Excerpt 004: Frontier Trail

[rekindledtitan]

TYPE: Personal log

LOCATION: Orbit, Earth

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, One [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [rekindledtitan], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Jesse [notalldead]


ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Jesse; the Rotten; Earth; Multiversal Phenomena; Blaze-37; Revivification; Demeter Effect


It’s funny, Blaze never expected her ship to be a place for more than herself and her Ghost. A sanctuary of sorts, and a fine sturdy little vessel, but a place for little more than work and storage in the end. And yet now she’s showing it to the fourth friend in just a few months. Not even a Guardian… or at least not the kind she’d expected to befriend.

It’s enough to make her a little conscious of how bare and rough it looks; even the padded pilot’s chair is sort of squashed and worn from bearing the metal weight of an armored Exo several years in a row. Nonetheless, it’s the only comfortable place to sit in the small cabin space, and Blaze steers Jesse that way once he’s defrosted enough to stand.

“So everything’s built into the walls,” she explains, gesturing at one apparently-solid surface after another. “Weapon and armor storage on that side, material supplies over there, workbenches and stuff on the port side. I’ll pull down the wash unit if you want to let your coat dry off.”

Comments

[notalldead]

"Coat and all the rest, prolly." He'd done as she suggested regarding soggy clothing, though with a self-conscious glance over towards Ghost. Ghost is male, right? He sounds male. So maybe he knows how weird it could be construed for him to be pulling clothing off in Blaze's presence. Coat, shirt, bandanna, boots and socks were eventually stripped off, though the shirt done with a good deal of hesitation. He's pretty battered underneath it. Pock marks and dark spots speckle his green skin, as well as a ring of sturdy stitches around his left arm, circling the shoulder and looping under his armpit. Blaze might recall him getting that limb yanked off during the demon incursion. Guess that was the fix for it.

The only other outstanding scar on him looks distinctly like a bite mark. Two U-shaped discoloured dents in his skin just above his right hip.

Jesse does his best to not look as awkward as he feels, and feels a bit more secure in that once his hat is plucked up and plopped back onto his head. There. Feeling more like himself already.

"You live here? Or just work? It's real cozy. Not bad at all." The zed looks around with wonder once he's taken the seat as directed, gazing at all the different panels and buttons. He is very, very careful to keep his arms close to himself; last thing they need is his elbow bumping into a button that fires rockets or activates the ejection seat or something.

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze gives Jesse a curious glance-over (or maybe she's still checking he's not hurt, who knows with that expression). She takes note of those scars, even if she doesn't ask about them just yet. For a couple of minutes she's pulling down the wash tent from the ceiling, locking the base into the floor and hanging Jesse's stuff inside to dry.

"We do everything here, if we're not on patrol or back in the Tower." Already cheerful at her friend's recovery, her tone warms at his compliment to her ship. "Sort of a second home. Good place to keep most of our stuff, too. Had to dig her out of a crash site and get her fixed up, but she's held up well."

Unfortunately for Jesse's nerves, Ghost is floating nearby and watching them both thoughtfully, awkward zed and oblivious Exo. At least when he speaks to Jesse it's just to comment, "I'm glad you like it. We rarely have visitors in here."

[notalldead]

"You sleep at all? Either of y'all?" He's just curious now since living makes him think about where to put the bed. Then realizing she might not need one! That'd be kind of handy, but sleep's nice too. Jesse's kind of glad he didn't lose that little shred of human necessity. Even if it's not as necessary as it used to be.

Once he's taken in all of the panels and their many lights, the zed turns his full attention to that expanse of space out there. It doesn't matter how sparse or unremarkable it might seem to the average spacefarer; his expression is one of absolute wonder.

"Dang..."

[rekindledtitan]

"I run a maintenance cycle once in a while. Amounts to the same thing. Ghost's lucky: he never has to sleep. Good to have a safe place to shut down a while." She doesn't have any enthusiasm for that subject, by the sound of it. It wouldn't stick out if she weren't so cheery about everything else.

She stuffs a dry blanket around Jesse's shoulders when she comes back, figuring he'll want a little more padding. Her optics are bright at how delighted he is by the view. Sure, she sees it a lot. But she loves her world and her job, and not enough humans get to see the universe outside their City walls these days.

"So, I'm thinking we take a couple turns around the planet and then cruise out to Luna." She taps at the controls, making the view tilt as the ship noses toward Earth and accelerates out of geostationary orbit. She's not even aware of just how eager she is to show all this to Jesse. "How's that sound to you?"

[notalldead]

"The planet?" When the nose of the ship dips towards it, Jesse gasps as it comes properly into view. He can't help himself from standing to better see it, leaning closer to the glass with his mouth agape. The blanket slides from his shoulders, forgotten in his amazement.

"Izzat-..." He looks swiftly between the view and Blaze, not wanting to take his eyes from it for to long. "Izzat Earth? It is, isn't it?"

