The Quantum Games(The Alchemists Academy)

Chapter 14





This room was circular, with a large, equally circular table dominating the middle. Someone had set up a podium at one end, beside which Wirt currently stood along with Roland and Spencer. There wasn’t room for the audience that there had been for their first task, but there were still people there.

Ender Paine sat at the opposite side of the table from the podium, making it clear that he was in charge of the proceedings. Several of the instructors at the academy occupied other seats there, with Ms. Lake sitting to the headmaster’s left and Ms. Burns further around the table. The large, bulky form of King Wilford was to Ender Paine’s immediate right, while Wirt also recognized the lizard-like being next to the king as one of the school’s management committee. Again the presence of magic mirrors scattered around the room suggested that there were more people watching elsewhere.

Then there were the other presences… the ones that seemed to flicker on the edge of Wirt’s vision, not quite noticeable but definitely there. It seemed that even the school’s governors wanted to watch this.

James from the elite class was there too, along with Tess. The older boy stepped up to the podium and Wirt watched the confident way he did it, apparently unfazed by any of the strange presences around the room. Wirt found himself wondering if the other boy could even sense them, because if he could, he was certainly doing a good job of hiding it.

“Welcome to today’s round of the Quantum Games,” James said. “The headmaster has allowed me to open this round, and to thank him, our school’s management board, and the school governors, who I am assured are taking a great interest in these proceedings.”

He shivered slightly at that, but not as much as Wirt did, because a sibilant hissing went up from the unseen figures around the room. James nodded before continuing.

“Because of my place in the elite class, I have become an advisor to Prince Alrin of the Eastern Desert Kingdom. Every day, I have to weigh up possibilities and suggest courses of action. I must make decisions and then persuade others that I am right, whether that is my prince, his people, or visitors to the kingdom. If I fail to persuade people, then the consequences are both real and very serious, and I must often do all this without any preparation. Which is why the three candidates to join the elite class will debate now without having been told the issue that they will be discussing beforehand.”

Wirt’s stomach knotted at that. The idea of standing there and speaking while the creatures on the edge of vision stared at him was difficult enough, but to do it without even having time to prepare an argument? That was going to be very difficult indeed. The only good point seemed to be that there weren’t any potentially lethal obstacles involved in this test. Though not everyone seemed to be as happy about that as he was.

“Talking?” Roland said in apparent disbelief. “We’re just going to be talking?”

“I can agree with the young man’s point on this one,” King Wilford said. “I thought that there was going to be some action when you called me here, Ender.”

The headmaster looked across at the king. “One of our participants has been assigned to advise your son,” he pointed out. “Don’t you want to see if he is up to the task?”

King Wilford leaned forward. “Yes, I guess so. Though if he doesn’t make the elite class, what do I care? And if he isn’t good enough then, I can always have him beheaded.”

Wirt swallowed nervously. It seemed that nothing in this test was about to make things easier for him.

“As for you, Roland,” Ender Paine said, “if you do not like a task, you can always pull out of the competition.”

Roland shook his head. “I’m just eager to get on with the real action.”

“This is real,” the headmaster said. “For an advisor, this is the reality of every day they spend with a ruler. And just for that, you can go first. James, begin.”

The elite student nodded an acknowledgement. “This will be a straightforward debate. You will each have a chance to present your case. The question is what you would do if you were in charge of the school, with full power over those within. Roland, since the headmaster has indicated you should speak first, please step up to the podium.”

Roland took James’ place with obvious ill grace, and also a look that suggested he was trying to think quickly. After a second or two, he shrugged.

“What is the Alchemists Academy?” he asked at last. “The answer to that is simple. It is a place of power. It is a place where students gain strength, yet they do not always use that strength. They end up as advisors to rulers, or working on arcane research no one but them understands. Why?”

Roland paused, looking around the table at the few elite students there, at the teachers, and finally at the headmaster. “Why are we advising rulers when we could be rulers? This school could be a force to be reckoned with in the world. Instead, it holds back, teaching students to be less than they could be. If I were in charge here, I’d stop that. I’d make this school far more powerful, and give it some real influence.”

That got some positive looks from a few of the teachers, and Wirt heard some of the shadowy governors hissing in pleasure at the suggestion, but to his surprise, the headmaster didn’t look happy about it. Perhaps Wirt had misjudged him, or perhaps he just didn’t like any aspect of his work at the school being criticized. King Wilford certainly didn’t look happy with the idea of the school taking over from rulers rather than supporting them.

