New York City, 2007

“Michael, are you ready to go?” Jennifer yelled from the living room.

I called back, “Just a moment.”

I was staring at my reflection in the mirror while arguing with a tie. Almost five decades of life experience and I still couldn’t make the stupid thing lay correctly. It had been almost a decade now since the day my memories returned to me, and I had to admit that I was starting to resemble my old self a bit more. I stood a couple inches over six feet tall, and while my body was still filling out it resembled my old lean muscled frame due to the constant training I had been engaged in. My dark hair showed touches of the auburn locks my mother had, though only in the right lighting. Dark blue eyes stared back at me as I took in the navy blue suit my foster family had asked me to wear for tonight's event.

A knock came on the door before it opened to show Sean in his own black suit with a midnight blue tie laying neatly on his muscled frame. His age and active younger years were catching up with him as the grey was now more prominent in his hair. He actually reminded me of a slightly bulkier Mark Harmon, especially when he had that exasperated expression on his face.

“Still can’t get it to cooperate?”

“I don’t get why you two keep making me wear a tie,” I whined.

“You were the one who joined the ROTC program in high school, dress uniforms include a tie, as such you will need to wear one in the future,” he explained.

I had forgotten that the dress uniform was different from my memories, so I once more began the epic battle against the foe named Windsor. After two more attempts I managed to get it to lay flat and look like it was supposed to before I turned back to the man who had been a father to me for the past decade, “Where are we going that needs us to put on the monkey suits?”

“Where is TECHSPO, and before you ask why; Jen wouldn’t say,” he said.

TECHSPO was an interesting answer as it was one of the larger technology expos on the east coast. While I had been studying engineering and programming I knew that when I graduated I would be going to further schooling with the US Army due to the ROTC program. I wasn’t planning on being one of the behind a desk officers either if I had my way with it.

I grabbed the coat off the back of my chair and slid it on while I said, “Well let’s go see what your wife has planned for us.”

He growled a bit at the jibe, but I just smiled as I still found it amusing after all these years. It was one of the few pokes at the two I would make, though I did keep it out of the public now. The funniest part about it was I didn’t have to make any comments in public, everyone assumed they were married when we went out on a family outing.

The crowd at the expo was a sight to behold, and I kept a careful watch on my little sister to make sure she was safe. She had started growing into a beautiful young woman with bright green eyes and an intentionally messy head of strawberry blonde hair. Having turned fourteen last month the boys at school were already beginning to circle her, but a few pointed conversations with the more aggressive sorts had informed the lot of them that she would be treated as a lady or they would have to deal with me if her parents didn’t reach them first.

We passed a few of the demonstrations which seemed interesting, including the Apple and Android displays for the new smartphones. My interest was more on the Kindle display as having a portable library again was a nice dream. We didn’t stop at any of these interesting displays though, instead Jennifer led us through to a stage that was being organized for a demonstration that was expected to start in about five minutes. The company’s name was listed as Adept Technologies. I froze and grabbed Jen’s arm and gave her a question filled look. She just gave me a knowing smile that answered the question I had.

It looked like someone else had figured out how to use arrays, and actually created a company based on the idea. I leaned in and asked, “How?”

She had to lean close to my ear to be heard due to all of the background noise in the crowd, “One of AEGIS’s people has been working on it over the past few years. One of their former prisoners that helped them with the testing went on to start experimenting on her own after she was released, since no one would hire her due to being a former criminal. Cole actually asked me to help her out since he agreed that she got handed the short end of the stick with her sentencing. Most prisons would have had her in minimum security or out on parole after good behaviour after a year, instead she had to serve almost two years after having the book thrown at her by a frightened judge.”

“What kind of help did you give her?” I asked.

“Helped her with the legal paperwork of setting up a business and pointed out a lot of old stories about magic used symbols to represent things. She took it and ran with it while a college friend of hers started setting up the marketing aspect for when they had the product. I am their primary legal counsel now in addition to being on retainer for AEGIS, which helped me set up her first contract which was a type of body armor for law enforcement that wasn’t as bulky as the standard vest,” she explained.

I gave her a small smile and asked, “Are you trying to change my career prospects?”

“No, I know a lost cause when I see one. Doesn’t mean I can’t introduce you and Rhiannon to them. I actually wanted to ask if I could share your research with them, it might go a ways to helping make this new magitech commonplace,” she said.

“I’m fine with it, but let Rhi have the credit for the innovations. I did the research and the carvings, but half the ideas for our experiments came from her,” I said.

I could sense the amusement in her voice as she replied, “You can throw your sister under the bus after the demonstration. We have a backstage meeting with Ashley and Nicole along with the company head of R&D.”

