Then I don't suppose you'd have some idea where else he might be putting circles?
[ Ford has been here longer and might know better spots or have some idea how such things work in his world to guestimate based on location. At least, that's what he's thinking.]
Not unless I knew the kind of magic he was using. Setting up a barrier would require very different positioning than a spell to raise the dead, for instance. If only there were a way to tell what sort of spell he was trying to cast.
--ah! Wait a minute, of course there is!
[Ford grins and pulls a small scanner out of his pocket. It looks like the Ghostbusters props department got hold of a handheld barcode scanner.]
This can detect all kinds of energy, including most forms of magic. If Bill was doing a spell and there's any residue left in the area, this device will detect it.
No, no, that won't be necessary. This device can distinguish a phenomenon's universe of origin. Unless he's doing magic from your world -- which is unlikely, if your theory about convergent evolution is correct -- it should be able to tell the difference between whatever magic Bill was working and any you're giving off.
[Ford's mind is made up in a split second. He reaches into his coat and pulls out a thermos. He uncaps it, dumps the contents of the teapot inside, and closes it up.]
You can drink it on the way.
[He pushes the thermos into Jon's hands, gets to his feet, and heads for the door.]
That magic residue won't hang around in the air forever! Come on, there's not a moment to lose!
[ He actually just watches the tea go into the thermos before frowning a little and following after. He does make sure to lock the door on the way out.]
I would be very interested to know how long you think the, er, residue might maintain.
Ah. That would explain the music. And why I didn't recognize it. Haven't been down there much.
[He resents it, not entirely rationally, for, in his mind, replacing the library. Even now that the library is back, Ford has some sour feelings about it.]
[ To be fair, if Jon was aware of that change, he would have been similarly upset. One of those rooms was useful, after all. So far, he's largely been unimpressed with the spa.]
I did a full circuit of the ship upon my arrival. I thought it... prudent.
Now, tell me about that patron of yours, this -- cosmological convergent evolution. If there's anything else out there like Bill, I want to know about it.
It's known as... Beholding, the Ceaseless Watcher. Also as the Eye.
[ He keeps pace with Stan without issue. ]
It is the fear of being known, being seen, of your secrets being found out, your darkest truths being discovered, but also of what knowledge might nonetheless bring. Its realm is knowledge, knowing, and it... it apparently doesn't like to act much, if at all.
For the moment, yes. Or at least, so I've been told. The... person who told me wasn't terribly interested in unbiased reporting.
[ He breathes in and out and the out comes with a bit of a huff.]
My... superior, both within the Institute and in regards to... our patron is semi-omniscient. And he has used that to somewhat devastating effect before.
[ He turns to look over at Ford.]
But the Entity itself is- well, it's hard to describe and harder to explain. But there is more than enough horror to 'watching' something awful take place and know there's nothing you can do about it.
[ It's difficult, to talk about the Eye. It's like he'd told Iris: he can't really, viscerally, understand being afraid of knowledge. He's not sure if he could before, if he can remember what it'd be like when he was completely human. But now, and every time that he can think of before, all he's ever wanted is to know.]
Wish I'd been that lucky. True, there are some surface similarities. Bill was trapped in the mindscape for billions of years, and from there, all he really could do was watch. He could enter people's dreams, of course, and if someone was foolish enough to invoke him, he could strike a bargain with them in exchange for physical possession. But beyond that, his ability to affect the physical world was limited.
He'd always been planning to get through to it, though. He's been trying to get someone to open a gate between his world and ours since the beginning of human civilization!
Oh, right. You did mention that there were multiple ones.
So, what are the others like?
[There's a note in Ford's tone that says he's not expecting to be impressed. He'd kill for Bill's end goal to be nothing more than passive observation. It'd make everything so much easier.]
There are thirteen others, though even then that's just... it's more of a classification system, in a sense. Like naming colors if colors hated you.
There are major, easily-understandable hues, your blues and greens and such. Some of them clash and others flow into one another.
