lord Folderol is that nasty dude you mentioned before," said Libby. "The one we don't want to mess with."

"Yes," agreed Cindy. "But for some reason he has it in for Hognsorts in general and Larry Fodder in particular. Larry has more magical energy than most and seems to be some major threat to Folderol so he's tried to stop him by various means, including recruiting some toadies in this school. That boy who made that nasty comment to Jimmy when we entered the classroom – Cadwallader Fenboil – is one of them. And Smegleigh might be another. Jimmy has to watch out for both of them."

"I can't believe that Sheen would do anything bad," said Carl. "He's Jimmy's friend."

"Maybe," Libby replied. "But I noticed that kid saying something to Sheen right before he left. I couldn't hear what it was, though."

"I couldn't either," said Jimmy. "But whatever it was I know Sheen wouldn't do anything wrong. I just don't understand why Vox made Sheen a bad guy in the story."

"Why not?" asked Cindy. "It made you the wizard hero of the story and you think that there's no such thing as magic. Maybe Vox just messed up."

"That voice I heard in the class sounded like Vox," Carl pointed out. "What was up with that?"

"Yeah, Neutron, what was Vox talking about?" Cindy queried. "And why did everything stop like it did?"

Jimmy thought about it. "Well, Exception 4 just means that there was a bad or unknown reference in the hyperthread running in the Virtual Instantiator. In this case it was trying to resolve the reference 'Sheen' with the database. Since there is no 'Sheen' in the book, the hyperthread stalled which generated an exception and forced a process restart."

"But we use each other's names all the time," Libby pointed out. "And we don't freeze up like everyone else did."

"You're right, Libby," Jimmy answered. "But we aren't processes in the machine. We're real people experiencing simulations generated by the Virtual Instantiator. We all have free will and can interact freely with each other however we want to because the Virtual Instantiator has no control over us. But when we interact with the others in here that the Instantiator has to evaluate what we do and generate responses and reactions based on what happens in the book."

The others nodded at that. "So basically whatever happens in here isn't real and won't have any effect after we leave," commented Cindy, but Jimmy said nothing. "Right, Neutron?" she pressed.

"I don't know," Jimmy admitted. "It depends on if what happens here is experiential or purely instantiated."

"Exponential or what?" asked Carl, confused.

"I mean, it depends on whether what happens to us is something we actually go through, or is just a false memory put into our heads. It's kind of like the difference between getting a video game power-up by earning the points or getting it with a cheat code. If we hurt ourselves in here, for example, it might just be something we only remember happening to us. But if we're actually experiencing it, we might actually be hurt when this is over."

"That doesn't sound good," said Libby. "I sure hope that the Headmaster in this school doesn't believe in corporal punishment for what Sheen did."

"Where is Sheen?" asked Jimmy. "It's been nearly half an hour now. Do you think he's been expelled?"

"It's possible," admitted Cindy. "Most boarding schools are rather strict, and Smegleigh has been a problem at the school in the past." She had scarcely finished speaking when a bell began clanging loudly. Raising here voice to be heard above the din, she shouted, "It looks like it's time for the next class."

"I don't know," said Carl. "That doesn't sound like a class bell to me."

Jimmy stood up. "I think Carl is right. That sounds more like an alarm to me." His brow wrinkled. "Do they have fire drills here?"

"Quiet!" ordered Cindy. "I think I hear someone shouting something."

The four of them strained their ears trying to hear above the clanging. At first the shouting was too faint to make out, but gradually the person shouting either drew nearer or else the words were passed along by others. After a few minutes there was no doubt as to what was being shouted and the words caused them all to freeze in confusion.

"The Tureen of Turin has been stolen!"

End of Part 6.