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]

"Me? I'm good, I'm great. Everything's great. You know, except for the punishment and general horrors of prolonged torture but who's counting?"

He shrugs, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I... tried some new algorhythms the other night. I think I might be able to secure one of the smaller planets."

[zunesareawesome]

"You know you make it sound so much worse than it is? Come on bro, in like a thousand years it won't even matter."

His eyes widen and he sounds almost desperately eager.

"You did? Are--are you sure? Where, which one, which system? We can go there as soon as possible--"

[luckythief]

"Yeah, I guess."

He guesses? Where did that just come from? Ezekiel shakes his head.

"It's, yeah. Yeah, I think that really small one in the Razha'an system?" He types on the tablet. "I don't think we need to go there, if, uh--"

He awkwardly rubs his arm. "I think I could power it? I mean, I think you might be able to power it with me, at least for now. Maybe. It's not much but... but it's one planet we could keep alive."

[zunesareawesome]

"Oh, cool! I remember that one." Sometimes it's hard to remember specific ones, there were just so many?

Peter's suddenly even more eager than before, if that's possible. His eyes are wide, and he's almost tap-dancing like a dog with excitement.

"DUDE. That's amazing! Even just one would be...oh man, that would be so much better. I was gonna teach you another lesson this morning, but that like, ties right into it? I wanna see how much you can do when you're hooked up to the light."

[luckythief]

Another lesson.

Ezekiel feels a by-now-familiar sense of dread and grabs his mug a little tighter. But what Peter proposes takes him by surprise and he looks up at him, expression unsure.

"How much I can do? How... do you mean? I can't move when you hook me up. Like, the whole getting staked and suspended into the air really gets in the way, you know..."

[zunesareawesome]

Peter takes a sip of his coffee and continues excitedly. It's unclear if he's just hyper in general or if the caffeine is actually affecting his avatar.

"Well, how much I can do with you hooked up to the light. I can really feel it boosting my power levels, y'know? How much energy I can take from you. I'm guessing it's unlimited since you're immortal and all...but we'll find out, right?"

[luckythief]

"Right." Ezekiel's voice is quiet even though everything in him wants to scream.

"Do we have to?" he eventually asks after a brief pause. "It's... it really hurts. Like, a lot. Can't we do something else?" Anything else. "I could program you a new video game..."