![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
om_magik posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
om_mainIllyana has a question. Brian tries - hard - to figure out just what it is.
Illyana took the elevator down to the lower levels. Not looking for Kitty (which really, was the only good reason she could normally think of to visit anywhere involving labs), but because she'd woken up that morning with an odd thought in her head, and couldn't seem to dislodge it. On the other hand, she wasn't altogether sure how to go poking around on the internet to confirm or deny it, either, so she figured that asking someone was the only way to put it to rest.
She made her way down the hall, pausing outside what she hoped was the right door, and knocked before opening it and sticking her head inside. "Hi. Are you Brian?" she asked, with the kind of smile she normally saved for teachers - a sort of disarming, enthused one that suggested she actually cared about what they were teaching and just couldn't quite grasp it. "The one who teaches Physics?"
Brian looked up from what he had been working on, towards the young girl in his doorway. "I am, yes. May I help you, Miss?"
"Illyana," she corrected as she entered, glancing around at the equipment. Which looked...well, important, she guessed, having absolutely no idea what any of it was. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question? I'm pretty sure it's physics-y, but I'm not sure."
"Certainly." Brian set his tools aside, so that he might focus his attention on the new pupil. "What are you curious about?"
Illyana chewed at her lip for a second, trying to figure out how to explain it. "Okay, so...when I was in middle school, we had to read this book, 'A Wrinkle in Time?' And...well, it wasn't half bad. I mean, I actually read it, and -" she paused, realizing that she'd just admitted to a teacher that she didn't usually bother to read her assignments, and corrected with, "not that I don't, normally. But I remember this one. Anyway, it talked about these things called tesser-somethings, where space folded so you could go from one point to another without covering the distance in between. And I was wondering - is that what I do?"
"Hmmm." He moved from one of the work tables to his desk chair, sitting down and then gazing at her thoughtfully. "You are a teleporter, is that correct?"
Encouraged by the fact that he wasn't just saying it was a stupid question, Illyana nodded, then noticed a fairly empty spot on his table and pushed herself to sit on it, legs dangling. "That's why I was wondering. I mean, when I did it the first time, I thought it was magic." She grinned a little, self-consciously, and shrugged. 'But since it's not - I mean, are those real things, even? Or just sci-fi stuff?"
"Well, if I remember the novel correctly, it was a literary invention which I would classify more as a combination of a 'worm-hole', if you would, or a portal which bends the space-time continuum, rather than another dimension," he mused. It did answer her question, or it would, though she might not yet see it. "However, there are theories involving inter-dimensional travel. Which your mutation is specifically, I could not say without a great deal of study."
Illyana wrinkled her nose. Somewhere in there, there might have been an answer, but she wasn't entirely sure. "They said it was like folding a piece of paper in half so the two spots touched. I don't remember them mentioning worms, but it's been a couple of years."
"A true tesseract is a concept in geometry," Brian explained. "I've a model on my computer, if you would like to see. But, in essence, the term was commandeered by the novel to explain something else. A tunnel, or portal, which creates a short-cut through space and time to another point."
Geometry. Okay, she hadn't had Geometry yet, but if it wasn't relevant, she didn't know that she needed to see it. She shook her head, though, at the rest, forehead furrowing. "No, it was a folding thing - I remember that. Like all points meeting all other points, and..." she looked up, embarrassed. "The thing is? I think I can picture that. And I'm not good at science, so...that's kind of weird."
"I remember. The shortest path from point A to point B is not a straight line, but to bring those two points together," Brian recited. "That's what a worm-hole is. A tunnel through space and time made by bending the very fabric of the universe."
"Except you don't bend it. Or not exactly." She bit at her lip, trying to come up with words for it. "Or at least, I don't think you do. It's more like what Cecil said about - do you know Cecil?" she asked. "He says all this stuff that doesn't make sense unless you don't try to think about it too hard, and then sometimes it does. Anyway, he said something about where you are not mattering, because you're always there. And he's right, because you are, but here and there aren't really that different. They're connected." She frowned again. "I don't think I have the right words for it. Maybe it's an ESL thing?"
"So a belief that you're in two places at once?" Brian tried to clarify.
Illyana shot him a dirty look. That wasn't what she'd meant, at all. "No, I know I'm not in two places at once. How would that even work, unless you're Jamie or something?"
Brian managed not to respond to her facial expression. "Then I am afraid I do not quite understand what you are implying."
"Well, I don't understand it either, but I can see it," she complained, frustrated. "Because here is here, but at the same time, if you just sort of take a step, it's not here. It's there. And if you twist it, kind of, then there can be anywhere, because it's all connected. But I'm not sure how to tell which anywhere is which unless I've been there before, or someone else is."
"Well, it sounds to me as though you are describing a wormhole. However, you might be describing teleportation making use of nearby dimensions." He said.
