Rise To Stardom - Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Bootstrap Paradox
{The Curator – Tenth Season | 8th April 2020 | Act 2 | Scene 4 | Take 1}

“Come in.” the Substitute Professor, responded as he organized some books and documents on his desk.

Someone was knocking on his door.

Slowly opening the door, baffling questions, written all over her face, The Curator raised his gaze up to stare at the lady with an acknowledging expression;

“Snow. Kiera Snow. Have a seat, please.” he gestured to the chair before him as he leaned onto his own chair with a warm smile.

Nodding her head slightly, Kiera did as she was told.

Now sitting across her Professor whom was obviously younger than her, a frankly, unexpected silence, settled between the two as she ruminated on how to structure her next few words.

As this happened, The Curator, simply gazed at the lady who soon spoke a few moments later.

“Who are you, really?” she asked.

That had been the most baffling of all her questions.

As much as she tried to blur out some of the things that occurred a month back, something she genuinely felt she had achieved, seeing the man before her, triggered all the events of that day all over again, making it as vividly fresh as possible in her mind.

Even though she had been unable to move at the time, she had watched, clearly, from her periphery, as the man before her, restructured the roof back then with some sort of high-tech sorcery.

“I’m The Curator.” her Professor, casually replied in response.

To that, Kiera couldn’t help frown a bit as she asked;

“Curator of what, exactly?”

“Museums. Galleries. Libraries. Curator of whatever you’d like to believe I am.” he replied again, arms gesturing wide with a hint of mystery to his tone.

Frowning a bit deeper, unsure of what to make of that information, Kiera’s fingers, subconsciously drummed on his table for a few seconds before she then asked;

“Where’s Professor Sanders?”

“Admitted to a hospital.”

“Why are you filling in for him?”

“Can’t answer that.”

“Where did you fall from?”

“Won’t answer that.”

“How did you fix the roof?”

“Construct gloves.”

“Did you bankrupt Mason?”

“Who’s Mason?”

“The bulky guy in the restaurant.”

“Oh! The big fella! I apologized for the bill.”

“It was over a million dollars.”

“Oh…”

“Who exactly did you call?”

“You wouldn’t know.”

“Why do I know you?”

“Because you’ve met me.”

“The Impossible Man.”

“Yes, that’s m- Wait what?”

“The Impossible, Man.” Kiera definitively stated with a hint of familiarity this time, her expression, hoping for answers.

Hearing that, the casual expression on The Curator’s features, turned a bit serious as he leaned forward, his arms resting on the desk.

Sure enough, he hadn’t actually been called that by other humans or alien races.

Rather, it was something he himself, tended to refer himself to as, in his mind.

So, the fact that someone else asides he and he alone knew, was a cause for concern.

It was almost akin to him giving out his real name to someone so, The Curator was understandably, troubled.

If his enemies ever guessed his real name, he was certain most of them would find a way to go back in time and ensure that he never even existed to begin with.

Yet, this current scenario of his, was one he needed to find answers to. Quickly.

Did he divulge that information to the lady before him at some point in the future?

Or was it the past?

More importantly, why would he even do that in the first place?

Or quite possibly, did someone else, or Kiera herself, find out about it and then, tell her, or herself in the future or the past?

The Curator, couldn’t really say…

But, he knew, that as of the moment, it would be in their best interests for him to keep her close…

“Well, this is… certainly, a conundrum…” The Curator mused out loud, a serious expression on his face as he asked;

“Have you ever met me before?”

“Only at the restaurant.” Kiera truthfully replied, still hoping for answers.

“And you’re sure?” he asked the lady again.

“I’m sure.” Kiera affirmed with a small nod.

Staring at Kiera, realizing from the expression on her features that she was genuinely stumped as she hoped for answers, The Curator muttered out loud after a few seconds;

“A Bootstrap Paradox. Probably a subverted one…”

“A what?” Kiera inquired in confusion.

“Bootstrap Paradox. A situation in time travel where there’s no point or origination of something, yet, it happens.”

Realizing that Kiera was still extremely confused, The Curator dumbed it down for her;

“You wake up in your room one day, with a time machine.”

“You watch as an older version of yourself, steps out of the time machine and gives you a blueprint on how to create, said time machine.”

“You follow the blueprint’s instructions and do eventually create said time machine after 5 years.”

“Once its ready, you hop, into the time machine and then, take a trip back to hand over the blueprint to yourself, five years ago.”