I couldn’t contradict her statement because the lights dimmed and a voice came through the speakers surrounding the stage. “Ladies and gentleman, Arthur C. Clarke said sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

A short woman, maybe about five foot two inches, with dark hair walked out onto stage illuminated by a spotlight. She wasn’t carrying a microphone of any type but her voice echoed from the speakers, “Some people have suggested the corollary, that sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from science. Since World War Two there have been rumors of people exhibiting strange abilities that could only be explained as magic, but what if it wasn’t some mystical ability? What if it was simply a science we hadn’t managed to study yet. Some of the first scientific discoveries were found completely by accident, but could be reproduced with the same conditions, and in legend there were tales of wizards training apprentices to wield power that was thought to alter reality around them. Now before you break out the rotten fruit and chase me off the stage for being a crazy lady with enough money to get my own way let me show you something.”

With that a pair of stage hands wheeled out a ballistic dummy that was clothed in a simple black shirt. I couldn’t tell much about either the dummy or the shirt from the distance we were at but Rhianon stood on her toes and whispered in my ear, “There are glyphs stitched into the fabric, and it feels like it is a double layer.”

Ahh, that explained it. The lady on stage asked for five volunteers from the crowd to come up and examine the dummy and cloth. None of them could find anything out of the ordinary except that it was a heavier shirt about the same thickness as most polo shirts. When the presenter spoke again it was to introduce a man in a New York Police Department uniform as the stage hands moved a set of barricades around the dummy, “My guest for this demonstration is Officer Mark Sanchez with the NYPD 17th precinct. Now as a warning this may be a bit loud.”

The officer stepped up to the newly constructed test range and shot the ballistic dummy three times. One of the monitors next to the stage showed a close up of the dummy that showed the impacts hitting the shirt with little puffs of dust before the ting sound of the metal falling to hit the stage. Murmurs filled the crowd as everyone watched as the shirt was pulled off the dummy to show no damage was caused, not even the expected bruising that even the most well made bullet proof vests caused.

The presenter continued, “And that is just one example of what many call magic. Now, I see a large number of hands out there wanting to ask questions. Sorry folks but I will have to pass the buck for your questions a bit. Please meet our head of research and development, Edward Schmidt.”

A middle aged man with light brown hair, glasses, and a stern look came out onto the stage before he gave a small, but genuine, smile to the lady who introduced him. Before he started speaking though Jennifer caught my arm and led our family away from the crowd and towards the backstage area.

When we reached backstage, after a short conversation with the event security, we found the pixieish woman smiling happily with an average height ebony skinned woman who had her hair up in a no nonsense bun and was looking down at a clipboard. The shorter woman noticed us and called out, “Jennifer, aren’t you looking fancy tonight.”

“Ashley, good to see you again. Nicole, keeping her on track or are you trying to decide which mental hospital to park her in?” my foster mother said with a teasing tone to her voice.

The ebony skinned woman, Nicole, looked at our group and let a smile drift across her face as she said, “I’m afraid all the ones I’ve contacted have said she would be too much trouble, so for my sins I must keep her on a short leash.”

My little sister, bless her black heart, piped up, “And to think, some places require you to pay extra for that.”

Sean groaned and Jennifer snapped to face her daughter and said, “Rhiannon Siobhan Murdock, explain to me why you believe that is an appropriate statement for polite company.”

I watched as both the people we were visiting struggled to contain laughter before I did my big brother duty and drew Jen’s ire to myself, “It probably isn’t, but considering both of them look like they are about to pee themselves due to holding back laughter I don’t think they mind. I know Sean isn’t polite company, so seems like it is just you.”

Her gaze locked onto me like gun turrets, but I noticed a twitch in her cheek as she fought to keep a smile off her face. I gave her a jaunty smile and turned back to the two ladies and said, “Well she has already introduced her daughter, I’m Michael Shepard and the ox trying to decide if he should be the stern father is Sean Murdock.”

While I introduced the others of our group I tried to figure out why the noise of the crowd out by the stage was muted so much backstage. It took a minute of searching before I noticed a set of placards hanging strategically around the area we were standing in before I got it. I pointed them out and said, “Clever work.”

The shorter of the two women, whom I was assuming was Ashley, said, “Good eye, I take it you’ve seen something like it before?”

“I’ve done enough research for the little troublemaker to recognize hieroglyphs that are being used to mark a territory. I’m guessing you have them linked somehow to a primary array that indicates the muffling effect?” I said.

Nicole looked at Jen sharply and said, “When you told us you knew someone else that was researching permanent effects based on runes, you never mentioned it was a couple of kids. What if they got hurt?”

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head and said, “There were a couple of accidents. That was how she found out about our research.”

Rhiannon was looking at me curiously and I gave her a short shake of my head. When she nodded I felt safe in assuming that she understood I didn’t want to share the fact that I also had a Talent. It did lead to a question that I asked, “Have you figured out how to create an array without needing an adept to kick start it?”

