Aether Magician

A man and his apprentice have a meeting with the Queen about whether its considered witchcraft or science

    "I'll start with nothing and begin with something!" the man said. People walked on by while the man looked at each passerby with feverish looks. He looked like the lost puppy that badly wanted a home, but no one would take him home and instead becomes a stray. 

   "Sir! Sir! Come here and look at what i can do!" the man pleaded as the stranger walked faster and was soon gone. The man with nothing to lose and since no one was watching produced a bird from nothing. This on the contrary was exceptional. The bird came out as exotic as a bird of paradise. It had the most wonderful color coordination of yellows blending into greens and greens blending into blues. People finally began to stop at the man and watched what he could do. This gave the man a happy smile.

   "Sir, can you make me a dolly with red hair and green eyes?" said an innocent looking little girl.

   "Why certainly i can." the man said. With a flick of his hands and a murmur of words out popped the little dolly in which the girl had described. People clapped and stood awestruck at what the man had just produced out of nothing. The crowd began to close in asking a barrage of questions. The man began to panic and sensing that he could not answer their questions snapped his fingers. With that snap, he was gone. The crowd stood bewildered at what had just happened.

   "Look there he goes!" screamed a man and began to run to the direction he just pointed drawing the crowd with him. The innocent girl suddenly began to bubble and morph. Her head grew to that of a teenagers and her body began to develop quite rapidly. Her chest flat a minute ago was now full and firm with newly discovered breasts. Her legs shot out from her and she grew to her normal height. 

  A couple of minutes passed and she was a fully grown woman in her early twenties. A man approached her and tapped her on her shoulder. She turned around slightly afraid at what might be behind her.

  "Do did wonders my dear Elizabeth. The crowd did not expect a thing and they actually threw money at me this time!" the man said to Elizabeth.

   "I was only doing what my master told me to do although it was a rather queer experience with the transformations and all." She replied, "So how long do you think this aether doll will last now?"

   "Oh it will probably only last for a couple of minutes." he stated, "Why do you ask?"

   "Oh... I was just wondering because I like this doll and i never had one when i was younger."

   "Alright i'll see what i have left of today's profits to see if we can get you that doll." he said with a smirk. The two of them walked home in silence only noting that the crowd was still following the man who believed he saw them at every corner. They laughed and continued their way home. As the walked the man marveled at all of the steam carriages that littered the streets every since production took off. He sighed remembering the good ole days, while his apprentice dreamed the innocent thoughts a twenty-one year old can dream. They finally made it home when the clock finally struck one.

   The man opened the door to the shabby little home. He lit the kerosene lantern and took off is over coat and hat. Elizabeth closed the door behind then man and walked to the chair at the table where a pile of half opened books and a stacked pile of books were. She began to scribble todays experiment into the notebook making exact detail at everything that happened. The man looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't making anything up as she wrote. The man then pulled open the trap door, that was hidden by a mat, in front of the fireplace and descended into his dark laboratory.

   He lit the lanterns and began to take off his vest and shirt. He stretched his arms around his back to disconnect the humming device. He plucked of the cords of wire that stretched over his forearms and across his chest. Then he delicately removed the machine from his back and placed it onto his work table. He threw on his pair of goggles and began to scrutinize the device making sure nothing was out of place or broken. He then flipped the machine over and checked the electrical connections. One of them was beginning to detach from its cell. He cursed under his breath and went to work on it.

   About an hour later he felt tapping on his shoulder. He grumbled some incoherent statement and shifted his arm as to swat the annoyance away. The next tap was harder and hurt. The man slowly opened his eyes and say Elizabeth standing their with a letter in her hands.

   "What's this?" he asked pointing to the envelope.

   "It's a letter from Queen Victoria." Elizabeth said in a sheepish tone.

   "Well what does it say?" He asked not taking his eyes off his work.

   "Well the letter says;

          Dear Tiberius Vandergur,

               I have been informed of your little acts in the parks and on the streets. I would like             to hold a private audience with you on next Tuesday at noon. I would like to see this so           called  'magic' performed in front of my own eyes rather than trying to experience it                 through here-say. Also, there will be a court hearing afterwards to charge you of                     witchcraft if i deem it so.

