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]

Feldspar leans back on their arms and stares up towards the circling river overhead. Seven long years. Hatchings and deaths and sap wine ceremonies and launches and all that life in between.

“I never thought I’d come back. I think…I must have told you that during one of those loops.”

[videointhenoise]

"It doesn't matter," they assure them. "You're telling me now and that's more important." They nudge him gently with their shoulder. "But you didn't come back. Not really. We all went...somewhere else together."

They let out a breath. "Do you want to see something?"

[getfeldsparred]

Lapis has a point that it’s all uncharted territory - they’ve gotten wise, like their dad But it is still important, because they need Lapis to know why they don’t understand what to do with themselves now that it looks like they might have a future.

It’s not that they didn’t want this, or that they didn’t miss them all so much. It’s all Feldspar being Feldspar.

They look up at Lapis and nod. “Yeah, of course.”

[videointhenoise]

Lapis stands up and waits for them before they start back along the river. "It's a little bit of a walk. Tell me if you need a break."

[getfeldsparred]

They almost protest - they’re Feldspar, they won’t need a break - but the lie dies in their throat before they try it on their own hatchling of all people. “Alright,” they nod, shuffling along after them.

“You must know this place really well.”

An innocent remark, nothing too probing, that tried and true Kent method.

[videointhenoise]

Unfortunately, Lapis has heard it from Kent for a long time. Still, they aren't upset by it. They appreciate it.

"I've been almost everywhere on it. Twenty two minutes at a time," they say softly and the can't help how their gaze falls to the strange device near the broken dam.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar doesn’t need to follow their gaze to know what they’re looking at.

“So you must know a lot about the former inhabitants.”

[videointhenoise]

"Almost nothing!" they say with a laugh. "I - learned what I could. But they have a hidden archive."

[getfeldsparred]

What?

“Not that you can probably answer there, but why would a species need a hidden archive?”

[videointhenoise]

"It's not hidden to them! They all have access to it. Or - had."

They wince a little. "It's complicated. They came here looking for the Eye of the Universe, like the Nomai. But then they found out the truth and - left."

[getfeldsparred]

“And what’s the truth?”

From listening to Lapis and some of the others, they’ve pieced together the Nomai’s story and their search for this signal that was older than the universe itself. Beyond that? Everyone had been silent, including Lapis.

[videointhenoise]

"That to interact with the Eye is the...end of all things," they say softly, brushing a hand across a tree as they pass.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar stops in their tracks - or rather, stumbles over themselves and then stops walking forward. They hurry and grab Lapis’ sleeve, holding them back from taking another step.

“Lapis, stop, stop a minute.” They stare back at them and their too-tired eyes, wondering if their little hatchling had seen The End. “What does that mean exactly? The end of the universe?”

[videointhenoise]

"I don't know," they say as they turn around, hurrying back to help Feldspar sit if they need to. "I mean, I've - been to the sixth location on the quantum moon but - that's not really the same."

[getfeldsparred]

“Lapis, you’re smart. Smarter than me definitely, and maybe even smarter than your dad. What do you think will happen at the eye of the universe? Does the entire universe just end? Is that what these aliens were afraid of?”

[videointhenoise]

"Ready to walk? We're almost there."

Feldspar isn't the only one who can dodge questions.

[getfeldsparred]

For the moment they let this dodging go. They nod and take hold of Lapis’ arm, not needing it but wanting them close.

“Yeah, let’s go.” They’re intensely curious.

[videointhenoise]

They lead the way to the door and uses the lantern to open a hidden door, guiding them inside a large chamber. "This is the other entrance. There's another hanger down the way."

[getfeldsparred]

“Makes sense,” Feldspar mumbles to themselves, “it’s a big, flat circle, there should be an entrance on each side.”

[videointhenoise]

"A big flat circle!" Lapis repeats with a laugh. "I guess."

They lead them through darkened hallways and then into a stuffy room, but there's a light glowing from inside a high cabinet. "This is it."

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar is quite literally lost in the dark for a moment, then slowly they begin to make the connection to this hidden secret and the thing Lapis and Gabbro were discussing all those weeks ago. “What is it?” they ask quietly, needing Lapis to clue them in.

They’ve been through something there’s no other person could possibly understand, but they have to let somebody try.

[videointhenoise]

They take out the warp core and hold it out for Feldspar to see. "A white and a black hole suspended together. It's - an energy source," they explain. "What the Nomai used to power their ships."

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar leans forward to marvel at the sleek piece of Nomai technology. “We use something like that in our little scouts. Is this the power core for their ships? That’s incredible.”

They pause and look up at their hatchling and the glow around their eyes from the warp core. “What was it being used for?”

[videointhenoise]

"This one was what kept the loop going," they say and Feldspar might notice how their hands shake a little. "Gabbro and I did a lot of practice runs where I would grab it but put it right back. It took a lot of times."

[getfeldsparred]

Not all the times must have been successful, which would have made it even worse when they actually removed the core and put an end to the loops. No do-overs. This alien battery was the only thing keeping them alive for decades, and Lapis had to be the one to remove it.

They take the core from their hands and set it back where Lapis had been keeping it, freeing their hatchling’s hands for them to then take and hold.

“You could only practice it for so long before you had to just do it. You must have been terrified.”