Free The Lost Witch by David Tysdale

instructors."
    "MSL?"
    "Multitasking as a Second Language."
    "And?"
    "The cretins tried to burn them at the stake."
    Carole shuddered.
    "Oh, our instructors escaped easily enough, though their monobrain students weren't
always so lucky. Since then we've tried less dangerous methods."
    "Such as?"
    "Such as projecting transdimensional imagery onto their brains while they were
asleep."
    "Didn't work?"
    "Woke up screaming about flying saucers and alien abductions. In short, nothing's
worked. Eventually talk turned to the idea of abandoning the monobrains altogether."
    "I didn't think that was allowed?"
    "It isn't, which is why those discussions led to The Terrible Tiff."
    "What's that?"
    "Two esteemed Hub philosophers, Snively Hotspot and Meron Seafeather, have become
the focus of the monobrain dilemma. Seafeather doesn't want to give up on the monobrains. He
feels we just need to find the proper approach. Hotspot figures if we look the other way until
they destroy themselves, our problem will be solved. The two have been debating the subject for
years. Once Seafeather even went so far as to propose bringing monobrains to The Hub to try
and jumpstart their brains."
    "Like shock treatment."
    Philamount nodded. "But Hotspot said the idea was preposterous, that monobrains were
alarmingly unpredictable and vicious creatures, and that misplacing even one of their kind could
endanger the entire cosmos. As I've said, the two have fought it out for years--in a very civilized
manner of course--and over time, more and more multitaskers have taken sides in the debate.
'Leave them alone... Shake them awake... Send in more teachers... Teach the pigs.' That sort of
thing.
    "Seafeather and Hotspot debates were guaranteed crowd pleasers, and they sold out
every performance. In fact, the men became quite the celebrities about The Hub, but eventually it
all sort of went to their heads, and they began to take it a little too personally."
    "Meaning what, exactly?"
    "Meaning that this Monobrain Realm was beginning to influence the professors, and a
number of other multitaskers, in such a way that they began to act in a very uncharacteristic
manner, a manner now known as The Monobrain Effect. Meaning that ultimately the debates
became nasty, and well, turned into a Terrible Tiff. And then it happened."
    The professor closed his eyes, as if to recall the scene. "It was a spectacular performance
by Seafeather. He really wowed the audience. Perhaps he wowed them a little too much, because
the very next morning, a group of gifted, though short-sighted, graduates decided to put his
theory to the test and they...um...invited a monobrain to The Hub."
    "Invited a monobrain?" Carole arched her eyebrows in an imitation of his.
    "Sort of against his will," he added, clearing his throat.
    "You mean they kidnapped him?"
    "Not a very enlightened thing to do, I admit, but they were only students after all and
really meant no harm."
    "And?"
    "The monobrain refused to believe anything that was happening to him."
    "So what's the big deal about that?"
    "The big deal," the professor said quietly, "was The Great Conundrum."
    "You mean..."
    "I mean Kablooey! Bringing that closed-minded, inflexible monobrain to The Hub, was
like throwing a canon ball into a stained glass window. Our world shattered into a thousand
pieces. Buildings collapsed, storms raged, dimensions snapped off. It has taken us these past nine
years to rebuild The Hub--better than ever I might add--and to track down and reconnect all of
the missing dimensions. All, that is, except one."
    "That would be mine." Carole sighed.
    "Correct."
    "But why only this one?"
    "Because when the other dimensions broke away, their connectors stayed behind. The
presence of that monobrain at The Hub caused such a stress on the monobrain connector, that it
tore right out of its mooring, and without that link you were on your own.
    "Arghthelprragnitleeriall!"
    Carole jumped. "What's the