Mythlands: THE HEIST

Part Two: Elsewhere

For five seconds nothing happened.

The Hare stared at SC's body and was about to ask the others what they thought they should do next. Then suddenly time and space warped and folded in upon itself - he felt his body elongating and folding at the same time and with an explosion of bright colours and what appeared to be a loud popping sound, suddenly they were elsewhere!

When the Hare recovered his equilibrium he was laying on his back looking up at the blazing sun. A squarking waghhh sound told him that the Goose was nearby. Hopefully the others were too.

Then the sun was blotted out by the shape of a cat's head leaning over him. 'Gr Griffin?' he moaned, still feeling the effects of ... whatever had just occurred.

'Not quite,' came the voice. It had a slightly amused tone to it.

The Hare blinked. 'You! We just saw you die.'

'Yeah mate, what the hell's up with that?' It was Goldie's voice. 

The Hare sat up and looked around. They were all there, sitting in what appeared to be a beach ... no, it was just sand; they were in a desert. The Goose and Goldie were nearby and Jessica and The Gingerbread Man were about a dozen feet away. George was the only one on his feet and he was holding Griffin in his arms and ... and ...

'Hello,' said the smiling black cat with white markings. 'I expect you all have questions.'

Griffin leaped down onto the sand, a look of delight and relief playing across his features. 'SC! You're alive!'

'Already said that,' mumbled Goldie. 'Question is how? If there's two things I know, its theft and if a bloke has croaked or not. You mate were stone cold dead.'

SC turned to her. 'Miss Lochs, you can rest assured that your sensibilities have not failed you. I was indeed dead.'

Goldie grunted. 'Resurrection? Inborn or device? Seen some shit like that on a few jobs. Ancient mystical artifacts pay well, but they're a bloody pain.'

'Ah nothing like that,' began SC. 'It's not resurrection. You see when I activated my ... ability, I began to exist in a state of quantum probability. I was neither dead nor alive in theory but in actuality I am both dead and alive. The departed version of me ... that is back there in the Wood Between Worlds and will soon fade out.'

Jessica knelt by the mysterious cat. 'Maybe you'd better explain yourself SC and while you're at it, I'd quite like to know where we are ... apart from lost in the desert.'

The others gathered round as SC spoke. 'We are back in the Mythlands but not in our present time.' Before they could digest that, he continued. 'My power works on the principles of quantum probability. It might make more sense to you if I told you my full name. I am Schrodinger's Cat.'

He was treated to blank stares by most of the group but George, who stood with his arms crossed, obviously knew this already. Griffin was looking puzzled as if this rang a bell and Jessica ...

'Sorry buddy, means nothing to me.' The Hare spoke for them all.

Jessica snapped her fingers. 'Wait a minute. I do know you ... you're not a character, you're ... an experiment? A meme? Goldie, don't you remember, when we used to go for tea with Chicken after classes at uni? His debate and discourse teas ... we used to discuss philosophy and science. The Professor told us about Schrodinger.'

Goldie shrugged. 'Sorry hon. Never usedta take all that stuff in. I only ever turned up because the Prof had a pucker drinks cabinet in his rooms.'

Griffin nudged his head against Jessica's ankle. 'Jessica, I think I know a bit too. I read about this in one of Mia's study books. It makes sense if SC is the personification of the cat in the experiment. Something about putting a cat in a box and not knowing if he is dead or alive until you open the box, means he is technically both dead and alive!'

Jessica petted the grey tabby's head. 'Yes - Erwin Schrodinger posited if you place a cat in a box which has a source of poison or radiation that may or may not be triggered, then you don't know if the cat ... if SC were ... well as you said. It was a thought experiment, sometimes referred to as a paradox.'

The Hare was still looking blank.

'Ok imagine two possibilities H. Either the cat in the box is poisoned or not. But you don't know if he's alive until you open the box, so technically the cat is neither dea ...'

More blank stares.

'Both dead AND alive. Which is what we saw - SC triggered his power and he died and didn't die.'

The Hare's brow crinkled.

'Uh imagine there was a box of pizza. Is it cold or hot inside? You don't know until you open the box.'

The Hare smiled. 'That's silly Jess. You can tell by feeling the box.'

Jessica ground her teeth together. 'Never mind. He was dead and alive. You saw it with your own eyes. SC, where are we? You said you were going to show us something.'

SC nodded. 'Yes, what happened to me was only a symptom of activating my ability. I am intimately aware of quantum probability ... that is I can see the future and with great effort I can show others the strongest probability resulting from ... how can I simplify this ...' he glanced at The Hare and The Gingerbread Man.  'You were about to embark on a course of action so the probabilities were solidifying to certainty. I am showing you the future that will result from the decisions you were about to make. This is the Mythlands, five years into our future. Our precise location is ...'

'Ten miles north of Myth Vegas!'

'Yes Hare, how did you ...'

The Hare was pointing towards a sign that was sticking up over the sand. 'The mile marker for route 66. The road's just beyond there!'

The Goose started waddling forward. 'I guess we're going to Vegas. Well come on ... unless you want to stay out here and dehydrate to death in the sun. Me, I aim to be sinking the first of many bushmills on the rocks in the Rainbow Room by this evening.'

The others began to follow.

Goldie walked alongside SC. 'The future eh? I've got a feeling everythings going to start to get real fucked up, so how do we get back to the Wood? The Rings? I still got em.'

'No Miss Lochs, not the rings. Not before reaching our proper time and place.'

'So does your quantum thingy work with time travel? Can you get us back the same way?'

'Unfortunately not. My powers work only one way, but George can get us back, once we find his machine.'

George smiled. 'Indubitably Miss Lochs. I should probably take the opportunity to fully introduce myself. Herbert George Wells at your service but some know me as ... The Time Traveller.'

'Never heard of ya mate.' Goldie sounded unimpressed. 'But if you can get us back, you'll do.'

Griffin on the other hand felt as if he was about to pass out. His heart was pounding in his small chest, he was in serious danger of geeking out and presently he was resisting the strong impulse to ask H.G. Wells for his autograph!

Instead he forced himself to concentrate on other things and turned to his fellow feline. 'SC, you look like you're recovered from ... the trip. You don't look as pained now.'

SC smiled at his friend. 'The act of transversing the quantum fields literally kills me ... or 50% of me. I won't have much of my energies for quite some time. In fact after several attempts I think I might never be able to do this again. So we must succeed this time, but on a personal level I cannot help but feel relief ... as if a curse has been lifted.'

Griffin nodded and the group silently plodded on towards the highway. They could already see Myth Vegas shimmering in the distance.