Starfinder, Ethel and Hobbes are giving a demonstration to Thunderblast and Shaky, based on Nick’s
work. He is entering his research for the Capernicus Prize. Shaky recognises some of the drawings, and asks where Hobbes got them from.
Hobbes says the library. Shaky warns against messing with negative magic,
but his words fall on deaf ears.
The trial goes ahead – they can collect negative magical backwash from spells, or the Fosters
Effect, but they can now also contain it. Starfinder pulls an egg out of the
machine. It contains pure magical backwash from the room. Shaky asks what happens if it breaks, but Starfinder explains that nothing can break the eggs, they are
made out of resin used by NASA. Thunderblast and the Beetle have to leave –
they are attending a Witch Conference. The college is left in Dr Wendle’s
hands.
In Misery’s, Cas is proposing a toast to no lessons for 8 weeks! But Tim and Azmat aren’t happy; Hobbes is going to win the Capernicus Prize. Apparently he has solved all of Starfinder’s problems overnight, he has shut himself away in his
room and “he’s got this stupid cloak.” Further probing by Milly
makes her recognise this cloak as the one she saw the other night when she and Shaky had come back from the Middle-Ages. Milly wants to get into Hobbes’ room.
Ethel and Hobbes are in his rooms, when she picks up a notebook on his desk, and reads some phrases
about Misgone Magic. She realises that all the things that Hobbes said he worked
out are all in this book; Hobbes has cheated. It is the book that he picked up
from Guy’s laboratory. He tells her that the people who had been doing
the research before knew how to get the magic out of the eggs. Ethel doesn’t
understand, but she realises that Hobbes doesn’t really need her. So she
rips some pages out of the book and takes them with her as insurance so that he really does need her to carry out his plans.
Shaky pays a visit to Professor Starfinder to warn him about the dangers of these eggs. He brushes off his complaints; all he cares about is Foster’s Free Magic. Shaky says that there are limits on magic for a reason, but Starfinder accuses him of professional jealousy
and Shaky leaves.
Cas and Ethel break into Hobbes’ room to look for…something. But they are interrupted by Hobbes, who walk in on them. Milly
covers up by pretending that they were there to ask him to an end of year party. Cas
notices him trying to hide a book that he obviously doesn’t want them to see, and gets Milly to distract him while she
steals it. Starfinder and Shaky are arguing with Dr Wendle about the eggs, but
she doesn’t consider his fears valid, and tells Starfinder to go to full power with his machine for a limited time.
Cas and Milly look at the notebook that they stole from Hobbes’ room. Milly notices a phrase about “Misgone Magic,” and says that she’s heard that phrase before. Shaky turns up, and Milly asks him about Misgone Magic. He explains that it was what they used to call the Fosters’ Effect in the Middle Ages. Cas shows Shaky the notebook, and he recognises it as Guy’s.
He says that he thought that everything was destroyed, and asks Milly if she rescued it from the past. She says no, they found it in Hobbes’ room. He tells
Milly about the explosion that happened back when he was young – he ran to the lab, but everything had disappeared including
Guy, the accumulator and the Sorcerer’s Eggs, but there was no sign of an explosion except some broken glass on the
floor. He realises that the sequence of events is happening all over again.
Shakeshaft, Ethel and Hobbes set up the machine for full power.
An egg is produced, and Starfinder goes to put the egg in storage and leaves Hobbes to turn off the accumulator. As soon as he is out of the room, Hobbes and Ethel set about making two more eggs. Tim and Azmat are working on their entry for the Capernicus Prize, a noisy Magic Disco
Mixer – Dr Wendle comes to tell them to turn it off. In Hobbes’ room,
they are trying to work out how to use the eggs. Once in the right position,
they start to glow, and they hear a voice coming from within the walls.
In Misery’s, Jenny Wendle is ordering a cup of coffee. Elaine
tells her about the gift in her hands, and that she can help her relax. Suddenly,
Jenny hears a noise from the walls, and so does Elaine. She rushes back to the
college, and accuses Tim and Azmat of making the noise. But they insist that
it wasn’t them. In the corridor, Shaky catches Hobbes and gives him back
his notebook. He also warns him about using the eggs and how dangerous they are. But Hobbes doesn’t listen, and that night him and Ethel set about making more
eggs. They finally have twelve eggs, the correct number.
Back in Misery’s, Elaine has an audience. She
promises them voices from the walls, but it isn’t working. Milly turns
up, and asks Ben what’s going on. They need to talk. Milly thinks that Ben’s science can help. She explains
about the eggs, and how they could explode…Ben corrects her, the eggs would *implode* because it’s negative magic. Milly runs back to the college to tell the others.
Shaky tries to warn Starfinder again about Hobbes and the eggs. The two
eggs that he has made are still inside his safe, and they go and check out the accumulator.
Hobbes and Ethel are following the instructions that the voice in the wall is giving them. The voice says it will be dangerous, but Hobbes follows his instructions anyway. He stands in the middle of the eggs. Starfinder
and Shaky get to the accumulator, and they find that Hobbes has made more eggs without Starfinder’s knowledge. Shaky tells him that Hobbes will try and absorb the energy from the eggs. Milly rushes in with Cas and tells Shaky about the implosion that will happen. Back in the Middle Ages, there was only the broken glass on the floor because the negative magic caved
in on itself, creating another world. The eggs broke before the reaction could
reverse anything but the room. If the glass eggs hadn’t shattered, the
whole world might have imploded. But Starfinder’s eggs won’t break.
Hobbes is absorbing the magic of the eggs, but things are going wrong. The magic isn’t flowing into him, it is going into the wall, and into a figure in a white cloak that
appears. Ethel runs out of the room in shock, and the figure lays his hand on
Hobbes’ head and thanks him.
To be Continued…