poly_chromatic | 70 - [Deity filter]

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70 - [Deity filter]

[Tyr tries to look more businesslike than he has in years as he sits beside Rita.]

I don't know if you guys need me to set an appointment for this, but I- we just want to talk... All we want is some information. You don't need to do anything.

[--But then Rita cuts in quickly.]

You do need to talk. I don’t care if we have to pay for the information, we want you guys to cough up something.

[Tyr looks over at her awkwardly, but in the end he just nods...]

Right... We'll be waiting for your response.

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...I guess. [ It's been over a year and Tyr has not missed Laszlo's long-winded explanations. ]

Our question is more complicated than that, though. We know that people come here randomly, I know it's like teleportation. [ Complete with awkward landings. ] The parts I don't understand are how to control that movement and keep our memories. Retention seems completely random, and that's not a problem I've seen with any other kind of blinking... Is that an issue with "particles" transferring between sides?

Bless you, son.

If (because, remember, I make no guarantees that this is at all the actual function--for all you know, it's actually literal magic and you're all falling in here like Alice through the Looking-Glass--who really was such a sweet girl) the teleportation is operating on what is referred to in some worlds as "Spooky Action at a Distance" (crash course: two particles become "entangled" in such a way that when one changes, the other one changes in the opposite way, and these particles can be a great distance apart), then the particles are not moving so much as being changed on either side--that is, inside the City and outside the City. In several worlds, there is a great deal of speculation as to what might be kept and what might be lost in such a transfer--

Let me put the speculation to you as a parable: once upon a time, a man named Theseus bought a new ship. He had this ship for ten years. But, unknown to Theseus, every night, a thief would board the ship and steal some small parts of it. In the morning, Theseus would find that some part of his ship needed repair and so he would repair it. Over the course of those ten years, the thief used these stolen parts to create a ship of his own, which he floated in the harbor next to Theseus's ship. The question, of course, is which ship is really Theseus's ship? Is it the ship he claims is his own, which has been remade over the course of those ten years or is it the ship that floats next to it, which has been made of the parts that he bought? Which is the real ship of Theseus?

Now, add to that the complexities of the mind--such things as personality, memories, temperament, experiences, and so on. If these things are encoded into the structure of the physical body and are therefore present within the particles, then they would be transferred when the particles are "switched" (that is, the Spooky Action at a Distance occurs or, if you like, when the teleportation occurs). But, if these things are not encoded into the structure of the physical body, well...

The "control of the movement," as you put it, will not come into your hands. That answers that, I hope.

[It might be long-winded, but Rita has to admit that it's interesting. To herself, at least.

But she doesn't really like that answer, either.]

So in other words, it's entirely possible that we're both here and in our own worlds at the same time.

...Then what would happen if that connection was disrupted?

Not quite. Your particles are here (ergo, you are here), and your inverted particles are in your world (ergo, you are not there). A flip of the wrist and the situation is re-reversed, and you are back in your world and your reversed particles are here.

But, as you noticed, there must be a connection between the particles and their inverse, if they are Entangled (as the terminology goes).

If it's disrupted, well, I suppose all your atoms would go on a permanent vacation. Try to imagine every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

Let's not try to imagine that.

Anyway, I think I'm starting to get this... [ Thanks for the story; it helps. ] Basically, there are two attached sets of particles, and they can change at any time. There's nothing to say those two sets need to stay here and our worlds, though; they should be able to move as long as the connection wasn't broken.

Now, that is a thought, isn't it?

[Tyr took the next question right out of her mouth, so Rita's more than happy to continue this line of thought.]

It is. In that case, can this connection be formed between two different worlds instead of one world and the City?

That would depend on the actual method of connection, now, wouldn't it?

Which you said couldn't be contolled.

I said it would not come into your hands.

And why is that? Is there a mechanism here that establishes this connection?

Perhaps it's a mechanism, perhaps it's magic.

Remember, we're talking theoreticals here. There's no inherent reason that you ought to believe that any of this is true. For instance, we've not addressed at all the curious observation that one is returned to the moment from which one departed while time continues to flow here. If we're simply transporting or transposing particles, shouldn't time continue to flow around both sides of the connection? How can particles in one world be so marked to a particular point in time and space? Meanwhile, time flows on this side.

Consider it.

It's not that weird for different worlds to work differently... I just assumed that the passage of time here was just cosmetic- like a dream world.

Do you even know how this place actually works yourself? You might have been here longer than us, but there's no guarantee that you actually know anything. That's why we're just talking.

Fun fact: I am not the first to ever hold my particular position. I am, in point of fact, something of a replacement.

Surprise, surprise.

And do you feel like sharing who chooses these replacements, too?

In my case, I was abandoned by my previous immediate supervisor, one, Mr. Ferocia Coutura.

No, I'm not bitter. But I'm not over it either.

Mm...

[ Sorry you were abandoned, I guess... ]

So you guys can just disappear too, huh?

Well, we can be reassigned, I know that.

To another job in the City, or on something else entirely?

Haven't you heard that there's a hierarchy? Honestly. What do you think I did for Mr. Coutura before I came here?

[ Laundry, Tyr thinks, but decides to just keep that to himself... ]

I haven't exactly made it a point to learn about your system. I thought all of you were equals.

And I thought we were here to talk or not talk about the means by which you were brought into the City.

But if you don't know for certain, we'd have to go up this heirarchy. Do you know how the connection is established?

What if I told you that I don't? What if I told you that everything I've told you is a lie--or, rather, isn't a whole lie but only discusses theoreticals which are not at play in this situation? What if I told you the whole affair is orchestrated not by us but by the City itself?

Then I wouldn't be surprised. If you actually knew, you wouldn't just speculate with us...

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