[rekindledtitan]

She nods affectionately, just watching his reaction for a minute. "Yeah. Home sweet home."

With some tapping at the controls, she brings them lower. It's hard to see much besides ocean and cloud right now, especially as they're on the night side. But is that the west African coast slipping away beneath them? And the sun casting a brilliant glow along the horizon?

"We'll be coming up on the North American continent in a couple of minutes. Anywhere special you'd like to swing by?"

[notalldead]

It takes him a long time to register that he's even being asked a question. The view, the sliver of land, that sunlight on the horizon, it has Jesse completely transfixed. His jaw hangs slack still and he leans further still until he's nearly got his non-nose pressed to the glass. He doesn't even blink. He doesn't remember to with a view this spectacular.

But the Jesse recalls that Blaze was saying something! "Wh-...North 'Merica? I-...Shoot." The first place he thinks of is Spokane, of course. His home turf for the time being. Seeing it from above would be kinda neat, wouldn't it? What it's like in this world. But then another place pops into his head, from a strange encounter in the Nexus all those months back.

"Y'think y'all can get this here ride to swoop over Alberta? Canada? Calgary, if that's, uh, if that's doable. Or even a place in yer world."

[rekindledtitan]

She's never seen anyone react with so much awe. Granted, how many people has she shown this to for the first time? She was dead on her feet and arguing with Hughes when he came. And she... well. Everything and nothing is wholly new to her.

It's nice, in an unfamiliar way. How often does someone like her get to share something like this?

"Just got to locate it," she says easily. She moves back as Ghost dips in over the controls, trying not to block Jesse's view.

"I'm cross-referencing our geographical database now. Do you know roughly where it... is?" The little bot's brought up a map in one corner display. It is, at least, limited to Canada so apparently they know that one for sure. "...I'm getting quite a few literary and religious references- no, those can't be right..."

[notalldead]

Jesse finally pulls his eyes away from the view of the planet to look over the map that Ghost has kindly provided on the screen. "Uhh, think it's about there?" He taps a green finger against the left side of the country. Hopefully, it's not a touch pad that does something from his contact. Jesse seems to realize that too late and crooks his finger back, pulling a face and glancing at Ghost apologetically. Whoops?

[rekindledtitan]

The display ripples around his finger and makes a 'bloop!' sound, but nothing bad happens aside from leaving a glowing green dot on that spot. Ghost doesn't seem worried, perhaps because he's still in control of the ship's systems. Blaze leans over to take a look.

"I don't think we've been that way before," she comments, transferring the co-ordinates to the navigational controls and setting a course. "Let's fly by and take a look!"

"Right- oh! I think I've found it. We have records of a city in that area... refining the co-ordinates."

"Thanks." Blaze stays near the controls as they bank right and northward. Until they hit atmosphere she only needs some of her attention on the controls, so she glances at Jesse. "You know this city from your Earth?"

[notalldead]

"Yeah. Well...Kinda." He rubs the back of his neck self-consciously, which reminds him he let the blanket fall off of him. He bends down to pick it up and put back around his shoulders as he talks.

"I talked to this slick-lookin' fella in the Nexus once, right? Had all these masks fer some kinda Japanese festival. I tried one out and it gave me this weird-...Made me remember some stuff from when I was livin'. I always just kinda assumed I was from Seattle, y'know? I woke up there. But somethin' made me remember livin' in Calgary once upon a time. Back when I still had a pulse and everythin'. And I just wonder...I dunno, will seein' it mean anything?"

Jesse shrugs and rubs his neck again. "Kinda weird, heh. Sorry."

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze seems to go a little quieter as he explains; perhaps it’s a trick of the eye, from the way those mechanical hands still at the controls, her motor circuits redirected to the task of piloting instead of mimicking organic motions. She shoots a look at Jesse - surprised, frowning – but he might miss it while he’s grabbing his blanket.

“Actually, that sounds interesting,” the Ghost says, first to chip in. Its gaze flicks up to Blaze for just a moment, then back to Jesse, bright and blue. “And we’re happy to help.”

Blaze nods at that. She has to. And she’s not objecting as she lets the ship descend into atmosphere (a jolt and rattle through the hull, quickly damped to a soft rumble). “Well, yeah. Just a heads-up, though, it might look very different from your Earth. It’s been centuries since anyone inhabited this region- anyone human, that is.”

[notalldead]

"Heck, maybe it'll give me an idea of what our earth is gonna be iffen humans go outta style and things get back to nature, y'know?" Assuming that this is a post-societal situation where wildlife still exists and greenery is left to reclaim what it will.

Jesse looks a little startled at the rattle of descent, but settles down when it's clear that's standard by the way neither Ghost or Blaze react to it. The zed eases back down into the pilot's seat, tugging the blanket into place here and there. He's back to watching the view, the look of wonder soon back on his withered features. "I don't even remember what it was like to be in a plane, so this is-...Wow. It's amazin'."

