by Tom Larcombe
Merlin simply shrugged.
“They absorbed sunlight to charge themselves, now I am just having them release it. So long as they are placed in the sun for several hours each day, they can continue to provide this light indefinitely. I made two of them instead of just one so we could each take one to our bedchamber. Simply cover it with a cloth when you want darkness.”
Gunter shook his head at the easy dismissal of what he considered miraculous.
“It was forcefully pointed out to me today that you're unaware of many of the dangers you might encounter,” Gunter said.
“Such as?”
Gunter held up a small metal object, slightly larger than a man's hand.
“This is a pistol, commonly known as a gun or a firearm...”
The explanation of potential dangers took up a good deal of the evening. When Gunter finished explaining what Merlin might encounter, the two men were ready for bed.
* * *
Chapter 3
Merlin spent the next pair of days alternating between soaking up the sunlight, working on wounded men, spending time with the doctor, and trying to learn more about the common things going on around him. He learned a bit more about the different types of electricity by working with the man who maintained the trucks. It was enough to develop an inkling of his problem with the other type used in the buildings.
In the afternoon of the second day Gunter came out of the radio shack and approached Merlin.
“We'll be leaving in the morning. They're sending an airplane to a nearby airfield to pick you up and deliver you to a research facility.”
“A research facility?”
“Yes, they perform occult research there, including magic of the type that you wield. They wish to ask questions and see if you can teach it to others.”
“Of course I can teach it to others. If they have suitable students I can get them started on the right path. Anything more than the basics differs in practice from person to person though so they will need to learn their own way after a while. It is rare to find someone that can learn their teacher's methods exactly, it has only happened to me once.”
“So you were able to teach that student everything you knew?”
“To my dismay, I could not. She was my student when I went into the sleep I just awoke from. But I believe that it would have been possible to do so.”
“Well, the basics are a good start for anyone, no? We'll be leaving this compound just after breakfast tomorrow.”
“I'll be ready. I've nothing to pack but my crystals and all save the one you use for lighting are with me at all times.”
* * *
The next morning saw Merlin sliding into the front of the truck between the driver and Gunter again. The same ten men were in back. The truck roared to life and pulled out of the compound.
Merlin spent the drive considering what the mechanic told him. The direct current electricity the truck used was most similar to the lightnings of a thunderstorm. The alternating current electricity in the buildings was far more similar to the ocean tides, flowing and ebbing constantly. Each time that type ebbed it drained a tiny bit of his own energies away as well. He could feel the electricity in the truck. He was once struck by lightning when out in a storm and the feel of this power was similar now that he knew what to look for.
After a drive of less than an hour they arrived at an area that was wide open. A pair of buildings flanked a massive stretch of cleared, level ground.
At one end of the clear ground rested another machine, several times the size of the truck. Gunter exited the cab and walked around back. As Merlin followed he overheard him giving orders to the men with him.
“The driver will take you all back to the assembly point. From there the whole unit will travel to barracks. Everyone will have one week of leave since our superiors are very happy with us for successfully completing this last mission. We're sure to receive new orders soon after that so enjoy yourselves while you can.”
Gunter turned to Merlin.
“Follow me please Merlin.”
He led the way to the larger machine. Merlin heard the truck start up and drive off as they reached their destination. When they reached the machine Gunter turned to Merlin.
“This is an airplane. It's used to fly men through the sky.”
The word was in Merlin's newly acquired vocabulary but there was nothing to connect it with until now.
“So, this allows men to fly? I've flown many times on the thoughts of the birds, seen through their eyes as they did. But this machine allows men to do it on their own?”
“With a bit of help it does. But unless you know how to fly one yourself you'll need a pilot,” a man said, coming around the front of the plane.
“Johann, good to see you,” Gunter said.
“You've found another stray, have you?” Johann replied.
“We certainly have not. This one was on orders and is no stray.”
Johann turned and gave Merlin the once over.
“So, you are the pilot of this machine?” Merlin asked.
“Yes, I am.”
“How, exactly, does it allow flight?”
“How long do you have? In simplest terms, air passing over and under the wing creates a pocket of lift which allows the craft to fly.”
“Ah, let me see. So, as a bird cups its wings and flaps to capture the air and force it down to create lift, the plane does so with its wings. But its wings don't move, so what causes the air to move across the wing...”
Merlin remembered the breeze from the windows of the truck.
“Speed, is that it? When the airplane moves quickly enough, its speed causes the air to move past the wing and create lift?”
Johann stared at Merlin.
“In simple terms, yes,” Johann said.
He turned to Gunter.
“Who is this one?”
“Merlin,” Gunter said.
“Merlin... not that Merlin?”
“Yes, that Merlin. Thirteen hundred years of sleep and only awoken several days past.”
Johann turned back to Merlin.
“Merlin, I'm very pleased to meet you. I'm Johann.”
