Hurry
This too shall pass.
Osterley cocked her head in an inquisitive manner.
"What have you seen?"
Newkirk closed his eyes, his voice assuming the deep tones of prophecy.
"I see... spinning electric equipment in numbered rows. Spellcasters exchange fire at close range. One is ambushed by a hidden figure."
She nodded in confirmation.
"That's the Computing Machine Laboratory. The cryptologic bombes are kept on the ground floor."
The female agent brushed herself off daintily and walked away a few steps before looking back at the pair expectantly. Beckton looked at Newkirk, who shook his head in bemused refusal, and took her arm with only a minute hesitation.
Newkirk twisted a hand inside his pocket and unlocked a car ahead of them - a Cadillac. No sense travelling in anything less than the height of style.
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Comments (4 so far!)
HSAR
The US Naval Computing Machine Laboratory was heavily involved in the design, construction and operation of so-called cryptologic bombes, electric machines used to automate the brute-force analysis of the Enigma cipher used by the Axis forces during the Second World War.
The moving of physical objects, the art of telekinesis, is commonly practiced by apprentice magicians. This case is slightly more complex than the elementary challenges of levitating stones and pens, being a very small piece of metal out of sight inside a larger mass, but presented no undue problems to Newkirk. Whether this is a continued expression of his competency and power, or a sign that Newkirk has had previous experience with this use of his power is left to the reader's imagination.
- #3928 Posted 6 years ago
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HSAR
Operation Hurry was a supply operation conducted by the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. The island of Malta came under siege by Axis forces who wished to drive the British out and use the base for their own purposes. Despite a spirited defense, the island began to run low on supplies - particularly of fighter aircraft, vital for driving off enemy bombers.
However, this was not an easy task. The enemy fleet was blockading the sea routes, making a resupply by sea impossible. The fighter planes could not be flown in, either, for they were light aircraft and did not carry enough fuel to fly to Malta from nearby bases.
The plan, therefore, was to load the fighters (Hawker Hurricanes) onto an aircraft carrier. The ship would sail until it was close enough to Malta for the fighters to fly there, at which point they would be refueled and could be used to continue to defend Malta. The plan was a huge success, and would be repeated many times in what became known as "Club Runs".
- #3929 Posted 6 years ago
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Robert Quick
I am always impressed with the WWII background you've woven in as part of a meta tale. While I find certain parts of history fascinating, and WWII some of the most fascinating, the width and breadth of my knowledge is lacking. On an unrelated note have you had the chance to see Overlord?
- #3936 Posted 6 years ago
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Inspired by (sequel to):
A sudden and violent attack of nausea hit Osterley without warning, almost doubling her over, and by…
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HSAR
If master magicians can be likened to professors and Nobel prizewinners, masters of divination are perhaps best compared to chess players - dancing on the edge of possibility and probability. In this world, while divination is incomplete and often fragmentary (especially here, where given by a powerful but relatively untrained spellcaster), it is well known that a real work of precognition is inalterable - that is, it cannot be avoided either by action or inaction. The question of how to act on a given act of divination is as much the role of the spellcaster as was the original magic itself, and Byzantine schools of meta-philosophy have grown up around the practice over the years. Understandably, masters of divination are often highly vulnerable to mental illness.