Free Off to Be the Wizard - 2 - Spell or High Water by Scott Meyer Page B

sense.”
    “Well, let’s hear it.” Martin said.
    Gwen shook her head. “You’ll have to ask her. It only makes sense when she explains it.”
    Phillip grimaced. “I don’t like it,” he said.
    Gwen said, “I knew you wouldn’t,” putting a steadying hand on his shoulder. “You’ll have plenty of time to ask Brit about all of this. For now, you just have to keep in mind that there are two Brits. We call them Brit the Elder and Brit the Younger , and they are the same person at two different ages.”
    Martin exhaled loudly. “That should be easy to keep straight.”
    Gwen added, “Oh, and I should mention that they’re the same age. Physically. You’ll see.”
    The men did not seem reassured.
    Gwen pressed on. “The summit is Brit the Elder’s idea. She saw early on that it would be easy for one of us to abuse our abilities. She wants to avoid that, but she needs everyone else to cooperate, and people don’t like the idea of limiting their own power. Because she’s the leader of the earliest known colony of time travelers, she has the luxury of time. She spoke to all of the girls who’ve come to Atlantis from all of the other colonies, pinpointed a moment a month or two after some time traveler tried to abuse his power, then invited leaders from that time to come here for a summit. That way, she knew they’d be in the right frame of mind to cooperate.”
    “And I’m sure Brit the Younger agreed,” Phillip said, ruefully.
    “No. Brit the Younger thought it was manipulative. They have a . . . difficult relationship.”
    “But they’re the same person,” Phillip cried.
    Gwen shrugged.
    “So that’s why we were called now,” Martin said. “Because Jimmy tried to kill us all two months ago.”
    “Which means she knows all about the Jimmy situation,” Phillip said. “That’s a bit embarrassing.”
    Gwen said, “Don’t be embarrassed. I told Brit the Elder the whole story and she agreed that Jimmy had to go. She said that he was clearly dangerous, greedy, manipulative, and cruel.”
    Phillip said, “I’m glad we’re in agreement.”
    Gwen shielded her eyes with her hand and peered into the distance. “She also said that he lacked vision, and thought too small.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Martin asked.
    Gwen smiled. “Judge for yourself.” Gwen gestured ahead. “Gentlemen, the sunken city of Atlantis.” Martin and Phillip shielded their eyes, and in the distance, they saw it.
    The ocean was calm and vast. There were no islands to interrupt the flatness of the horizon, but in the distance, there did appear to be a hazy collection of square-sailed ships. It was difficult to look at them. Something about how the light was shimmering made their eyes strain. It was also difficult to look at the ships because it was impossible to ignore what was above them. Hovering above the wavering, wobbling patch of sea there were what appeared to be a great many tall buildings, just hanging in space. Seagulls soared above the impossible skyline, and the small armada of ships bobbed below.
    “Wow,” Martin gasped.
    “Yes,” Gwen said. “The genius of picking Atlantis as a base of operations is that it’s destined to disappear anyway, so Brit was free to build anything she wanted. Of course, that was before she knew that nothing we do seems to affect the future anyway, but still, it was clever of her.”
    Martin whistled, then said, “One person built that? No wonder it took her a hundred years.”
    “She spent the first week designing the city and writing the construction algorithm. She set that in motion, and the basic construction was done in a few days. The rest of the time was spent establishing a culture, encouraging immigration, and creating a system of government. That was the hard part.”
    Phillip said, “It took Jimmy years to build one castle, and he had an army of builders helping him. How on Earth could this Brit of yours build that in a few days?”
    Gwen rapped on