Free Genie and Engineer 1: The Engineer Wizard by Glenn Michaels Page A

catch-22. Paul needed to cast magical spells
to obtain the information he needed in order to cast the spells in the first
place. It was quite the conundrum, indeed.
    He mulled the possible options over in his mind. Perhaps if
he just tried casting a few spells to call on a knowledgeable individual,
one of them might work. It was worth a shot. But who should he call on?
    A wizard would be the best choice, but Paul didn’t know of
any other real-life wizards. So perhaps he could call on a magician instead.
    Ceasing his pacing, Paul narrowed his eyes in concentration,
bringing both of his hands up high and waving them around in a frantic motion, and
said, “I need a magician here to help me. David Copperfield!”
    And yet again, nothing happened.
    “Okay, any knowledgeable magician will do. Pronto!”
    Nothing.
    “Perhaps the Guardian of Forever from Star Trek ? As a
personal favor? Please?”
    Nothing.
    “Mr. Peabody?”
    No response.
    Paul sat down on the edge of the bed with his head in his
hands. The reality of his situation was that any fifth-grader could probably have
easily figured out how to start casting magical spells.
    “I’ll take a fifth-grader,” Paul muttered. “Or even a five-year-old!”
    Still, nothing happened.
    “‘I’m not even supposed to be here,’” Paul bellyached,
quoting Guy Fleegman from Galaxy Quest . “‘I’m just Crewman Number Six.
I’m expendable. I’m the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the
situation is.’”
    Oy vey !
    So, what was he going to do now?
    • • • •
    Not knowing what else to try and feeling a little more
desperate with the passage of time, Paul began experimenting with
determination, though in a more or less aimless fashion. For nearly two hours,
he tried everything that came to mind. He tried calling forth every personality—real,
historical, or fictional—that might possibly help him. This ranged from all his
favorite sci-fi characters to a number of scientists going all the way back to
Leonardo da Vinci. He tried calling forth textbooks, Internet connections, and manuals
of any kind dealing with magic. He went back to trying to conjure forth food,
this time simplifying his spells. Instead of steak dinners, he tried simpler
fare, such as apples and various other fruits, bread, cheese, a variety of
drinks, and so forth. He even tried to distill water out of the air, and then he
tried tapping into the snowbanks that were clearly visible on some of the
surrounding mountains.
    The result was always the same. Nothing came from any of his
attempted magic.
    Depressed, he plopped back down on the edge of the bed, mulling
over his situation and what to do about it. For a few minutes, he even fell
into self-pity, blaming his own greedy nature for allowing himself to get into
such a quandary in the first place. If he hadn’t been so fixated on becoming
some sort of superhero, then none of this would have ever happened! He could,
right this very minute, be back in his home in Mojave, watching another one of
his favorite sci-fi movies and scarfing down a TV dinner!
    He sighed and got back up to pace again. He needed to focus,
to use his training as an engineer, to approach this problem from a scientific
point of view and in a much more deliberate manner, not to experiment wildly in
the dark like he had been. As he considered the problem, he realized that he
had been too ambitious with his first spells. Every one of them had been
complex, requiring a fairly sophisticated use of magic. After all, he was
trying to conjure up people and material objects. What he needed to learn and
master first were the basics involved.
    For a couple of minutes, he pondered that idea. Sure, something
fundamental. As basic and as simple as he could make it.
    Looking around the plateau, the flower beds gave him an
idea. A quick few steps took him over to the nearest one. Leaning down between
a rosebush and a stand of forget-me-nots, Paul scraped together a handful