[rekindledtitan]

It’s easier to push unwanted thoughts aside, with Jesse getting so excited right there. Easy to just be glad that he’s happy and let him see what he wants to see. No need to think any further than that. What’re the odds it’ll spark a memory anyhow?

“Only planes I know are on the scrap pile.” Blaze shoots him another look, and this time her gaze seems to soften a bit. So does her voice when she adds, “Glad you’ll get something worth remembering out of this day. Seems fair.”

She swoops them in on a steep arc, to minimize the time spent in low atmosphere. For a while all is dark below, without any city lights or traffic to break the shadow. The ship's somewhere over Ontario and high enough to see Hudson Bay on their right when the sun brightens sharply above them. They’re crossing the day-night line now, chasing the setting sun and gaining every moment. By the time they reach Old Alberta they’re low enough to have a clear view of prairies and tree stands and the odd hint of regular structures flashing by. Blaze slows their flight steadily, compensating for winds at this altitude and bringing up a second feed so they can see the view from under the ship’s nose.

“See, you tap and hold here, it'll change the magnification,” she explains with a quick demonstration. “Zoom right in and out. We can bank round for another pass if you want a second look at anything.” If Jesse’s this happy about a simple fly-by, then she’s –they’re – going to do it right.

And happily, this does look to be a future where nature survives. The small clumps of buildings they can see right now are overgrown with grass and sometimes trees; Blaze has to redirect their path around a flight of geese, and there’s more than a few groups of deer and bison visible down there. Perhaps not as many as one might expect in man’s prolonged absence, but this is definitely their land now.

[notalldead]

He nods at the explanation, already trying it out and smiling without realizing when it does as advertised. A patch of trees is now closer, in higher detail. Another tap and it's zoomed back out again. Neat.

Once they're flying over the requested region, Jesse's gone quiet again, just watching intensely. When there's a glimpse of a deer, though, he points. "Did y'all see that!" They get a zoom in, of course, before they're out of view. And when there's bison? Well, that gets an honest-to-goodness gasp from Jesse, eyes only going wider and leaning closer to the secondary view, looking back and forth between the actual windscreen and it.

"Those're-...! Like in goldarn Dances With Wolves down there! Holy-...!"

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze looks surprised when he gasps, taking another look at the secondary view and the big shaggy mammals roaming around down there. Good time to do a little loop round: they're high enough that the animals don't seem bothered.

"Bison? Don't have those in your time?" she asks, unaware why they might be so remarkable to Jesse. Even if she hasn't run across a lot of big wildlife since she awoke. Apparently Golden Age conservation (and a long period of noninterference) was good enough that they don't remember it was ever necessary. "They're native to this continent, right? Haven't seen 'em elsewhere."

She might love this planet, but there's so much she doesn't know about it any more.

[notalldead]

"Dunno if they're still out there. Might all be gone like the horses are. Ain't never seen one either way. Heck, but they're big. Lookit how big they are! Y'all could ride one if y'all could tame one." Jesse watches the herd animals with downright childlike wonder, his smile big and bright, eyes wide and shining.

"Ain't seen an animal 'scept for cats 'n dogs 'n pigeons for a long time. Not since the sickness came."

[rekindledtitan]

“So it didn’t just hit humans?” That’s saddening. Can’t be good for the ecosystems. Blaze leans against the seat for a couple of minutes while they sweep around, optics flicking between the view and the way Jesse’s face just lit up. “Or is it just the zed that kill them? I don’t know if our enemies bother to hunt animals.”

She checks the sensors, adds offhand: “Better keep moving.” It’s a shame, but the city ruins aren’t far and she wants to fulfill Jesse’s request before the other locals come nosing after them. Can’t fight in the air, short of gaining the height and dropping out of a hatch onto the enemy…

Which might be worth trying, one of these days. She toys with the calculations, makes some rough mental notes.

[notalldead]

"Zed. Zed and overhuntin', prolly. They go nuts and kill anythin' with a pulse. Animals what're slow enough or trust somethin' humanshaped enough didn't do so good." He sits back again, twisting his mouth to one side wistfully. "Main reason I figgur there ain't no more horses out there. Which is somethin' I get bummed out over every now and again. Ain't never gonna get to see one unless I do it in the Nexus or in another goldarn world. Let alone ride one. Animals don't react so good to undead sort, I've found."

[rekindledtitan]

“Huh. Sorry to hear that.” She doesn’t quite share that gut sadness at the loss – she knows horses feature pretty significantly in Old Earth cultures but that’s an intellectual knowledge, and just leaves it as one more thing missing among so many others. Jesse obviously loves them, though. She can feel sorry about that. “Maybe there’re some still running wild? Horses are fast.”

