Princes of the Universe, Part I

Sjakelen said:

Wow, how do you afford living there on a teacher's salary? My family had to move to rural Manitoba (Augh!) because we started to go into debt, but now I'm in Toronto.

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I'm not a teacher anymore--that's my secret.

You live in Toronto? You have my sympathy.

Look for the next chapter to appear tomorrow, everyone.

Sisiutil said:

I'm not a teacher anymore--that's my secret.

You live in Toronto? You have my sympathy.

Look for the next chapter to appear tomorrow, everyone.

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I live in Ottawa.. I need sympathy too..

Cool, looking forward to the next chapter!

Please...NEED SUSTENANCE!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in Kingston. Hella easier to navigate then Toronto thats for sure. Taxes are apparently fairly high due to ****** mayor building a rink for the loser Frontenac's along with a bunch of expensive restoration projects.

That's it, I'm devouring his soul... Nobody try to stop me!

Princes 14 – Child’s Play

Part 3: The Games of Boys





A tersely-worded communique arrived upon Jin’s desk a few days later. It was a message from Caesar himself. If nothing else, it served the purpose of helping Jin to prioritize his energies. “Improving the accuracy of the musket is paramount, more so than the loading issue, which has been significantly improved thanks to your father’s innovation of the paper cartridge,” Caesar had written. Jin marvelled at the way the message had been encouraging and subtly demanding at the same time, goading Jin by reminding him of his father’s accomplishments.

Despite his best efforts, Jin made little progress with his attempts to improve the musket. The weapon seemed to be as good as it could possibly get. Then one of his assistants showed him how recent breakthroughs in steel-making resulted in stronger alloys that could solve the breech-loading problem.

“That’s all well and good,” Jin had responded. “And we’ll pursue it. But the accuracy problem is our top concern, and we’ve hit a wall there.” His colleagues had to sadly agree.

His wife noticed the increased strain that wore upon her husband and, one day, insisted he come home early from the laboratory.

“Come spend some time with your family. You need it,” she said.

Jin had to reluctantly agree. His wife rarely insisted on anything, and he’d learned it was unwise to defy her when she did. When he got home from work, his wife had immediately shooed him outside.

“You’ll only be in the way of the girls and I,” she told him. “Spend some time with Wei. He misses you lately.”

Jin found Wei across the street from their home in a grassy park, tossing a curiously-shaped inflated leather ball back and forth with two of his friends. The ball was round in the middle, but had slightly conical ends. The lads smiled and waved at him as he watched their play with a growing smile. They were quite adept with the ball. His wife was right; watching his son demonstrating his physical prowess was always enjoyable and filled him with pride.

Shortly thereafter, a few more boys showed up, and Jin watched with interest as they began to discuss playing a game involving the ball. He politely declined their invitation to join in the game, citing his “old age”, which earned him some good-natured jeers and laughter.

He watched with interest as they divided themselves into two teams and used some spare blocks of wood lying at the side of the street to mark two “goals”. They then began to play, and Jin quickly understood the purpose of the game: each team was trying to carry the ball into the goal of the opposing team by running with the ball and tossing the ball to one another if they were impeded. The ball-carrier could be stopped by holding him or even knocking him down, but the he could then toss the ball to another boy. Sometimes the ball was intercepted or fumbled or simply wrenched away, at which point it changed hands. The game demanded skill and energy and was enjoyable to watch.

The game remained scoreless for several minutes; the teams seemed evenly matched. Then one of the boys on Wei’s team tossed the ball underhanded to Jin’s son. Wei grabbed the ball out of mid-air, then looked towards the opposing goal. One of his team-mates was running towards it. Wei called out the boy’s name and then, as the opposing team closed in on him, he drew his arm back, preparing to toss the ball overhand.

What happened next took Jin’s breath away.

The ball rose away from Wei’s hand and flew in a long, fast, straight line. Previously, the strangely-shaped ball had wobbled awkwardly when tossed. But Wei’s throw was a thing of beauty, arcing elegantly in a long arc, perfectly aimed towards where his team-mate was running. The ball seemed to float into the arms of Wei’s team-mate, and the boy easily carried it into the opposing goal. Wei’s side shouted; their opponents groaned, but several of them couldn’t help smiling at such a skilful play.

Once Wei’s team-mates had stopped congratulating him, he turned around and was surprised to see his father standing directly behind him. The older man’s eyes were wide with amazement. He reached out and gripped his son’s shoulders.

