The Eternal Flame

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, and here's that Firefly passage for anyone who was curious about it:

"What are you doing?" Kaylee asked as she stared with frank
fascination at my circle.

"Well," I said without looking up, "one of the key things you
need to know about the universe is that how you see it and how it
works are dependent on the... um..." I thought for a moment. "On
the *metaphor* you use. Or maybe 'filter' would be a better
word. Each metaphor has its strengths and weaknesses -- the
scientific metaphor took humanity to the stars, for instance,
because it handles physical processes so well. Hold on."

Kaylee waited patiently as I frowned, my tongue slightly stuck
out at the corner of my mouth, while I tried to shape the next
symbol correctly. After a moment, I scribed it.

"No." River was at my side, having crept there without my
noticing somehow.

I turned to her. "No?"

"No." She took the chalk from my hand, rubbed out the glyph,
and scribed a slightly different one with sure, swift strokes.
It was, I realized, what I had actually wanted there.

I lifted my eyes to stare at her. "How...?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Once you see the pattern in the
language, it's obvious." She handed the chalk back to me, and
sat back on her heels, her arms wrapped around her knees.

For a few seconds I stared into her huge eyes. "Riiiight," I
finally said. Maybe Simon's boasts about her early genius
weren't just the fond exaggerations of an affectionate older
brother. I studied the chalk for a moment, then the circle.

"Metaphor?" Kaylee suddenly said.

I started; I'd quite forgotten she was there. "Right, metaphor."
I went to work on the next symbol, excruciatingly aware of River
watching my every move. "The thing is, your choice of metaphor
affects what is and isn't possible. Like a piece of tinted
cellophane over your eyes affects what colors you can and can't
see."

"But if you change metaphors..." Kaylee began in a speculative
tone.

I looked up and nodded. "You got it. You can change the, well,
for lack of a better word, the set of tools with which you can
affect the universe."

Kaylee got down on her knees and studied the circle. "And this
is one of those tools, I bet."

Without looking up, I nodded. "Exactly. There's a metaphor which
accurately describes the universe in terms of a program running on
an infinitely powerful computer. And this..." I gestured with the
chalk.

"...is a program for that computer!" Kaylee declared triumphantly.

I chuckled and looked up to grin at her. "Actually, Kaylee, it's
more like a little tool that'll run a utility program that isn't
normally available to someone with my privilege level."

A huge grin spread across her face. "You're hacking the universe!"
she crowed with glee.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Sounds like magic." This in a more wistful tone.

"Actually," I declared as I scribed another glyph, "magic is
something else entirely."

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.