Time Travel

The lady at the record store next store
Music store, whatever
We have to be all pc now
Because records are extinct?
Because they're not
Because they live in the soul
But that's another issue altogether
You're looking for Volume 17
That deals with time travel, right?
I had a feeling
I had a good feeling
And my good feelings are mostly accurate

See, the interesting thing about Volume 17
Is that it establishes the principle
That all heroes, given time
Will turn into villains
Whereas all villains, given time
Will turn into either heroes
Or even worser villains
Worser--that a word?
Anyway--usually they turn into heroes
Which is sort of a great thing
If you happen to start life
As a really great person
Because then it's like--

Okay, eventually
The pendulum will swing
And I'll be a hero one day

Because that's how time works
And not just time travel
Although time travel does exist
In a very real sense
Outside of Volume 17
And all other volumes

Because travel just means
To go somewhere
And in terms of time
We're all traveling
We're all moving forward or back
And when we want go somewhere
We just, you know
Go there
In our minds

What I find miraculous
Is that we hold people to time

You did such and such a thing
So many years ago
And I'm still holding you to it

How crazy is that?

Because time, by its nature
Changes you

It just does

So we're holding people accountable for crimes
That they themselves
Did not commit

We want time to be this solid thing
This rope
Ancestors and whatever

But the truth is--

And what Volume 17 says is--

It's not solid
It's not liquid
It's not even a gas

It may be plasma
But what it really is

Is constant

A constant thing around us

And so you move through it
And change
And die
And are reborn
As a mutant, maybe
But still

Do you see what I'm getting at here?

There's no staying where you are

There's only traveling

That's the only thing you can do
In terms of time

Just travel with it

Like the Earth's gravitational pull

You don't notice it
But it's there

Isn't that great?

By the way, we're out of Volume 17
Some kid just grabbed it

But I think I gave you the gist of it
And free of charge

If you ask me
I saved you the time it takes to read it
Plus digest it

Just don't try taking it in all at once, kid

It'll blow your mind