Professor Awesome (Parallax Universe): Difference between revisions

}}'''Eric''', better-known as '''Professor Awesome''', was a mad scientist known to [[Jenny Everywhere]] in multiple realities. Although in some he was a genuine threat and enemy, in [[Parallax Universe|at least one universe]], he was  mischievous thirteen-year-old boy genius who lived in the same apartment building as [[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny]] and [[Kim (Parallax Universe)|Kim]].

Professor Awesome's primary trait was the lab coat he wore. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Pit Stop (novel)|Pit Stop]]'', ''[[Morning After (novel)|Morning After]]'') In [[Parallax Universe|Kim's world]], Eric was a “gangly” teenager. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Pit Stop (novel)|Pit Stop]]'') The [[#Wreaking havoc|more villainous]] Professor Awesome of another universe bore a “scraggly goatee” in his early twenties, and later managed to grow it out into a full beard. He also had “perfect white teeth”. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Morning After (novel)|Morning After]]'')

One version of Professor Awesome was usually known as “Eric”, and was a generally benevolent boy genius, although he did consider himself a “mad scientist”. He lived with [[Eric's mother|his mother]] in the same apartment building as [[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny Everywhere]] and her roommate [[Kim (Parallax Universe)|Kim]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Morning After (novel)|Morning After]]'', ''[[Pit Stop (novel)|Pit Stop]]'', etc.)

[[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny]] first thwarted Professor Awesome's efforts at supervillainy when he was thirteen. He had been using a [[de-pants-icator]] to wreak mayhem. Awesome had also built a [[Robot Toaster]] for unknown reasons; Jenny took it home after she'd stopped the Professor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Paying It Forward (novel)|Paying It Forward]]'') Awesome “just about injured himself laughing” on one [[April Fools' Day]] at the math joke of the number 10 on [[David Lowe]]'s door having been replaced with an {{w|Aleph number|alpeh-null}}.  

After he successfully repaired the device with [[Kim (Parallax Universe)|Kim]]'s help, they shared some pastrami sandwiches from [[Morrie Greenberg]]'s and said their goodbyes.  Before leaving, Genevieve repaid Eric with a large gold coin. Kime offered to help Eric translate that gold into modern money and to take him to the hardware store so that he could spend these “wages” on new equipment and parts. She explained that she was already all set to sell some gold, as she had to make something of a chest of pirate gold Jenny had brought back from a recent adventure. Before they could do so, an [[Angel]] appeared with much fracas in the very same parking lot, heralding yet another crazy adventure. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Pit Stop (novel)|Pit Stop]]'')

One day, having noticed that [[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny Everywhere]] had mysteriously disappeared, and worried that [[Kim (Parallax Universe)|Kim]] wasn't answering when he tried to knock at her and Jenny's door, a worried Eric broke into Kim and Jenny's apartment with the help of the [[Robot Toaster]]. Finding an unmoving, unresponsive Kim on the bed, he panicked and went to [[David Lowe|David]] for help. Being aware of Kim's nature, David was not worried about Kim's apparent catatonia himself, but he agreed that Jenny's disappearance was concerning enough to warrant waking her up in the daytime. Recalling what she'd told him about the bottle of Jenny's blood, David located the hideaway and dribbled some of the precious liquid into Kim's mouth. She woke up with a start, lashing out like a wounded animal at David, with her claws out, until her higher brain functions came back online and she calmed down.  

When [[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny]] and [[Kim (Parallax Universe)|Kim]] went through their closet to sort its contents, they found multiple items set aside for Eric, including a [[rocket boot]] which they decided to only give to him if [[Eric's mother|his mother]] allowed it, and a broken “Carnot-engine” [[perpetual motion machine]] which they thought they might use as a birthday present for him. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cleaning Day (short story)|Cleaning Day]]'')

At past one in the morning on the night between [[Christmas Eve]] and [[Christmas Day]], a sleeping Eric was woken up by [[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny]], who talked him into joining her on the roof. Quickly getting dressed in his day clothes — complete with labcoat and “essential gadgetry” including “both [[robo-spider]]s and the [[stochastic photon homogenizer]]” — he followed her to the said roof, where she explained that she wanted to watch “the flyover”. The Professor slowly realised that she meant “[[Santa Claus (Parallax Universe)|the bringer of presents… the lurker at chimneys… the eater of a billion cookies]]”; Jenny, appearing to treat him as incontrovertibly real, advised Eric not to say the name out loud, though she told him that she had borrowed an “[[Amulet of Unheeding]]” from [[Steven Lucas|Steve]] and [[Thoth (Morning After)|Thoth]] just in case.  

On [[Valentine's Day]] of the following year, [[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny]] had dozed off on the couch while reading ''[[The Tail of Jack the Bodice Ripper]]'' when a [[Cupid (Valentine's Visitor)|strange copper-coloured robot]] made its way into the apartment through the balcony. It tried to sneak up on Jenny, but was tackled by the [[Robot Toaster]], waking Jenny with a start. After punting the intruder into the kitchen with a kick, Jenny ran to Professor Awesome's apartment, assuming he was to blame, but he told her otherwise, explaining that his last invention to date had been a new grappling hook for one of the [[robo-spider]]s. Followed her back to the apartment, the Professor briefly admired the “sweet engineering” of the golden robot before managing to separate it from the Toaster, with whom it was still wrestling, but it then revealed that it had the ability to fly and escaped out the window, leaving only its bow. Jenny was left to wonder what the whole encounter had been about, while the young mad scientist resolved to try making robots capable of flight in the future. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Valentine's Visitor (short story)|Valentine's Visitor]]'')

In contrast to the friendly boy known [[Jenny Everywhere (Parallax Universe)|Jenny Everywhere]] and [[Kim (Parallax Universe)|Kim]], another version of Professor Awesome was a ''bona fide'' supervillain. In his early twenties, he began to grow a “scraggly goatee” which he eventually grew out into a full beard. Like his boyish counterpart, this Awesome wore a long labcoat.

[[Category:Parallax Universe individuals]]