[Toll Troll] Imagine a ball, any kind of ball. No, not that ball. Not that one, either. Imagine a specific kind of ball, one made entirely of water, held together by some unknown force, which is suspended in mid-air. On this ball, imagine someone has vertically placed strings from top to bottom and looped around to the top again, packed infinitely close together. Each string intersects only at the top and the bottom of the water ball. The ball of water represents space, and each string represents a different timeline. The closer strings are together on the ball of water, the more related the timelines are. You are not to worry about how this relationship is quantified.

[Vahrtznif] If each string has two points of intersection, then you’re implying time is intersecting at two particular points of space. If the ball represents space and the strings loop around it, you’ve created cyclical time restricted by location. That is, time cannot advance if an entity existing at a particular point of space does not displace itself.

[Toll Troll] That is where you are wrong. Each particle which exists on a string is, itself, a space-time water ball. Any and every object which exists can be represented by its own space-time water ball, which can be thought of as an “event” metric.

[Vahrtznif] But,

[Toll Troll] Silence! You currently stand in front of me, in front of the Bridge of Sorrows. However, if one were to pluck the string on which you reside, the string would collide with the ball of water and create a ripple. This ripple would displace the water, thus also moving the strings which lie on it. Time and space are both altered in this way. Imagine someone did this, and you and I were given a glimpse of another string on the water in which you’ve already crossed the Bridge of Sorrows. Why, then, should I now let you pass the Bridge of Sorrows again?

[Vahrtznif] Because I haven’t crossed the Bridge of Sorrows yet.


[Toll Troll] Correct! Please cross the bridge.

[Vahrtznif] Was that the riddle?

[Toll Troll] What riddle?

The Toll Troll laughed and was clouded by a puff a smoke, disappearing. As the smoke faded, Vahrtznif noticed Lunky dashing across the bridge, holding a bowl of Lunky Jujus! Pesky leprechaun!

With the riddle (?) solved, Vahrtznif took his first step onto the Bridge of Sorrows.

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