The auditorium was quiet, besides a solitary cough echoing throughout the large space. Nip paced back and forth at the edge of the stage, waiting patiently for her mark. Her partner was introducing her, preparing the audience for the unveiling of their new invention.
“Now with further ado, I hand over to my talented engineering partner, Dr Nip Wynne.” Her partner ushered her on stage assisted by a wealth of applause.
Nip made her way up the stairs, draped in her Triumph University alum robes, with her hands stuffed in her pockets, digging for a way out.
“Thank you very much, Alun. Now, I am here to show you the fruits of the collaboration between the engineering department of Triumph University and the Mage’s Guild of Caleah. Although of course you know that, otherwise why else would you be here.” Nip fiddled around in her pocket, grabbing a hold of a small metal implement. She thrust it forward, looking into the glaring eye of the spotlights. “This,” she pointed at the widget, “is what we have called a memory stick.”
A wave of gasps and whispers washed forward across the crowds toward the stage.
“Alun and I have successfully created a medium with which we can store thoughts, memories, in a physical form.” Nip passed the memory stick across to Alun, who was acting as her assistant for the display. “Now, with the help of a spell derived from the common ‘Detect Thoughts’ incantation, Alun will be able to access the memories we stored earlier in the stick.”
Alun waved his hands over the stick, his words reaching into the arcane energy that hung in the air, giving it shape.
“I stored the memory of what I ate for breakfast this morning on the stick, Alun if you would, please.”
“Dr Wynne ate… an apple, some bread and a sausage.” Alun smiled at Nip, before turning his grin to the audience.
“Now, I could well have shared that information with Alun before the lecture. So, we have set up a ‘Zone of Truth’ in advance to confirm the veracity of our claims. Alun, could you please step into the zone, and confirm that this is new information that you have learned from the memory stick.”
Alun nodded and walked to the chalked-out circle on the stage. As he stepped into its glyphs, the air shimmered gold, showing the extremities of the zone.
“I can confirm that this is new information that I learned from interacting with the memory stick.”
The audience responded with a resounding applause, and Nip and Alun shared a near telepathic moment of relief that everything went off without a hitch.
Today's prompt: memory stick
If you'd like to participate too, the contest can be found here: @mariannewest/day-1594-5-minute-freewrite-thursday-prompt-memory-stick