Principia Mathemagica
Sarah and Jareth investigate the scientific principles of what-if magic.
I squinted at the variables on the whiteboard, drumming my fingers against my wrist as I stood next to Jareth. "You know, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if you'd done things differently in the Escher room."
"Oh?"
"It really was quite the tactical change. Up to then, you were all fearsome and demanding."
A smile played at the corners of his mouth. "Was I? Devastatingly attractive too, I trust."
I smiled as I crossed out part of an equation and tried a geometric summation instead of an arithmetic one. "That too. But definitely manipulative. In retrospect, it seems far more likely you'd try a combination bribe-seduction rather than an offer to bypass all magical shenanigans and have me become your apprentice."
He shrugged, tilting his head in thought as he rubbed out a constant multiplier. "I learn from my mistakes. After the ballroom fiasco and the utter trouncing of my castle defenses, it seemed much more the thing."
"I admit, it took me by such complete surprise, I actually listened to you."
"Which was the point." He scribbled something that looked like a Beta distribution below my summation on the whiteboard. "Just imagine where we'd be if I'd continued along the most likely path."
I laughed softly. "I'd have refused any blatant persuasion attempts in pursuit of my noble quest and sent you packing. I can't imagine I would have ever seen you again after that." I paused, then replaced a variable in my summation with one in his Beta distribution. "And a damned pity that would have been."
He'd moved just behind me to consider our joint effort. "Mmmm? Do tell." His voice rolled into my ear with one of his more suggestive purrs.
I elbowed him gently. "You're absolutely insufferable, you know." I stared at the equation's denominator. Something about it was still off. "I would have missed out on all this. Being world-renowned professors of applied physics together, even if you only agreed to it after that terrible Faerie exile business. Discovering how Faerie magic translates to earthly physical laws." I grinned. "And how it can then break those laws with impunity in exactly the ways we want." I brushed my fingers against his as we both scrutinized the symbols in front of us that defined exactly what a possible world would look like. "The science of magic, Jareth. Taking this world by storm one brilliant discovery at a time. With you." Aha, there it was. I scrubbed out an integral's subscript and replaced it with the variable from Jareth's Beta distribution.
His hands rested on my arms as he considered my update. I loved that his touch could still send shivers through me after all these years. Almost as much as I loved that moment when we finished building something insanely impossible and absolutely beautiful together.
He inhaled sharply and leaned in so that his face was next to mine, looking at the equation. "I think we've done it. You bloody brilliant woman."
I grinned like a fiend and kissed him. "Bloody brilliant man. Wanna try it out?"
"Always. To the lab, then?"
"Do let's."
...
To be fair, the machine we'd built in the lab looked less like a scientific instrument than an espresso machine crossed with a nanorobot fabrication device that had far too much influence from an artist under the influence of LSD. It's true that the deep purple glitter wings that spread above it may not have been strictly necessary, but given everything else that was, they seemed harmless enough and blended right in with the rest of it.
Most first-time visitors to the lab were, shall we say, a bit taken aback. But people had learned to trust us. Producing world-changing discoveries on a semi-regular basis cuts you a lot of slack. And heaven knows the University would have done anything to keep us happy by this point. An eccentric machine, whatever its electrical costs (which were rather gargantuan - Faerie magic demands quite a bit of energy to get started in this world)...well, if that would keep us here, the world paying attention, and the alumni blithely contributing, so be it.
That was just peachy for me and Jareth.
Jareth sat down at the terminal, which bore more than a passing resemblance to an Escher drawing. I watched his fingers dexterously moving over its surface as he used it to update the program. After a bit, he stretched back and used a finger to push his glasses up. "That's it, then. Doublecheck it for me?"
"Mmhmm." I leaned my chin over his shoulder as I looked beneath the dark reflective surface of the terminal. I could see the golden lines of code shimmering there, bursting with promise. "Looks perfect." I kissed the side of his cheek. "Just like you."
He turned to kiss me back on the lips. "Just like you, brilliant woman."
We both turned then to watch the machine churn and spit and writhe its way through the surprisingly flexible fabric of space-time. In the end, a perfectly formed crystal rolled out the bottom.
I picked it up and held it in my hand, murmuring, "And if you turn it this way, and look into it…"
The next few minutes were illuminating, to say the least.
...
I couldn't stop looking at the images playing out inside the crystal. "That's what could have happened?"
He blinked very slowly, his eyes somewhat unfocused. "I think that's what did happen."
I raised an eyebrow.
"The first time," he amended. "My memories are still rather fragmented. And you can see this went on more than once - look at those edges. The whole thing's about to bifurcate."
I looked again at the tiny goblin king image doing a very respectable bribe-seduction attempt on a tiny teenage me hellbent on her quest, surrounded by a rainbow horizon of possibility. "How many times did it...did you…"
He looked at the fractal pictures splaying forth and closed his eyes briefly. "I think...thirteen."
I blinked. "Thirteen?"
"Thirteenth time's the charm, I suppose." He peered into the what-if depths and cringed. "Some of them were rather...inept. How embarrassing. Don't look at number nine."
I had to look, of course. I had to look at all of them. "This last time was the only one that got you exiled, though. The only one that robbed you of your memories."
"The only one where I got you."
"True."
He flashed that jaunty grin of his. "It was worth it."
I caressed the side of his face. "I just adore you, you know. I adore us. I'm not sorry for any of it. I wouldn't change any of it."
"I know. I wouldn't either."
A few minutes passed in companionable silence as we watched twelve different failed attempts to tempt me resolve themselves and then the one that had finally worked. The only one I remembered.
I leaned my head against his shoulder. "So what shall we do with this new bit of magical science? Entertainment? Therapy? Those seem like the natural options for seeing what-ifs in your past that you can't change."
He stroked a finger along my neck. "Quite sensible. Shall I write the memo to the Office of Research Technology Transfer this time?"
"It is your turn, sweetheart."
He sighed in mock suffering. "As long as you'll be the one to coordinate the press release. I can't stand that fellow who does PR for the School of Physical Sciences. Can't follow a train of logic to save his life."
I laughed softly. "That's why you have to tell things to people like him in the form of stories. They understand stories." I winked at him. "You used to be so good at telling stories."
He snorted. "In a previous life, apparently. Now I'll leave it to you, my love."
"Fair enough."