[ He'll start naming them off. ]
The Desolation, also known as the Lightless Flame; fire with everything good stripped from it, leaving only destruction. It is the fear of loss, of having everything good taken from you, and their avatars can- well- [ which is when he holds up his hand with a tired chuckle ] As I said, I've got my own reasons to avoid a handshake.
The End, obviously. The fear of death. The Dark as well, pretty self-explanatory. The Buried and the Vast are, effectively opposites: fear of being trapped and fear of your meaninglessness, of emptiness, in the face of the expanse. The Lonely, which can manifest just as powerfully in a crowd as on one's own. The Distortion, the fear of madness, of one's perceptions being off, of being unable to properly know reality. The Spider, or the Web, the fear of your actions not being your own, of being used, of being unable to escape another's machinations.
The Stranger, the fear of the unknown, your 'Uncanny Valley', that which is not at all familiar. The Corruption, the fear of rot, decay, putrification and infestation. The Slaughter or the Frenzy, the fear of violence, either directed or directionless.
[ He looks over at Ford.]
The other two are a bit... weird. But that's mostly because they're not really human fears. Their source is animals, and when they interact with people well... things get a bit weird.
[Ford nods, processing all of that. So, a pantheon of primal fears, some related, some opposites, all of whom with agents in the world with powers relating to them.
The earliest fear was the Hunt, one that even man can easily relate to. The other is... well-
[ He can't help but wince.]
The Flesh. The fear of animals put into factory farms, the miasma of emotion around an entire life dedicated to the production of meat. It... it usually expresses itself rather, er, unpleasantly.
So, how does anything in your world get done? With fourteen of these things running around trying to use their agents to bring themselves onto the physical plane, it must be unbelievably chaotic.
My predecessor put most of her efforts to preventing the rituals of the various entities. Apparently, it can take centuries to work towards one of them, and it seems as if she stopped at least two in her career, probably more. She was, however, murdered.
[ He breathes in and out and runs a hand through his hair.]
There's also the fact that the various entities... well, they work against each other at times. It's all very... er, political, in its way.
[Whoof. Fourteen different Weirdmageddons. Fourteen Bills, all with shifting alliances and sabotages. That's a headache Ford's glad he doesn't have. Actually, he should ask--]
And these entities. Do they pose a danger to the multiverse as a whole, or are their activities limited to just your dimension?
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[ Ford has been here longer and might know better spots or have some idea how such things work in his world to guestimate based on location. At least, that's what he's thinking.]
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Not unless I knew the kind of magic he was using. Setting up a barrier would require very different positioning than a spell to raise the dead, for instance. If only there were a way to tell what sort of spell he was trying to cast.
--ah! Wait a minute, of course there is!
[Ford grins and pulls a small scanner out of his pocket. It looks like the Ghostbusters props department got hold of a handheld barcode scanner.]
This can detect all kinds of energy, including most forms of magic. If Bill was doing a spell and there's any residue left in the area, this device will detect it.
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Will... that is, I may set that off, to be honest. Should I let you go out and do your readings on your own?
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...do you think we ought to take those readings right now, or should we finish up here?
[ Look, he's rather driven, but, he had gone to the trouble.]
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You can drink it on the way.
[He pushes the thermos into Jon's hands, gets to his feet, and heads for the door.]
That magic residue won't hang around in the air forever! Come on, there's not a moment to lose!
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I would be very interested to know how long you think the, er, residue might maintain.
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Now, where exactly did you have this conversation?
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Down in the spa of all places. I'll show you.
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[He resents it, not entirely rationally, for, in his mind, replacing the library. Even now that the library is back, Ford has some sour feelings about it.]
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I did a full circuit of the ship upon my arrival. I thought it... prudent.
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Now, tell me about that patron of yours, this -- cosmological convergent evolution. If there's anything else out there like Bill, I want to know about it.
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[ He keeps pace with Stan without issue. ]
It is the fear of being known, being seen, of your secrets being found out, your darkest truths being discovered, but also of what knowledge might nonetheless bring. Its realm is knowledge, knowing, and it... it apparently doesn't like to act much, if at all.
