Back in the flow of things this week, although this was one of those episodes that has to work really hard to not just be a load of exposition.
‘Instinct’ lays down a few ground rules for the dimension-jumping – such as it being location-locked, so that physical space in one dimension is the same as in another. Which clears up the mini-mystery of how they found themselves falling out of the sky in ‘Apex Predator’.
Fun fact: this chapter was originally going to be called ‘Allopatric speciation’, as I mentioned in the previous writer’s notes, before I realised that was a bit much. Don’t worry, though – there’s a lot of show-offy words coming up later on.
So, why call it ‘instinct’? It’s partly relating to Cal’s instinctual understanding of where and when it is safe to use his new ability, much like we can make quick judgements of time and space without needing measuring tape and a stopwatch. Humans seem quite good at judging trajectory and momentum, and that’s kinda how I imagine Cal’s power to work.
At the same time, in the second story arc we’re going to see some divergence of opinion, as Kay’s instincts tend to be somewhat different to Cal’s. Characters are at their most interesting when in crisis, as that’s when you get to see how each one reacts differently. Put your characters up a tree, throw stones at them, and see what they each do.
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