Perdido Street Station - China Mieville [77]
“So I’m a MUFTI, a Moving Unified Field Theorist. Not a SUFTI, a Static Unified . . . you get the idea. But then, being a MUFTI raises as many problems as it solves: if it moves, how does it move? Steady gait? Punctuated inversion?
“When you pick up a piece of wood and hold it ten feet above the ground, it has more energy than when it’s on the ground. We call that potential energy, right? That’s not controversial among any scientist. Potential energy’s the energy that gives the wood the power to hurt you or mark the floor, a power it doesn’t have when it’s just resting on the ground. It has that energy when it’s motionless, like it was before, but when it could fall. If it does, the potential energy turns into kinetic energy, and you break your toe or whatever.
“See, potential energy’s all about placing something in a situation where it’s teetering, where it’s about to change its state. Just like when you put enough strain on a group of people, they’ll suddenly explode. They’ll go from grumpy and quiescent to violent and creative in one moment. The transition from one state to another’s affected by taking something—a social group, a piece of wood, a hex—to a place where its interactions with other forces make its own energy pull against its current state.
“I’m talking about taking things to the point of crisis.”
Isaac sat back for a minute. To his surprise, he was loving this. The process of explaining his theoretical approach was consolidating his ideas, making him formulate his approach with a tentative rigour.
Yagharek was a model pupil. His attention was totally unwavering, his eyes as sharp as stilettos.
Isaac took a long breath and continued.
“This is major shit we’re dealing with here, Yag mate. I’ve been nibbling at crisis theory for arsing years. In a nutshell: I’m saying it’s in the nature of things to enter crisis, as part of what they are. Things turn themselves inside out by virtue of being things, understand? The force that pushes the unified field on is crisis energy. Stuff like potential energy, that’s one aspect of crisis energy, one tiny partial manifestation. Now, if you could tap the reserves of crisis energy in any given situation, you’re talking about enormous power. Some situations are more crisis-ridden or -prone than others, yes, but the point of crisis theory is that things are in crisis just as part of being. There’s loads of sodding crisis energy flowing around all the time, but we haven’t yet learnt how to tap it efficiently. Instead it bursts over unreliably and uncontrollably every so often. Terrible waste.”
Isaac shook his head at the thought.
“The vodyanoi can tap crisis energy, I think. In a tiny, tiny way. It’s paradoxical. You tap the existing crisis energy in the water to hold it in a shape it fights against, so you put it in more crisis . . . but then there’s nowhere for the energy to go, so the crisis resolves itself by breaking down into its original form. But what if the vodyanoi used water they’d already . . . uh . . . watercræfted, and used it as a constituent for some experiment that drew on the increased crisis energy . . . Sorry. I’m digressing. The point is, I’m trying to work out a way for you to tap into your crisis energy, and channel it to flight. See, if I’m right, it’s the only force that’s always going to be . . . suffusing you. And the more you fly, the more you’re in crisis, the more you should be able to fly . . . That’s the theory, anyway . . .
“But to be honest, Yag, this is much bigger than that. If I can really unlock crisis energy for you, then your case becomes, frankly, a pretty paltry concern. We’re talking about forces and energy that could totally change . . . everything . . .”
The incredible idea stilled the air. The dirty environs of the warehouse seemed too small and mean for this conversation. Isaac stared