The New HUD

Written and as told by Ryu Darragh

The youth walking along the street was ordinary enough. The city street, nothing spectacular or unpleasant, was lit by the early days sun.

Kallum speculated idly about the people flying from building to building in the air, carrying small packages or hurrying on unguessable errands.

Perhaps that red female was towing that rack of clothing to a merchant down the street. Perhaps that green male was carrying that bulky box up to his shipping department.

None of it occupied more than a moment of Kallums attention, however. He had a mission of his own and the shop he needed was at ground level on this street.

As he approached the door to the old timers shop he glanced in through the window to see if the old timer was with a customer or not.

His little,.. "problem", was embarrassing and it was going to be bad enough explaining it to the old timer. A customer as a witness would be just too much.

He reached his goal and opened the door, which caused the ancient and quaint old door chime to tinkle and announce his arrival.

The old timer, an old and careworn blue dragon, was hunched over his work table peering into an assemblage of crystals and metal bits shining with light.

Caught in the focus of the lights was a curious twist of almost nothing that Kallum recognized. It was a raw HUD the old timer was working on.

"Ah, young Kallum.", said the old dragon, peering up at Kallum over his work. "What can I do for you this fine morning ?", he continued in a cheerful voice.

"Well," began the young dragon, looking down at his feet and idly picking at a loose scale on his arm, :I think I broke my HUD again. It's way off and I can't get it adjusted!", he finished in a rush.

"Now, now, Kallum. You know you're not to be trying to alter a HUD without proper training and schooling. The chances of hurting yourself.. not to mention others around you.. is too high." stated the older dragon rather sternly.

"But, Keireilert, why do we even need a HUD ? I'm perfectly capable of using my magic without it! Watch!" And, with that, Kallum held out a hand and a light formed over it and spiraled to an open space on the shops counter.

The light wandered over the counter and finally settled on one spot whereupon a teacup full of very hot tea formed and steamed gently. Upside down and a meter away from it's intended destination.

The teacup flipped through the air, spilling most of the tea and landed on the counter with a loud ringing noise which made the old dragon wince.

"I see. You certainly didn't need a HUD to do that, did you ?" asked the old dragon brightly. "Now, take a taste of your effort." instructed the old dragon.

Kallum hesitated. He knew he had never been able to create a drinkable cup of tea because there were too many details to keep track of. All those molecules. He shook his head no.

"Put your HUD on and I'll explain something to you that you will not learn until you enter the university while I make repairs." said the old dragon gently while he moved Kallum to a circle on the floor.

"Many folks make the same mistaken assumption." began the old dragon as he moved his red glowing hands near Kallums head. "They assumed magic is not technology." he continued.

"But magic can't be technology!" exclaimed Kallum. "Why do you say that ?" asked the old dragon. "Because technology requires some sort of machinery and magic is built into us. No one ever installed it into me." finished Kallum with an indignant tremble to his voice.

"And *that* is the error, Kallum. The magic was installed into us all long ago. You have simply inherited that same technology from your parents." said the old dragon as he finished his repairs.

"long ago, when I was a youth" started the old dragon, a faraway look in his eyes, "magic as we know it was a dream and naotechnology was just being established. HUDs as we know them were an idea introduced to us in 3D virtual reality games played on computers."

"Then, when I was much older, femtotechnology was invented. Molecules ? Hah! We were making machines out of subatomic particles. And *that*, young Kallum, is what people are calling magic." said the old dragon.

"An wise old thinker opined that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic. So, we have shapeshifting, creation of objects out of thin air.. all we think of as magic. And all technology."

Kallum look askance at the old dragon and said "Hah! Next you're going to try and convince me everyone you knew when you were young was HUMAN!"

The old dragon just grinned at Kallum with a gleam of delight in his eyes.