The Magician and Laplace’s Demon

The Magician and Laplace’s Demon

By Tom Crosshill

As the fabric of Zale’s pocket ballooned, I contemplated the end of the universe.

As her hip vaporized in a crimson cloud, I realized the prospect didn’t upset me.

As the exlosion climbed Zale’s torso, I experienced my first painless moment in a thousand years.

Pain had been my feedback system. I had no more use for it. Whatever happened next was out of my control.

He last thing Zale saw was Ochoa sitting there – still and calm, and oblivious. Hints of crimson light playing on her skin.

It occured to me she was probably the only creature in this galaxy older than me.

The superheated plasma burned out Zale’s eyes.

External sensors recorded the explosion in the unijet. I sent in a probe. No biological matter survived. The last magician was dead.

The universe didn’t end.

The Magician and Laplace’s Demon. Photo by Elena.

Quantum fluctuations kept going, random as always. Reality didn’t need Ochoa’s presence after all.

She hadn’t understood her own magic any more than I had.

Captain! First Officer Harris messaged Laojim. Are you all right?

The target had a bomb, I responded on his behalf. Consul Zale is lost.

We had a power surge in the control system, Harris wrote. Hatches opening. Cameras off-line. Ten minutes ago an escape pod launched. Tracers say it’s empty. Should we pursue?

Don’t bother, I replied. The surge must have fried it. This mission is over. Let’s go home.

A thought occured to me. Had Ochoa made good on her threat& Caused a supernova near a gravisible core?

I checked in with my sensor buyos.

No disturbance in in the pernac continuum. She hadn’t Spiked.

For all her capacity, Ochoa had been human, her reaction time in the realm of milliseconds. Too slow once I’d decided to act.

Of course I’d acted. I couldn’t let her compromise my decision. No one could be allowed to limit my world.

Even if it meant I’d be alone again.

Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, edited by Rich Horton, Prime Books, 2015.