Chapter 3 – Page 087
【ｓｔｒｉｎｇｗａｖｅ】
↓ Transcript
Panel 1:
Nancy stands up a bit sheepishly. Si is confused.
NANCY: Uh...the readings you took.
NANCY: They…
NANCY: They didn’t have anything to do with the Bond Street disappearances.
SI: Eh?
Panel 2:
Si sits up. Nancy puts her hands on her hips and looks around the floor.
SI: So wotcha make me do them for?
NANCY: I needed you to be in certain locations at certain times and report whatever background noise was in the area so I could subtract that from my readings.
SI: Me pacific’ly?
NANCY: Yes. You, pacifically.
Panel 3:
Nancy pokes Si’s noggin. She stares up at the finger between her eyes.
NANCY: Your quantum-laced brain is emitting a constant low-level frequency. It’s so wide-band that it cannot be tracked with any accuracy from within Earth orbit.
SI: But you dun it before?
NANCY: The ‘40s Luftwaffe was using the same frequency and routing through your neurons, allowing triangulation. Complete coincidence.
Panel 4:
Nancy leans over to explain in detail. Si really isn’t keeping up.
NANCY: Which means any variation in the frequency wouldn’t be coming from you, if you see what I’m getting at?
SI: I...think?
NANCY: So I sent you round the city, measured your brain’s readings from here, compared them with the readings you took and tried to isolate a lifeline.
SI: “Lifeline”?
Panel 5 (wide):
Diagram of various lines, some fixed, most frazzled round the edges, some sequential and some complementary, illustrating the concept of “lifelines.”
NANCY (box): ‘Everybody’s got one. In fact most people have several.’
NANCY (box): ‘It is the chain of probabilities that defines who and what we are. Its natural state is in flux, coalescing at the present point as possibilities turn into certainties, the shape of the line before informing the line that comes after, but never completely deciding it.’
NANCY (box): ‘It is at this intersection of relativistic determinism and quantum randomness that something resembling free will is allowed to exist. Where the falling angel meets the rising ape, so to speak. And it is this specific instant that manifests collectively in the String…’
SI (box): ‘Eeeuuugggeeehhhuuueeeggghhh…’
NANCY (box): ‘I see your cranium is overheating, but what’s important for our purposes is that, as an intrusion of relativistic certainty in an uncertain space, a lifeline can only be measured if the subject is...or was...between dimensions.’
Nancy stands up a bit sheepishly. Si is confused.
NANCY: Uh...the readings you took.
NANCY: They…
NANCY: They didn’t have anything to do with the Bond Street disappearances.
SI: Eh?
Panel 2:
Si sits up. Nancy puts her hands on her hips and looks around the floor.
SI: So wotcha make me do them for?
NANCY: I needed you to be in certain locations at certain times and report whatever background noise was in the area so I could subtract that from my readings.
SI: Me pacific’ly?
NANCY: Yes. You, pacifically.
Panel 3:
Nancy pokes Si’s noggin. She stares up at the finger between her eyes.
NANCY: Your quantum-laced brain is emitting a constant low-level frequency. It’s so wide-band that it cannot be tracked with any accuracy from within Earth orbit.
SI: But you dun it before?
NANCY: The ‘40s Luftwaffe was using the same frequency and routing through your neurons, allowing triangulation. Complete coincidence.
Panel 4:
Nancy leans over to explain in detail. Si really isn’t keeping up.
NANCY: Which means any variation in the frequency wouldn’t be coming from you, if you see what I’m getting at?
SI: I...think?
NANCY: So I sent you round the city, measured your brain’s readings from here, compared them with the readings you took and tried to isolate a lifeline.
SI: “Lifeline”?
Panel 5 (wide):
Diagram of various lines, some fixed, most frazzled round the edges, some sequential and some complementary, illustrating the concept of “lifelines.”
NANCY (box): ‘Everybody’s got one. In fact most people have several.’
NANCY (box): ‘It is the chain of probabilities that defines who and what we are. Its natural state is in flux, coalescing at the present point as possibilities turn into certainties, the shape of the line before informing the line that comes after, but never completely deciding it.’
NANCY (box): ‘It is at this intersection of relativistic determinism and quantum randomness that something resembling free will is allowed to exist. Where the falling angel meets the rising ape, so to speak. And it is this specific instant that manifests collectively in the String…’
SI (box): ‘Eeeuuugggeeehhhuuueeeggghhh…’
NANCY (box): ‘I see your cranium is overheating, but what’s important for our purposes is that, as an intrusion of relativistic certainty in an uncertain space, a lifeline can only be measured if the subject is...or was...between dimensions.’