That said, when I’m in speedster mode, everything about my body operates at an accelerated pace, including my thought processes. Therefore, at super speed, I could conceivably visualize the place I’d like to teleport to a lot faster than I could normally. That being the case, I felt that I had the answer to my mentor’s question.
“Theoretically,” I began, “I think I could do it if I was at super speed – that is, teleport so quickly that I appeared to be in two places at once. But practically speaking, I don’t think I could pull it off.”
“Why not?” Mouse asked.
“Think about it. Suppose I were to try it by having a conversation here with you, while at the same time meeting Electra in the lounge.”
“Okay, what would happen?”
“Well, let’s say I’m about to use the word ‘little’ during our conversation, but I’m greeting Electra with a ‘Hello.’ With you, I start pronouncing the ‘L’ in ‘little,’ then teleport to Electra where I begin enunciating the ‘H’ in ‘hello.’ Then I teleport back to you to pronounce some more of the ‘L’ before going back to her to continue verbalizing the letter ‘H.’ And that back-and-forth continues nonstop until I’ve spoken both words.”
“It does sound rather complicated – even more so when you add movement to the mix.”
“Huh?” I said, not really following his train of thought.
“While you’re speaking, you’d also have to maintain consistency with your physical actions,” Mouse explained. “For example, if you’re in the process of raising your hand while speaking to me but you’re reaching out to hold her hand while talking to Electra, you’ve got to keep those motions respectively congruent.”
“So, using your example, every time I teleport back to you, I’ve got to raise my hand fractionally higher, while each time I go to Electra, I’ve got to extend my hand a little farther toward hers. And it all has to be seamless, without either of you able to tell that I’m actually teleporting from one place to the other.”
Mouse nodded. “Yep – virtually a real-life version of stop-motion animation. But it’s even more problematic than that.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “I can’t imagine how.”
“Well, you’d actually be doing all this stuff – speaking and moving – at super speed, but from your perspective you’d have to carry out those actions at a decelerated pace so that it appears normal to me and Electra.”
“No way,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Taken altogether, it’s too much. I take back my claim about it being theoretically possible.”
Mouse laughed. “No, it’s just not probable, but it’s still possible.”
I shrugged. “Maybe, but you’re talking about multi-tasking to the nth degree.”
“True, but if anyone could accomplish it, I’d bank on you.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now, what’s our next move?”
“Well, I’m going to think about this footage some more and see if there’s anything else we can glean from it.”
As he spoke, he bent down and appeared to reach for something under the worktable. When he stood back up, he was holding a mid-sized box in his hands.
“You, on the other hand,” Mouse continued, “are going to study.”
“Study?” I repeated as Mouse placed the box next to the laptop on the worktable. “Study what?”
“Physics,” Mouse answered as he opened up the box and took out what appeared to be a textbook. He then removed a second book from the box. “Calculus.” He took out a third text. “World History.”
“What is all this?” I asked.
“In case it escaped your notice, when you took off for Caeles, you basically dropped out of school. Now that you’re back, we can’t have you truant, so I talked to your Mom and grandparents, and we decided that homeschooling for the rest of the year was probably the best option.”
I nodded, as this was a conversation I’d already had with my family, but a new issue immediately rose up in my brain.
“So who’s going to teach me?” I asked, then explained about how – if all went as scheduled – the rest of my family would probably be leaving the planet soon.
Mouse smiled. “Lucky for you, there’s a local guy who’s experienced with most of the subject matter. He’s agreed to step up in this instance and be your instructor.”
“Who –” I began, then noticed the smirk on my mentor’s face. “You, Mouse? Really?”
“For classroom purposes, you can refer to me as Professor Mouse.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, so why wait so long to get this started? I’ve been back for weeks.”
Mouse suddenly looked pensive. “Honestly, I didn’t like any of the textbooks on the market or their treatment of the relative subject matter, so I had my own books made up.”
“What?” I muttered, somewhat stunned. I grabbed one of the texts and looked at the author’s name. Sure enough, it read Professor Mouse, PhD.
I would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so disheartening. It’s one thing to be taught by a guy who’s probably the smartest man who ever lived. It’s something else to be taught by him out of textbooks that he authored. I groaned in frustration at the thought of it.
“Stop being a baby,” Mouse said. “It’s not that bad. Smokey’s not complaining.”
I raised in eyebrow in surprise. “Smokey?”
“Yeah – he missed some time in school, too. Not as much as you, but enough so that you two get to go through my class together.”
“Probably less of a class and more like a crucible,” I said, at the same time wondering what exactly Smokey had been up to lately. A new girl, missing school… I guess he and I really did need to catch up.
“Class or crucible,” Mouse droned. “Sounds like a good topic for your first English essay. I’ll expect a draft in a week.”
I groaned again,