She checks their height as the broken spires of the city become visible ahead, adds, “Kinda hard to think of what it’d be like. Riding another being. We’ve got smart guns, but that’s different.”

[notalldead]

"Bet it's great. Somethin' just neat about it, y'know? It'd be a little like y'all and Ghost, I think. Not that yer ridin' around on him, though that'd be a hoot to see y'try. I mean just havin' this partnership with another livin' thing. Y'all dependin' on one another, havin' this understandin' between y'all, seein' the world together..." He smiles a little at the thought. "It'd be swell. Real swell."

Jesse straightens up some when he spots the same as Blaze; those incoming ruined towers. "That it? Calgary? Or what's left of it anyhow."

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze grunts in sudden understanding. “Put that way, I see what you mean. A companion like that is a fine thing to have.”

“If these co-ordinates are correct, that must be it. Old Calgary.” The Ghost, too, is watching the viewscreens with fascination. Post-Golden Age the city’s towers are taller and sleeker and much more numerous. On the outskirts, they fly past some sort of ancient aerospace port, a couple of chunky transport ships lying abandoned around the main terminal. The stretches of visible highways are lined with dark blots of rusted-out vehicles.

Blaze doesn’t think to comment on that: it’s what she expects to see around a city, and her attention is on getting them safely in to wherever this city kept its heart. To the old old city, where Jesse might recognize some of the weathered buildings and shifted park outlines and overgrown monuments.

“All right, I’m taking us right in. Give me the heads-up if any landmarks look familiar.”

[notalldead]

Jesse is suddenly attentive again, sitting forward in his seat again, craning his neck to see all he can and looking from one catch of the eye to another.

Seeing this place overgrown and abandoned, destroyed in some spots, is...not sad, but it's something along those lines. Haunting? That might be it. Sobering? Though he does take some comfort in seeing that plant life continues to thrive and is hard at work taking back the land.

Everything that looks like a distinctive building, a landmark, an important street, he stares hard at it. Hoping something like a memory or at least a stirring of one will take place in his head. Even if it's not HIS Calgary, it's still Calgary, right? Maybe even just the lay of the land, a particular route, something, will conjure some kind of recognition.

But the further they go and the longer he goes without anything resembling an epiphany or recollection, the more Jesse starts to realize that's just not how these things work. Because that is what he hoped for, wasn't it? Something would spark inside him and he'd suddenly remember who he was and what he did before he died. In whole, not just the vague patches that feel more like he's remembering facts about another person entirely. But nothing. There's nothing. Just a city as dead as he is.

"What happened here anyhow?" he finally asks, determined not to dwell on his disappointment. It was irrational, what he was hoping for.

[rekindledtitan]

Even a slow cruise means they’re sweeping through the city fast, but Blaze cuts their speed as much as she can. Once in a while she glances back at Jesse, optics searching his expression for any sign of recognition. Instead there’s just the dawning of disappointment; she looks back to the viewscreen with mixed feelings. Regret, for her friend. But perhaps also relief.

“Can’t give you a good answer on that. We don’t know much about what happened during the Collapse. Might have been taken by Fallen armies – I know they tore into Earth hard back then. Maybe people had the chance to evacuate first – try to get offworld if they could.”

It’s not a story with much chance for a happy ending, at least not for any one group. She knows what they’d find in there if they landed. Cracked open a shelter or checked the wrong pit. There’s a milder climate here, and plenty of scavengers, but she’s seen how deep the bones are piled in places with less of either.

[notalldead]

"Who're the Fallen? They got somethin' against humans in particular?" The name makes him think of the zed and he sort of hopes that wasn't the case. He hates to think of other worlds facing the same tides of undead he deals with on a daily basis.

"I'm guessin' there ain't no hope of resettlin' this city or any other like it, huh. Somethin' nasty's moved in or left it in such a state that it's a bad idea."

[rekindledtitan]

“The Fallen are pirates. Killers and thieves.” Since they’re aboard ship, it’s easy for the Ghost to pull up a handy pair of reference pictures of the four-armed Devils in their red cloaks. “They fight with every other species they encounter, but they do seem to be focused on humanity. Time and time again they’ve tried to break the City’s defenses.”

“Tried and failed.” Blaze considers the streets below for a moment before she answers Jesse’s other question. “Fallen are just one reason it’s not safe out here. You’re right – the Darkness touches everything outside our walls. That’s why one of our duties as Guardians is to help any refugees we find back to the City. Some of our orders make that their first priority.

“But one day-” and she dismisses the image of the Fallen, wiping it firmly away and tapping at that view of Old Calgary below, “one day when the Darkness is broken, we’re going to reclaim our world. All our worlds. Might take centuries before we have the population and the resources to spread out so far, but we’ll settle places like this again. Even if we have to rebuild from the foundations up.”