         Your Majesty,

         Queen Victoria"

    Tiberius quickly took the letter from Elizabeth's hand and read it over again and again each increasing in a whiter pallor. With his finally reading done Tiberius began to swoon. Luckily he made it to his chair before everything became black. When he finally came to he heard the bells toll noon. He got up, stretched and made his way to his work table to read the letter again to make sure it wasn't a dream. He read and sighed with surrender.

   "Elizza!" He called. He heard a clatter of dishes and rushed footsteps to the trap door. He could only laugh as he saw Elizabeth half dressed with only her corset and petticoat on. She seeing that he was okay and not harmed in anyway smacked him hard across the face and blushed.

   "What the hell do you want!?" she screamed at him.

   "I only wanted to clarify that we have a meeting with the queen next Tuesday at noon. Am i correct?" he asked innocently.

   "Yes we do and if you can excuse me i have to finish dressing." she replied and then hurried out of the room and back into her quarters. Tiberius sat there and rubbed his cheek and laughed. Once his moment of silliness passed he thought of the grave day that will either spell his greatest achievement or his greatest failure. He walked back to his work table and put his machine back together. He then searched around for the blueprints of said device. He found them a place them on top of the device. Tiberius then walked up the stairs and to the bath to shave and bathe. 

   Elizabeth was done dressing and was cleaning up the rest of the dishes when Tiberius walked into the room. He walked up to her and smiled. She thinking he was only smiling at her for the peek he got at her early today ignored him.

   "Look Elizza I'm sorry i saw you in your corset and petticoat and i know that my apology can't make up for it, but can this humble master take out his young apprentice to dinner?" He pleaded. Elizabeth looked at him with a blank stare calculating everything he just said.

   "Only if i get the dolly i want." she replied with a smile.

   "Fine." He said, "I'm going to be gone for about two hours." he stated.

   "Alright and so will I." 

   "What are you going to do?" he asked bewildered, "Talk about recipes or on how to sew a dress in one stitch?"

   "Nope, i'm going gambling with a couple of girls from the orphanage." she said without blinking, "At least its better than going to the pharmacy for some cocaine for a 'headache'".

   "But i really do have a bad headache" he said sadly.

   "Mmmhhmm, and the Queen in my sister thrice removed." she said.

  They both left at the same time. Tiberius took extra time to make sure that the door was looked and that his safety precautions were in order. After everything seemed to his liking he went on to the pharmacy. The two hours flew by for the two. With Elizabeth winning three hundred pounds and with Tiberius's 'headache' being relived. They returned home at roughly the same time. Tiberius was the first to enter the house and dropped his walking cane on the ground. Elizabeth squeezing here way in to see what made him drop his cane stopped to see their home destroyed. Everything was disheveled and thrown this way and that. The mat that was in front of the fireplace was thrown onto the upended chair and the trap door laid opened.

  Tiberius seeing this rushed to his laboratory and screamed a variety of curses. There laid his machine, his beautifully hand maid machine smashed and broken. He noticed that his blueprints weren't where they had been left and searched for them only to find them in the fireplace already made into ash saving one; the cover page. Elizabeth just climbing down the stairs saw what had happened and tried to console her master. It didn't work he was pissed.

   "We can always rebuild a new one." she stated cheerfully.

   "No we can't i don't know where ti begin." he said.

   "Well how about we start by cleaning this house and getting the constable in here." with that she left to fetch the constable and he sat there staring at his beloved creation. 

   Elizabeth returned moments latter with the constable and began to give him a list of what was missing. Everything was going fine until Tiberius emerged from the  laboratory. The officer saw him, stopped writing and walked away.

   "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Tiberius yelled as the officer walked away.

   "I have orders from the Queen that no officer can help the accused by her majesty." he replied and walked away. Seething with anger Tiberius threw a candlestick at the officer. Luckily it missed. After a couple of hours the house was back into perfect working order. Tiberius was indispose due to his draining of a bottle of port. Elizabeth sighing at her masters surrender went to her notes she made believing that she made note of the blueprints in her books. Sadly she only copied the inner electrical workings of the device and not the whole construction.

