Fugue in Uncommon Time

Gustave permitted Theodore to lead the way into the clear, toward the two animate shapes in their view. Quite before they had gotten there, they noticed that the gentlemen - for gentlemen they were indeed, dressed in matching black and white checkered suits of a very fine sort - were illuminated by a lamppost, an orange flame flaring brightly atop a green wrought iron post. The post was decorated up and down with ivy ironwork that made the lamp look rather organic. To add to the lively appearance, a dozen balloons, which appeared to be red though the light was faint, were tied around one of the iron tines of the ivy and bobbed in the night air, each shiny surface reflecting a different vantage of the nearby lamp.

In all, the fellows at the lamppost were of a rather odd sort, the one made stranger by the fact that he was standing on his head. He did this with seeming ease, and when he spoke - the gentleman on the left - he betrayed no sense of discomfort whatsoever.

"Good morning," he began (though it was still very much the dead of night). "My name is Tarski Banach."

"Why is it that you stand on your head?" Theodore inquired.

"To gain new perspectives on your rudeness, young man! Is it not the duty of the gentleman to respond in turn when he is trying to make an introduction? But put off your questions for the moment. What is your name and your duty here, and who is your fine companion?" All the while Tarski Banach spoke, his thick brown handlebar mustache twitched with his words, and the monocle fixed in his eye twitched with his indignation, reflecting the flames from the lightpost above.

Here, the somewhat corpulent counterpart of Tarski Banach butted in, "Good evening! My name is Banach Tarski. What a pleas-"

"Tarski, you buffoon!" interrupted Banach. "We were waiting for the respective introductions of our newly-arrived guests! Wait your turn." Banach Tarski's chubby face fell from its joviality and, in fact, the man's whole hulking body seemed to shrink slightly into itself as he hunched his shoulders and stared solemnly at Gustave and Theodore.

Feeling somewhat bad that Tarski had been interrupted, but not especially wanting to hear more from the rather peevish Banach, Theodore took this time to say, "Hi, I'm Theodore. I'm new here, but maybe you know my friend, Gustave."

Gustave nodded slightly and tapped the brim of his hat. "Good day to you both."

Tarski Banach inquired, "And what brings you before our humble confederation?"

"We have but recently spoken to the Serpenteel..." replied Gustave.

"Perhaps we have something to offer your charge, then," the larger and more upright Banach Tarski said, tugging loose one of the balloons from the rigid green ivy. He took it behind his back, where both hands remained while he expounded:

"The nature of things is to be in constant flux: fracture and recombination, coming and going, separation and union; all these are commonplace. Sometimes, however, the results are counter to our expectations..." And with this, he removed his hands from behind his back, and each one held a balloon identical to the one he had taken just a few minutes before.

"What exactly did you just do?" Theodore asked. "How did one balloon turn into two? Could you do it again and again?"

"I suppose in a world of theory, one could continue the process indefinitely, though physical materials such as these wouldn't stand for--" Here, one of the balloons burst and collapsed to the ground. "Anyhow, you see the point. It's mostly a matter of density."

"So, the two balloons you showed us weren't identical, but they were closely related? What about the rest of the dozen? Which ones are copies and which are originals?"

Here, Tarski Banach interjected. "Well, that really is the point, isn't it? Each of these dozen could have originated from a common...ancestor, as it were. What then, is identity, if all we are is the sum of bits and pieces that have joined us from our surroundings, including other so-called individuals? All that matters is the configuration, at one particular time, namely 'now.'"