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

[luckythief]

"You know what, Stone? Bite me!"

He's pointing back at him, the horrible experiences slowly catching up to him and taking their toll.

"Because I didn't! I didn't deserve it, I don't deserve it! And you know what?! I did get more flowers than you and saved the universe, too, so there! You and whatever magic is swirling around in that blockhead of yours is probably just compensating that all you did was crashing the UFO!"

[bookbrawler]

"Do you even hear yourself right now? Do you know how crazy you sound!?" Jacob cannot believe that Jones is going this far.

"Apparently, our friendship never meant anything to you! The Library and defending the earth meant nothin'! And I didn't crash, it was just a hard landing!"

[luckythief]

That gets him a humorless (maybe slightly hysterical) laugh.

"Oh, I'm the one who's crazy? Huh! Maybe I am! Maybe having my friend hit me with a hammer and then acting all high and mighty about it made me a little crazy, yeah! And you totally crashed it! Know how I know that? Because I'm the one who's fixing it!"

[bookbrawler]

"Maybe he wouldn't have hit you with a hammer if you didn't betray the whole planet!?" His voice rises an octave with the incredulity of it all.

He throws his hands out. "It wasn't a crash it was a hard landing and hard landings have consequences, yeah, but I didn't crash!"

[luckythief]

"No, maybe you wouldn't have hit me with a hammer if you weren't completely bonkers!"

He stomps over to a place where the metal is torn away, revealing all the cables and conduits underneath.

"This. You see this? This is not a 'hard landing' rip, this is a 'I completely failed to steer back through the hatch and ripped open the entire side on the ceiling and then I crashed' rip!"

[bookbrawler]

"And now he's callin' me bonkers. If there's anyone bonkers here, it's you!" He points an accusing finger.

"That is exactly what a hard-landing rip looks like, and y'know what? It's not like you coulda done any better!?"

[luckythief]

"I could have done so much better!"

He gestures towards the UFO. "Why is it even so long? Did you actually manage to turn it while you crashed? Should have just enabled the auto pilot for you!"

[bookbrawler]

"There is no way you coulda done better than me!"

Look, you may be a traitor to the entire planet but this is really important right now.

"What are you, the NTSB!? This isn't an air crash investigation!"

[luckythief]

The most important.

"It is now! Because I just made it one just now!" So there! "And you know what's going in my final report? That you suck at flying!"

[bookbrawler]

"You can't! You don't have the authorization!" he flings a hand towards the UFO. "That is not even a category! You can't just write on an official government report--you suck at flying!"

[luckythief]

"Too bad, because it's signed, sealed, delivered!"

Deal with it, Stone.

"And I am revoking your UFO license!"

[bookbrawler]

"That's not how it works! And I don't have a UFO license!"

No, he will not deal with it.

"You can't revoke a license I don't have!"

[luckythief]

"You know what? You're right. Congratulations."

And because you're asking for it, really, he snatches a piece of paper and scribbles before shoving it into Stone's hands. It reads

UFO License
Jacob Stone

Did you see that, Jake? Because Ezekiel nimbly snatches it back before he can say anything. He scribbles again, and handing it back.

UFO License
Jacob Stone
R E V O K E D

[bookbrawler]

...

Jacob stares at him.

He looks down, squinting at the paper in his hand, and looks up to stare back at Jones again.

Then he waves the paper wildly, balling it up and throwing it towards his face.

"This isn't an official document!

[luckythief]

"It is now. I officialized it. And invalidated it. Because it is now invalid. For reasons of general suckage!"

Catching the paper, uncrumpling it and adding that reason, there you go.

[bookbrawler]

"Under whose authority!? Yours!?"

He crumples up a sheet of used sandpaper into a ball and throws it at Ezekiel's face.

"Are you the entire state of Oregon now!?"

[luckythief]

"That's right! My authority! My UFO-fixing-authority!"

He ducks the sandpaper, spreading his arms.

"Which exceeds the state of Oregon! It's universal! Your license is now revoked not only in the state of Oregon but in the entire universe!"

[bookbrawler]

"You don't have any UFO-fixing authority!"

He finds the plastic package of sandpaper and starts crumpling up more balls and throwing them, ignoring the fact that he's wasting perfectly good sandpaper.

"What are you, the president of the universe!? Because I completely missed that election!"

[luckythief]

"I so do! Because without me? No UFO-fixing! No UFO-fixing means no UFO-flying, so yeah, I totally have ALL the UFO-fixing authority!"

He starts evading the balls, picking up the occasional one here and there and throwing it back. Making it a point to hit him in the face.

"That's because you don't have a vote!"

[bookbrawler]

"No, you're just the mechanic, not the supervisor!"

A ball bounces off his forehead. He picks it up and flings it back as hard as he can.

"I live in this stupid universe, I get a vote!"

[luckythief]

"Mechanic? Ezekiel Jones is SO much more than just a mere mechanic! You two don't even know what to supervise! You have no idea what to do about this thing!"

He gestures back agitatedly at the UFO and brings up his arm to fend off the ball.

"You need me!"

[bookbrawler]

"This thing? I know more about this thing than you!" He jabs a finger at the UFO. He also does not know more about this thing than him.

He stops mid throw of another ball.

That's right.

"...I do need you." He looks down at the crumpled up sandpaper, and clenches it. "And you let me down."

[luckythief]

I do need you. The way Jake says it makes him freeze up because that... hurts.

And you let me down.

"I didn't!"

He looks away, trying to fight down the sudden storm of emotions threatening to swell up inside. "I... I didn't."

[bookbrawler]

Jake looks so sad for a moment, his brows furrowing. He halfheartedly points at him with one hand, before letting his arm drop.

"...and then you keep doing that."

[luckythief]

It's not fair. This isn't FAIR, not fair, it isn't fair that he's doing these unspeakable things to him and then looks at him like that. Like Ezekiel is the bad guy here. Like he disappointed him.

"Stone, I--" He's at a loss what to say because this isn't an argument that he can win, he knows. Whatever Flynn has done to him, it's like talking to a brick wall when it comes to his alleged treason.

Maybe he did let him down. By not keeping the tattoo immunity secret, by not hitting Flynn harder, by screwing up his attempt to save Jake from his clutches.

His shoulders slump. "I'm sorry."