I ask Sheneal (the Time Keeper) again to explain how faeries can move up and down through time. She grinned and said, "if a faerie flies really, really fast and then shoots out a blinding flash of light, how fast is the light from her flash going?"
"The speed of light plus her speed? No, wait... Nothing travels faster than light..."
I guess I looked lost enough that she finally rescued me, "There is a ceiling to speed. The faster you go the less time you use up until you are traveling at the speed of time."
"I always heard that as the 'Speed of Light'"
"So you did. Einstein's Faerie was more clever then we sometimes give her credit for. She revealed the secret but hid it behind mushroom soup. The real equation is: Energy equals Mass in proportion to the speed of Time."
A small light bulb came on in my head: "So Mass is Energy trapped in Time?"
Sheneal smiled impishly, "And conversely, Energy is not trapped in Time."
"So Faeries simply turn into pure energy to escape Time?"
"Exactly right, if you consider completely wrong to be exactly right. In Faeries's default mode as Energy we are not in Time. You may have noticed that Faeries have a tendency to be a little transparent. That is because, for us to stay in one place, we need to apply some Mass to our Energy. "
"So that you will slow down?" I was beginning to feel like I was understanding some of the concepts.
"Aaa... No... Your are the ones that are moving. Time and Energy are standing still. You Mass-ive beings are falling at the speed of Time. Light (being pure energy) is standing still. That is why nothing can move faster than the speed of light. Because nothing can go slower than stopped."
I sighed. Once again everything got turned upside down and inside out. I started pacing (a habit I have when my mind is racing and I want to get somewhere but I am stuck where I am for whatever reason).
I stopped in front of Shira. She was staring at her "imaginary" world, totally engrossed in the events happening in front of her. I noticed that she flickered as if she was in a movie but only on every other frame.
I asked Sheneal about this flickering. She said, "What Shira is doing is so far above your level of understanding that you should not try to think about it. But I can say that the principles that allow her to be here and in that other world at the same "Time" are the same principles that we are talking about. Her Mass is anchored in both worlds."
"But, getting back to basics, I, Sheneal Gwyndistanie, am fully here, at least as much as a Faerie can be fully anywhere in your world. I have adjusted my Mass such that I am falling at the same rate as you. I may appear to fly at times but that is simply the fact that I control my Energy to have the precise Mass that mimics the apparent fall. It is kind of like a shortcut. You are falling in a kind of circular way which gives the impression of gravity. I am in the middle of your circle falling at the same speed but not taking the same circuitous route."
Now that was truly revealing! I was trying very hard to keep my head from exploding as I pictured myself swirling around on a merry-go-round, holding on desperately to keep from flying off, while Sheneal stood in the center unconcerned. "Hey, I said, how come you don't get dizzy?"
"I will admit the first time I actually tried talking with a human, I did get a little dizzy. I tried staying in contact the whole "Time" and found myself mimicking the circular fall through Time. But I soon learned to wait for the human to come back to my focus of attention before continuing. It is a little "choppy" but can be quite invigorating, especially when the human is affected by Gravity in between the waits. You should see yourselves from our perspective when you trip and fall. Between the waiting for you to come back and then to see you totally undone on the next turn of the wheel... it is quite funny."
She was on the verge of Unifying Energy, Mass, Time, Space and Gravity in one simple idea and all she could think about was a Vaudevillian slippery banana peel!
