Geron Kees

No hints on the deceased! Sometimes, going head-to-head with a foe on an equal knowledge basis is impossible. Or, let's say an equal experience basis. Suppose you had an opponent that was amazingly good with a certain weapon, say a sword, and the more you learned about how to use a sword, the more you realized that you might never catch up in skill in enough time to matter. The other fellow has the experience. Then, suppose again, that you found ways to modify your own sword in ways that, slowly but surely, began to counterbalance your opponent's experience? You might eventually arrive at a point where the other fellow's skill and experience with the sword was leveled out by the fact that your sword was now so much better than his!

I also feel that societies of the future will be even better at keeping track of things than we are now. No train moves in this country already without some monitoring system knowing where it is. Air transport is the same, and ships at sea. At the rate we're going, personal transportation - cars and trucks - will be next. But someone must be, firstly, aware of these tracking systems and how they work and what the information they produce means; and, secondly, someone has to be watching at all times, or, if not, be in some way able to be notified when something happens. If someone from the middle ages walked into such a monitoring center now, it would be some time before he or she understood the meaning of it all, if EVER. So everything that happens in the forest may well be tracked. But that information will only be productive to someone who know how to access ALL of it.

Thank you. But imagination feeds imagination. I have always felt that, to be a writer of imaginative tales, one has to first have spent some time reading them.

There are a number of power sources predicted early, once viewed as science fiction, and now being looked at more seriously. Not the first being Star Trek's matter/antimatter power source. There is vacuum energy, or zero-point energy (which is everywhere); space-based solar; large-scale ocean thermal; biopholtaic power, and others. Fusion looks better all the time. But we aren't there yet. But there are also forms of power-generation we use today, that, by their very practical nature, will have a future with us for some time to come.

They ascended the stairs quietly, Irik pausing to sniff the way ahead at each landing. There were six landings in all, before they were deposited in a short hallway. There they found the scene of a battle. Or, more properly, a murder. Jamie counted five...six...seven bodies. Each had been clothed in a brown robe with a hood covering the head. The figures were human in shape, but somehow taller and thinner than he would normally associate with the human form. All were now scorched, as t

Only time will tell!

Haha. You should be writing stories!

Any sort of fusion power plant we can imagine now would not last without human maintenance. But a mature, self-replicating, self-repairing technology (like one that could last several thousand years without hands at the controls, maybe?) could probably keep a fusion source going fairly easily. But I also think a more mature technology than what we possess today would still be like our own, in that it would take advantage of whatever potential sources of power were available. So, perhaps more than one source in use in the forest?

Of course I can't answer that!

James is a good guy. Maybe too much sugar today? I complete my stories before I post them. That's the only reason I can post a chapter each day. But they can take a month or two to write, so that means that once a new story is posted, you won't hear from me again for another month or two, until the next one is complete. No mystery there.

I can never say too much without spoiling things. But all of you mention significant ideas that I hope will be addressed as the story continues.

Um, being applauded by Ross is NOT a compliment!

For me, a story that causes me to speculate and wonder has always been the best kind. So I deliberately try for that feeling in the stories I write. There isn't enough sense of wonder in the world to go around any more. So we have to make up our own.

I know Jamie would like to think that the mages in Methuwan were nervous at his approach. But I don't think he's there just yet!

I'm happy it's being enjoyed.

Me, I always liked the idea of having to wait a little to see what happens next. Just so long as it's a little wait!

Ah. But Garvin's magick of speed is not one that can be taught. There is no lock to tie. It is simply a part of his knack. So the others will not get this advantage. We have to be a little reasonable here! And, just because the guys didn't want to contemplate the past at that time, doesn't mean it won't all be revealed as the story progresses. 😁

I considered the moderate pacing of the story necessary, with the guys learning things as they went along, but not all at a time. Even so, their learning processes are accelerated over what might be deemed reasonable and normal in the real world. Fortunately, this is NOT the real world. That's the wonder of imagination, though, isn't it?

I have always kind of liked cliffhangers, so long as they don't keep me wondering for more than a short period of time.

"Ah. There you are." Flitch gazed down upon their group with his yellow eyes. "So many this time. This will prove interesting, I am certain." Jamie returned the pearl that Flitch had given him to the hidden pocket of his clothing, and secured the flap. He had used it to let the nether being know that they were there, as Flitch had instructed him to do if he was not already present when Jamie arrived. The reaction had been almost instantaneous, with Jamie holding up the pearl and calling the

Yeah. That's a nice way to look at it!

You never will. Just the way you talk about that time ensures that you won't!

Cameras really are perfect for catching those moments we'd love to remember in detail, but which tend to fade with time. Our house always had cameras in it while I was growing up. I used to hide when my parents would haul them out! But now...I'm glad for the memories.

Here, there be dragons. Where have I heard that before?

😄