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]

“Can you feel the carvings, dad?” Lapis asks, sitting down beside him. “They carved everything with these big, geometric patterns. All their buildings and furniture, even their clothes, all these really ornate patterns.”

Feldspar looks over at Lapis with a curious stare. Lapis seems fairly in awe of these aliens.

[videointhenoise]

"Mm, I can," he says, running his fingers along the indents. "I wonder what they mean." Because they do mean something.

"What's their writing system like? You and Hal cracked it yet?" he teases.

[getfeldsparred]

Lapis brightens - a flashback to their younger, more carefree days. “Haven’t had the time yet, but we will.”

Feldspar frowns to themselves. “You and Hal…?” They feel like they’re missing something here.

[videointhenoise]

He reaches over to Feldspar. "Lapis and Hal cracked to Nomai writing system."

[getfeldsparred]

They what?! Feldspar grips onto the rail as the raft ducks around a downed tower, letting out an overjoyed cackle at the news.

“You’re just like your dad!”

[videointhenoise]

He laughs. "They did it all without me," he teases. "And so I didn't have to do a goddamn thing. But Hal and Lapis spent so many nights together..." He elbows them playfully.

[getfeldsparred]

They laugh conspiratorially with him. “I’d always suspected those two were going to date when they got older.”

Lapis looks like they want to throw themselves into the river. “Hal and I are just friends,” they grumble.

[videointhenoise]

Kent grins, sensing weakness. "They were so cute when they were little. Do you remember when we caught them in their fort under the table?"

[getfeldsparred]

“Or remember when we’d hear them giggling all night long because they’d climbed up to the roof to stargaze?”

Feldspar’s laugh becomes softer, more nostalgic. This is what it used to be like.

[videointhenoise]

Lapis sighs. "I'm going to take you both through the rapids," they deadpan.

Kent grins. "You wouldn't do that."

[getfeldsparred]

“All talk,” Feldspar agrees cheekily, though there is that twinkle of mischief behind Lapis’ eyes that says ‘if dad wasn’t here I’d do it’.

The raft sways as they float towards a series of tall canyons - an interesting choice to make on a spaceship, but Feldspar can’t judge. “Hey, there’s wiring up ahead. Still live, so we’ve gotta be careful navigating this part of the river,” Lapis warns.

[videointhenoise]

Kent snorts.

"Have we not turned power off to that area?" he wonders. "Seems like a risk."

[getfeldsparred]

Lapis freezes. “I don’t think we’ve figured out how to turn on and off the power yet,” they say quickly, turning away when they notice that Feldspar is staring at them.

“Some point then,” Feldspar says, redirecting the conversation for the hatchling. “When we get this far out.”

[videointhenoise]

Kent can hear some of the tension in their words and he reaches out for his hatchling's hand, squeezing it once.

"Didn't you say there were theaters here?" he prompts.

[getfeldsparred]

“In every village, yeah,” Lapis says quietly. “There’s all sorts of slide reels, but they burned a lot of them. It’s kind of a long story.”

[videointhenoise]

"You don't have to say it," he assures them. "It's just - strange how certain things transcend universes."

[getfeldsparred]

“I’ll tell you though, one day. When things are maybe a little more settled and it all doesn’t feel so…I dunno. Raw.”

Lapis squeezes Kent’s hand, and hangs on ever tighter as they float through the canyons and down into the wide space that was probably more like a lake before the dam burst. They pass the tall, locked structure and Feldspar stares.

[videointhenoise]

Kent hears the quiet through the lazy little movements and he nudges Feldspar. "What is it?"

[getfeldsparred]

“That tall, chained-up coffin-thing,” Feldspar mumbles softly. “I’ll tell you more later.”

When Lapis isn’t within earshot and they can have a proper parental figure chat.

[videointhenoise]

Kent takes their hand and kisses it.

"So we're almost back to where we started. That was a long trip," he remarks and frowns, doing the math in his head.

[getfeldsparred]

“It’s a big place,” they agree. “Timber Hearth only had the one village.”

“The ship had three,” Lapis says, coming back from wherever they’d gone in their head. “Plus the reservoir. Everything was flooded when the dam burst. The ship detected the sun going supernova and deployed those green solar sails, but moving the ship out of orbit jostled the dam enough that it couldn’t stand the pressure. If we can get the dam back up we’ll reclaim all the lowlands and the islands that flooded.”

As they speak Lapis flashes the light on one of the green orbs, bringing the raft towards the dock.

[videointhenoise]

"So does it mean that they anticipated the sun going supernova?" he wonders. "What sort of safety procedure was that?"

[getfeldsparred]

“The ship was built to automatically anticipate any kind of threat,” Lapis explains.

“A hundred thousand year old autopilot?” Feldspar glances back at Lapis as they drift towards the dock, reaching for the rope slung around a post.

“Built to last,” Lapis mutters.

[videointhenoise]

That's far too long. That's an unfathomably long time to anticipate.

What sort of place was this?

Once they stop, Kent stands up, balancing a bit as he reaches out for someone to take his hand.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar’s thinking is in-step with Kent’s - there’s something amiss with this ship. It looks like it’s meant for living, but judging by the state of the buildings before the dam burst, it looks abandoned.

They take Kent’s hand and guide them both back onto the dock. They feel tired now, their energy flagging after this time spent out in the artificial sun.

“Does that ever dim?” They point towards the large light serving as the sunlight.

Lapis actually quirks their lips in a smile. “Yeah. There’s a full night and day cycle.”