Timely considerations – Chap. 5, Act 1, Strip 23

One of the things Professor Doctor has learned over the course of his long life is that standard physics only apply to people who can be defined as minor characters. For main characters like him, many things work fundamentally different. For example: For normal people, the time of arrival at some point of destination is directly related to the distance between destination and starting point along the route, and the speed of travel. I.e. whether they arrive before or after any specific point of time depends on how fast and how far they travel.

Not so for main characters. For everyone with their name on the marquee, time just works differently. Arrival at destination depends on the relative importance of the task awaiting there, and on the stage of the plot. Early on in the plot, you’re likely to be late, no matter how much you hurry. Near the climax, you’re practically guaranteed to be on time, if only by a hair’s breadth. No matter how much you hurry, or don’t.

Therefore the Professor is pretty sure that they can take their sweet time right now – they can leisurely stroll down to Dr. Dutchman Fu’s control room, and no matter how much time that takes, they’ll arrive just on time to be a few seconds too late to stop the Doctor. It just can’t be any other way in the first act of anything. ._.

More on Thursday.

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