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[Ford sounds a little surprised, like he's less impressed than he expected to be.]
All it does is watch?
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[ He breathes in and out and the out comes with a bit of a huff.]
My... superior, both within the Institute and in regards to... our patron is semi-omniscient. And he has used that to somewhat devastating effect before.
[ He turns to look over at Ford.]
But the Entity itself is- well, it's hard to describe and harder to explain. But there is more than enough horror to 'watching' something awful take place and know there's nothing you can do about it.
[ It's difficult, to talk about the Eye. It's like he'd told Iris: he can't really, viscerally, understand being afraid of knowledge. He's not sure if he could before, if he can remember what it'd be like when he was completely human. But now, and every time that he can think of before, all he's ever wanted is to know.]
I... may not be the best person to speak on it.
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Wish I'd been that lucky. True, there are some surface similarities. Bill was trapped in the mindscape for billions of years, and from there, all he really could do was watch. He could enter people's dreams, of course, and if someone was foolish enough to invoke him, he could strike a bargain with them in exchange for physical possession. But beyond that, his ability to affect the physical world was limited.
He'd always been planning to get through to it, though. He's been trying to get someone to open a gate between his world and ours since the beginning of human civilization!
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[ That comes with a very tired sigh and a sip of the tea in the thermos.]
I'm actually in the midst of interrupting one such ritual, or I was before I came here. I'll be handling it once my work is done.
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So, what are the others like?
[There's a note in Ford's tone that says he's not expecting to be impressed. He'd kill for Bill's end goal to be nothing more than passive observation. It'd make everything so much easier.]
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There are major, easily-understandable hues, your blues and greens and such. Some of them clash and others flow into one another.
[ He'll start naming them off. ]
The Desolation, also known as the Lightless Flame; fire with everything good stripped from it, leaving only destruction. It is the fear of loss, of having everything good taken from you, and their avatars can- well- [ which is when he holds up his hand with a tired chuckle ] As I said, I've got my own reasons to avoid a handshake.
The End, obviously. The fear of death. The Dark as well, pretty self-explanatory. The Buried and the Vast are, effectively opposites: fear of being trapped and fear of your meaninglessness, of emptiness, in the face of the expanse. The Lonely, which can manifest just as powerfully in a crowd as on one's own. The Distortion, the fear of madness, of one's perceptions being off, of being unable to properly know reality. The Spider, or the Web, the fear of your actions not being your own, of being used, of being unable to escape another's machinations.
The Stranger, the fear of the unknown, your 'Uncanny Valley', that which is not at all familiar. The Corruption, the fear of rot, decay, putrification and infestation. The Slaughter or the Frenzy, the fear of violence, either directed or directionless.
[ He looks over at Ford.]
The other two are a bit... weird. But that's mostly because they're not really human fears. Their source is animals, and when they interact with people well... things get a bit weird.
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He follows so far.]
Animal fears? What are animals afraid of?
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[ He can't help but wince.]
The Flesh. The fear of animals put into factory farms, the miasma of emotion around an entire life dedicated to the production of meat. It... it usually expresses itself rather, er, unpleasantly.
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Yes, I can imagine how that would get...messy.
So, how does anything in your world get done? With fourteen of these things running around trying to use their agents to bring themselves onto the physical plane, it must be unbelievably chaotic.
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My predecessor put most of her efforts to preventing the rituals of the various entities. Apparently, it can take centuries to work towards one of them, and it seems as if she stopped at least two in her career, probably more. She was, however, murdered.
[ He breathes in and out and runs a hand through his hair.]
There's also the fact that the various entities... well, they work against each other at times. It's all very... er, political, in its way.
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And these entities. Do they pose a danger to the multiverse as a whole, or are their activities limited to just your dimension?
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[ He spreads his hands earnestly. ]
Before this place, I was unfamiliar with the 'multiverse'.
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