fandomhigh | Library [07/14]

Dinosaurs were not part of the craze in her timestream where people brought extinct animals back through cloning. Thursday, however, had dealt with dinosaurs in her time inside fiction and didn't particularly feel like trying to negotiate with sharp teeth this time. So she packed up Friday and Pickwick, locked up the house, left a note for her housemates letting them know what was going on and where she was going and headed to the library. Friday would have been out of there and off to Mrs Bradshaw's in as much time as it takes to say 'I was in a long, dark, wood-panelled corridor', but the BookWorld was dealing with its own problems right now.

Fairly certain that the dinosaurs wouldn't be able to read, Thursday closed the doors up and put a note on the front saying 'open, knock or shout first', put Friday, his toys and Pickwick down where she could see them and set about trying to find out how exactly dinosaurs had shown up overnight without a fuss and how to get them to go away again.

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"Well, we're kind of a big clustermess of times here," Dawn shrugged, following his lecture relatively easily, "I mean, I've got an older sister here from an alternate universe who's actually a year behind me in school and has never heard of me. Two of my friends are from way in the future, and I've met people from Ancient Greece. So why wouldn't it be possible? And why do you think that they'd try to hide their presence? We're not completely stupid."

"What does that mean, in normal people terms?" She asked.

"Yes, exactly," Rodney pointed at Dawn. "This place is absolute proof that what the scientists where I'm from know about the universe is barely scratching the surface." He tended to talk fast when he was on a role. "Actually, there are very good reasons that someone from the future would want to hide their presence. It's like Clarke's Law, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' And throughout most of human history, magic has been perceived as evil and has led to persecution. The last thing anyone wants is to end up on the wrong side of a witch-hunt.

"Theoretical astrophysics? Basically, it means applying physics to astronomical observations in order to understand how the universe works." Rodney was a 'big picture' sort of person.

Eyeing him a little skeptically, Dawn asked, "You're not saying that magic and advanced technology are the same thing, are you? Because magic's not so much like science, except for the part where you can totally do some of it in a chem lab and you just have to follow the preset instructions. But magic can open portals without math, which is always to the good, as far as I'm concerned."

"So, how is that different from plain astronomy?"

"No, no, no," Rodney assured her. "Since coming here I've learned that magic is indeed quite real in some realities. What I'm saying is that advanced tech can easily be mistaken for magic by those who lack the capability to understand it." He paused for a moment. "On the other hand, medicine is considered an actual science and it's practically voodoo, so it really depends on your definitions." He shrugged.

"Basic astronomy only deals with observational data. That means it's concerned with 'what' rather than 'how' and therefore it's not nearly as interesting."

"Oh, I see...and wait, medicine is practically voodoo? How do you figure that?" She asked, happy to have something to discuss that wasn't dinosaur or end of the world related, at least for a little while.

"So, like, you're more into taking something apart to see how it works than you are with the fact that it's working?" Dawn checked her understanding, "Don't you just want to let things be? Enjoy the mystery?"

"Well, it's not like medicine is any sort of hard science. Results vary on an individual basis and can never be guaranteed with any kind of certainty. Plus, most medical doctors make diagnoses based on their own area of expertise rather than any actual scientific method. It's like that show Casa where the neurologist always thinks the problem is neurological, the oncologist always thinks the patient has cancer and so forth. They see what they expect to see and treat accordingly." Rodney huffed. He'd dealt with a lot of doctors growing up ~~what with hypochondria and all~~ and the experiences had rarely been positive. "Blood suckers, the lot of them," he muttered.

"Yes, basically. It doesn't do much good to just accept that something works if you ever need to fix it or make it better. What I enjoy is solving the mystery."

"But that's how everyone approaches a problem, isn't it, whether it's scientific or not?" She asked after thinking about it for a while, "I mean, I'm going to always look for something mystical or vampy or demony first, just because that's what I have the most experience with--it makes it easier to decide what it is or it isn't."

"You need a detective's hat, and one of those tweed coats, and maybe a magnifying glass," Dawn decided, "You're totally a detective. Problem is that we have to figure out what the problem is before we fix it, so we don't just make it worse, you know?"

"You're right, that is what we do. You can't exactly propose an answer outside your own knowledge base. However, the ability to analyze the available data objectively before jumping to a conclusion is a huge advantage. What I'm saying about medical doctors is that they don't do this. They rarely look at the problem as a whole because they're too focused on their own specialty."

Rodney preened a bit at the compliment. He liked to think of himself as a problem solver. "You're right, we definitely need to know exactly how this happened before we can do anything else. And on the subject of specialties, it makes the most sense for each of us to research the possible causes within our own areas of expertise in order to narrow things down." He opened one of his books. "I'll let you get back to the mystical mumbo-jumbo while I look into the scientific side of things."

"I guess I can see that," Dawn admitted reluctantly, "but that doesn't mean I'm not going to see a doctor when I'm sick, because that's even sillier."

"Good luck being sciencey. I hope it's your turn this time--the mystical stuff gets a little boring after a while."

"Unfortunately, we do have to rely on the quacks. But that doesn't mean I have to like it." Honestly, Rodney would go see the doctor for a splinter and complain the entire time. You never knew when those things could become infected and life threatening.

"I can't imagine this stuff ever getting boring."

"You could always go to med school," she suggested, just to see the reaction, "and it can. Turns out that a lot of the time, someone's read something out loud that they shouldn't have, or done a spell, or opened a portal to another dimension, and you have to fight whatever comes through, or just ride it out."

Dawn grinned. "Kinda reminds me of home, actually."

Library [07/14]

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