And the stars look very different today...

[zunesareawesome]

It was a way out. But it wasn't home.

Truthfully, after Norfinbury, anything would be better than that place, but the cold truth was--there was no way to find his own universe out of the endless multiverse, even if Norfinbury's busted technology had worked properly. He was stuck, here, with a megalomaniac Flynn--granted, a Flynn that managed to open up a portal out of there. Maybe that's what it took to get out of Norfinbury.

Or, Peter thought sometimes on bad days, Norfinbury only released you once you became the twisted version of yourself it wanted you to be. A specially-designed virus inflicted on countless worlds.

Besides, he ought to know something about that.

He didn't stay long on earth, he couldn't. Maybe it had something to do with the mystery of how they were revived in Norfinbury, their bodies recreated or cloned or healed, or maybe it was something that was gonna happen to him anyway, but he could feel the Light burning inside him, inside his head almost as soon as he landed. A desperate need to take to the stars. He'd managed to create a ship and took off.

Time passes, and scientists notice something odd about several exoplanets they're monitoring, especially ones marked as 'earth-like' or other planets in zones that could make them potentially habitable. Bright bursts of light and changes in the composition of the atmosphere or surface, it was inexplicable. Possible evidence of intelligent life? If they didn't know any better, especially with the rocky planets that now somehow boasted extreme changes, it was like something was terraforming them.

There was cause for alarm when Mars suddenly turned blue and green a few months later.

Meanwhile, a small blue-and-orange ship that looked suspiciously like a slightly more organic-looking Milano was racing towards the earth.

Comments

[bookbrawler]

"Yeah!" This is beyond exciting, and Jake can't keep the glee off of his face. He grips the controls and sends the UFO into another series of wild spins. "This is way better than any video game!"

[luckythief]

Ezekiel cheers, too engulfed in the moment to even think about arguing video games. Might be a little hard, too, because this is amazing.

Why were they out here again? Whatever.

[bookbrawler]

Seriously, if they could just joyride like this? For a moment, all his worries and Flynn problems and the danger that they're going to? They're just gone. There's nothing but space and Jones and laughter and everything is actually good, for once.

He wants to hold onto this moment a little bit longer. A good memory in a sea of bad ones.

[luckythief]

"Hey, we should try to-- wait, hang on, turn back."

When he catches something out of the corner of his eye he leans forward and grips Stone's shoulder. "Back there, past that nebula, I think I saw someth-- there!"

He points forward, a little to their left. It's a planet but something is off about it, like it's engulfed in lightning and... something else. Like a glowing mass, spreading. Ezekiel leans forward to look over Jake's shoulder, frowning.

"What is that?"

[bookbrawler]

Jake pulls back on the controls to slow the ship down, turning it slightly so they could get a better view. He squints, mostly in disbelief.

"...what is that?" He echoes Jones. "It's like something's growing on it."

[luckythief]

Ezekiel falls silent looking more and more disturbed the closer they get.

"Yeah. And it looks like it's spreading."

[bookbrawler]

"The...the whole planet."

Forests, oceans, deserts, and--

"Oh no, no, there's cities there, Jones!"

[luckythief]

"W-we gotta do something!"

But there's nothing to do. It's spreading too fast, ridiculously fast, and the space in the UFO is already cramped with only the two of them inside. How to save an entire planet? How to even get close with the insane turbulence and thunderstorms that engulf the planet's atmosphere?

A moment later his phone pipes up and glancing down he gets a read of the surface below. Environmental readings. Some physics stuff he doesn't understand (he's glad). And casualties.

So many casualties.

Suddenly feeling nauseous and weak in the knees Ezekiel sinks down next to the pilot chair. "Is that... is that the Quill guy Flynn was telling us about?"

Is that what he's trying to do to Earth?

[bookbrawler]

He nods, agreeing but--but even as he tries to put plans together, even before vocalizing it, it's happening all too fast, and what can they do? Evacuate a whole planet? He slams his fist down on his chair, frozen with the need to do something, anything, but he can't--

--they can't.

He feels sick, an entire world is being destroyed--music and eons of history and art and families and architecture and the little things, favorite recipes and gardens and pets and neighbors and--it's being eaten away, it's all gone, and they can't do a single. Thing.

"I think it is." Jake's voice sounds hollow, rage and sorrow so great it can't be expressed. There's tears in his eyes. "Oh God, Jones..."

[luckythief]

Ezekiel doesn't trust himself to speak when the entire surface of the planet is covered and the numbers on his phone stop moving. It's... too much, all of this is too much, too horrible, and he doesn't find the words. He looks down, briefly rubbing his eyes with his sleeve and stays silent for a very long time.

"The... flowers. It has to be those flowers Flynn was telling us about."

His voice is quiet and rough around the edges, serious and steely, devoid of any of his usual deflecting glibness.

"... If you get us to Quill, I'll get us inside."

There's no follow-up this time. No because I'm awesome, no I'm Ezekiel Jones, no ego. Just the quiet, seething promise that no lock, no security system, nothing is going to keep him from getting them to these flowers and destroying them once and for all. There's nothing they can do for this planet but maybe – maybe they can prevent it from happening ever again.