Speech aside- she catches movement on the sensors. There’s a red-marked dropship slipping in on their tail, lean and shark-like against the sky. She banks left and swoops behind another tower. “Seen anything you want to go back for? Don’t mean to rush you, but we’re running short on time. And Ghost, show him how to clip on the security harness.”

[notalldead]

Jesse can appreciate the sentiment of resettlement. Someday going back, cleaning and chasing out what's ruined it in the first place and taking back their homes. He nods along with Blaze's words, but the smile he'd been wearing fades when he realizes they might be in trouble.

"Uh, naw. We can skedaddle iffen things are lookin' to git hairy. Wait, security harness?" Are things about to Get Real in here?

[rekindledtitan]

Something flashes on the lower sensor display just before a trio of cannon rounds hit the nearest apartment block, explosively breaking the silence outside. Birds scatter and surge in flight behind them; lucky that the swift little ship is long out of the way before they crowd the air.

Yep, things are about to get a little too real for comfort.

“We can outrun them,” Blaze assures Jesse, her gaze locked on the displays. They bank around to weave between another pair of broken towers, and she spares a hand from the controls to clamp over Jesse’s shoulder briefly. She remembers how light her friend is. The Ghost hastily dips down t point out where the harness straps can be pulled out from the seat. They’re stiff with disuse, but still clip together solid and securely. Who knows if Jesse really needs them, but – dead man or not – he’s had a rough enough ride already today.

When she spots another couple of skiffs dropping out of warp above them, Blaze snorts. “Times like this I really wish this ship was armed. You secured there, Jesse?”

[notalldead]

He appreciates the moment of being held in place, or else he'd have been knocked all around the cockpit for lack of a seatbelt. When Ghost's bobbing catches his eye, Jesse hastily grabs for it and clicks everything in place. At least he thinks he did. It's all clipped in, but things might be mixed up. But hey, who cares, it's secure!

"Kick the tires and light the fires, Blaze!"

[rekindledtitan]

She shoots a look back at him, optics flaring bright golden for a moment, and just maybe one can imagine the grin that might lie behind them. Then her attention’s all ahead, and there’s a happy chuckle from her vocalizer as she fires the drives and brings their nose up hard.

The buildings ahead of them drop from view, their entire field of vision filling with sky and the two lean dark shapes above them. They’re accelerating against gravity, pushing the cabin’s occupants backward as the compensators lag in keeping up with their maneuver. Almost absent-mindedly the Exo reaches up for a handhold, wedging her feet against the chair’s mounting. The ship is rattling around them, prompting Ghost to hover nervously over the controls at Blaze’s side.

The two skiffs they’re aiming to bolt between are already swinging about. Blaze adjusts their course, keeps a steady optic on the screen. The skiffs cross their forward cannons’ fire as they spin, trying to catch the rising jumpship. Too slow. She knows it. Trusts her ship.

They blow between the sluggish dropships, cracking the sky with supersonic velocity. The hull rocks once, twice under cannon rounds. But the engines burn steady, taking them up and out through the clouds.

[notalldead]

Jesse had been sitting forward, ready to see how this rodeo shakes out, but then ends up thumps back against the chair he's strapped into, pushed into it by gravity and the g-force of their ascent. Eyes wide and teeth gritted in a nervous grimace, the zed claps a hand onto his hat, keeping it in place as the rattling picks up.

But the second they whip between those two other ships, Jesse gives an excited whoop, yanking his hat off to wave it. He stomps a few times for good measure too.

"Good NIGHT, Irene! Rustlers ain't got nothin' on yer ride! Ain't got NOTHIN'!"

[rekindledtitan]

“Damn right!” Blaze laughs heartily. Jesse’s turn of phrase may be unfamiliar, but his enthusiasm is infectious and very much mutual.

“We’ve taken some damage,” Ghost notes. The little bot’s managed to keep his position through all their shaking about, but his voice is distinctly relieved. “Still, it’s not every day we get to pull off a risky aerial maneuver like that.”

“Risky, hah. Wasn’t bad though.” Blaze steadies their ascent. They’re breaking out of the cloud layer, the sky darkening above them as they head for orbit. “Good to see what she can do once in a while. You all right there, Jesse?”

[notalldead]

"I'm great!" He's all smiles, the blanket around his shoulders forgotten again as Jesse leans forward once more, resting his hands on the console to grin at his robotic friend. "That was incredible! I done saw space, I saw buffaloes, I saw Calgary, an' we dodged some kinda space pirate or somethin'! Where'd y'all even learn to drive a spaceship?! That just standard around here? Cuz the most complicated thing I ever drove is a stick shift Tacoma."

[rekindledtitan]

As good as it feels to tweak the Fallen any day, it feels even better to see Jesse so happy about it. Blaze chuckles and reaches over to gently tug the blanket over his shoulders before it slips again. Space doesn’t have to be cold if you’ve come properly equipped.

