The Apprentice of Dr. Wodd

[Kayito-san]

Marc Wodd was not as illustrious as he could have been. His achievements were great and many, but so veiled in secrecy was the man that almost none of his work saw publication. He was a brilliant man, but his work was more than science. Wodd was fascinated by the arcane, and from therein his studies were most oft inspired.

Marc slipped his right hand into a black leather glove. Fitting the palm of the glove was a curved plate from which jutted two small steel hooks. He slid his arm into a long, jointed metallic device. He lifted the device from the table and turned towards an adjacent wall. With his left hand, he scrawled a few messy words on a typed sheet of paper, "Predicted operating distance: 4 feet" and grabbed a tennis ball from the table. Returning his attention to the adjacent wall, he tossed the tennis ball aimlessly towards the wall, so that it bounced along the ground. Aiming the contraption on his right forearm towards the ball, he gripped the steel cylinder from within the device. The ball froze in midair. A smile crept slowly across Mr. Wodd's face. He let go of the internal handle. The ball dropped.

Marc leaped up the stairs from the cellar. He had done it! Mechanized Telekinesis was within his grasp. If he could figure out how to fine-tune the device, by God! the implications would be enormous. He slowed as he reached the top of the stairs, and began to think. He would need a lot more time to work on this device, and testing it more thoroughly would be costly and nigh impossible. Should news of his discoveries fall into the wrong hands, he would have to destroy all traces of his living there. It had been easy enough to reconstruct the old manor with the aid of a few of his older contraptions, but destroying every mote trace of his existence in this place could prove much more difficult. Perhaps it was time to invest in an assistant, or maybe an apprentice? Evidently, he would need somebody with few outside connections, or at least somebody who could keep their mouth shut.

 

[hereiam]

Elizabeth Harper adjusted the collar of her blue dress as she mounted the steps to isolated manor house. She had heard through the rumor mill about the crazy man who lived here, and some of his eccentricities. To her it sounded like science, which was her passion.

She had been asked to leave Oxford, Cambridge, Oxford and Yale, because she was able to correct many of the professors, and did so without provocation. She had been tested with an IQ of over 200, but she found that it was hard for a woman to learn the "hard sciences" in today's age.

So when she had heard these rumors, she felt that she might be able to learn in a more practical setting. One where her intelligence would be a help and not a hindrance.

 

[Kayito-san]

Some poor bloke was knocking at the door. Marc turned his attention to the entranceway. There it was again. He cautiously approached the door. He opened it and was met not with a salesman, but a girl. He looked down a bit, his eyes evident in their surprise. "Ah… hello," speaking with reserve, "Who might you be?" She was maybe only a few inches shorter than he, with bright eyes. "Is there something you seek?"