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]

“No, you get to just experience everything through my reactions, and that’s it!”

Feldspar grins underneath their helmet and pulls Kent towards the ruins. There’s something like this on Timber Hearth, and Feldspar describes what they see and the parallels to what exists back home - the glowing yellow stripe in a diamond pattern, and the differences in these ruins. There are actual ruins of buildings, and more Nomai circular writing, and what appears to be a tunnel down into the planet.

Feldspar pauses to pick up a few relics to take back with them - a piece of pottery, an odd scroll-like artifact, a few odds and ends that look like Nomai writing utensils and maybe even toys. “Hornfels will love this. Did they tell you about their idea for a museum?”

[videointhenoise]

Kent follows along, marveling at the descriptions. He wishes he could touch and explore and smell and experience. But behind the suit, all he can do is listen.

At least they take some artifacts back. He wants to explore more.

"Yeah," he answers. "They were running some ideas through me. I suggested something about the sun."

[getfeldsparred]

“Yeah? I’m sure ol’ Hornfels was thrilled by the idea,” they laugh. “I like it. Between that and the artifacts and your stories, we’ll have a pretty large museum to build out! Keep you both pretty busy while I’m flying around in space.”

[videointhenoise]

"Bringing back things to put in the museums," he points out, nudging them a little with his elbow. "I want to try and help out with the writing. I'm pretty good with languages. And this - keeps me out of trouble," he smiles.

[getfeldsparred]

“What kind of trouble could a nerd like you possibly get into?” They nudge him back with a grin that can’t be seen and then hold on a little more tightly to Kent as they use their thrusters to gain a little bit of height.

“Isn’t this amazing? I’m going to describe the view to you - and I need you to suspend your disbelief, okay?”

Because there’s a black hole in the center of the planet, and Feldspar needs Kent to know about it without freaking out. They tell him as they bounce around the surface towards the ship, finding the groove left by its not-so-gentle crash into the planet and following it.

Feldspar has a natural knack for storytelling, but in this instance they try to speak as logically and without hyperbole as much as possible.

[videointhenoise]

"Nerd!" he exclaims, but he chuckles about it instead of protesting.

He holds tight to them, but then he starts talking about black holes and suddenly everything seems to drop out from under him.

"Well. That sure is an interesting way to make a planet. I'm not saying it's impossible, but what I know of black holes is - apparently lacking."

That's the polite way of putting it.

[getfeldsparred]

“To be fair, we think it’s a black hole. No one’s observed it up close, just through our telescopes. I don’t know why our solar system is the way it is, but I’m starting to get a stronger sense of appreciation for how weird these outer wilds are.”

They have Kent let go of their elbow and take their hand instead, walking them up and over a few step-like rocks.

“Alright, your ship is up ahead. Like five more paces forward.”

[videointhenoise]

"Very weird," he admits. "But the universe is weird. And strange. And there's so much we don't understand. Even the math doesn't always add up, but..."

He reaches his hands out and takes them around the sphere and inside.

"Ha! Perfect. No one stole it," he laughs, emerging with a briefcase and a backpack.

[getfeldsparred]

“Well, this planet is uninhabited, so I’d hope so,” Feldspar says, leaning against the ship as Kent ducks inside. “Unless Esker’s been sneaking off the lunar outpost and rummaging through other people’s crash sites. Rude, honestly.”

They peer over at the items in Kent’s hands. “Watcha got there?”

[videointhenoise]

"Top secret stuff," he chuckles. "Artifacts from Earth. Now where?"

He holds fast to them, but he's willing to keep going.

[getfeldsparred]

“Artifacts from Earth?” Feldspar stumbles forward after Kent excitedly. “Let’s get those aboard the ship and then we can do a little more exploring? At least until the oxygen tanks are low.”

[videointhenoise]

He smiles. He knew that would draw their attention. "You take them back and meet me back here?"

It will be a little faster, so he takes off the pack and hands him the briefcase and backpack.

[getfeldsparred]

“Yeah, I’ll be right back. Don’t wander off.” They give Kent a little thump on the shoulder with their fist and hurry off with the two parcels, bouncing with a quiet cackle each time they leap.

[videointhenoise]

Kent snickers and leans on his stick, waiting and smiling at the sound of Feldspar's laughing in the distance. But then there's nothing but the wind and the sound of a strange humming that he can't identify.

He turns and starts walking. Surely a few steps won't be too bad.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar refuels their jet pack and pauses long enough in the ship to radio down to Hornfels and give them an update. All well up here, equipment fine - barring the log but they don’t mention that quite yet - and landing smooth. They sign off and they bounce back to where they’d last left Kent, only he’s clearly wandered away.

“Kent, pal,” they say, turning on their direct line. “Can you hear me? You aren’t where I left you.”

[videointhenoise]

"Yeah, I heard something," he says softly. "I got up to...uh...seventy five steps from the ship. Follow the footprints."

If there are any.

"I found a locked door."

[getfeldsparred]

There are some footsteps in the dusting of snow. Kent must have walked up towards the pole.

“What did you hear exactly?” They bounce up after Kent, finally seeing his EVA suit in the distance. There’s a large, domed-structure up ahead, definitely Nomai in origin.

[videointhenoise]

"I dunno," he tells them."sounded a little like a humming, but the closer I got, the more muddled it sounded."

He places a hand against the wall. "What do you think?"

[getfeldsparred]

When they get close enough they can see a door - and whatever mechanic had been used to work it clearly wasn’t working. “Hm, the door’s busted. There might be another way in though. There’s a big dome structure further up the cliff face.”

[videointhenoise]

"Yeah?" He turns back around towards them. "Well, if you want to take me back to the ship so you can explore there, it's alright," he promises them.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar stares at Kent blankly, then outright scoffs in disbelief. “Hearth no, I’m not going to just walk you back to the ship to wait for me! What do you take me for, Kent? You’re an astronaut, like me! Let’s see if we can get in there together.”

[videointhenoise]

He knows that he's only going to slow them down, but he can't bring himself to say it. His shortcomings are his own and he doesn't need to say them.

He knows that Feldspar isn't Ellie.

"If you say so," he says instead, laughing. "Lead the way." And he will take their arm and keep close.

[getfeldsparred]

The pace isn’t a concern for Feldspar - they’re the first beings to explore this planet in over a 100,000 years, they’ve got a little time to savor it.

“Hold on, I want to try to snap a few pictures with my scout. No Hearthian’s been here before, they’re all going to want stories.”

They fiddle with the scout, taking some pictures of the door and the domed building, the jagged landscape and glowing moon. “C’mere, we’ll take one together,” they grin, pulling Kent against them and holding the scout up to try and capture a picture of the two of them.

[videointhenoise]

Kent laughs, leaning against them for the photograph. "I can't believe you have this advanced camera work and satellites," he remarks, but he will follow Feldspar wherever they go.

"It is amazing what happens when a civilization puts an emphasis on science and exploration."

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar turns their helmet at the last minute so their visor bonks softly against Kent’s, like a little kiss to the cheek that they capture on film. They pull back to look at the picture and they chuckle; it’s perfect.

“I wouldn’t know anything else,” they say. “Hearthians struggled to survive since the moment we crawled out of the water, but we always dream. That’s the main thing, I think. We’ve always dreamed big. Stars, look at these pictures! Everyone’s going to lose their minds when they see them. Little Riebeck is going to be so excited.”

They strap their scout to their back again and grab Kent’s hand to bring them towards the ruins. “The Nomai must have loved this place. It’s beautiful, really.”