openmisc | Kent/Feldspar

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.

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During the last leg Gossan begins to struggle with the wire. Feldspar can see it from where they’ve remained perched with Riebeck on the top of the canyon - their friend has the last length of wire on their shoulder but it’s snagged on something.

Feldspar signals to Gabbro from across the canyon - maybe they can intercept, except that Gabbro is working on securing their own piece to the top of the canyon. They huff quietly and take a running leap off and towards the river, darting around the canyon and over Gabbro’s head until they’ve caught up with Gossan.

“Felds!”

They really are struggling, the wire slipping from their shoulder and dragging them back towards the cliff face.

“Hey, hold on! You’re tangled.”

“Do you have enough fuel?” Gossan asks, not exactly panicked yet but definitely not calm.

“I’ve got enough, just worry about keeping yourself upright.”

Kent can tell something's wrong because Lapis stops narrating and there's no chatter around them.

And then suddenly Gossan's voice rings out and Kent's grip gets tighter, more worried.

"Lapis, tell me," he says firmly and Lapis relays it to him. "They're - they're low on fuel, but they can manage." They think. They hope.

If they do fall it’ll be right into the water below. Survivable, but not if the wire falls in after them or they hit the rapids up ahead. Still, it wouldn’t be the first time Feldspar’s thrown themselves into some imminent danger, and their strategy has always been to just not think about it and keep doing, which is exactly what they do now. It doesn’t take long until they find the problem either - the wire’s gotten caught on an old branch jutting out from the cliff.

“Hang on, Goss! I’ll get you out!”

Their jetpack starts to spurt and choke, but they’re still able to keep themselves up in the air as they finally pull the wire free.

“Go! Go!” they yell at Gossan, who doesn’t waste a moment and pushes forward with the remaining length of the cable across the river. Feldspar grabs the branch to keep themselves from plummeting when the fuel finally gives out, but thankfully Gabbro is right there to pull them up.

It's over.

Or at least, that part is. Kent leans down to Lapis and shudders out a breath. "Let's go," he tells them and Lapis starts leading the way quickly across, over to where they can get closer to Feldspar. It isn't too much of a trek, but Kent's heart is pounding the whole time.

Feldspar freezes in place until Gossan safely makes it across, Rutile and Hal grabbing hold of both them and the wires. They disappear quickly behind Feldspar’s line of sight, which means they’re connecting the wires to the power source. It’s going to be okay. Their hatchling is going to be okay.

They let themselves relax and settle down to wait for Esker to arrive with more fuel for their packs. It’s a scarce resource these days; at least until they can figure out another way to generate it.

The peace that’s started to overtake the urgency from before is suddenly shattered by the screams of someone in the distance. Feldspar jumps back up and runs to the edge of the cliff, raking their eyes up and down the river until they see a small crowd waving and frantically running along the edge of the water. They’re all yelling, but Feldspar can’t make out who they are exactly. Since all the adults are working on the power supply they guess it has to be the hatchlings and the elders. But why would they be screaming and running? What could possibly have them so upset?

It takes another moment before Feldspar finally sees what has everyone panicked - someone’s in the water! They can’t tell who, they’re being sucked under and then thrown back up by the uneven current of the river, but they’re small.

“Oh stars, it’s one of hatchlings!” Gabbro gasps.

And there are awful rapids up ahead, and loose wires, and - oh no, oh no no no. No one has any fuel left to get them down there in time!

Feldspar doubles back to where they’d climbed up the cliff and jumps down to the branch. They suck their breath in sharply and then leap forward, falling right into the river.

It's Lapis who identifies them. "Galena!" they yell out and rush for the river, leaving Kent behind. Kent curls up a little, his hands in front of him, trying to make himself as small as possible so that he doesn't stand in the way of anyone.

"Mapa, no!" Lapis calls out, but it's too late. Feldspar is in the water and the hatchling is flailing, their movements getting more erratic and less concentrated. They know how to swim, but the rapids and the fear makes it impossible for them to surface for long.

