Kent Clark (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
videointhenoise) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
openmisc2024-12-13 07:37 pm
videointhenoise) wrote in openmisc2024-12-13 07:37 pm
Kent/Feldspar
"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.
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.
no subject
Slate nods from somewhere behind Hornfels, lying on the floor with two large cables over their head. They look like they’re considering how to reattach them.
“That dam before it broke generated enough backup power to last us a while, but we’ll want to hook everything back up as soon as possible,” they add, a little bolt of electricity passing through the cables and into one of their fingers. They hiss and suck it into their mouth.
“Marl, Tuff, and Gossan have been taking the lead on the construction there,” Hornfels continues to explain. “We’re chopping down a lot of the trees to get it done.”
“What about the ruins?” Feldspar asks, adding to the conversation like they used to once upon a time. “All that debris is just floating around, we’d just need to salvage what we can and dry it out.” Hornfels smiles and they can see Slate’s mouth lift from where they’re laying.
“Unstable.”
It comes from behind them, a practical but warm voice. Feldspar turns to find Gossan, Esker right behind them with some tools in their hand, both of them looking surprised but pleased.
“Yeah, it’s all too old,” Esker nods, and knees down beside Slate to offer them a soldering iron. “It’d be fine for our buildings and ramps, but we can’t rely on it for the dam.”
no subject
Kent listens to the explanation with a smile. This feels right. It feels like home. It feels like everything that he's come to love about Timber Hearth and the inhabitants she carries.
He hums a little and kneels down by Slate, who starts to explain to him, in painstaking detail, the way that the cables are attached. Kent already has a few ideas about how to fix it.
"We need a restart," Kent says after a moment of contemplation. "Just - for a few of the nonessential systems."
no subject
“Feldspar,” Slate snorts, “asking about the chances of things. Never thought I’d live to see the day.”
“Yeah, well,” they say, rubbing at the back of their head, “I’ve got a hatchling’s heart to protect.”
no subject
Kent shakes his head. "They're all separate. But it means that we won't risk electrocution as we try and string the damn things across the river."
He also has to protect Lapis, but he can hear the soft questioning of the other Heartheans around him.