Kent/Feldspar

[videointhenoise]

"Just once more," they had said when Ellie's team petitioned for it. She was busy with Palmer, falling in love with science while he fell in love with God, and Kent was left to pick up the pieces. He wanted another damn go at it. The Machine had a pricetag in the billions; it was begging to be used again.

But they wouldn't let Ellie go. They wouldn't let just anyone go. They wanted someone who knew how it worked, who had been there from the beginning, but someone who isn't completely taken in by Ellie's words.

That leads them to a dozen people and they end up with Kent. He's blind, but that's not what decides it. They claim that he wouldn't hallucinate the way Ellie did. That he has a unique perspective.

And, he's already proven himself steady and loyal.

He experiences it all the way that Ellie does, but something goes wrong on the other end. Maybe another terrorist attack. Maybe not. All he knows is that he's in the sphere and then, suddenly, he's floating, unable to find his footing until a great crash and he slams into the bottom of the machine.

He groans, pulling his helmet on with a grunt and a wince.

"Fuck this," he mutters, finding the edge of the sphere with his hands. There was a door there somewhere. He just - has to find it.

Comments

[getfeldsparred]

“You are helping,” Gneiss reassures him as they continue walking up the ramp. “You and Lapis saved us all.”

[videointhenoise]

"Lapis did it. I - can't imagine what they're thinking now," he mutters. "They've seen so much. Done so much. My baby is..."

He shakes his head. He can't even say it.

[getfeldsparred]

“No longer a hatchling,” Gneiss finishes. “You can see it behind their eyes - they’ve grown by years in only a single day.”

[videointhenoise]

"Doesn't mean they need me any less," he tells them firmly, because he is not giving up on them. He is not leaving them alone.

[getfeldsparred]

“No, they need you more. Now more than ever, Kent.”

Gneiss gets them to the top of the reservoir building and down through the dark rooms, into the sheltered space where Feldspar is currently being watched by Esker while they need a tin of fish.

[videointhenoise]

Kent is glad to hear it. He knows it's the truth, but he likes hearing it. He places a hand on theirs and then lets go, his hand on the wall instead. "Hey," he calls out softly, hearing soft words.

[getfeldsparred]

“Hey,” Esker smiles, tipping their hat back with a flick of their finger. “Come on in. Just sharing a couple tins o’ fish with my buddy here, but I’m done with my half.”

Esker gets up and steps up to Kent, hand on his shoulder. “They’re eating, but slowly. Make sure they finish it all, huh? Gneiss says they need to get some weight on their bones to help with the fevers.”

[videointhenoise]

Kent puts his hand over theirs and walks inside, finding his way along the wall before he sits.

"Hey," he says to Feldspar next. "How's the fish?"

[getfeldsparred]

“Oily,” Feldspar says, voice still barely above a whisper. “Good. Real good. I forgot what salt tastes like.”

They look over the tin with a soft smile. “My fever broke today too.”

[videointhenoise]

"Good," he says with a smile. "God, that's real good, Felds. Are you drinking water?"

[getfeldsparred]

“Trying. Stomach kinda shrunk on me.”

Gneiss had said if they drink too much they could get sick, but they don’t share that part. They’re sure Kent already knows.

[videointhenoise]

"Yeah, it'll do that, I've heard." His smile gets a little sad. "Do you want to talk about it?" he wonders.

[getfeldsparred]

“Talk about which thing?” they ask, setting down the half-eaten tin. “There’s a lot to talk about, isn’t there?”

[videointhenoise]

"Baby, I'll take anything at this point," he tells them as he chews on his bottom lip.

[getfeldsparred]

Anything? Anything. They can do that.

“The anglerfish are really big in the Dark Bramble.”

[videointhenoise]

"Lapis mentioned those. But they can't be - tell me what they look like," he says, leaning forward.

[getfeldsparred]

Makes sense that Lapis would encounter the giant anglerfish and it be a footnote and not the whole story. They laugh quietly, proudly, and reach for a jar of water.

“As big as a mountain, Kent, and I’m not exaggerating. They can swallow up a ship three or four at a time and still have room in their maw for more.”

[videointhenoise]

"We have anglerfish on Earth," he laughs softly, his hand on Feldspar's arm for a moment as he settles himself.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar stops themselves from flinching at the touch, but just barely. “Y-yeah, I remember you saying so. They probably weren’t giant though.”

[videointhenoise]

"About the size of my hand," he laughs. "But they're - not aggressive towards people, I don't think? And not huge. How did they live in space like that?"

So many questions.

[getfeldsparred]

“Couldn’t say. I doubt they were actual fish, but the Dark Bramble’s atmosphere wasn’t exactly normal. It was all foggy, and the vines had these nodules that warped time and space.”

[videointhenoise]

Strange, and Kent can't help but be intrigued by it.

That's for later. Or Lapis.

"How did you end up there, Felds?"

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar exhales softly, their shoulders drooping. In the dark, if they squint their eyes, they can almost see the long teeth that surrounded their camp, the little lights sitting in the fog. The campfire crackles, their head spins from hunger.

“I wanted to see how far I could go,” they finally admit. “Our ships had only ever gotten past the ice field, and after riding cyclones I was feeling pretty invincible. I flew inside the center of the Bramble and that’s when I ran into one of the anglerfish. Wasn’t expecting it - definitely not one that big. It chased me down and I crashed.”

[videointhenoise]

Of course they did.

And maybe, once upon a time, Kent would have been angry. If they had come home, Kent would have been furious. But he's not anymore. Time has given him perspective. He touches their arm again.

"Sounds like an adventure," he says and he means it.

[getfeldsparred]

They blink softly as Kent touches their arm. Every time Kent so much as brushed up against them it used to light a fire in their belly, but now they don’t feel anything at all.

“Yeah,” they say with a laugh, eyes completely hollow, “greatest adventure of my life.”