If they can get to the hatchling before the big section of rapids they could probably swim them both to one of the wooden structures still standing after the dam burst. That’s the extent of their plan though, and it leaves them entirely as they plummet and hit the surface of the water hard.

The breath’s knocked out of their lungs, but that isn’t their biggest problem. The jetpack is still strapped to them, buoyant and yanking them backwards as they try to kick against the current. Untangling themselves takes precious seconds away, but when they’re finally free they can move in zigzags from one rock to the next, anticipating the little hatchling’s movement and they’re thrown about by the river.

Finally the hatchling is in slight. It’s the little meek one, the one who was too afraid to follow the others to see them when they first arrived, and all four eyes are wide and panicked as they come up gasping for air. Feldspar waves and splashes, trying to get their attention before they push themselves forward and grab the hatchling by the arm.

“Hey! Hey! Kick your feet! Kick your feet and hold onto me!”

They’ve got to find a safe place to take the hatchling now, who is still very much gasping for air and thrashing in the water.

“Easy, easy,” they tell them, a little less scream-y this time. “Easy, just focus on keeping your head above the water. I’ve got you, we’re okay.”

Galena's panicked and frantic, but they grab onto Feldspar anyway, kicking their little feet as much as they can. They shudder in the water, gasping for air, their little ears drooping from exhaustion.

"I can't," they sob, too busy crying to do anything else.

They believe the hatchling, they’re probably exhausted. They make the executive decision to pull the hatchling close and yank them onto their back. “Hook your hands around my neck and hold on!”

They just need to make it to somewhere safe. They raise their head above the water and then start swimming as hard as they can towards a partially submerged building with a nice, dry roof. After that someone can send a raft - they just need to not die before then.

The hatchling grabs tightly but not enough to choke, sputtering and coughing as they get the water from their lungs.

They kick their feet a little, hoping to help get them to the roof as well. The entire community is already one step ahead, gathering around a dock while Lapis gathers a raft.

Feldspar tries to keep both their heads above the water as they keep pushing forward, their arms and legs screaming from the stress and exertion they’ve avoided for nearly seven years. The adrenaline keeps them going, heart beating in their ears as they finally touch their fingertips to one of the posts of the building. They struggle against the current another moment or two, but finally get both their arms wrapped around the post and haul them both forward.

The hatchling goes onto the roof first and then Feldspar crawls up after them, both panting and coughing.

“Little one, are you okay?” They reach for the hatchling and pat their back softly, the hatchling starting to cry. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Cough out all that water, Pebble.”

They're too busy crying to respond, but they do reach back over and wrap their arms around Feldspar again, though this is most definitely an embrace rather than a lifeline.

Lapis is there with a raft a few moments later, reaching out to hold against the roof. "Mapa!" they demand, shuddering. "What - come on. Let's get them on so we can take them back."

And then Lapis is going to yell.

Feldspar holds the little hatchling in their arms, running their back gently as their own hatchling comes to the rescue with the raft.

Oh, they’re furious. Feldspar grins cheekily as they get to their feet and carefully climb over the roof and on to the raft, the hatchling clinging tightly when it dips into the water before righting itself. “It’s okay, I’m not going to let you go,” they whisper to them. “Not until you’re safe and sound.”

"They've got you," Lapis assures the little one and wraps a blanket around their shoulders. "We're going to take a big tour of the whole place and get you right back to Gneiss. Make sure you don't touch the water, okay?"

But Lapis turns the lamp on and sends them forward.

It’s clear by the look on their face that this hatchling isn’t going near the water for quite some time. Feldspar hugs them close and sits down on the raft for the rest of the ride, Lapis expertly guiding them through the obstacles and rapids.

Lapis happily guides them along the river and then back to the gathering of community members who quickly tie a rope around the raft and attach it to the doc. Lapis gets up and holds out a hand to Feldspar to help them both back onto steady ground.

They take Lapis’ hand and clamber up to the dock where Gneiss and Spinel are waiting to take the little one from them. The other hatchlings are pale with fright, clinging to each other and the adults that had rushed out to see the commotion.

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Kent/Feldspar

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