“How did you do that?” Jin demanded.

“Do what?” Wei asked, suddenly confused.

“The ball!” Jin exclaimed, still wide-eyed. “It flew so far… so straight! How?”

“Oh, that!” Wei said, a smug grin now appearing on his face. “You just flick your wrist when you throw,” the boy explained, demonstrating by gesturing with his hand. “It puts a spin on the ball, so it goes straight, even if you throw it long. It’s easy!”

“Easy for you, Li!” one of his friends said, grinning ruefully and punching Wei playfully in the shoulder. “Everything’s easy for him,” he said to Jin. “It’s incredibly annoying.”

“You’re just jealous,” Wei said, smiling, then turned back to his father. His smile faded. His father was staring into space, as if stunned. “Father? Are you all right?”

“You put a spin on the ball…” Jin said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. “A spin…”

Suddenly, Jin clapped his hands together, threw his head back and laughed. He laughed long and loud, laughed until tears were pouring down his face and he was doubled over and clutching his belly.

“Uh… father?” his son asked hesitantly, well aware of the puzzled looks his friends were directing at his father, who suddenly appeared to have taken leave of his senses. “Are you all right?”

Jin nodded, still unable to speak. “I’m fine. Better than ever!” he said, chuckling. He shook his head and smiled to express his disbelief. “Child’s play. Child’s play! Ha!” He suddenly reached out and hugged his son, making the teenager blush. “I love you, my boy. I love you!”

“Um, okay, I love you too…” Wei said, blushing and acutely aware of the surprised stares of his friends.

Jin pushed himself back from the awkward embrace, though the broad smile on his face showed no trace of embarrassment, only elation. He clapped his hands again, then raced back to his home.

“Wow, Wei…” one of his friends said when the older man had gone. “He’s, uh…”

“He’s a genius,” Wei said with a sigh and no trace of a smile. “You know what they can be like…”

Cool! They play football in Rome!

Great update! (Yes, my first reply here... was waiting ages for an update along with everyone else. )

Thank you, sir! Might we have another!

Mightion said:

Cool! They play football in Rome!

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I consider it an early form of rugby, myself.

good for you, they will turn into a great nation by playing rugby

Sisiutil said:

I consider it an early form of rugby, myself.

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I consider rugby a stepping stone to true football. That's why I watch the NFL on Sundays, not the NRL.

It's fantastic, Sisiutil!! I've loved to see how Jin understood the basic principle that makes a spinning ball (and bullet) go further away that and more accurately than normal balls and bullets!

For those who would like to know, this effect is called "Magnus effect", and it is the same European football players use to give a spin to the ball.

It can't be football, they weren't using their feet. Not to mention the ball wasn't round. Rugby definitely, or that American variation of it.

Great update as always. You have a very good way of putting technology into perspective, making it something more than just a number of beakers that gives access to a certain unit/building/whathaveyou.

There's no forward pass in rugby like the one described here.

carl corey said:

There's no forward pass in rugby like the one described here.

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Yup. Hence, "an early form of rugby", a game which eventually got changed into American football, where one of the main differences from its progenitor is the forward pass. That and several pounds of protective gear, all worn by men from a nation that supposedly prides itself on its toughness and virility.

This is a parallel universe, after all. The fun was in making the game somewhat identifiable and leaving everyone to argue about what it was.

I was initially going to use real football (soccer in NA ), which is my favourite sport, but in that game a spin is used to curve the ball, resulting in accuracy, but of a very different kind. I needed a long, straight toss to inspire Jin, hence the forward spiral pass.

Nice update once again, and a clever way of having Jin "learn" about spins.

Interesting method of introducing how rifling was discovered.

I figured it was more like Rugby then football as well. There both close enough anyways.

Sisiutil said:

I'm not a teacher anymore--that's my secret.

You live in Toronto? You have my sympathy.

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Hey, it's not actually that bad. I live in a relatively small apartment, and at least I'm not in a city where everyone is wearing raincoats and 2/3rds of the population is stoned almost all the time.

I live in Ottawa.. I need sympathy too..

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Yeah, it must be terrible having Rick Mercer show up in your city all the time



Once again, a great chapter to an even better story!

Hey, it's not actually that bad. I live in a relatively small apartment, and at least I'm not in a city where everyone is wearing raincoats and 2/3rds of the population is stoned almost all the time.

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Hey, apart from that, Copenhagen is quite nice.

Heh, I was referring to Vancouver.