Castle Dreams by John Dechancie

Author:John Dechancie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ereads.com
Published: 1991-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

MINE

In a subbasement of the administration building they found a tunnel that led into the mine.

There was a huge metal door at the end of the tunnel and it looked impregnable.

“More magic?” Sativa asked.

“Sure. Always worth a try, but remember what I said about repeating spells. It wears them out. There should be enough left of the first one. I gave it all I had."

“That's a vanadium steel door with a tamper-proof lock. Can't be picked or probed."

“Oh, I dunno. Seems rather straightforward to me."

She grunted. “The only thing straightforward is—” Her jaw suddenly dropped.

Grinning, Gene swung the heavy door open. “Spell's working pretty good. If you hit it right, everything happens for you."

Sativa was thunderstruck. “But that's impossible. The combination to that lock is thousands of digits long. You couldn't possibly..."

“It opened by itself."

“How?"

“Uh, quantum tunneling. Little electrons just suddenly deciding to cross a resistor, all in the proper sequence."

“But the chances of that happening by accident are—"

“Vanishingly small. I know. But that's what a facilitation spell does, see. It makes the remotely possible very probable. As long as there's a chance that it could happen, it will happen. But as I said, you gotta do it just right. It doesn't always work."

Sativa shut her mouth and said no more.

They entered and Gene shut the thick door behind them. They now found themselves in a crossing tunnel and Gene motioned to the left, as stacked equipment lay in the shadows to the other side.1

[1. The author has never been in a mine, either, but read several books about mining. There is not far from his residence an abandoned coal mine, which belches smoke and flame occasionally. This might also be a classical reference.]

The walls of the tunnel were metal, which led Gene to surmise that this was not the mine proper, but a passageway to the main shaft. He was proved right when they encountered a room like a hub, where several corridors converged, spokelike. At the center was a circular pillar into which was set a pair of wide doors looking not unlike those of a freight elevator.

“The glory-hole,” Gene said.

“You mean the main shaft? Probably not. It may go all the way down to the haulage floor, but it's a lift, a way of moving equipment from level to level. The mining techniques here are sophisticated. Don't assume this is some open-cut operation."

“Don't know a thing about mining, really. Was just guessing."

“Guess away,” Sativa said. “Meanwhile, we don't have a chance of getting into this lift."

“Maybe."

“The spell is still working?"

“Should be, but...” Gene thought it over. “Maybe I should goose it a little."

“You're the magician. Use your own judgment."

“Usually with me it's all judgment fled, and all that."

“I'm sorry."

“Never mind. Yeah, I think I'll kick it up a notch."

Gene rubbed his palms against his thighs, then shook his arms vigorously. He stepped his right foot back and assumed an odd stance, positioning his arms dramatically.

He gave Sativa a look. “Helps if you strike the proper wizardly pose."

“You look ridiculous.

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