'Is not magic. At least, not in the sense that you understand it. To some savage who has never seen a suit of armor, a knight would seem to be a devilish apparition. Imagine, if you can, that you have never seen an armored knight. That you know nothing of the craft involved in making armor, that you know nothing of its properties. Having lived in a world in which a knight has never been seen, might you not assume, upon seeing one, that it was not even a human being you were seeing, but some terrifying creature whose flesh was metal animated by black magic? Well, as uncomplimentary as it may seem, in this case, I am that knight and you are that savage. What I do seems like magic to you because you do not understand it and you know nothing of the craft involved. I merely have more knowledge than you have.'
He reached for a bottle of bourbon.
'Would you like some?'
'What is it?' said Andre, cautiously.
'A beverage. No mystical potion, I promise you. It's made from a mash of corn and malt and rye. It's called whiskey. The effects of drinking it are much like drinking ale, only this is a far more potent brew.'
He held out the bottle and Andre took it carefully.
Her eyes bulged after the first swallow and she coughed. 'By God! You drink this swill?'
'It takes some getting used to,' Hunter said, 'because of its strength. Once you grow accustomed to the taste, you actually enjoy it.'
'It does give a pleasant warmth,' said Andre.
'Just drink a little,' Hunter said. 'To one who's never had a taste before, the effects can be overpowering, like giving ale to an infant.'
'This knowledge of which you spoke,' she said, 'you called it a craft. Yet, there is a craft to magic, is there not? It is one thing to craft a suit of armor, and yet it is another to bring forth music from the empty air and to appear and disappear at will. How can this not be magic? And this black apparatus which gives forth heat-'
'Is called a stove,' said Hunter. 'Look.' He kicked open the door, showing the flames inside. 'Nothing but a fancy fireplace, only a more efficient one. All it is is metal to contain a fire of wood and coal.'
'But will the metal not grow red and soft from the fire's heat?' said Andre.
'Not if it's made properly,' said Hunter. 'The metal is thick and the fire is never hot enough to soften it. Simple, isn't it?'
'And this metal tube?'
'Is just a chimney to carry the smoke away.'
'And the music?'
'That's a little harder to explain,' said Hunter.
'I will attempt to understand.'
'Well… let me put it this way. There are musical instruments with which you are familiar, such as the wood flute and the lute, for instance. There are other musical instruments which you have never heard of. They produce very different sounds. Look here,' he said, showing her the sound system. 'All this is is a device that records the sound of music made by musicians. Just as a monk records holy works on paper, through the art of writing, so this device records sounds. It reproduces them.'
'How?'
'How. Good question. How do you explain electronic recording to a woman of the Middle Ages? Well, for now, you'll just have to be satisfied with this: there is a method of preserving sounds made by a musician. The method of preserving spoken words is called writing. One speaks, another writes those words down and later, still another who knows how to read can reproduce those words by reading what was written. In a way, this is similar, but the knowledge involved is far greater. This is a… tool… which preserves sounds, just as writing preserves words. Only with this tool, there is no need of reading. The tool records the sounds and then plays them back to you. It can even reproduce the sound of your own voice. Perhaps I'll show you, later.'
'This is not magic?'
'No, it is a simple craft, but men will not know how to make such tools for many, many years to come.'
'Then how have you learned this?'
Hunter sighed. 'I was afraid you were going to ask that.'
'The knowledge is secret, then.'
'No, it's not a secret, it's just… very difficult to explain.'
'I would like to learn, if this is possible.'
'Oh, it's possible, all right, but you're going to have to be very patient. And forbearing.'
'It will not endanger my soul to learn of this?'
'It will not.'
'Do you dare swear this before God?' said Andre.
'I swear this before God.'
Andre frowned. 'I do not think a sorcerer can so swear. Very well, then, I will risk to listen.'
Hunter sighed. 'Where do I begin?'
'At the beginning, if this is not asking too much,' said Andre.
Hunter shrugged. 'What the hell? All right. I was a soldier.'
'A man at arms?'
'A man at arms, if you will. Now shut up and listen. And don't interrupt. I was a soldier. I served in an army mightier than anything you have ever seen or heard of. An army that will not exist for centuries.'
Andre started to speak, but held back.
'Thank you. I said you would have to be patient. Try to imagine what it must have been like for the first men to walk the earth. And the first women, too. They were simple savages, little more than animals. They had not yet discovered fire or clothing. They did not know how to build shelters, so they slept in the open or in caves. They knew only how to eat and kill and little else. For their weapons, they used simple clubs of wood or axes made of stone. Now, take such a man or woman and imagine what it would be like for them today, if they were to suddenly be transported to this time and place. They would see castles and not know what they were, since they did not know how to build with stone and wood. They would see a crossbow or an arbalest and think it was the work of the devil, for they would know nothing of the craft involved in making such weapons. They would see armored knights and take them for horrifying monsters or even gods.'
Andre nodded slowly.
'Now, what if we were able, you and I, to have some mastery over time?' said Hunter. 'What if we had a mode of travel that would take us not from one place to another, but from one time to another? What if I were to take you far into the future, to this very place, only a thousand years from now? You would be like that savage from the dawn of time, failing to comprehend everything you saw around you, for with time, man's knowledge grows ever greater. What would you see a thousand years from now?'
'I do not know.'
'I'll tell you. You would see cities a thousand times greater than the towns you know. You would see many more people. You would see a world in which simple wagons and carts had been replaced by conveyances that would enable you to make a journey that would now take you months in just a matter of minutes. Just as men have learned to craft a crossbow or a suit of armor, so will they have learned to build devices that enable them to fly.'
'To fly!'
'A thousand years from now,' said Hunter, 'flying will be as commonplace as riding a horse is today. You would look at those men and women of the future and think that they were gods, or sorcerers, since you would not understand how they can do the things they do. They will live much longer than people do today, for they will have learned to overcome disease. They will wear different clothing. They will have machines-artifacts they made- perform work for them that men must do for themselves today, only these machines will do the work far more efficiently and much faster. They will have even traveled to the stars.'
Andre sighed, shaking her head.
'You think I'm mad,' Hunter said. 'Listen to me. When the first crossbow was made, it was said that the world was coming to an end. How could the society of man survive such a devastating weapon? Yet, a thousand years from now, there will be weapons so devastating that they will make the crossbow seem like the wooden club of the simple savage.'
