[LadyGriffin]

Originally Posted by MacLowlife

All I know is, don't trust the ones with the chirpy voices... and make sure you can see ALL of her hands.

Looking forward to a fun continuation from this auspicious beginning.

Shouldn't you have said "A long time ago in a Dimension far, far away?

Another story, I can't wait!

Julie

[Standard]

Interesting beginning to the tale. I'll just sit here at the end of the bar with my black and tan and see what transpires.

[unaspenser]

heehee... methinks someone's been watching too much Dr. Who...

[davedove]

Scene 2

“Are you familiar with creation myths?” Ms. Pleater asked me.

“Some of them,” I answered.

She nodded in understanding. “It would be difficult for one person to be familiar with all the creation myths from all the cultures of his world. Imagine how the number grows across multiple dimensions.”

“There must be a bunch of them,” I said.

She smiled at my comment. “A bunch indeed, but there is only one that concerns us at the moment. In the different myths, the universe comes about in different ways. Sometimes a supernatural creature lays an egg, sometimes the embodiments of primal forces mate and produce all of existence, and sometimes a being merely wills everything into existence. On one world, the supreme creator was a musician and the sounds of his playing brought the world into existence.”

“Now this world,” she continued, “had a culture very much like the Celtic peoples of your world. The supreme creator played a tune on his bagpipes and the tunes he played became the world in which the people of this culture lived.”

“That makes as much sense as the world being hatched from the egg of a giant cosmic bird,” I said.

“Quite,” she said with a smile, “but there is something else about the nature of worlds you may not know. Modern scientists make a great show of examining the universe and claiming to be determining the nature of reality, but their scientific approach blinds them to certain truths.”

“Like what?”

“That reality itself is determined by the beliefs of its inhabitants. Once enough people believe something, reality itself changes to make it true.”

“But aren’t the laws of physics constant?”

“Yes, but only because people believe they are.”

“So what are you saying, that the creation myths are true?”

“If enough people on their world believe they are true, yes.”

“Okay, but where are you going with this story?”

“Mr. Dove,” she said, “someone has taken the pipes of this creator. Someone has stolen the Pipes of Creation.”

[Ancienne Alliance]

Ooooooooooooh... yes yes yes yes yes yes !

[davedove]

Scene 3

“Wait a minute,” I interrupted, “that’s like saying someone stole Zeus’s thunderbolt or Thor’s hammer. You can’t steal a mythological item from a mythological being.”

“You’re still thinking conventionally,” Ms. Pleater said to me. “On this world, enough people believe the creation story, so the creator and his pipes are real. Being real, they can be stolen.”

“Right,” I acknowledged, “the whole belief thing. Okay, so someone stole the guy’s pipes. What does that mean?”

“This person can now use the pipes to reshape the world to his own specifications. He has the power of creation in his hands.”

“Okay, so he makes his world over based on his own desires. That wouldn’t be a very good thing for the people of that world.” I paused a moment in thought. “But, if I understand this correctly, the people of that world already believe in the power of the pipes. As such, someone else gaining the pipes would fit into their belief structure and anything that person did with the pipes would still fit within that structure. Their beliefs might interpret that as some evil being corrupting the world, but it’s still in their beliefs. Thus, the base belief structure and the reality that derives from it haven’t been changed. Am I right?”

The Pleaters glanced at one another. One of the women, this one wearing leather and with the ends of her silver-grey hair dyed bright pink, nodded in approval as she spoke. “I told you he would understand.”

I smiled at her statement. “Let’s just say that I’ve read a lot of science fiction and fantasy in my time,” I explained.

Ms. Pleater continued. “It’s not just that, Mr. Dove; it’s in your very nature. Some people spend a lifetime studying philosophy and still don’t understand. But, you are essentially correct. If this were confined to a single world, it would not concern any of us. However, the thief has somehow found a way to spread his influence to other worlds and he is now using the pipes to reshape those worlds as well.”

“Hold on,” I said, “if the reality of each world is determined by the beliefs of its residents, how is that possible. Unless the people believe in the pipes, the pipes would just be a thing of myth, a story.”

“Very good,” said pink-tipped Pleater. “You do understand. But reality is not just based on the beliefs of all the residents of a world. It is instead based on the beliefs of a majority of the current inhabitants of that world.”

“In other words,” said Ms. Pleater, “if the user of the pipes brings along enough believers, their beliefs will overpower the beliefs of the residents.”

“So, he’s invading the other worlds?” I asked.

“Quite,” said the male Pleater wearing the uniform of a British captain, “and just as invaders will impose their own laws on the conquered, these invaders are imposing their beliefs.”

