Week 19.2 – Cortex’s Theory

Previously: Cortex, resident genius of Defcon 5, told Digger he still has super powers. And now…

“That’s crazy,” Digger said. “I don’t have super powers.”

“You do,” Cortex said. “You just don’t understand them.”

“According to your theory?”

“You don’t want to hear about the theory,” Metalord said.

“Do you know the concept of gravity in spacetime?” Cortex asked. “That gravity is not a force exerted by one object on another, but rather, the warping of spacetime by an object’s mass. What we perceive as gravity is really a distortion of reality caused by the mass of the Earth. Well, imagine your super powers doing the same kind of thing. Your powers distort your reality, and all possible alternate realities.”

“You’re saying it’s my destiny, no matter what universe I live in,” Digger said.

“No. Destiny implies an end point in common, or a similar life path across all realities, even some sort of intelligent purpose,” Cortex said. “Destiny is a mistaken interpretation of a simple cosmological phenomenon. You warp reality around you to create what you perceive as super powers. In any given reality, your powers could be anything you imagine and even things you can’t. You can be anything, except normal.”

“And I suppose you have math to back this up.”

Cortex smiled a little too eagerly. “I do! Do you want to see it?”

Behind him, Metalord shook his head, no.

“Maybe later,” Digger said. “But you still haven’t shown me any proof.”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”left”]“And I suppose you have math to back this up.” Cortex smiled a little too eagerly. “I do! Do you want to see it?”[/blockquote]“Here’s proof!” Cortex waved at the tablet. “The only way to apply enough force to damage those knees was to hit with the force concentrated along the edge of the chassis. But you were over-rotating slightly and would have hit with the broader, softer side panels. Until you rolled down the window, which created just enough drag to slow the rotation and cause you to hit in just the right spot. Likewise, opening the car door slowed your spin just enough to hit both knees simultaneously. If you hadn’t done everything exactly right, from braking to turning your wheel to rolling down the window, you wouldn’t have brought the robot down. That can’t have happened by chance. Has anything else strange happened since you lost your powers?”

“No,” Digger said. “I mean, the drive up here was kind of weird, but I was just tired and had an awesome car.”

“Awesome how?” Katrina asked.

“Well, I made really good time,” Digger said. “And I only had to fill up once between Houston and here.”

“That’s impossible,” Migi said.

“No,” Cortex said. “That may be it. Your power may be something to do with operating machines with incredible efficency and precision. We’ll know more after we run some tests.”

“I don’t have time for tests,” Digger said. “I have to get to Mongolia and stop Twain.”

“From doing what?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Digger said. “But I think it’s some sort of revenge against the Cobalt Czar.”

“Sorry to say, but your friend’s a dead man,” Cortex said.

“He’s not my friend,” Digger said, “And I’m afraid he might succeed.”

Can Defcon 5 help? More importantly, will they? Join us tomorrow for the next exciting episode!

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