"It'd be nice if you could grab a whole book, diagrams and all. I can set it into latin alphabet plaintext with a nice simple dot kay tee eye format for the images if that makes it easier."

"If you could get the entire book to scroll past extremely quickly while a spell is cast on the device, that would work, but if I have to retrieve anything that doesn't physically exist as an image at any point during the process then I have to convince the magic to read the device's programming regardless of how it's designed to render visually."

"I can set up a scroll that displays images along the way, just a bit of fiddling."

Tap tap tap, tinker tinker. He fetches paper. "Let's try it, this is the data structures book Gail wanted. Tell me when to have it run."

"Alright then..." he arranges the paper in a certain way on a flat surface, and says some seemingly-random nonsense words. "Okay, go."

Scrollscrollscrollscroll. It takes several seconds.

And the paper flips over rapidly, like the fluttering pages of a book in the wind. They take longer than the scrolling to complete, but only a few minutes.

"Excellent! Do you mind producing a lotof these to distribute to professorial types? I think the nerdiness amalgam is going to last for a few days. After which I want to learn magic."

"Well, I'm not fronting the paper," he says. "But no, I don't mind casting the spell."

"This is a university, there will be enough paper."

He sets to finding out which department is willing to donate it.

Eventually, after some arguing, it is agreed that each department will provide the paper for textbooks that fall under their headings.

He didn't expect it to take much arguing. Well, anyway, three copies of the most promising few books and one copy of supplementary ones. He doesn't hesitate to threaten to cut a department off if they get too greedy or argumentative.

It wasn't much arguing. Anyway, no one's complaining about the number of copies of any given book; Cecil's spell works on paper at least as well as fast-scrolling tablets and he, as a student, is comparatively easy to coax into doing things.

Scientific conversations! Book copying! Helping the Engineering Department build a prototype 3D printer!

At around the two thousand book mark Nick thinks that's enough for now and he kind of wants a break. One can only tolerate so much nerding out in a given time.

"So what do you want to do for now? It's pretty late," Daphne says, pointing out the window. A bright full moon and a sprinkling of shining stars can be seen hanging in an otherwise near-pitch sky.

"I think that depends on how tired you are, because I can keep going twenty four-seven."

"Not terribly tired."

"Well, then a break from thinking sounds pretty good to me."

"I've been told I'm pretty good at making people stop thinking."

"That definitely sounds fun. I hope I won't disappoint."

She starts to move, but then stops herself and looks at him thoughtfully. "Some things are more fun if your brain isn't being fogged by anything else, even if you're not planning on doing much actual thinking, and it is fairly late. Would you like to get coffee?"

"Sure, coffee. Stimulants feel nice, and two things that feel nice are better than one."

"I know a nifty coffee shop that's about six miles that way," she points.

"I'll fly us. Want a fast hop, or to go a little more slowly and enjoy the view and the breeze?"

"Little more slowly sounds fun."

"Sure thing." He takes her hand, and they drift into the sky at approximately twice jogging speed. He lets some of the breeze through, but not enough to be uncomfortably chilly.