Stars in your multitudes, scarce to be counted, filling the darkness with order and light.

[tookashirototheknee]

[Matt might be good at the network, but that doesn't mean he has complete control over his thoughts. Sometimes things slip through. But in this case, it's probably for the better.]

Oh, for the love of space peas, that's it!

[He pauses, and then sets out to make slightly more coherent comments. Standing in front of a mirror, at first all people can see is a detailed star chart. Anyone who is familiar with stars from earth would know this isn't exactly a view from Earth, but it's similar.]

So, I totally forgot that I got blessed with visions or hallucinations or something like that, but I had a... something of a star field. I don't know if I was there or in a planetarium or what, but I drew it out.

And then I realized. This is the star field as seen from Mars. I'd be a crap Garrison graduate if I couldn't figure that one out. So, uh, on top of everything else that's going on, we're going to Mars.

I haven't been there myself, but my dad's told me a lot about it, so I can help. I hope.

Comments

[helborn]

We're going to space?!

[Casper sounds positively delighted.]

[truerevelation]

...Man, that's a hell of a thing to catch!

[tookashirototheknee]

Well, technically, we're going to Mars. I don't know if it's the Mars base that I know or something else, but still.

I wonder if there'll be a ship that I could make Shiro hijack.

[tookashirototheknee]

Hey, Dad took me out to show me constellations when I was three. I know my stars.

[truerevelation]

Heh. Nice. But even with that, somethin' like that... Good eye. Seriously. Beats all those spooky visions people get, huh?

[tookashirototheknee]

I'll take a peaceful starfield any day.

At least this time it's something I know. The Mars base isn't too bad.

[truerevelation]

Yeah? What's it look like?

...apart from, uh. Dust and red.

[tookashirototheknee]

Honestly? Dust and red. Mom had to wash Dad's stuff like three times when he came home.

The base itself is pretty standard. White walls, some artificial gravity because Mars is bouncy. Not as bouncy as the moon, but still less gravity.

I wanted to go and see the polar ice caps before we went to Kerberos, but I didn't get the chance. Supposedly they're pretty neat.

No little green men, or metal walking tripods, though. Nothing living as far as we know so far. Maybe a bacteria or two.

[truerevelation]

Eh, I figure we can do better than little green men. Kinda a shame, though...

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

An excellent catch. Along with premonitions of driving cattle...

Do you know the origin of the term "Space Opera?"

[tookashirototheknee]

Yeah. I don't know for certain, but from talking to various other people, I'm pretty sure that Earth's the only habited planet in our solar system.

Other places are fair game. From purple space cats to space elves to... people that look like overgrown centipedes.

[tookashirototheknee]

Oh! Yeah. That's an easy one.

It comes from the term 'soap opera' which is an over-the-top show on television that's basically people dying, people sleeping with each other, and realizing they're someone's long-lost relative.

Space Opera came about when that kind of TV show was set in space. Very episodic, and very... dramatic in its way.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

And a complaint about transposing the plots of "horse operas" - that is to say, westerns - into space, with a thin veneer of advanced technology.

One might suppose a Jaunt to a final frontier town on Mars.

[truerevelation]

Think I've seen a few of the cat guys? They're from your, uh, universe, then? I'd kinda like to know what's out there in the one I'm from... if anything's any different. I mean, you ain't got Hecatites or Gorgons or anything in yours, right?

[vrepit_no]

A small one - we don't want to strand anyone. I'll have to work on my portals and see if we can get one big enough to bring it to liminal without shearing the wings!

[He's also excited ok]

[triggerhappytraitor]

Find the schematics and we can start building our own.

[carbonatedscientist]

Mars?

[Give him a moment, he'll be alright, he'll be alright...]

Where I come from...the Martian civilization was destroyed in some sort of terrible cataclysm. I've seen it. Or at least...footage of it.

[tookashirototheknee]

Ugh. I never did like Westerns.

Hopefully there'll be more space than horse in this opera.

[tookashirototheknee]

Oh...

[Matt's torn between excitement for a new culture and sympathy for the rest of the universe.]

I'm sorry. Hopefully this isn't that universe. Back home for me Mars is just... dusty.

[tookashirototheknee]

Yeah. Thace is around. He's one of the good guys.

We do have a sort-of rock species that lives on a living planet, but they're nothing like Hecatities.

If there wasn't an intergalactic war on, I'd totally take you back and show you things. There are so many fascinating species out there.

Hm. I wonder how you could figure out what's out there back home for you.

[tookashirototheknee]

Oh, hell yes. I'd give anything to get out in space again.

[tookashirototheknee]

Sounds perfect to me. We haven't flown together in long enough.

[triggerhappytraitor]

If we're still ourselves when we wind up there, we should meet up and get this plan in motion. Shiro too. One to borrow while we're there, and plans to build a spare when we're back in Liminal, so you two won't need to hijack anything to go on a space-date.

[carbonatedscientist]

Just...

...if anyone finds any strange boxes, don't open the boxes.

[Though he hasn't been here that long, he figures that with this group, they're doomed in that scenario.]

[rustyhonesty]

Mars is ... a planet? Like Earth?

[Excuse his lack of astrology knowledge.]