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]

It's another beautiful day in the solar system. The launch had been earlier that morning, successful despite Slate's decision to install retro-rockets at the last minute. Hornfels had been livid that they'd jeopardize Outer Wilds Venture's first trip to Brittle Hollow with a last minute change in equipment, but Gossan and Feldspar both had talked them down. If the retro-rockets actually worked Feldspar could make great time and save on fuel, though Hornfels still wore a sour look on their face as Slate made the final adjustments to the ship.

But things worked as well as could be expected, and Feldspar was up in the air in good time, past the Attlerock and Esker and on to Brittle Hollow. From what they could see on their telescopes the planet was occasionally pelted by the nearby moon, and there looked like there were caverns under the surface, but little else was known to them. It was exciting stuff, being the first to get to see the planet up close and personal, and Feldspar decided not to clip some of the rocky ledges in favor of an exciting landing so they could explore a little more freely.

They came across what looked like an old Nomai settlement, making note to scavenger a little in there later, and pressed on passed a ship of sorts. Still lit up too, as though the Nomai were still inside of it. Feldspar was intrigued, and as they bounced along the lighter gravity to get a closer look they heard a crash from somewhere behind them. Didn't sound like one of the blobs of fire from Hollow's Lantern, but even if it did Feldspar couldn't resist checking out the crater for themselves.

What they stumbled upon wasn't a piece of Hollow's Lantern at all, but a smoking, spherical ship-looking thing embedded in the planet's surface.

Feldspar blinks slowly from inside their helmet. It looks...new? Where had it come from? Another planet? Maybe it has something to do with the Nomai technology still floating around here and there - Feldspar's pretty sure they've seen a cannon orbiting Giant's Deep.

[getfeldsparred]

“Feldspar! FELDSPAAAAR!”

Feldspar sticks their head over the edge of the launch tower, smiling down to see the gruesome twosome themselves, Lapis and Hal.

“WHAT?”

“Papa wants you home for dinner tonight! He said not to forget!”

Feldspar chuckles and watches as Slate rolls their eyes and continues working on their ship.

“Tell him I won’t forget! I’m sick of hanging out with Slate anyway!”

Hal and Lapis both laugh conspiratorially and scamper away, Feldspar leaning back and promptly getting a smack to the head.

“Hey!”