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]

Jacob's absolutely living it up--maybe because when you have nothing, you'll jump at a scrap of anything. It's been ages since he's done anything like this.

He does a mock salute--did they salute in Star Trek? He couldn't remember. But anyway.

"This is gonna be so cool!" This is all his excitement he's not been able to use in so long, that was exclusively reserved for subs, undiscovered classical art, and being stuck in video games overriding reality.

[luckythief]

Alright, this is fun. Like genuine, dorky fun.

"Bridge to Captain, Bridge to Captain!"

Okay, so they're not anywhere near the Bridge yet and that ship doesn't even have a Bridge, but, technicalities.

"The door is now open." And with a little bow he motions to the hatch that unlocks with a little hydraulic hiss.

[bookbrawler]

He doesn't care either that they're nowhere on the Bridge, this is Actual Fun and he's going to take it.

"Acknowledged." He gives another casual salute, and walks towards the door.

Huh.

"Y'don't think there are like...alien diseases or poisonous gases in there, do you?"

[luckythief]

"No, I think we'll be fine. The Library's security system would have detected that. It has a poison protocol. Really nifty stuff."

And, completely confident in the system, he climbs into the UFO with Stone, taking a look around. "This is wild!"

[bookbrawler]

Well, if you say so. Jacob hasn't ruled it out completely but maybe Flynn would revive them if they passed out.

Or not.

Worries are forgotten as soon as they're inside, and he whistles. His eyes are wide with sheer wonder, and he can't keep the grin off his face.

"Oh man, this is so cool!" He runs over to inspect everything he can, screens, controls, seats, hey, there are little cup holders here--

[luckythief]

Ezekiel is focused more on the technical aspect of things and he immediately gets to work to familiarize himself with the system and powering this baby up.

"Why has it been sitting here all this time? I can't believe we've never taking it out for a spin before!"

He points to one of the chairs and what looks to be the main controls. "Think that's your seat, mate."

[bookbrawler]

"I know, right?" They could have gone on an awesome joyride. Missed opportunities!

Jacob stares at the seat a moment, frowning before he sits in it. He slides down a little, it's a bit too big for him.

"Think this isn't shaped for humans..." he does his best to sit up and tries to grab what looked like a joystick, for hands that were far bigger than his own and...probably three-fingered instead of five.

"Help me find something that looks like the on button..."

[luckythief]

Ezekiel squats down next to the chair, inspecting the rows of screens and buttons. He opens one of the panels and seems to conjure up clamps and a cable out of nowhere, attaching them to the electronics underneath on one side and his smartphone on the other.

It's one of the rare moment where he's quiet and focused for once, typing away and following the rows of numbers and computer commands on the screen.

Eventually his hand comes up to press one seemingly random button with alien writing. The consoles light up.

[bookbrawler]

"You did it! Ha!"

This is incredibly exciting. He grins at Ezekiel, hey, he can give credit where credit is due.

Of course, he doesn't actually know how to fly a UFO, but the alien writing...

"I think we need to decipher this first before we accidentally blow ourselves up," he focuses on the screen, trying to look for anything that can give him a clue to what some of the symbols mean. "It...might possibly be a logographic writing system, possibly an ideographic script. If it was a linear alphabet there would be a lot more of these characters here, but instead there's--" He pokes at the screen a little too forcefully by accident and suddenly the character turns bright red, and the UFO's engines roar to life.

"...whoops."

[luckythief]

Ezekiel smirks at the praise and then kind of tunes out when Stone does his thing, blah blah blah, logographic blah, ideosomething somthing-- but when the red flashes he snaps back to attention, eyes widening in alarm as he jumps to his feet.

"How many times do I have to tell you! Do not touch the electronics, I'm the one who touches the electronics!"

[bookbrawler]

"I didn't mean to actually touch it--okay Mr. I'm-The-One-Who-Touches-The-Electronics, figure it out then!" He throws a hand at the screen as there's a sudden lurch and it feels like--

--the viewscreen in front of them clearly shows them rising several meters in the air.