"Like Harley's pocket. Except it's not connected. Well, it is to Harley," she acknowledged, "but not to anything else. I can't step there." Which was unfortunate, because she was pretty sure she'd left her lip gloss in there the last time they went shopping, and she kept forgetting to ask for it back.
"Are you familiar with the Multiple Worlds theory?" Brian asked.
"The thing in the movies where someone makes a different choice and then a whole new world exists?" Illyana nodded, then frowned. "I'm not talking about other worlds, though. Just this one."
Brian picked up a sheaf of paper. "Dimensions are like these papers. There are a lot of them, all next to each other. The ones closest to us are the most like us. That said, each is different, and has different natural laws than ours," he explained. "Either your teleportation is like your wormhole, your tesseract if you rather, or you could be teleporting through one of our neighboring dimensions, whose laws differ from ours."
So...maybe she was passing through Harley's pocket? Illyana wrinkled her nose. "If I'm doing that, I wish I could get my lip gloss back on my way through," she observed. "But it's not so much that I want to know how I do it, anyway."
He blinked. "So what do you want to know?"
Illyana frowned. Hadn't she explained that? Well...maybe not, but she thought it was pretty obvious. "Well, if here is connected to there," she pointed across the lab, "and to the pool, and my room, and whatever other theres there are? And I can step or wormhole or whatever from one there to the next? How does it all work? And how do you know which there is which? Or where, or when, or whatever the right word for it is?" She remembered to smile, because she had the feeling Brian was maybe losing patience, and added, "And is there a picture of it out there anywhere? Because the one in my head is pretty cool, but I can't find one on the internet."
"To know for sure how it all works, I would need to study you," Brian admitted. "I can offer you theories, but very little else, otherwise. Simon Tam might be a better choice, if you want to know the biology of what you can do.
"Unfortunately, we've no pictures of going through wormholes, as no one has ever been through one. Save, perhaps, for you."
Wrinkling her nose at the mention of Biology, Illyana shrugged. That wasn't really what she wanted to know, either, but it was obvious she wasn't going to get anywhere with any of this. "Thanks anyway," she replied, giving up on the whole thing. She smiled just a little (mostly because she wasn't sure if she was going to have to take Physics at some point, and didn't want to leave on a bad note), then called up a stepping disk to teleport out.
Honestly, she would've thought a Physics teacher would've been a lot more helpful. If she could picture a fourth dimension, it couldn't be that hard to explain how it worked, could it?
"You are very welcome."
And that, Brian mused, was the problem with fantasy novels.
Illyana took the elevator down to the lower levels. Not looking for Kitty (which really, was the only good reason she could normally think of to visit anywhere involving labs), but because she'd woken up that morning with an odd thought in her head, and couldn't seem to dislodge it. On the other hand, she wasn't altogether sure how to go poking around on the internet to confirm or deny it, either, so she figured that asking someone was the only way to put it to rest.
She made her way down the hall, pausing outside what she hoped was the right door, and knocked before opening it and sticking her head inside. "Hi. Are you Brian?" she asked, with the kind of smile she normally saved for teachers - a sort of disarming, enthused one that suggested she actually cared about what they were teaching and just couldn't quite grasp it. "The one who teaches Physics?"
Brian looked up from what he had been working on, towards the young girl in his doorway. "I am, yes. May I help you, Miss?"
"Illyana," she corrected as she entered, glancing around at the equipment. Which looked...well, important, she guessed, having absolutely no idea what any of it was. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question? I'm pretty sure it's physics-y, but I'm not sure."
"Certainly." Brian set his tools aside, so that he might focus his attention on the new pupil. "What are you curious about?"
Illyana chewed at her lip for a second, trying to figure out how to explain it. "Okay, so...when I was in middle school, we had to read this book, 'A Wrinkle in Time?' And...well, it wasn't half bad. I mean, I actually read it, and -" she paused, realizing that she'd just admitted to a teacher that she didn't usually bother to read her assignments, and corrected with, "not that I don't, normally. But I remember this one. Anyway, it talked about these things called tesser-somethings, where space folded so you could go from one point to another without covering the distance in between. And I was wondering - is that what I do?"
"Hmmm." He moved from one of the work tables to his desk chair, sitting down and then gazing at her thoughtfully. "You are a teleporter, is that correct?"
Encouraged by the fact that he wasn't just saying it was a stupid question, Illyana nodded, then noticed a fairly empty spot on his table and pushed herself to sit on it, legs dangling. "That's why I was wondering. I mean, when I did it the first time, I thought it was magic." She grinned a little, self-consciously, and shrugged. 'But since it's not - I mean, are those real things, even? Or just sci-fi stuff?"
"Well, if I remember the novel correctly, it was a literary invention which I would classify more as a combination of a 'worm-hole', if you would, or a portal which bends the space-time continuum, rather than another dimension," he mused. It did answer her question, or it would, though she might not yet see it. "However, there are theories involving inter-dimensional travel. Which your mutation is specifically, I could not say without a great deal of study."