Ashley opened her mouth to answer before Nicole stopped her and said, “I’m afraid that is proprietary information, I don’t think Doctor Schmidt would appreciate us divulging that knowledge without his agreement.”

It was kind of amusing the pout that formed on Ashley’s face before we engaged in a bit of small talk while we waited for the gentleman to finish his stage show. When he joined us he looked exhausted and I asked, “Did the crowd break out the thumbscrews or settle for a rack?”

I could see humour dancing in his eyes and got the sense that this man wasn’t as stuck up as most of those who had a doctorate, and he replied, “I’m afraid it was the full course. Thumbscrews, waterboarding, and even an iron maiden. Everyone wants to know how, but I think we want to get established in the market before we allow too many to steal our ideas.”

“Which is perfectly reasonable, but you know there are going to be questions from those people who will not let up until you explain it,” Sean said.

“Indeed, chances are we should expect a government representative to show up in the next few days saying we have to share all our information with them or it will be confiscated under some national security red tape,” he said with an angry glance.

My foster mother gave him a shark-like smile as she said, “Not if I have anything to say about it. Technically your company deals in magical research, which means that for the time being it gets kicked up to United Nations jurisdiction. That means AEGIS, and the United Nations standards are to prevent abuse of power. Legally that means they can’t demand anything from you that won’t get shared with everybody, so the power hungry idiots can get bent.”

Ashley spoke up then, “Oh by the way, Edward please meet Jennifer DiAngelo the company’s legal counsel. Jennifer, this is Edward Schmidt, doctorate in mechanical and structural engineering.”

“Also an adept with a minor Talent for psychometry,” he said.

Rhiannon asked, “That’s object reading right? Seeing the history of an object and sometimes how it was used?”

“That is the popular understanding my dear, but it is the closest example of what I can do. What I actually do is read the object itself, which lets me see the flaws and structure it is composed of. I can hold an alloy and give you the metallurgical breakdown of how it is formed, but I couldn’t tell you where it came from,” Schmidt said.

“Sounds useful for an engineer,” I said.

“Indeed. For our purpose though it lets me see how the energy flows through the various objects we have crafted arrays from and identify which materials are more suited for them,” he answered.

“So should I call you Ollivander then? Since you can pick the best material combination?” Rhiannon asked with a guileless smile.

The good doctor looked confused as I had to cough to cover my laughter. Jennifer took pity on the doctor and explained, “She’s referencing the wand maker from the Harry Potter books.”

“Ahh, no my dear I’m afraid I wouldn’t answer to that. You may call me Edward however,” he said with a short bow.

Ashley was still bouncing in excitement as she said, “Ed, Ed, Ed they have been doing experiments with arrays too. They are who Jen got the tips from.”

“Ashley, did you get into my coffee stash while I was on stage?” Schmidt asked.

“Nope, I’m just excited. They wanted to know if we figured out a way to have non-adepts make an array,” she explained.

With a glance to us he asked, “And why would they want to know that? I’m assuming that if they have been experimenting then at least one of them is an adept.”

Rhiannon raised her hand and said, “That would be me. Tall, dark, and nerdy here is the bookworm who figured out how to put them together. I usually come up with ideas to try.”

Nicole spoke up, “We trust Jen, but didn’t want to share your discovery without asking you first.”

“Hrm, let’s make a challenge out of it. I’ll give you a short answer, but you need to explain what you think it means. Then I get to ask a research question of my own, deal?” Edward said.

At Rhiannon’s nod I replied, “Okay, Deal.”

“Then your answer is, ley-lines,” the doctor said.

I turned, walked to the nearest wall that was bolted down and spent a couple of seconds thumping my head against it to the chuckles of my foster parents. Rhiannon’s question just drove the point home, “Did you overlook something obvious again?”

I groaned, “Yes. Ley Lines are what is considered to me highly concentrated rivers of magical energy that flow through the earth and the air. There is talk of them in various fantasy literature and in the concept of the ‘places of power’ like Stonehenge or various old temples.”

I already knew they were real, but had overlooked them because in my previous life they hadn’t been mapped out until 2147. Granted it seemed like magic was being discovered earlier in the timeline of this world, which would mean that concept might already be being explored. I expanded on my answer, “Theoretically the concentrated energy from a ley-line should charge up an array enough to function on its own. You could also in theory use them to strengthen a Talent’s usage if you had a safe way to tap into the energy.”

“Bravo, a detailed explanation. Though I am curious about her statement of overlooking the obvious,” the doctor said.

Rhiannon grinned mischievously and said, “We kept blowing up the first array because he forgot that it needed a cutoff for the power so the material didn’t overload.”

The adults all chuckled at my pouting expression before Schmidt clapped me on the shoulder and said, “Don’t feel too bad. I made the same mistake a few times. How many tests did it take to get it?”

I mumbled, and after a sharp elbow from Rhi I spoke a little louder, “Three hundred sixty-four attempts.”

