Well, explaining what it does wouldn't be that hard. Explaining how it works, that would be... tricky. Bit like how people in primitive tribes react to radio. They get what it does just fine, and they're no less intelligent than modern urban people because we're all the same species, so they could learn electrical engineering given time and study, but you'd have to go back to pretty basic principles to make a start.

>I'm kinda wondering when it will slip out that he's
>a hell of a lot older than even the 501 girls realize.

They know he's from the 25th century, and they know his grandfather was born in 1930. That should suggest a few things, but it's possible none of them has ever sat down and actually done the math. :) (Also, they're aware that he's a time traveler, so they might have sort of tacitly assumed that he didn't get to the 25th century the long way round either.)

>Whether the Warlock did
>it or not, if he doesn't know how it was done, what makes him think he
>can duplicate it?

"What one man can do, another man can duplicate." (At least if you proceed from the assumption that the "warlock of '43" wasn't really a man who could use magic - which, in fairness to General Reichenberg, is a reasonable assumption, given that there has never ever been one in the whole of human history in that universe.)

>Oh, dear. Do I detect a severe underestimation? I do believe so. I
>think Reichy is about to get hoist on his own petard.

A lot of people assume, mostly because she's so much quieter and more reserved than Erica, that Ursula is... well, not an idiot-savant, but... not a person who is particularly engaged with the world beyond whatever she's working on, let us say.

(They also assume that she's harmless and incapable of aggression, which is a slightly daft thing to assume of a witch whose familiar is a badger. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.