Oh, hello," Dr. M says, shaking Balder's hand. "Wonderful costume. I'm a bit of a role player myself on the weekends. Tell me, where did you get the helmet?" It was forged in the North, blessed by the hands of Odin, given to me by my mother, Frigg," Balder answers. Lovely. I got mine on the Internet.

But what was the point of living so quietly you made no noise at all?

I can be whatever. You can be whatever. We can be whatever. Whatever, together.

In our travels, we have come across many equations--math for understanding the universe, for making music, for mapping stars, and also for tipping, which is important. Here is our favorite equation: Us plus Them equals All of Us. It is very simple math. Try it sometime. You probably won’t even need a pencil.

Travel opens your mind as few other things do.

Write like it matters, and it will.

Because you can't keep up the illusion forever," I say. "No one has that much magic.