   "Find anything useful?" Tiberius spurted and slurred.

   "Only the electrical workings." she stated sadly.

   "Well that's a start." He said cheerfully, "I'm going to need you to reconstruct the body of the machine."

   "But... But." she began to protest, but knew it was no good when Tiberius was drunk. She took off her corset and put on her rawhide apron. She went to the work table and began to hammer the misshapen body of the machine until it resembled what it once looked like. In the distance she could here the bells toll noon of next day. Only two days left she thought. With a sigh she tidied herself up and went upstairs to see Tiberius heading down.

   "Did you get the body back into working order?" He asked.

   "Yes." She replied and let him pass.

  Tiberius began to sort through the clockwork inspecting each piece to make sure there was no bend or missing teeth. Seeing that most of his gears were destroyed he searched his drawer of miscellaneous parts and found most of what he needed. The only thing he need now was a group of smaller gears that only a pocket watch could contain. He began to search throughout his laboratory to find none. With a resigned sigh he slipped his hand in his vest pocket and retrieved his watch. He opened it up and took out the pieces he need to build the machine. In the distance he could here the bell ring midnight of the next day. Only one more day to get this done correctly he thought.

  The next day he began working on the electrical innerards with thanks to the detailed drawing that Elizabeth did. Elizabeth would come and take over when she felt that Tiberius was close to exhaustion. She finished the machine with the added engraving of a new date of completion as well as a new signature on the bottom with that of her master's. The bell tolled midnight. The meeting was in twelve hours.

   Tiberius strapped on the machine and began to power it up. Everything was passing his checks. He began to make the simple shapes of cubes and spheres and slowly working his way up to his bird trick. With a satisfied smile he took off his machine and fell asleep in the chair right over his beloved machine.

   The taps came as usual to his back. He looked up to see Elizabeth standing there pointing at her watch. He looked at it. It was ten o'clock. Seeing nothing to worry about he stretched and went to go shave and bathe. He was done dressing at eleven o'clock just enough time left to get to the palace before their meeting. They left in a steam carriage and headed for the palace at full pace. 

   They arrived with armed guards waiting for their carriage. The guards opened the door and let them out. They followed Tiberius and Elizabeth to the throne room. In the room sat Queen Victoria and the Lord of Justice. Tiberius to a big gulp and addressed the Queen.

   "My dear Queen Victoria, I present to you me, Tiberius Vandergur. I am a magician of aether. For as my title implies I can form aether into anything that anyone wants or dreams about. With that said i will begin." he said and began to form his lovely bird. The colors blended and molded together to produce the lovely bird. The Queen ohed and awed at the beauty of the creature that was made.

   "Make me a golden necklace with a diamond charm attached to it." the Queen requested. Tiberius sensed the necessity of his successfulness of creating the object. He concentrated and moved his arms and the necklace began to form in his hands. The Queen then stuck out her hand and he place it into her palm. She felt it around and tested the gold and then handed it to the Lord Justice. Who did the same as the Queen. It the vanished into thin air. 

   "I believe i have seen enough." the Queen said, "You are free to go and all charges will be released as long as you hand this technology over to the government."

   "I can't in my good mind do that." he said.

   "You better do that! Or else i will have you and your little girlie executed pronto." She decreed.

   "How about i give you and ultimatum. I will give you my service to the crown as long as those blueprints you took are given back to me." he stated bluntly.

   "I did not steal any of those papers." the queen stammered.

   "Then why did we see the royal Academy of Science seal at our front door?" chirped Elizabeth.

  "Well. That's because." the queen paused, "Fine you can have your blueprints back and you can come work for the Academy of Science with your little apprentice."

   "Its a done deal then." Tiberius said and he turned and began to walk towards Elizabeth.

   "Now how about that dinner?" he asked Elizabeth. 

Author's Note

Please rip it apart i want to see all of my errors.