“Okay, so after these other worlds are conquered, they all have the same beliefs. Aren’t there already some worlds in the collection of universes that are nearly identical? How will having a few more make that much difference?”

“Ordinarily it wouldn’t,” said a male Pleater wearing the clothes of an outdoorsman. “But there is more. As the new world is conquered with the new beliefs, it is not just transformed; it is merged with the invaders’ reality, effectively destroying it.”

[davedove]

Scene 4

“How is that possible?” I asked. “Even if the beliefs of a world are changed, even if reality itself changes on the world, doesn’t it still exist?”

“Let me see if I can explain it,” said Ms. Pleater. “Are you familiar with the Tewsbury Theory?”

“I know the basics. The fabric of reality does in fact resemble a fabric, with different threads running through it. This fabric is folded, or pleated, in the manner of a kilt, with each pleat forming a different dimension.”

“Although that is a very rudimentary explanation, it is the basic theory and will do for this explanation. Now, we have this fabric that is pleated, with each pleat being separate, but still part of the same fabric. Tell me, if you iron out the crease of a pleat, what happens to the pleat?”

“With the crease gone, two pleats become one bigger pleat.”

“Exactly, and that is what happens when the two realities become one; the altered reality becomes part of the first reality.”

“Okay,” I said, “I can agree that’s not a good thing. But again, in the big scheme, how does this matter. A few worlds lost from an infinite number still leave an infinite number.”

“Mathematically true,” said Ms. Pleater, “but the number of worlds is not infinite. It is very large, but not infinite. If the thief of the pipes is not stopped, he could eventually change the reality of all the different worlds and merge them into his own.”

“Okay, I understand all of this and I believe the thief should be stopped, but what does that have to do with me. I’m not some general with an army to stop the invaders and I’m certainly not a mythological being with the power to stop the pipes. I’m just an investigator. There’s very little I can do in this situation.”

“Ah, but Mr. Dove,” said pink-tipped Pleater, “you’re one of the few people who can stop him.”

[Livingston]

hmmmmm Sounds like you have your worked cut out for you this time Mr. Dove.

[davedove]

Originally Posted by Livingston

hmmmmm Sounds like you have your worked cut out for you this time Mr. Dove.

Right, like figuring out just what is going to happen to Mr. Livingston this time.

[davedove]

Scene 5

“What do you mean?” I asked. “How can I possibly stop him?”

“Because of your very nature,” answered another of the female Pleaters. This one was dressed very conservatively in tweed and had a professorial air about her. “In order to explain, let us return to the Tewsbury model. From what is fabric made?”

“Thread?” I answered.

“Exactly, it is made of thread, or multiple threads to be more precise, woven together. Staying with the model of the kilt, each thread runs either vertically or horizontally. Now, in the fabric of reality, each of these threads represents a different person. Tell me, in which pleat does a thread fall?”

I thought about this for a moment. “It depends,” I answered. “If the thread runs vertically, it would fall on an individual pleat. However, if the thread runs horizontally, it would pass through all of the pleats.”

“Very good, Mr. Dove,” Professor Pleater said. “Now, since each thread represents a person, it would also apply to people.”

“I don’t quite follow,” I said.

“In the fabric of reality, there are two classes of people, based on which direction their thread runs. Some people, those who are represented by the vertical threads, exist only in one dimension and are thus defined by it. They have one reality and that is all they will ever have. If that reality is changed, so are they.”

“The others,” she continued, “those represented by horizontal threads, exist in all the dimensions. Although each of their alternate selves is influenced by its dimension, it is not defined by it. These people have the ability to cling to their own reality. If reality is changed around them, they do not automatically change with it. Mr. Dove, you are one of these people.”

“But what does that mean?”

“What it means, Mr. Dove, is that you will be able to pass through whatever changes in reality you encounter and remain unchanged yourself.”

“But why me, from what you describe, there must be many others that can do the same thing?”

“Indeed there are, but they are difficult to locate as they appear just like the other class of people. You were the first we located, and so we brought you here first.”

“And you expect me to do this on my own?”

“No, no, of course not,” said Ms. Pleater. “We are looking for others and they will join you, but time is precious. The longer we wait, the more dimensions will disappear. So, we brought you here so that we could begin.”

“Okay, I’m in,” I said. “What do you want me to do? Are you going to send me to this thief so I can steal the pipes back?”

“That would be ideal, but I’m afraid we can’t do that,” answered the pink-tipped Pleater.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because we don’t know where he is.”