Illyana wrinkled her nose. Somewhere in there, there might have been an answer, but she wasn't entirely sure. "They said it was like folding a piece of paper in half so the two spots touched. I don't remember them mentioning worms, but it's been a couple of years."
"A true tesseract is a concept in geometry," Brian explained. "I've a model on my computer, if you would like to see. But, in essence, the term was commandeered by the novel to explain something else. A tunnel, or portal, which creates a short-cut through space and time to another point."
Geometry. Okay, she hadn't had Geometry yet, but if it wasn't relevant, she didn't know that she needed to see it. She shook her head, though, at the rest, forehead furrowing. "No, it was a folding thing - I remember that. Like all points meeting all other points, and..." she looked up, embarrassed. "The thing is? I think I can picture that. And I'm not good at science, so...that's kind of weird."
"I remember. The shortest path from point A to point B is not a straight line, but to bring those two points together," Brian recited. "That's what a worm-hole is. A tunnel through space and time made by bending the very fabric of the universe."
"Except you don't bend it. Or not exactly." She bit at her lip, trying to come up with words for it. "Or at least, I don't think you do. It's more like what Cecil said about - do you know Cecil?" she asked. "He says all this stuff that doesn't make sense unless you don't try to think about it too hard, and then sometimes it does. Anyway, he said something about where you are not mattering, because you're always there. And he's right, because you are, but here and there aren't really that different. They're connected." She frowned again. "I don't think I have the right words for it. Maybe it's an ESL thing?"
"So a belief that you're in two places at once?" Brian tried to clarify.
Illyana shot him a dirty look. That wasn't what she'd meant, at all. "No, I know I'm not in two places at once. How would that even work, unless you're Jamie or something?"
Brian managed not to respond to her facial expression. "Then I am afraid I do not quite understand what you are implying."
"Well, I don't understand it either, but I can see it," she complained, frustrated. "Because here is here, but at the same time, if you just sort of take a step, it's not here. It's there. And if you twist it, kind of, then there can be anywhere, because it's all connected. But I'm not sure how to tell which anywhere is which unless I've been there before, or someone else is."
"Well, it sounds to me as though you are describing a wormhole. However, you might be describing teleportation making use of nearby dimensions." He said.
"Like Harley's pocket. Except it's not connected. Well, it is to Harley," she acknowledged, "but not to anything else. I can't step there." Which was unfortunate, because she was pretty sure she'd left her lip gloss in there the last time they went shopping, and she kept forgetting to ask for it back.
"Are you familiar with the Multiple Worlds theory?" Brian asked.
"The thing in the movies where someone makes a different choice and then a whole new world exists?" Illyana nodded, then frowned. "I'm not talking about other worlds, though. Just this one."
Brian picked up a sheaf of paper. "Dimensions are like these papers. There are a lot of them, all next to each other. The ones closest to us are the most like us. That said, each is different, and has different natural laws than ours," he explained. "Either your teleportation is like your wormhole, your tesseract if you rather, or you could be teleporting through one of our neighboring dimensions, whose laws differ from ours."
So...maybe she was passing through Harley's pocket? Illyana wrinkled her nose. "If I'm doing that, I wish I could get my lip gloss back on my way through," she observed. "But it's not so much that I want to know how I do it, anyway."
He blinked. "So what do you want to know?"
Illyana frowned. Hadn't she explained that? Well...maybe not, but she thought it was pretty obvious. "Well, if here is connected to there," she pointed across the lab, "and to the pool, and my room, and whatever other theres there are? And I can step or wormhole or whatever from one there to the next? How does it all work? And how do you know which there is which? Or where, or when, or whatever the right word for it is?" She remembered to smile, because she had the feeling Brian was maybe losing patience, and added, "And is there a picture of it out there anywhere? Because the one in my head is pretty cool, but I can't find one on the internet."
"To know for sure how it all works, I would need to study you," Brian admitted. "I can offer you theories, but very little else, otherwise. Simon Tam might be a better choice, if you want to know the biology of what you can do.
"Unfortunately, we've no pictures of going through wormholes, as no one has ever been through one. Save, perhaps, for you."
Wrinkling her nose at the mention of Biology, Illyana shrugged. That wasn't really what she wanted to know, either, but it was obvious she wasn't going to get anywhere with any of this. "Thanks anyway," she replied, giving up on the whole thing. She smiled just a little (mostly because she wasn't sure if she was going to have to take Physics at some point, and didn't want to leave on a bad note), then called up a stepping disk to teleport out.
Honestly, she would've thought a Physics teacher would've been a lot more helpful. If she could picture a fourth dimension, it couldn't be that hard to explain how it worked, could it?
"You are very welcome."
And that, Brian mused, was the problem with fantasy novels.