That drew a quickly suppressed laugh from the engineer before he asked, “I’m guessing you don’t favor the sciences?”

I shrugged, “Yes and no. I’m more one for physics and research than engineering or programming. I can hum the tune, but if I try to sing it then people will start screaming.”

“Fair enough, now my question. What have you found is the biggest hurdle for arrays?” he asked.

I considered for a moment, “Discounting the fact that a non-adept can’t empower them in most circumstances. I would think it would be the lack of automation to streamline the process, but would ley-lines affect that?” I mused.

“We have had mixed success with automated carvings, but it is still being experimented on,” Edward said.

“Then I would say that for most people it is finding the right combinations of glyphs to use,” I said.

“For most people huh?” he said with a curious look.

I smiled at the mental chess game we were having as I asked, “What glyph system are you using for your effects? I see hieroglyphs here, but the protective shirts used Nordic runes.”

“Those are the primary ones we use, are you saying you’ve discovered others?” he asked.

I looked over to Jen, silently asking her opinion. She considered for a moment before nodding and I explained, “I’ve found kanji to be flexible for use in more complicated arrays. The best array we’ve done however used a combination of multiple glyph systems. One set to define parameters, and another for effect. For the more nebulous glyph systems, like runes, I don’t think you could automate them as your intent seems to set the effect. For hieroglyphs and kanji you can write it like code though.”

“Fascinating. Tell me, are you looking for a job when you graduate?” Edward asked, drawing some laughter from the parental figures.

“I’m sorry to tell you that I am in the ROTC program at my high school and intend to serve on the front lines of any new conflicts,” I said.

I saw the slight frown of disappointment and continued, “Of course the brat has access to all the research we have done, and has a knack for seeing solutions that I have overlooked.”

The three members of Adept Technologies looked at my little sister with a completely different type of desire than the boys at school. Rhi crossed her arms and said, “What am I, a steak.”

Sean growled his usual bearish rumble, as he was unable to see the playful look on his daughter's face. Jennifer patted his shoulder and said to the three entrepreneurs, “One, she is fourteen. Two, the research they have done belongs to both of them so as legal counsel I have to advise against trying to take advantage of both of them as the original notes can be brought to prove a discrepancy. I don’t think you will, but for my kids I won’t hesitate to be an evil bitch. Three, right now the company’s primary contract is with law enforcement, but it’s a small step to military contracts. You already know that I will have issues about military contracts that might come up, but I would be most displeased if my daughter was involved in those.”

Nicole spoke up at this, “Our primary focus at the moment is actually trying to adapt technological production to magical production. The company charter actually has a clause in it now that states that employees can not be terminated based on a desire to avoid military contracts. The three of us actually think that law enforcement is as aggressive as we want to get for the time being. We are actually trying to develop magitech for emergency responders, especially if we can work out mass production.”

I gave Rhiannon a sly grin, and she nodded in agreement. Turning to the my foster mother I asked, “As their legal counsel, what would you advise them if they could be provided with a portable X-ray that could be built into an ambulance gurney without radiation worries?”

Now I was the target of the hungry eyes as Jennifer smirked and asked, “It’s just light?”

I nodded and she turned to her three business partners and asked, “What would you offer?”

Schmidt looked at us curiously before asking, “Do they already have it developed?”

“I doubt they have it specifically, but I would think they have it probably 75% complete just by using their previous experiments,” she said with a shake of her head.

Rhiannon spoke up, “Closer to eighty actually. The display aspect doesn’t have to change except for the angles.”

Jennifer made a ‘there you have it’ gesture with her hand while she waited on their answer. Nicole was the one to make the first offer, “Ten percent of profits from proceeds of that device for five years and then five percent after that.”

Jennifer looked at me and said, “It’s a reasonable enough offer from a new company and a new product.”

“I agree except for one aspect. Arrays are like programming, it wouldn’t be difficult to take an array apart for the component pieces and reuse them. Has the company become a publicly traded one yet?” I replied.

Nicole shook her head and I continued, “Then here’s my counter offer. Five percent of shares if or when the company goes public. Two for me and three for Rhiannon in addition to the deal you have stated. In addition I need a gurney to use for proof of concept.”

Jennifer considered for a moment, clearly trying to put aside her personal feelings on the matter before she turned back to Nicole and said, “It isn’t an unreasonable request. Like he explained the array can be reverse engineered for other projects, pulse if Rhiannon works for you then the research and notes she already has comes with her.”

The three had a silent conversation before Nicole stated, “We can work with that. Though we would also like the first option on new arrays he is comfortable with us marketing.”

I was already nodding when Jennifer looked my way. I said, “Then I’ll get started on that as responsibilities permit.”

Rhiannon whispered behind me, using a touch of Talent to carry the sound to my ears as she said, “We are going to be rich.”