voice

[zen_en_vert]

Things are a little calmer now.

[Bruce murmurs. He doesn't like to go onto the network, but feels like he has to say this.]

Has anyone got a few minutes to run some things over with me? Resources, defenses, what's actually- got to be done, I guess? Because something gives me the feeling like this is about to get bad again very quickly. I don't know what to do to make the situation feel less helpless.

[It's very, very late at night, but anxiety has him; he isn't sleeping. Maybe it being the very witching hour is part of what erodes his self-consciousness enough for him to add;]

I wish I could go back to plain and simple atheism. I mean, self-control is never easy to maintain, but it's sure a lot harder in the face of... you know. Actual massive cosmic power. We had Yggdrasil back home, but it- it was different. I understood the math of that Yggdrasil. This place is just-

[Cutting off with a laugh at his self-indulgence.]

Anyways. Anyone else up?

Comments

[pushesgently]

You find a lack of faith more comforting than the security granted by belief in a higher power?

[Strategy, schmategy. Theological and philosophical musings are like bait for Altaïr.]

[zen_en_vert]

Oh, absolutely. By a factor of about fifty.

[That, he's sure of, even when he's not sure of much else.]

[pushesgently]

Few would agree with you in my homeland. I suspect terror of the opposite is as strong as faith or fanaticism,

[Unfortunately, he thinks.]

[zen_en_vert]

The idea that we're on our own in the world, in every sense of the word?

[It doesn't scare him.]

[pushesgently]

Precisely that. But I would say that such an idea should only fuel our drive to better ourselves.

[zen_en_vert]

It's certainly an argument for making responsible choices.

[pushesgently]

Yet people are too willing to make selfish ones.

[zen_en_vert]

Well, a lot of people would argue that there's no such thing as a truly unselfish person. Even those possessing great charity act out of a desire to get into Heaven, if that's their particular spiritual bent, or else for the internal warmth and validating from acting in ways that they perceive as being positive.

[pushesgently]

Others might argue that such inner selfishness doesn't negate the good work that is done, no excuse the harm caused by those that express it outwardly.

Are you a man of philosophy, Mr. Banner?

[zen_en_vert]

I'm a physicist. But a lot of my work is theoretical enough that it's almost the same thing.

Admittedly I know my Kuhn and Popper far better than I know my theories of ethics.

[pushesgently]

You have the advantage over me there. I'm not familiar with those names—likely they came after my time.

[zen_en_vert]

They both deal with philosophies of science.

What time are you from?

[pushesgently]

Intriguing.

[He makes a note to see if their writing is available in the library later.]

I was brought here not long after King Richard ended his Crusade in the Holy Land, if that holds any significance.

[zen_en_vert]

That's an incredibly rich time, isn't it? Philosophically.

[pushesgently]

There are many fine minds whose writings I've tried to study, yes. It isn't always as easy as here, though; we lack such an astounding library, and are limited by what translations we can make or find.

[zen_en_vert]

That's true. I love the libraries here, but they're intensely capricious in their selection.

[pushesgently]

Perhaps, but I've yet to discover a volume on its shelves that contains nothing worth knowing. I do fear that I may one day discover there are no new tomes available.

[Nerd.]

[zen_en_vert]

You've been here for a few months, then, I take it?

[Dry.]

[pushesgently]

Nearly half a year, by my count.

[Not that the Asgardians keep a comparable calendar. That would be so much more convenient.]

I'd be farther through the library if my wife hadn't made it clear there is a limit to the stacks of books she will tolerate.

[zen_en_vert]

Oh-

[Actually sympathetic. He doesn't have a wife, he has roommates, but it's really the same.]

Odin's is really something.

[pushesgently]

[She's actually fairly tolerant. But no one wants to trip over book piles on the way to the kitchen.]

It is. Whether or not I'll retain memories of it, I try to do as much reading there as possible. There's a great deal we can learn about other worlds—when else would we have the chance to do so?

[zen_en_vert]

I'm glad that someone else is concerned about retaining memories. Tell me the going theory?

[pushesgently]

I don't know if it's advanced enough to call it a theory, but I know of several people—myself included—who lived here for a time, then returned home for some months or years.

None of us consciously recalled anything about Asgard, yet we made certain changes to our lives afterward. I have to wonder whether some part of our minds learned something from the experience, and acted upon that knowledge.

[zen_en_vert]

That's an interesting thought. It suggests that behaviour is more than the sum of memory. That there were changes to the patterns your thoughts took.

[Fascinated.]

[pushesgently]

It may or may not be true. But no man remains as he is forever; I see no reason such a momentous event as crossing worlds would not have an effect.