“Figure it’s just standard programming,” she says, brushing over his question with a shrug. “Lucky our ships haven’t changed much in a long time. Ghost keeps me up to date with changes. A Tacoma’s some sort of ground vehicle? I’ve seen plenty of those, just don’t know much about ‘em.”

[notalldead]

He offhandedly grabs the edge of the blanket with one hand, just after Blaze gives him the reminder that that's a thing he should hold onto. Jesse's still plenty jazzed up just about SPACESHIPS.

"Yeah, uh, Tacoma's just a sorta truck. Toyota. S'a company?" It feels weird having to explain standard Earth car models when you think about it too much. "They're pretty swell for goin' through mud n' the like. Four-wheel drive. Ain't got nothin' on a goldarn SPACESHIP though. Man. What's the furthest y'all ever gone in this thing? Does it even got a limit? What's it fueled by?" So many questions!

[rekindledtitan]

“Oh! Yeah, I’ve seen vehicles like that. Sturdy. Probably hold up well so long as someone’s taking care of them.” Would she know what to do with one? She’s not sure. The ship’s a whole lot easier in some regards. She keeps talking while she settles them back in orbit, angling down across Canada and the west coast, out to the Pacific.

“Furthest we’ve been is the asteroid belt out between Mars and Jupiter. One of these days I want to get out past Jupiter and Saturn, see what’s hiding on all those little moons they have. Fuel isn’t a problem – the NLS drive just needs some hydrogen once in a long while and there’s plenty to spare round the gas giants.”

[notalldead]

"It just runs on hydrogen? Ain't no use fer fossil fuels no more? Well, tarnation. That makes sense, at least. Why stick around on the surface of places, dredgin' up sludge when y'all got the whole solar system to look around in and find somethin' better?"

He looks out at stars stretched out in front of them once more, quiet for a moment as he just observes. Takes in the vastness, the silence. "...Y'think there's stuff hidin' out there? I mean, I guess that makes sense; y'all already dealin' with those fellers back there and who knows what else.

"It's just crazy hearin' it. Just knowin' there's somethin' out there. That was a big question back home before things went south: is there any life out there other'n us? But, man. Y'all look at how big it is and it seems so obvious. Of course there is. How couldn't there be?"

[rekindledtitan]

“And people back in the City wonder what it was like the first time humans saw the Traveler,” Blaze notes. She leans comfortably against the wall, her view taking in both Jesse and the screen. “One of those answers that changes where we fit in the universe. Hard to imagine what it’s like from the other side, to tell the truth. Not knowing for sure.”

She thinks on the idea for a moment, and asks, "Which answer were you hoping for? People on your Earth, I mean. If you do find out."

[notalldead]

"Heh. Think the only people who were hopin' there weren't no one but us were folks whose religion didn't make room for it and folks who were afeared we'd get invaded and blown up like in Independence Day. That's another movie I gotta show y'all. You'd prolly get a kick out of it. Humans makin' a stand against some mean ol' rustlers from the stars lookin' to kick their stuffin' in."

He sits back in the chair, drumming his hands on his thighs. "Me? I like the idea of there bein' others out there. Like I said, lookin' at how big it is, it seems dumb to think otherwise. I mean, it's huge. There's all kindsa odds of there bein' another planet that can support life like ours, right? Or life that ain't like ours! Plant people or...or gas people! Heck, I dunno! But it seems silly to think we're solo out here."

[rekindledtitan]

“Sounds like a good story to me,” Blaze chuckles.

“We’ll just have to pick a time to come by and watch it.” Ghost, at least, is conscious of the fact that the only thing standing between them and their friends is the need to pin Blaze down. Maybe weld her down to a chair for a few hours.

“Yeah.” She’s giving Jesse a pleased look. “Whoever your neighbors are, I hope you get to meet them. Hope they’re friendly. Meantime the Nexus kinda gives you a taste of it. Hah, I should show you this bar I know where it’s mostly non-humans all the time. Good place for people-watching.”

[notalldead]

"Non-human bar? What's the credentials? Gotta check yer race at the door? Though I get why some people ain't keen on bein' around the baseline species no more. Heck, some of my own Rotten already feelin' like that and we used to be human."

You know, that reminds him. "Hey, there was that thing awhile back in the Nexus. Somethin' with people gettin' swapped around and in the wrong bodies. Y'all got caught up in it, right? I remember talkin' to y'all but it was Hughes instead. What'd you think o' that? Gettin' to be a livin' breathin' person?"

[rekindledtitan]

"Nobody's checking. Just don't see too many humans in there when I drop by. Maybe they aren't used to being around aliens either. Seems like a lot of people are from worlds that haven't made first contact yet." She sounds a bit less cheerful as she mulls it over, giving Jesse a thoughtful sort of look. It's sad to think of the distance growing between the Rotten and their kindred, although she has a hunch the uninfected humans don't always help that...

