The Summoners

It was a quieter day at The Training Room, leaving Ashton with little to do. He had already done all the cleaning he could, and there were no clients that he had to run the machinery for. There was nothing to fix, either. Ashton wouldn’t complain though, because it gave him extra time for his studies, and being a Physics major—he needed all the time he could get.

“…if I represents the total intensity of the electromagnetic radiation at all wavelengths, then that intensity over an interval δλ (between the limits of λ and δ&lamba;) is: δI = R(λ) δλ…” Ashton murmured to himself as he took notes from his physics text. Blackbody Radiation was the current subject he had his full attention on.

Since he was alone in the Training Room, he decided to summon one of his creatures to keep him company as he studied. Kerberos, the small Cerberus hound no bigger than a Pomeranian, was idly chewing on three chew toys in his three mouths underneath the desk. Once in a while, he’d give the little beast a rub on the back with his foot—making Kerberos grunt and roll around the floor.

“…A blackbody allows all incident radiation to pass into it (no reflected energy) and internally absorbs all the incident radiation (no energy transmitted through the body). This is true for radiation of all wavelengths and for all angles of incidence. Hence the blackbody is a perfect absorber for all incident radiation…”

Ashton glanced up to give his eyes a break from all the reading he had been doing. “A shame we cannot really perform experiments on Black Holes. They are the perfect Black Body.” Ashton murmured—somewhat talking to Kerberos, but mostly to himself.

“Is that what it’s like for you to be summoned? Being pulled through a Black Hole? I wonder…” Ashton reached down and scratched Kerberos on the back. Kerberos grunted and rolled on his back.

“I often wonder what it would be like on the event horizon of a Black Hole. What would happen to the human body…” Ashton lifted himself back up with a sigh, and resumed studying.

Ashton had seen William and Spirit come in—the two were starting to become regulars. Ashton had not interacted with them too much however, besides the usual greeting and farewells he was obligated to give. They usually did not need assistance with the machines.

As he was studying, however, he overheard the two trying to access a locked scenario. He got out of his desk chair and entered the holographic room to investigate.

“What scenario are you trying to access? Ah…give me a moment.” Ashton prompted an admin window to appear on the console, and he temporarily unlocked the scenario along with a few others. “We keep some of the more difficult scenarios locked so we don’t have newbies trying to bite off more than they can chew. Throwing someone into a difficult scenario with no previous holographic training can have…bad consequences.”

Ashton hit a button, and it was back to the regular screen—now with some of the more difficult scenarios unlocked. “You’re here all the time, so I’m sure you can handle these.”

Just then, little Kerberos bounded into the room and started barking at Spirit. Ashton was more embarrassed than anything.

“Kerberos, no!” he said as he quickly scooped up the little hell hound in his arms. “S-sorry,” he said simply to William and Spirit before rushing back over to his desk.

Ah, damnit. Ashton was so distracted by Kerberos that he had forgotten to explain how the harder levels in the holographic room worked.

“Kerberos, you’re staying right here, alright?” Ashton told his little beast as he placed him on the ground. Then he hurried out to assist William again—quickly closing the door behind him. Kerberos could be heard barking on the other side. Ashton just tried to pretend he didn’t hear anything.

“I’m sorry about that. Let me explain the harder levels…” Ashton said as he made his way back to the holographic room. Man, even from that room, he could hear Kerberos’ barking. Why was such a tiny hell hound so damn loud?

“So, if you press down and hold on these untitled stats—you’ll get a short description of each,” Ashton explained, demonstrating on a random stat. “These more challenging levels allow you more control over the monster’s stats—but there is a limit. For example…”

Ashton pressed down on a stat related to the creature’s physical strength and lowered it considerably. “See how when I lowered the physical strength, the speed and intelligence levels of the monster rose? This allows you to change up what exactly makes the monster a challenge.”

Ashton pressed a ‘default’ button on the left right corner of the screen, which made the stats go back to how they were originally.

“Just mess around with the stats a bit and you’ll get the hang of them in no time.” He stepped back from the panel and glanced over at William. “Um…is there anything else you need help with?” he asked, pushing up his glasses.

“Oh, actually...” Ashton gestures to the lower right hand corner. “See that button? It will bring up a menu, and from there you can access screenplay examples. The harder scenarios just have slightly more complicated menus--but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough.”

Ashton stiffened when he was told he could let Kerberos run around free. Why? This guy obviously had a summoning power much like his own--but he had an impressive wolf and powerful warrior at his side. Did they want to make fun of the fact that one of his summons basically amounted to a three-headed Chihuahua?

“Um...no...he should just stay in there...” Ashton murmured, avoiding eye contact. “He’ll just be a nuisance. So, um, do you need help with anything else?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.

Ashton actually laughed a little when the Spirit and William were teasing each other. Ashton had yet to summon any sort of creature that could actually speak to him. He wondered if he’d have that kind of relationship with any of his creatures at some point. Right now they were more like little pets than real companions.

“Well...alright. I guess I can let him out.” Ashton said, feeling a little more confident. These guys didn’t seem so bad, right? He went over and opened the office door, letting Kerberos run out. Immediately the little hound dashed to Spirit and started sniffing at his paw. Then he was sniffing at William’s feet, and Warrior’s as well.

Ashton watched his behavior for a moment, scratching at the back of his head. “I think he’s just...intrigued by you, I guess.”