Johann glanced back at Gunter.
“So, it looks like you've finally found the goose instead of all those malformed goslings you've been asking me to fly.”
“Some of those goslings, as you call them, have been well received at the research center. But yes, Merlin is on an entirely different scale than anyone we've found yet.”
“So Merlin, you've a yearning to fly you say?” Johann asked.
“I'm looking forward to it. The sight of a bird is far different from that of a man. I'll be happy to view flight with my own eyes.”
“Come on aboard then. It will be slightly cramped, the Junkers JU 88 is not normally designed for passengers, but we've modified ours a little.”
Merlin followed Johann into the aircraft.
“You can see the two seats in the middle there, those are for Gunter and you. Once we're in the air, you can unstrap yourself and come up front to see what flying in an airplane looks like.”
“Thank you, Johann.”
Gunter helped Merlin strap himself into the seat and then seated himself. Merlin felt a steady vibration in the wall of the plane after the engines started. Before long the craft began to move.
It seems a clumsy beast, Merlin thought as the plane bumped down the runway. Once in the air he revised his thoughts. But in the air it's utterly smooth, it's only clumsy on the ground. I wonder how fast it travels and how well it maneuvers?
The plane leveled out and Merlin unbuckled himself. He had to crouch to move about but made his way to the front of the plane and stopped, enthralled by the view.
“Like what you see, do you?” Johann asked.
“Yes,” Merlin said softly.
“I wouldn't do anything else even if they gave me a choice. I love flying. I especially love the job they have me doing. Sometimes it's transport,
sometimes bombing runs, sometimes other things pilots don't normally get to do. I even have my own guns I can control from the cockpit, which is normally something only fighter pilots get.”
Merlin simply stared out the front of the plane, a childlike wonder welling up in him. His personal energies swirled and strengthened as they did when strong emotions took him.
Several minutes later his reverie was interrupted by a livid stream of invective from Johann.
“Damned Spitfires! How'd they find us? How do they know?”
Gunter answered from behind Merlin.
“You think the Allies don't have an occult service as well? For some time I've feared that communications which should be secure have been intercepted. This is another data point for it. Every time I find something and report it in, they seem to show up.”
“Wonderful, but that doesn't help us now. They're closing and I'm already at max throttle.”
“What is the problem?” Merlin asked.
“Fighter airplanes are closing on us. They'll shoot us to shreds and cause us to crash. We'll take some with us, we aren't defenseless, but there are five of them and one of us.”
“Do they shoot the same ammunition as the hand held weapons?”
Johann nodded his head.
“Yes, they're similar but larger and move faster.”
“Where is the most likely point they will fire on this airplane?”
“Why are you asking these questions? I need to figure out what to do.”
“It sounded as though you'd resigned yourself to inaction, to being unable to help. You can give me information so that I can help.”
“I could fly evasive maneuvers but with five of them, they'd just spread out and it wouldn't matter.”
“See, inaction. Now where will they fire on us. I can, perhaps, shield that section.”
“Coming in at the angle they are, they'll either fire at the cockpit, which is this area up front, or the fuel tanks at the rear of the wings.”
“Gunter, would you move forward a little?” Merlin said.
“What are you doing Merlin?” Gunter asked, unbuckling his seat belt and moving forward in the plane.”
“Well, it seems that we're about to be fired upon. I may be able to shield us somewhat but you were beyond the point I would be shielding. I thought you might like the protection.”
“Yes, I would,” Gunter said.
“There are other crew aboard but they'll be manning their stations so they can't move. If you're going to do something, you've got about fifteen seconds left to do it. They're coming in from the left, as you face front, and slightly above us,” Johann said.
“Johann, I should warn you. There will be an impermeable plane of hardened air on the upper left side in a moment. It may affect how the airplane flies. Setting it in place....”
Merlin dropped into a trance since he'd need to concentrate fully to do what he was attempting. Just this morning he wouldn't have attempted it at all, but his joy at flying and seeing the land spread out below him boosted his energy levels.
“Now,” Merlin said in a monotone.
He moved his awareness beyond the skin of the airplane and noted the smaller airplanes closing in on them. He placed a stronger version of his hardened air shield between them and this plane. The shield was attached to the airplane in two places and when it formed, he knew it was attached firmly. The airplane bucked and shook as Johann fought for control.
Johann managed to steady the plane out in a few seconds. Then the Spitfires began shooting. Bullets ripped through the tail assembly, causing the airplane to shake and shudder again. When the line of bullets traveling up the fuselage reached a point several feet behind the wing, the impacts continued but no more holes appeared in the plane.
Merlin shuddered with each impact though. He would have fallen but Gunter steadied him, holding him in place. Moments later the attack run was over. Three Spitfires streaked off past the JU 88, visible through the cockpit windshield.
