HomePage RecentChanges

Pressing Ones Luck

The University of Wessex, Ishtar Long Count 998.11.131

It was a dreary rainy day, and the water was pouring from the sky in great droves. Which of course meant that the smelters and smokers and all of the craftsman of what was being called “The Guild of Fire” were hard at work. Rain meant a day where there was no chance of loose fire, and that was not time to be wasted. Young messengers, old porters, middle aged factors – or carriers of special components or pieces – all running around through the streets of the town, only recently covered over in a surface which had been learned from the Latins: concrete. The Latins made concrete in vast quantity, and it was on a journey through their countryside that a bright young man had realized that the secret was to make it in round cylindrical shafts about 6 feet deep, and then between these set smaller ones and smaller ones, and then cover over the result with a base sand, on top of which one could lay the plates of concrete in squares. He was now the high commissioner for roads of Germania Borealis.

In the university itself, in a tall room where lectures were held, there was a small gathering, as Angus Giles, or Aeneas Edigus as his papers were signed – was giving a small lecture to some advanced students on the second of Similisaster’s Reflections on the Philosophy of Nature. They were having the usual difficulties. It fell, not to Aeneas, but to Stephen Sextant to explain again the distinctions in the ideas.

“No. No. No. He says that every system rests on principles and a theory. The principles simple state how to measure and construct, where as the theory structures how this measuring world is used.”

“Very well,” said one of the first years, “he then looks at classical geometry, and says that it what are called postulates or axioms are really of two different kinds.”

“Yes.”

“He says that the first axioms are principles, that the define how to manipulate, but that the last – the parallel lines axiom – is a ‘theory’.”

“So far you are right.” replied Steven.

“But that means that, he is saying, there are other kinds of geometry, ones with a different ‘theory’ of a plane.”

“Yes.”

“And so there are geometries where parallel lines meet? Absurd, it is against the definition.”

Angus interjected. “No, he is saying that there are geometries with other theories, some have infinitely manly lines that can be drawn through one point to a line, others have none, and still other geometries can’t be phrased with a parallel line theory.”

The first year was about to make one objection, and then started on a different one. “Show me such a geometry.”

At which point Angus produced a ball tossed it gently at the student. “There’s one.”

The student then drew a circle and a point. He then carefully marked off two orthogonal angles, and said, “there, one line.” He tossed it back smugly.

Angus calmly took drew around it another circle, not touching the first, through the same point. And tossed it back.

The first year then said, this isn’t a line, because, and he pointed to two points on it, it isn’t the shortest distance between these two points,” He then tossed it back, slightly harder.

Angus then pointed at two points and said, yes, but it is the shortest distance between these two points, so it is a line.

“But that means that the geometry is contradictory, there is no geometry for it.”

“So you are saying we can’t understand the geometry of s sphere?”

The first year stopped, sensing a trap, and realized when his eye fell on the globe in the corner of the room. He stopped, realizing he was out maneuvered. His mind ran through various lines of attack, and realized they all lost.

But then he smiled and went on the attack again:

"He says also that the kinematics consists of three principles of motion, and a 'theory' of gravity within which the rest are set. Why isn't absolute time and space the theory?"

"Because they don't provide a way of relating the measurements to anything. It is only by feeling gravity or acceleration that we can tell whether something hit us and we moved, or it hit us and it moved."

The first year student started to open his mouth, but saw how a blunt statement about a plane or about space would not relate the principles to each other, and accepted defeat by silence. After a moment of watching the glowering Angus started up again:

“So can we go onto the next point. ‘The structuring theory is what gives the system its shape?’”

There was a knock at the door. “Angus, the Caput wants to speak to you, immediately.” It was one of the messengers for the University. But his face was grave.

“I will be right there. Until next time, I have a feeling this will take a while. Steven can you take over for the rest of this?”

- - -

He wandered into the office of the head, overly tidy, as was the sign of a sick mind. It had not always been this way, but now it was, he was making a drive to be “efficient”. Which meant, it seemed, not having any work in progress.

“Angus, I have an assignment for you.”

It was unusually brusque, even for the Caput, and hopelessly rude. Perhaps he meant that this was friendly. In the way that which a wolf might be casual with a lamb.

“I am at your service.”

“You remember how you were elected provost last year?”

Yes, thought Angus, despite campaigning hard to avoid it.

“Well as you might not have heard, we have had to pay a goodly sum of money to one of the women who cleans the rooms. It turns out she disputed her agreement.”

Angus looked blankly at the Caput. “How did she do this?”

“It turns out she is was born on the wrong side of the bedsheets of an important man, who managed to wrangle a date before a judge. We had to pay merely to keep it all quiet.”

Angus said, “So you want me to…”

“As provost, you are to form a committee to prevent this from happening again, and do what you need to do to make sure that no one disputes making their mark again.”

Angus replied, “But many of them are unable to read and write. We would have to read each agreement, and have witnesses.”

“I want you to find some other way.”

And with that, the Caput waved Angus out and returned to totaling up figures in the ledger. It seemed he had become obsessed with the monetary position of the University.

- - -

Walking back through the halls Angus did not have even the faintest idea of what to do, and so he idly played with the small ball that he and the first year had tossed back and forth earlier. He pitched it up in the air slightly, and then caught it, doing this several times. He smiled at the victory of showing nonclassical geometry to the student. And looked at the lines on it. He noticed that the ink had been wet, and there were smudges, lines and wrinkles. It was a novelty to him, but to a reader from our time, the marks are so iconic as to be the obvious source of his solution: fingerprints.

As he turned the ball over, he saw his own too, captured on the ball’s surface – it was clearly different from the first.

Armed with this he rushed back into the lecture room, and found the students still working away.

He rushed to the table, dripped a bit of ink on a page, pressed his fingers into it and left clear print marks.

He then used his tone of voice for announcements, and said “The principle is that the lines on the hand can be measured with ink pressing, as if they were the plate for a book. The theory is that they are all unique enough to be distinguished by observation.”

The first years student looked at him: “Who told you this?”

“Why you did?”

Steven broke in with a different objection: “How are you going to pay for proving that.”

At which point Angus spun the ball on his finger tips, and while he was looking at the ball he said “Why the Caput has just approved the entire budget for fingerplating the entire staff.”