Thesis presentation

“This isn’t a normal presentation, sir. There is the ozone layer, of which you’re well aware, but there are other layers as well, and other dangers.”
       “Chris, we’re in the middle of a forest here.”
       “And a circle of mushrooms, Jake. A fairy circle.”
       “Chris, I came out years ago. If you didn’t get the memo --”
       “Very funny. This is serious science here.”
       “Pardon?”
       “Wait, you are gay? Oh. Well, this isn’t about that. This is about real fairies . . . perhaps I should rephrase that?”
       “Do you want your grant money next year, doctor?”
       “Fine, fine. See, this is a fairy circle. From which people can summon fairies.”
       “Just how many times did you see Harry Potter with your daughter, Chris?”
       “Will you stop making jokes? Here, read this. These are my findings from the last thirteen years.”
       “‘Fairies, from Doyle Until Dexter.’ Cute title.”
       “It was my wife’s idea. Now, then: summoning fairies is easily done, Jake. Mostly children can do it, but under controlled conditions adults can as well.”
       “Controlled conditions?”
       “See page 32, section 3 b.”
       “... LSD? You took LSD?!”
       “Peyote works, too. That’s on page 33. In any event, the danger isn’t summoning fairies, not even the carnivorous kind. The danger is pixie dust.”
       “What?”
       “There is an ozone layer, Jake. Everyone knows that. But there is also an iron layer, for lack of another term, between this world and faerie. And every time someone calls for a fairie, they sprinkle out fairy dust. And the barrier grows thinner, and the more dangerous things in the never-never get through.”
       “The never-never. Right.”
       “There aren’t many terms that fit this, Jake.”
       “Doctor Dexter, this is preposterous. What do you expect to come out of this?”
       “What? Read my conclusion on page 137, Ja -- sir. It’s obvious that the environmental damage from pixie dust contributes to asthma as well as a rather alarming distrust of modernity and desire for magic. Look at how the highest grossing films of the last twenty years have all been fantasies and don’t tell me there isn’t something to this!”
       “I think you’re insane.”
       “And you call yourself a scientist? Look at the facts, Jake! Unless something is done soon, everything mankind has done since the enlightenment could be swept away by monsters!”
       “But they won’t be sociopaths, will they? Nor fascist dictators.”
       “Jake?”
       “Stay in the circle, Chris. We’re just going to go back to nature, that’s all that will happen.”
       “I - I have iron! I have cold iron I kept in a freezer!”
       “And your science has helped us, for that. You call it - inoculation, I believe. I have taken iron supplements for over thirty years, Chris. We never thought someone would catch on this quickly, but it does not matter.”
       “Jake!”
       “Goodbye.”
       “You’ll destroy the world! Get them off me -- Jake!”
       “They’ll eat you faster if you don’t struggle, Chris. It may even hurt less. Cease your battle with the old darkness and night terrors and let the wild magic take you to a newer world.”
       “J .... aaah!”
       “Or run for me and be torn apart. Men. We’ll need a good changeling now, given this corpse.”
       “... Yes, my king.”
       “You look almost like Chris. You’ll need practise, to sound like him.”
       “.... my king. I swear allegiance to the gates, to the horns and --”
       “Hush. This isn’t a world of kings any longer. Nor even one of magic. But if enough of them believe, if enough stand in the circles -- then not even all the iron they’ve bled from the earth will save them. Heh. He wasn’t as stupid as I thought. Remember that, when you go and see his wife.
       “And make sure his daughter summons more of us. It would be - poetic, if she brought down the barrier.”