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

[zunesareawesome]

Peter looks worriedly at Flynn, but hey, at least he's not getting shot at anymore. Or punched. He carefully keeps his distance from Jacob, who's expression hasn't seemed to change at all and really does all this guy do is glare?

"There's some passenger seats in the back," Jake grunts as he pushes on ahead, going back to his original seat in the UFO. "Jones? Jones, come on, let's get this thing started." He makes a mock-loud whisper. "Nice shot, by the way."

[cahooted]

Flynn squeezes his shoulder comfortingly. "Give it a little time. It's gonna be fine."

Probably not for a while but eventually. It had to be. They've been through too much at this point and some point all this hurt just had to stop.

Ezekiel hesitates but eventually emerges from his hiding place, keeping a distance from the back part of the UFO. "Thanks." He looks a bit sullen but gets to work almost immediately, tinkering with some wires to start up the UFO's engine.

[bookbrawler]

Peter doesn't think that they're gonna give him much slack or time on this one, so he sticks close to Flynn.

"...yeah." He tries to offer a smile, at least. He looks over at where Jacob's sliding into the pilot's seat and starting pre-flight checks, and back over to Flynn.

"You know I'm...actually really good at flying alien spaceships, what if maybe I--"

"No." Jacob whirls around, if Flynn's picking up on his emotional state it's a big ol' N O. "I'm flyin' us back home."

Sorry, Jones, his UFO licence is still in effect.

[cahooted]

Flynn winces at the capital N O here and rubs the back of his neck. Yeah, they have some painfully awkward weeks ahead of them.

"Just... get us out of here, Stone."

Meanwhile Ezekiel isn't going to argue because he actually prefers having Jake steer the UFO than having Peter do it. Or having Peter do anything. The raygun is staying at his side and probably will for a long time to come.

Except.

He looks over at Stone. "Just remember to easy it down the hatch at a 45° angle and retract the..."