Carter kept frowning through the long explanation. He had a tendency to never believe someone was lying until blatant evidence of the lie was pointed out to him. And Tolten seemed like a nice, if primitive guy so Carter saw no reason to think he was lying about his experiences or seriously deluded. He parted his lips several times during the talk, then shut his mouth again and tilted his head in mild confusion.

"I don't know anything about all that," he said slowly, running one slick thumb over his chemical-scarred fingers. "That's nothing like what people call magic back where I come from. Are you sure you're not mistaking something real for magic and just calling it magic when you're doing all that?" He scratched his head. "It's the only thing I can think up. Otherwise it just doesn't make any sense."