TF Chapter 95 Quantum

              ***Nathaniel***

Few things in this world excite me as much as being a forger, and one of those few things is the concept of food. Honestly, if I were to say the thing I missed the most ever since coming to this planet...also included within is when I was dumped on Musana continent... Was my favourite meal. Fried bean soup and boiled rice! That is one meal that was even making my mouth water just by thinking of it.

I hurriedly wiped my lips and directed my attention at the dishes laid out on the table. 

A new day had finally dawned with no disturbances or ambushes during the night. The sun had just peeked over the horizon, which we couldn't see quite yet because of the tall fortress walls, but that was no issue as eventually, the warmth of the rays would surely reach us given time.

"Danny, about my spiritual cores...I suggest you give me that piece of delicious looking thigh on your plate." 

Carol was a bundle of energy this morning, appearing to be in a particularly vengeful mood.

"Come now! You can't be serious!"

"Danny, this is just the start. Besides, you wouldn't like me to get my vengeance at an inopportune time, now would you?... Like when you go to the toilet." 

He almost choked on his food at those words while the rest of us chuckled. No one would defend him at this time as he had brought this upon himself.

"My dear friends, it seems that this is shaping out to be a good day for you. Your chuckles bring warmth to the heart. May I come in?"

A voice came from outside the door, causing all of us to pause before Alistair agreed, with Geni opening the door and sauntering in afterwards.

"Good morning to you, Geni. How was your night? I take that you and that special battalion of yours annihilated the invaders?" Carol took on the same tone as the alien when asking the question.

"My dear Carol, those unevolved insects weren't worth too much of my time! They were simply idiots from another tribe who failed to accept the advancement of our tribe into a higher civilisation...it really was a pity to kill them...but I had no choice as we would never see eye to eye." A sigh filled with lamentation escaped his lips.

"You are of the same species...why would you view your fellow brethren as insects?" I asked. Lines had probably appeared on my face due to how frowny it had gotten.

"...why do I have to explain everything?... Imagine you yourselves meeting a caveman from your historical times, what would you think of them? And not just some caveman, but one whom you have offered to teach the ways of civility, only for them to refuse, wanting to stick to the ancestral ways...wouldn't you too see them as beneath you?"

"...and, not only is the caveman refusing to learn, he's also attacking you to kill you because he sees you as an unpardonable fiend." 

"I wouldn't be as patient as you. I would have already trampled the insect into the ground." Carol instantly answered without taking a moment to contemplate an answer.

"I agree with you there." Danny was the second, his voice containing seriousness.

"Okay! Now that that's out of the way, let's head to the cave system the moment you finish breakfast!"

"I am pretty sure that you must have met the statue. Did you learn anything apart from intent?" Alistair's question perked my ears. He and Carol had been the only ones to have gazed at it among us. And it had been just a glimpse. 

"Apart from intent, it hasn't divulged anything else. I have a feeling that it looks down on our race, or there must be some milestones that must be achieved to once again elicit anything from it."

-----

"Wow! Did you do this?" Alistair exclaimed the moment we entered the shaft.

Stairs had been constructed, leading from the top to the bottom, where a tunnel, whose smooth walls glistened from the light above, greeted us. For a moment there, I had thought that I would be greeted with a typical underground tunnel...with all the moss and the unevenness, not to mention the dampness, yet here we were, in a tunnel so clean and warm, its like I was back on Earth, standing within a hallway of one of the buildings.

"By the way, I have a certain conundrum that has been chipping away at my mind for the past few months...could you care to enlighten me?"

Taken in by the beauty of the tunnels, the question caught all of us off guard. 

"Oh! A genius alien man like yourself also gets a conundrum he can't solve....mmmmm!" 

Danny never failed to amaze me with his witty self destructive ways.

"Of course! If I don't have curiosity, why would I call myself a scientist?..."

"...during one of my tests with intent, I tried to create a void within my intent domain, an area with absolutely nothing in existence. But something interesting and absolutely mindblowing happened! Particles, some unknown to me, and others familiar...simply popped into existence within the void!"

"Ah! I never did try to test something like that. All I can tell you is that you just witnessed the spookiest branch of physics, Quantum phenomena." Carol enlightened the alien, but his experimentation was interesting. This alien was increasingly giving me the feeling that all of us would most probably die if we faced him in a frontal battle!

"Spooky? Are you trying to tell me that this phenomenon is connected with supernatural forces?! Are you pulling my leg here? I am a scientist! Are you telling me that your brains have devolved to become equal with those of the insects I just annihilated?"

"Oy! Crazy genius douchebag, are you trying to start a fight by insulting us?" Danny's demeanor entirely changed. His eyes glinted with coldness as they beheld the raving alien.

"Please...you people aren't even on the same level as me! I have researched as many things my intent can do as possible. Do trust me. The five of you would be decimated the moment you tried anything!"

"Spooky is simply a term to describe such behavior. What you have witnessed falls under a branch of physics that deals in such bizarre phenomena known as quantum physics." Alistair patiently explained, though judging by the twitch of his lips, he wasn't entirely unfased by the alien's outburst.

"It would be better if you gave us the same respect as we give you, alien! Don't look down on us!" Carol shouted at Geni.

"I apologise. What other effects can be observed under that peculiar branch of physics?"

"Let's see...there is the phenomenon where a particle can exhibit two states at the same time...the ability to influence another particle across vast distances... Teleportation... Well, I got nothing more." Bora was the one who answered. She caused me to raise an eyebrow at her in surprise. I had never known her to be such an enlightened individual.

"What? I was one of the best back when I was still studying." 

"Anyway, it would be better to exercise caution. Quantum phenomena is bizarre to say the least... And so far, no one has tested what might happen with intent added to the mix." I warned, with as serious an expression as I could muster.