Alliance for Antrim Read online

  Chapter 9

 

  Hiroshima

  Anson expected to see TV-like pictures on the computer monitor. When he saw Nevin deftly tap his fingers on something called a keyboard, followed by the appearance of many words on the glass, he was awed beyond belief that a small box could house so much writing.

  “This is a library reference board,” Nevin explained. “I am going to use it to search for some relevant publications for us. This should only take a few minutes.” Nevin resumed his keyboard entry.

  Anson tried to follow the writing as it appeared on the monitor until something distracted him. A smile ensued as he perceived something he must have been unconsciously waiting for. A faint sensation of mental flux emanated from Nevin as he tapped away on the keyboard—similar to the psychic energy which surrounded spellcasting, although much less in intensity. Anson nodded to himself with satisfaction.

  After a few minutes of data entry, Nevin spun around in his chair and with a flourish made one last push with his finger on the keyboard. As line after line appeared on the screen, Anson tried to read them. His head bobbed up and down, back and forth as the lines scrolled quickly on the screen. He marveled, “This is truly the work of great magery to cause written words to appear by such simple efforts—without any use of a writing implement! You say you are not a mage, Sir Nevin, but such acts of wizardry could not be believed without seeing.”

  Nevin did not respond to the compliment; instead, he had Anson press one of the computer’s function keys. Instantly, another nearby box started emitting shrill whirring sounds and a single sheet of paper glided into an attached tray. The stranger from Antrim could not comprehend what he had done.

  “That’s the printer you hear,” Nevin explained. “It will give us a written list of references to take to the library.” Nevin showed the page it to Anson. “This ought to be sufficient.”

  Anson looked with admiration at the printed page, impressed that it took almost no time and effort to produce compared with the handwritten and crudely printed work he had seen before. This method of writing and printing could solve one of the major problems that plagued some of the old spellbooks transcribed by hand; scribes sometimes reproduced written work as they thought it should be.

  Nevin interrupted Anson’s admiration of the printout. “Come on. Let’s go to the library.”