Escape Phrase 27
2006-03-31
The True History
This particular installment of the story is probably more amusing to those of you familiar with the works of Marcel Duchamp.
You may find, if the writing is hard to read, viewing the transcript available on this comic's archive page. Helps. (If you are reading this on that archive page, just scroll around and you'll find it.)
Transcription
Dr Quickly: It was a long, long time ago. My colleagues and I each took on a separate aspect and together we shaped... everything you see. I am Q, the observer, the font of Qualia. L was the frame, the Laws. H was the dynamo, the womb's Hearth. And OO was... everything else. The substance. So, all in one, we were L H OO Q. But that was long ago. I'm Dr Quickly now, a professor. I don't know who they are or if I'd recognize them, even.
Dr Quickly: Nevertheless, I know that something has gone most horribly wrong. The narrative thread is tangled and broken: the days pass too fast and the seasons are mixed; things happen -- horrid unforgettable things! -- and moments after, no-one remembers. But you do. You two, my dear children, know something is wrong and it makes you uneasy. I have done my best to hide you from the harmful secret truth but to be safe you must now learn it.
Dr Quickly: So know then, you two are chosen. You have been chosen since before I was even Q. You exist to serve this world; you exist to shape it. And with luck you will preserve and restore it, not hasten its dissolution. The Escape Phrase is the key to your powers. It is the key turning the lock in your minds. When the time comes you will use it to become the creatures of infinite potential you were born to be.
Dr Quickly: For this world exists to nurture you; it was put in motion l ike a vast clockwork yolk for your potential to grow in. We four were artists, and we thought we would try our hands at something grand. And now you have come! And not a moment too soon, as I fear the others have all become impatient and want to tear this glorious place down, to give up. Will you dare to prove yourselves?
Jimothy: Uhhh...
Tsamantha: Um...
Dr Quickly: Well, would you at least like another round of sandwiches?
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