"Huh? Oh." She has very mixed feelings, from the sound of it. She's also no longer looking at Jesse. "Wasn't really a whole lot of fun. Not Hughes's fault - he's a sound guy, kept his head better than I did. Didn't mind getting to know him better, it just... messed up my senses pretty badly. And I had no clue how to handle a human body. It's not as easy as I figured."

Perhaps this is why she sounds so awkward. Downright embarrassed, even.

[notalldead]

He listens to Blaze's explanation, his smile fading slightly as she goes on. By the end of it, Jesse is tilting his hat back with a finger and giving a shrug.

"Prolly super weird fer someone who ain't ever been in a body made o' meat, I'd imagine. Havin' all these fluids an' stuff you gotta do to take care of it. And little things we don't even think about, like breathin' or blinkin'! Oh man, and y'all havin' to deal with sleep an', uh...y'know, bathroom stuff. Man, never mind, it was probably five kindsa crazy for y'all. Wish I'd been closer on hand to help y'all through it, honestly."

Jesse rubs a hand along his jaw, feeling the contour of it thoughtfully. "Harrowheart found me out too when he was switched up. He got to be in the body of some livin' fella for a time. Said it was fun, just gettin' to feel warm and have a heartbeat again and was kinda sad I didn't get to experience it again too. But I feel like it woulda just been more sad than anythin'. Knowin' that someone's stuck with bein' in my dead body suddenly. Knowin' that I'd hafta go back to it sometime. Get used to all the fun and vivid sensations of bein' alive again, and then...pfft. Gone."

[rekindledtitan]

She nods a little at the things he describes, though she looks his way quickly when he mentions sleep. He’s right, of course. Hopefully more than he can imagine. (The Ghost, it must be noted, is both keeping silent and watching intently.)

“Shouldn’t whine about it. It wasn’t so bad. Interesting. Would have been better if I could fight, that’s all.” She feels pretty bad that she has so little good to say about the experience – about spending some time in the shoes of her organic friends. She can’t talk about the parts that bothered her most, though, and Blaze is not good at dealing with that kind of thing.

It feels even worse complaining to Jesse about it though. Realizing how many of the things that unsettled her are the ones he misses. Realizing what upset her most was the brief suspicion that some of them were familiar.

“Harrowheart?” she echoes sharply, switching to a more worthwhile train of thought. “Huh. He seemed pretty happy, all right. Didn’t expect that.” She’s quiet for a moment. “How does it feel? Being dead?”

[notalldead]

"Feels numb, mostly. Real numb. You wouldn't think you'd miss feelin' pain, but you do, kinda. Somethin' weird about having a toe just fall offa ya and you didn't even feel it. Didn't even know it were comin' loose. Feels real still too. No pulse. No breathin' unless you do it on purpose. Can't cry, no matter how sad or happy or mad yer feelin'. Just don't happen and it's one of those things that you don't even think about missin' until you can't do it no more.

"And knowin' that yer not-...Yer never gonna age right. Maybe someday all us Rotten'll break down and fall apart and that'll be the end of it. Or maybe we'll just keep goin' and goin' until less natural causes put us down. Seems okay if yer someone like me, already in the prime of my adulthood. But we got kids like little Julie. She ain't ever gonna stop bein' a 10 year old. She ain't ever gonna grow up into a woman and meet someone and get married or have babies or nothin'."

Jesse shifts in his chair, pulling one long leg up to hug an arm around his shin. "An' just knowin' we're somethin'...unnatural? Cuz that's the way it is, the way it's supposed t'be. Things are born, then they live, then they die. And that's just how it goes. And now here's us Rotten and even the zed, somehow outside o' all that. We're outta place, not just among other people, but nature itself! Sometimes if I didn't keep tellin' my people we're just folks with a disease, I dunno what-..."

As if only now realizing he's kind of rambling about grim things, Jesse shakes his head and tries to smile. "Well, at least I know we can hibernate when we get real cold, right? That's somethin' new too."

[rekindledtitan]

It’s not easy to listen to, that’s true. Not entirely easy to understand, either… but perhaps she understands more than she would have a couple weeks earlier. Funny how she ran afoul of nearly all the same physical shifts, they just prefer different directions.

“You don’t seem so out of place to me,” Blaze points out. She lifts her hand to Jesse’s shoulder, offering what comfort she can. It’s not her strong point. “Nature’s not always so clear-cut. Just don’t go crazy with that hibernation trick, all right? Could scare a bot with that.”

[notalldead]

"Heh. Maybe not in the Nexus. But how's things here in yer world? Y'all think people in yer city gonna take that well to a dead man up and walkin' around? Just curious. I mean, if they are, maybe I'll have to visit sometime!

"Also, don't plan on doin' that hibernatin' trick anymore than I gotta. Explains why folks back home are bein' so sleepy, though. Good to know we'll all perk back up once spring rolls back in." Jesse pats the metal hand resting on his shoulder with a friendly smile.

