A new quest.

"What do you expect me to do, PAINT the future?"

"No, not paint. COMPOSE. With your music."

"Am I to be a prophet?"

"Not quite — a pilot. As you're very well aware, the you on the other side of that 'mirror' is a master of this form. In doing so, he's successful enough to be indifferent to our lives. But there are other existences to be experienced, and by weaving —"

"You're referring to the clues, styles and genres which are popular in these alternate realities but not our own?"

"That is correct. I wish you'd stop interrupting me, but the point is: by teasing them out, bringing them from those parallel threads into what we call our world, we may very well have a glimpse — no, a clear vision of what is past and future, what has not flourished yet here. But could. Very well could."

"Mhmmm."

"I get the impression you still don't fully understand. But realize: music is the backbone of many a lifestyle. Music isn't ever just about the music; it reflects what else is happening. Lyrics can refer to fashion trends. Melodies — tonal structure — gives clues to cultural development. And rhythm, well, rhythm shows how people like to dance. Musicians are historians."

"And as we've discussed earlier, by extrapolating a cross-section of these musics 'plucked' from a sidechained reality, we'll continuously peer into that place without riskful exposure?"

"That's the theory. Understand the longer we stay there under conventional means, the more dangerous it becomes, the more influence we can wield — unintentionally. But by continuing to steer the sonic timeship, we should be isolated from those effects while still reaping the benefits."