The Imitator
"The Imitator?" Henry said curiously. He had a feeling it might be something magical.
"Hmmm..." Phil breathed as he contemplated the thought, then Henry caught a rather peculiar expression in Phil's face that he needed to brace himself for.
Phil reached for the zipped triangular-shaped pocket located in his chest as it unzipped on its own. Henry saw Phil's hand get inside as though he was trying to pull out his heart but Henry did not dare make a reaction, he watched in curiosity as he pulled his closed right hand and layed it down.
Henry looked in morbid curiosity as he opened his hand to see a grayish cube almost the same size as a golf ball.
"And what exactly is that?" Henry asked, he was pale and Phil noticed, he was not surprised. Phil did not answer straight away, he looked at the cube until it floated off his palm. It morphed into a rectangular flat glass sheet and coloured images appeared. Phil tapped on one of them and the glass sheet morphed once again, this time into a much bigger rectangular shape but slightly curbed. Phil with the wave of hand, shuffled the images until Henry saw his own face. Henry looked at it, pale as a statue, he was not sure whether he was scared or fascinated, perhaps both.
He watched eagerly as Phil tapped the one with his image and played him picking up his wand.
"Your reaction is not surprising, I'm sure you've never seen anything like this before." Phil said. "I use this to also communicate in a similar fashion to what you call smart phones or computers. Fascinating, is it not?" Phil looked at Henry with his mouth open but Phil continued.
"This is a prized invention of Celestia's top alchemists. This is generally referred to as Imitator for its ability to replicate the characteristics of certain objects, even plants, humans and animals. They come quite handy when we want to demonstrate something in three dimensions. It's also able to transform into a useful tool or a gadget." Phil summed. He tapped on the glass and it transformed once again into a cube.
"I'll show you a quick demonstration." Phil pointed the cube in his right hand to the smart phone in his left hand and Henry heard it maid some kind of sound, perhaps it was scanning it and Phil flipped the phone and the cube made another sound. Phil looked at Henry looking eagerly.
"I guess the Plexacom got the image." He said and he let go of the cube but it did not fall, it remained suspended in midair and it immediately formed into a duplicate of the phone in Phil's left hand. Phil grabbed it and passed it to Henry. He hesitantly held it in his hand bewildered by what he had just seen.
"So unreal." He said almost inaudibly. He could not believe what he was seeing. "This really is magic." Henry saw Phil make a smirk.
"It's just one of the few things it does. It's made of synthetic elements created by the top alchemists of Celestia." Phil said. He made a wave and Henry felt the thing moved and he immediately let go it. Phil gestured again and the it morphed back to a gray cube. He picked it up in midair with his thumb and index finger. Henry saw that he put a pressure on and the square between his fingers sank and formed a hollow and then an opening. A tiny very tiny round object that looked almost like a whole peppercorn emerged, it was black.
"This is the central processing nuclei. This is the brain of the plexacom. It's what controls it and processes all its functions and stores the data it gathers." Phil explained.
"It really does sound like the way our computer technology works... it just that... that is out of this world." Henry wasn't sure whether there was a much better way of conveying but he was utterly lost for words.
The central processing nuclei returned wherever it came from and Phil placed it on the back of his new phone and it started moving as though it was scanning its internal contents. As soon as it finished henry picked up the cube once again and it turned to a flat glass sheet but this wider and slight curbed.
It showed images which Henry assumed were interpretation of the internal body of the smart phone. Henry didn’t dare interrupt Phil as he was also curious to see what Phil was about to do.
Phil flicked through the images looking rather serious completely ignoring Henry.
"Interesting..." He muttered. Phil waved his hand and the imitator folded itself back into a cube and returned it back inside his pocket in the same fashion he took it.
Henry was still processing what he had just witnessed, he wanted to question Phil about other things but he was just simply lost for words and Phil took notice of this.
"Is there still anything you need to tell me about this?" He raised his left hand where he held the device.
"Oh yeah, you need to charge that phone." Henry showed how it worked that it needed to be "fed" to function.
He also remembered about the text messaging and also showed Phil how it's done.
"I guess we covered most of what it does, pretty much all the basics. I can show you how to use the Internet and show more app samples if you want." Henry said although he did sound like he was on auto pilot as Phil observed.
"No, that will do for now. You've been very kind Henry, thank you for all your help and sparing me some of your precious time. I'm truly greatful." Phil said. It kind of made Henry pull himself together, feeling rather awkward with Phil's rather formal speech.
"Erm, anytime... I'm glad to be able to help in any way after what you've done." Henry said greatfully, his expression changed all of a sudden.
"I've been meaning to ask... how did you get here, did you just materialise or something? Henry inquired but Phil just gave him a blank look. This made Henry feel a bit guilty thinking that he was probably being nosy but then Phil just smiled.
"The same way I got here when your house caught fire. You will see very soon. I must bid you farewell for now and leave you to your business. You've been very helpful indeed, thank you for your kindness." Phil said and he grabbed the bag and took out his wand, the one he found and kept from his jacket. It made Henry hold his breath unconsciously as he anticipated what he was going to do with it. It made him a little excited or perhaps terrified.
The tip of the wand lit up and it released it as a small ball of light and it fell on the floor. It looked as the it was somekind of fire the was spreading, it made Henry gasp until it stopped to form a perfect circle. Phil soon positioned himself in it.
"Until we meet again." He said to Henry as the threads of light latched on Phil looking as though he was being pulled down until he completely vanished and then the amber circle soon shrunk until it also vanished. Henry was stunned questioning whether it was all just a dream. He tapped where the circle was with his foot just out of curiosity. It was just an ordinary floor, exactly as it was before.
Henry stretched himself and then jumped with his arms spread like someone who triumphed and then he pranced around as though he was dancing and hummed. He then ran down to the kitchen and drank some chilled water and then went out for a walk. He just felt he was going to walk what he had just witnessed off. It would help him recover from his bewilderment. Look around, have some sight seeing and some fresh air.