"...and it's moving."

[luckythief]

"Oh great, sure, now you want me to figure it out! 'Ezekiel, please be a genius and save us from the rapidly accelerating UFO because I can't keep my hands to myself'!"

His fingers are dancing over the screen and buttons. "Okay! Alright, you should-- there, you should be able to steer now!"

[bookbrawler]

"I wouldn't go so far as genius--" Because yes, now was the time for banter and not, y'know, trying to figure out how not to die--

--and suddenly he has control.

"Steering! Steering is happening!"

Not very good steering, at that. He almost crashes into the side wall, nearly careens into the fountain of youth, before figuring out how to actually go up--

"Yes! This is--oh, man, this is so great--" A pause. "How do we get out?"

[luckythief]

"Really? I just got us into the Library, into a spaceship, into the spaceship's controls and you--"

Right. Not crashing horribly.

"Working on it."

"There's actually a hatch in the ceiling." Which he knows because Ezekiel Jones knows every entry point of the Library ever. "I can remote open it with my phone."

As you do.

[bookbrawler]

"Okay, okay, that's pretty clever. I'll give you that. Open it, cause I think this thing's got a mind of it's own!"

It's a grumbled compliment, sorta, as the UFO careens wildly around, nearly smashing into a walkway before rocketing straight towards the ceiling.

[luckythief]

"Thank you."

Ezekiel enters a bunch of commands into his phone and suddenly a part of the ceiling shifts and gives them an opening to fly out into the nightsky. A million stars greet them as they leave Earth's atmosphere much quicker than he expected and then they are just -- in space.

"... Okay, this is amazing."

[bookbrawler]

They're in space.

They're in SPACE.

Sure, he's seen magic do a million impossible things, but this is different. This is something on a different level of impossible, a dream very few people actually get to reach and--

"We're in ACTUAL SPACE!" He can't contain his giddiness, he can't wipe the biggest smile off of his face.

[luckythief]

Ezekiel grins broadly, hitting Jake on the arm because they are in space and the excitement is just too much to contain. For a moment nothing else matters, no Flynn, no magic tattoos, no bleak state of the world. All of that drowns out in the endlessness of the universe before them and then a panel overhead moves and the entire roof becomes one big see-through, opening the view of a million stars overhead.

His jaw goes slack as he cranes his neck, staring up and swats at Stone's shoulder rapidly because ohmygodwillyoulookatthat!!

[bookbrawler]

Jacob grins back because THEY ARE IN SPACE and it really is so--so incredibly awesome. And for a moment everything is wondrous again, the future opens up, and things are possible once more.

He gapes as the panel opens up and just...

...

"Wow." He swats Jones's shoulder back in retaliation, but he doesn't take his eyes off the magnificent vista.

"'Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives,'" he quotes quietly, overcome with awe. "That's Socrates."

[luckythief]

"That's Sogoingoncamera, you mean," Ezekiel shoots back before grabbing his phone and then Stone, pulling him in and taking a selfie of them and the endless sky overhead.

[bookbrawler]

That gets an eye roll, but this is just too cool to be mad at Jones for ruining a solemn moment so he manages to grin on camera.

"Send that to me, man. I mean, when we get signal again." Because y'know, when were they ever gonna get a chance to take a picture in space?

[luckythief]

"You got it."

Ezekiel slaps his back amiably, shoving the phone back into his pocket.

"... You think this thing can do a barrel roll?"

[bookbrawler]

"Well, why don't we find out?"

There's a grin, and he turns the controls, sending the stars into a wild spiral. There's no feeling of acceleration, the artificial gravity--there was artificial gravity this is so cool--was doing its job admirably.

[luckythief]

Okay, this is the coolest thing ever. Ezekiel grabs the backrest of Jake's chair, staring out the window as stars are spiraling by.

"Do it again, do it again!"

[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!"