“I don't know what you did Merlin but she's wallowing in the air like a pig in mud. But at least she's still in the air,” Johann said.
Merlin released the shield. He shuddered and sagged into Gunter's support. The roar of the air entering the plane through the bullet holes in the fuselage caused them to shout to be heard.
“That's better. I can still feel the damage in the tail but she's mostly solid, controls are a touch sluggish is all. They're turning around for a return pass though. We shot down two on the first pass so there are only three remaining. Can you do that again?”
Merlin assessed his condition. He was exhausted, all his personal energies drained.
Merlin's hand went to his beard, tugging gently.
“Not without help, but I have a theory. It's a gamble as to whether it will work or not.”
“The Spitfires are more maneuverable than us and still outnumber us three to one. A gamble is better than the straight odds.”
“Does this airplane create more of the electricity than it needs? Can I tap some of it?”
“Can you what? Yes, it makes more than it needs.”
“Are the levels in it dangerous to people?”
“Yes, they are. What are you going to do?”
“The electricity created by the airplane is similar to that of lightning. I can tap it, use it. At least I think I can. I used the power from a bolt of lightning once, not all of it but some at least. I need to put a buffer between the energy and myself though.”
Merlin pulled a mostly uncharged crystal from his pouch. Then he looked for visible wiring in the plane. He noted the passage of the DC current through it as he considered his plan. The crystal went against the wire and he wrapped his hand around both. Then he opened a magical conduit between the electricity and the crystal and willed the energy through it.
His hand screamed as though he were holding it in boiling oil but usable energy flowed into him, replenishing what he just used and more. His thoughts flickered to the outside of the plane and, as the Spitfires approached, he formed another shield anchored to the side they were attacking.
The plane bucked again, settling down quicker than it did the previous time. Merlin felt his mind riddled by the bullets striking the shield but none of them passed through. As the Spitfires passed over his airplane, Merlin dropped out of trance and sagged to the floor. Gunter's hands were at his own face and no longer supporting Merlin.
“We got another one on that pass. But damn it! I had one in my sights and the tracers showed my bullets stopping about ten feet away from our plane.”
As he sank into darkness Merlin realized that he didn't warn Johann that the shield worked both ways.
* * *
A throbbing pain drew Merlin from his comforting blackness. His hand was in agony and he needed to do something about it.
His eyes flickered open to find Gunter working on his hand.
“No, wait,” Merlin croaked.
Gunter stopped, more gauze at the ready. Merlin's hand was already partially bandaged.
“Please unwrap it. I need to see the damage and start it healing correctly.”
The scorched, blackened palm and fingers that capped his arm were not encouraging. He knew that he could keep infection from it and that it would heal. It just might take a week or more.
I'm spoiled. Others would be worrying if they could keep their hand. I'm just worried that it will be damaged for a week, he thought.
“I will ask you to bandage it in a moment,” Merlin said.
He sent his awareness into the hand and used his power to force out several foreign bits of matter from the wound. He made sure the blood flow would continue into the burned area and then drew himself back out.
“Please bandage it now.”
Merlin looked at Gunter more closely. Several bloody spots marred Gunter's face.
“What happened to you?” Merlin asked.
“Nothing much. The crystal you held in your hand shattered, sent little shards fly
ing everywhere. A few of them got me in the face. I pulled some out of you also, most of them from your hand.”
Ah, that explains the foreign material, thought Merlin.
“Then once again I owe you thanks,” Merlin said.
“Oh no, we'd be a pile of burning wreckage on the ground right now if not for you. At least that's what Johann says and I trust his word on anything regarding flying. The plane is shot up, the rear half at least, but he assures me that he can still reach our destination.”
“We should arrive in another fifteen minutes,” Johann added from the cockpit.
“As he said. How are you feeling? You look a bit... singed.”
Merlin took a moment to catalog his aches and pains.
“I feel a bit singed. My head aches and my mind hurts. I don't notice those so much because of the hand though.”
“I've never seen anything like that. Your entire body lit up like a light bulb. I was afraid you were going to burst into flame,” Gunter said.
“I've never felt anything like that before. I hope never to do so again either.”
* * *
Chapter 4
Merlin and Gunter went back to their seats at Johann's request.
“Strap yourselves in well. This could be a rough landing. I don't know what kind of damage we've taken,” Johann said.
The landing was rough, but controlled. After the steady stream of invective coming from the cockpit throughout the landing, Merlin was simply happy to be on the ground and not moving.
“We're down. You can unbuckle now,” Johann said.
Merlin required Gunter's help with the buckles since his burnt hand was useless for the task.
Johann was the first one out, followed closely by Merlin. Gunter and the other two crew members followed along behind.
By the time Gunter and Merlin oriented themselves, Johann was off talking to some of the on-ground support crew. He was waving his hands and gesticulating wildly.