[rekindledtitan]

Oh, she definitely hadn't thought of that. Her optics flare for a second, the Exo thinking that over.

"I don't know. About the City," she admits. "Just meant- stuff like not physically aging. Being outside the life cycle. Not having a body that responds so hard to emotion. It's easier for me to understand than having all those." She shrugs, as if to try and downplay the gulf there.

"...I'm glad you're all right. How's the heating in your settlement?"

[notalldead]

His smile broadens, even it's still a little melancholy. "Yeah. That makes a lotta sense! Hope no one ever gives y'all grief fer that. Yer made the way you were meant to be an' ain't no one should be faultin' you that. Bein' made o' flesh ain't the default no more, not so far as yer world or the Nexus goes. Glad I know that now."

Getting onto the subject of his gang, Jesse shrugs. "Not as good as it could be. We're sealed off real good from all the snow and ice, but...I don't, uh. I don't like fires in the camp. Maybe I should reconsider that? I mean, that's just kinda me. I mean, it hurts us all real bad, but I'm just-...Ehh, or maybe I should just do some heavy liftin' in the Nexus and see about scroungin' up some space heaters." He scratches the back of his head a bit peevishly, that smile gone in a concerned frown.

[rekindledtitan]

“They wouldn’t.” She’s never (yet) met anyone bigoted that way. But what’s natural for her perhaps isn’t so natural to him, hard as that is to swallow. She doesn’t care for this idea that her friend is ‘unnatural’ or wrong somehow, but when he’s stuck in this condition unwillingly, trapped in a shape that isn’t right for him… kinda hard to argue otherwise. She’s had a taste of what that’s like, after all.

Practical problems are easier. Practical problems can be solved. “Thermal packs maybe? I’ll ask the human scouts for ideas. Ghost and I can stop by and check the architecture, see if there’s anything we can help you with there.”

[notalldead]

"Aw heck, but you two have already done so much fer me an' mine! Hah, people are gonna start considerin' you the boss rather'n me if I keep lettin' you come up with all the best ideas." He elbows her lightly, obviously kidding.

"Honestly, I think once this winter's let up, we're gonna pull up stakes and move towards the east. Maybe start workin' up into our version of Canada. Somethin' feels right about goin' there, y'know? Ain't much left fer us in Spokane at this point. Ain't no leads on a cure and we're just sittin' around, holdin' turf and not a whole lot else. No one's even botherin' to try and nab one another's ground anymore. Might as well move on and let the Pig Farmers have it."

[rekindledtitan]

"Guess I shouldn't risk it. Light knows I couldn't do your job!" she chuckles.

His plan, though- it makes sense, risky though it is. Perhaps it says something that her first concern is: "You'll still be able to visit the Nexus? You've got the tech, right?"

[notalldead]

"I been thinkin' about that. Gotta be some way to take it with us or somethin', right? Cuz I'd hate to have to leave that behind. Even thought sometimes about just settlin' the Rotten in the Nexus itself! But then we'd never find a cure, or more like us out there who need a gang to look after 'em."

He sits back in the chair, pulling the blanket around one shoulder, pondering. "I mean, maybe there's somethin' someone can make that lets us make another door to the Nexus when we move? There's folks who talk about bein' able to do shit with portals. That ugly guy with the horn and claw bein' one. Maybe I gotta corner that fella and talk shop with him."

[rekindledtitan]

"Some people also use PINpoint devices to travel between the Nexus and their worlds. They seem to be available from different vendors, but I'm... not sure all of them are equally trustworthy. You should be careful, whatever you do." The Ghost spins, and adds quietly, "We'd both be upset if you got lost."

"Wouldn't be the same without you around," Blaze agrees. "As for Naugus, we met him once. If he's as knowledgeable as he thinks he is, he can probably take care of a portal."

[notalldead]

"Huh! I ain't never thought of that. Just havin' a device rather 'n a door. Though that might be a good plan to deal with someone who can shut off the portal we got now. Wonder if the subway entrance would go away with it? Or maybe I should leave it, in case there's some Rotten who'd rather stay behind in Spokane..."

He laughs, rubbing his forehead. "Shoot! I got a lot to think about over this! Glad there's options, though. And hey, for the record, I'd be pretty sore if I never saw you two ever again either. Yer real true blue pals."

Good place to wrap, unless there's anything else you'd like to play out?

[rekindledtitan]

"Heh." Blaze rubs an antenna, glancing back at the ship monitors. "Just trying to help. I know you'll figure something out though. Get your people somewhere safe and warmer."

She nods at the forward display. "Feel like taking another turn around the planet?"

Good place to end, yes!

[notalldead]

He grins, bright and eager. "Heck yeah, one more run around the barn aughta do me."

Man, the other Rotten are never gonna believe this.