Chapter 6: Logic and Music

"Imagine this. You live in a world of logic. Up is up, down is down, and gravity ensures those facts hold true. This is just one of the many unbreakable elements that make up the foundation of your reality. These foundations ensure that rules are followed. Humans, for instance, cannot travel faster than the speed of light, they cannot create energy from nothing, they cannot stop the flow of time, and most unfortunate in my eyes, they cannot fly unassisted."

"However, it would seem that a rule has been broken. Humans are mortal. Perhaps we may one day find a way to ensure our eternal existence through medicine or technology, but you, Terri Pierce, are not that. You are naturally gifted. You and, as far as I know, you alone are the single crack in the foundation of reality."

"A small, near insignificant crack, but a crack nonetheless. An illogical being in a perfectly logical universe. That is what I've wanted. I believe that you present the possibility of destabilizing that foundation that limits what we can and cannot do. The barrier between the real and the fiction, that's what I'm after; and you're going to get me there."

"If I'm this imposible glitch in the universe, wouldn't that already mean that the impossible is possible?"

"Again, the universe has strong logic based foundations. I can't say how an anomaly like you happened, but I can say that the foundation is strong enough to maintain itself under the current conditions. You're only a crack; a crack that proves that logic can allow a mistake or two to slip by. My theory is that, because you're illogical, you using your powers has the potential to further stress that logic. I think that, given enough stress, the foundation will fail to maintain that logic. In other words, we're gonna try to break

reality."

"I get what your attempt at logic, at least a little, and I agree that what I can do goes against the seeming logic or reality. But, even if I could do it, wouldn't breaking reality be bad?"

"I'd rather break reality than spend another day stuck as it is."

"What is your issue with reality?

"You really care?"

"Yeah. I want to know the motivation behind your goals before I just decide to destroy reality."

"Fine, I guess I can give you the speech."

"You have a prepared speech?"

"I spend a lot of free time living in imaginary scenarios. I've told this speech a dozen times in my head."

"Then, please, go right ahead."

"You ever hear the song 'Thank You For The Music'?"

"No, is it good?"

"It's beyond words like good. If I really wanted to tell you how amazing it was, I'd need a few hours just for the introduction. It is, without question, the pinnacle of human music. But that's not what's important here. The song is, as it sounds, a giant thank you for music. It starts out as the singer thanking that they have such amazing singing abilities. They thank the song writers for giving them the material to sing. They thank the uncredited person who invented singing. They thank pretty much everything and everyone. As I listened to the song over and over, I started to find a deeper meaning. I don't like to put words into a someone's mouth, but this is one thousand percent the author's intent, I guarantee it. The song isn't just about music. To me, it's about those little experiences that make you truly believe that life is something beautiful. For some people, that is music, for many others it's an infinite variety of things and it can change over time. It's when, even though you truly know that life is meaningless and anything you do will eventually fade away and be forgotten, you feel deep and strong that there are a million and one reasons to keep going. That, for me, is what they are thanking in the song. They are thankful for the things in life that bring that feeling. That is the music. And I haven't heard the music in a long time. That's what I want. I want to break free from the boring world and live in a world where anything can happen; where superheroes and aliens and magic all exist. That's where I'll hear the music."

"Is that the whole speech?"

"Actually, it's like ten times better in my head. I think I should try that again."

"It's good enough; I'll do it. I can't say I agree it will work, but I want to help you."

"Thank you. Really, I'm glad that actually worked. Now, let's go break the universe."