Bishop Duncan tries a new approach to communicating with his Creator:
(https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5470%2F9457854693_f2b92fc861_c.jpg&hash=3e8e7ed579849b3666bff28bcfa8951309be355d) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9573389@N08/9457854693/)
Mini-Deryni Tales: The Magic Book (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9573389@N08/9457854693/) by evian_delacourt (http://www.flickr.com/people/9573389@N08/), on Flickr
And just in case that final panel is too small for you to read....
(https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7458%2F9460956544_39a0db3996_c.jpg&hash=59ddc7024f522761f2c58b902e8f0b178ca78a10) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9573389@N08/9460956544/)
Closer view of text (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9573389@N08/9460956544/) by evian_delacourt (http://www.flickr.com/people/9573389@N08/), on Flickr
Oh yes a new form of communication. This is magic for sure. :o But as Helena stated the recipient has to have a magic book to receive the message. I hope Duncan took this into account. Like a portal is only good if you have another portal to jump to.
I would think that the key board itself would be quite a mystery. Duncan would ponder why the letters were in such a strange arrangement. ???
Yes, he probably took a while to type that message using the "hunt and peck" method, but fortunately he's a fast learner. ;D
I'm pretty sure KK has her own "magic book" or perhaps a "magic box" that can perform similar functions, given that she appears regularly for Sunday Evening Chats. Either that, or she can perform much more formidable Deryni spells than I ever imagined, if she's able to appear in chat without access to a computer. But besides that, Duncan is pretty convinced that his Creator has powers even greater than mere Deryni magic--after all, she wrote the entire Eleven Kingdoms into existence, didn't she?--so he's got faith that his message will manage to get through in some form or another.... ;)
Was that your creative reply to KK about the Barbie Castle? :D
A wonderful mini-Deryni tale. Now all they have to do is figure out how to plug in the Magic Book to recharge it. Maybe there is a spell for that? ;)
I'm wondering what would happen if Duncan sticks his fingertip up to the power port and emits just a teeny bit of magical energy charge? Would that work, or would a fried motherboard and a stream of Deryni expletives like Khadasa! ensue? ;D
There are some fantasy series in which magic & electricity are said to be if not the same thing, at least closely related--some to the extent that magical energies will bollix up sophisticated electronics and/or powerful electrical fields will make magic difficult or impossible. In Harry Potter, for example, it is said that things like computers and radios won't work at Hogwarts because there is so much magic about. In Mercedes Lackey's stories about elves in modern US iron disrupts the flow of magical energy, and so much of an elf's metabolism being magical, that is why traditionally elves cannot bear the touch of 'cold iron;' but copper and silver both enhance magical energy flows (also, caffeine works on elves the same way cocaine does on humans. She says there's a large colony of elves in Los Angeles---which would explain a great deal, wouldn't it?)
Maybe Duncan can figure out some safe way to release an extremely controlled stream of energy into the MacBook to recharge it without draining his own energy reserves too much. Or, more likely, he can figure out how to charge some other item that can then be plugged into the laptop when it's in need of a recharge. I'll let him and Alaric figure out the fine details of that plan. As far as I'm concerned, computers work because little fairies live inside the metal or plastic box, and no amount of technobabble explanation of how the electronics actually work will ever convince me differently. ;)