“Now there’s a loop, with unanswered questions.”

“How did you know how to create the time machine?” The Curator asked the lady who was listening intently.

“I gave myself the blueprints.” Kiera responded with a slight frown.

“But where did the blueprints come from originally?” both The Curator and the lady, asked the exact same question in synchrony.

Staring at her Professor, one who arched an eyebrow in response to her paradoxical conundrum, Kiera soon declared;

“So you’re saying something similar, happened to me?”

“A subverted version of it, yes. Basically, a fake bootstrap paradox.” he responded with a slight nod.

“Only, there’s no time machine blueprints but rather, someone or somewhere, from the past, or future, gave you that name.”

“So, there’s bound to be some point of origin in your case since you do know me as ‘The Impossible Man’, though you probably can’t remember exactly where or whom you heard it from.” The Curator explained, leaning backwards onto his chair as he continued;

“And if that’s the case, I can definitely find it. Though I’ll need to have you around, if you’re still looking for answers that is.”

“But time travel’s a myth.” Kiera soon stated after a brief pause, her expression, perplexed as she tried to wrap her head around all this sudden information.

“A lot of things are a myth, Kiera.” The Curator responded, after which he then added with a mysterious gaze;

“But, time travel? Time travel’s not one of them.”

No sooner had he said that though, a shrill, frightening and piercing scream, came from the hallways of the corridor!

“Cut, Print. Check The Gate.”

– – –

“Alright. That’s a wrap for today everyone.” The Director, said to everyone on set after she was done, checking the shot.

To that, most on set at the moment, were visibly grateful.

It was still 4:30pm in the afternoon so, it basically meant they were able to meet their quota for the day without any unexpected barriers in the form of sound equipment or cameras acting up.

So, luckily for most of them, they had a few hours to themselves for the rest of the day before they were back to filming tomorrow.

That said, that didn’t apply to Tiana, Kyle and Jasmine.

All three, along with Jon and Barry, still had somewhere they needed to be before the end of the day.

“Why that?” Jasmine curiously questioned, her eyes focused on the young man’s visage.

She hadn’t gotten the chance to question Kyle before the next scene due to the multiple number of autographs she had to sign.

“Why that what?” Kyle instead, responded in a casual, questioning tone, although he did know exactly what she was hinting at.

Score for Kyle.

There was even a glint of amusement in his eyes.

Squinting her eyes at the young man as he crossed his legs over and sat like an actual Professor, something he knew he’d probably never get the chance to try again in his life, Jasmine then leaned back into her own chair as she responded;

“The hairstyle… It really suits, The Curator… and you, of course…” the lady said the last part, almost as if she was forced to do so, earning a slight, questioning squint from Kyle himself.

To that, Jasmine’s honey-colored irises, glinted in amused retaliation.

Now it was 1:1.

“Either way, it’s a really cool hairstyle. Very stylized too…” the lady, nodded her head in approval as she stated.

Despite already being out of character, both still sat across each other, casually conversing as the crew around them, packed up the filming equipment.

Tiana herself, had already slipped out of work mode as she loosened her perfectly coiffed, dirty-brown hair, all of it, falling into soft, messy tresses.

“Did you decide not to gel it backwards anymore? You know, like the day of the auditions?” Jasmine continued, her tone genuinely curious this time.

“I did try it. But when I realized that it wouldn’t quite cut it for a more chaotic version of The Curator, I had to switch things up. My scalp stings though…” Kyle muttered the last part with a slight frown.

Considering the amount of trial and error he and the hairstylist Oliver had hired, had to do and redo to get a vision of how he felt he should present the character to the audience, an entire night was spent, just to perfect the hairstyle.

In fact, Kyle had even sent pictures of it to Jon, Tiana and Barry through some of the styling and restyling, one which he eventually had them all settling on the one he had now.

Him also wearing a black long coat instead of the blue he stole in the first episode, was something he had phoned Tiana about to ask if she could allow it.

The Director on the other hand, didn’t mind since it made for an interesting take for his version of The Curator to constantly switch wardrobes, as long as his signature style of wearing Belle Epoque long coats, wasn’t changed.

“But it was worth it, right?” Jasmine slowly got up from the chair as she asked with a light smile.

“That it was.” Kyle nodded in agreement before he also, got off the chair with an approving smile.

Both still had a marketing meeting to attend regarding the trailers and promotions for the tenth season of the show at DreamLand Inc’s. headquarters.