“Well, that was certainly very… interesting, Roland,” James said. “And I know we’ve all had days when we’ve felt like taking over from our royal charges. Wirt, I think that you’re up next.”

Wirt nodded, stepping up to the podium, and stared out at the assembled audience as he realized that he didn’t know what he was going to say. He could practically feel them staring at him. Especially the governors, with their alien, otherworldly interest in him.

“I believe it is customary to speak during a debate,” the lizard man Sslarven pointed out, to a laugh from the others.

“I… the school has done a lot for me,” Wirt said. “I’ve learnt things I never thought I could learn. I’ve done things that seemed impossible until I did them, and half the time, I’ve only realized what lessons meant once I’ve been through them. I don’t always understand what is going on here. I won’t pretend to. I often think that the way things are done here is crazy, or designed just for someone’s malicious amusement. I’d like to think though that it isn’t random, and that there is some kind of plan to the way the school is run. I know that this is my home now. More of a home than I’ve had anywhere else. That’s why, if I had the power to do what I wanted with the school, I wouldn’t change anything. I’d leave things as they were.”


The people around the table seemed surprised by that, and maybe a little disappointed. Perhaps they’d been expecting Wirt to come up with some grand plan on the scale of the one Roland had proposed. Only Ender Paine seemed to give a small smile, as though glad that someone appreciated his work. The shifting forms Wirt could barely sense also seemed to exude a vague sense of satisfaction, but it was nothing like the happiness they’d shown at Roland’s more destructive suggestion.

Finally, it was Spencer’s turn to speak. He took Wirt’s place at the podium and looked out at the assembled crowd. Wirt had expected him to look nervous, but he’d forgotten that this was the son of a man who ran a large, multi-dimensional business with an iron grip. Spencer had been born for this.

“I’ve heard Roland and Wirt speak, and I listened to their ideas with interest, because it seemed to me that they both did the same thing.”

They had? As far as Wirt could see, his approach had been about as far from Roland’s as was humanly possible. So what did Spencer have up his sleeve that was so different?

“What I mean,” Spencer said, “is that they both assumed that just because they had total power, they should use that power without asking anyone how they wanted them to use it.”

“It’s always worked for me,” King Wilford joked. The headmaster gave him a sharp look, but none of it seemed to faze Spencer.

“With respect, Your Majesty, you take advise on your decisions, don’t you?”

“Well… yes. I suppose so.”

“And you have subjects who petition you, making their opinions known?”

“Well…”

“So even though you have power,” Spencer insisted, “you don’t use it without at least thinking about what other people might want. Yet that is exactly what Roland and Wirt have done here. They have decided what would suit them the best, and given the power they would apply it to the whole school. Roland wants more power, and so his version of the school becomes about that. Wirt doesn’t want things to change, and so they don’t.”

Spencer looked around the room. “If I had power within the school, I would work hard to avoid that kind of mistake. I would go to the students, and I would ask them what they wanted from the school. I would ask the king and the school board of directors. I would take into account the wishes of the governors.”

“So you would just do whatever other people wanted?” Roland sneered. James looked at him and Roland was quiet.

“No,” Spencer said. “I would ask, but I would also look at what each of those groups needed. Sometimes we don’t ask for what we need. Students will always want fewer lessons, for example, but those lessons are where we learn what we need to know in the world. I would listen to what people wanted, and I would look at what they needed. Only then would I form a plan. I wouldn’t just try to make the school run the way I wanted.”

Spencer stopped, stepping down from the podium. Wirt looked around the room and practically everyone seemed impressed with what he had said. After a minute or two of deliberation with King Wilford, during which Wirt was sure one of the shadowy governors moved over to him and whispered something, Ender Paine stood up.

“We have heard three very different approaches today, but only one has convinced us that the boy arguing for it has listened to the task. This was not about who could set out the most, or least, ambitious vision for the school. This was about who could demonstrate the ability to carry people along with him. Only Spencer Bentley truly did so, understanding the true role of an advisor. As such, he is the winner of this round of the Quantum Games.”

Wirt looked across at his friend, happy at least that Roland hadn’t won. At the same time though, he found himself facing a very uncomfortable fact. After two rounds of the Quantum Games, he hadn’t won an event.