Atubara
-
Posts
131 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Developer Articles
KSP2 Release Notes
Bug Reports
Posts posted by Atubara
-
-
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7se1Lc0vwwmZDNnOEhJbnFELW8/view?usp=sharing
There are many gods
all of them dead or lost
and I know that they
wont save us today.
Between us and them
there's nothing but crime and sin
and I know
that you never prayed.
-
Who else cried for over an hour after watching the 'Grand Finale' video?
I loved Cassini. I was fine until I saw that video. Stuff like that always makes me tear up.
-
Valentina could only think of how ground control was acting. She and Jebediah had never been behind schedule to contact ground control. They must be freaking out by now.
“Val? Can you hear me?” Jebediah spoke through the low-range comms system, making sure she was still in his line of sight.
“Clearly! Don’t worry. I forgot how big these things were,” She tried to pry open the petals to no avail. Only the central dish was facing upward. She crawled over the petals, tugging her tether cord with her carefully so she wouldn’t snag on anything.
“Can you check where Kerbin is? This one might just be enough to maintain a weak signal,” Valentina pushed herself on the dish to see if she tilt it manually.
“It should in the constellation Polemistis, near Kanopus,” Jebediah estimated the location of Kerbin, rubbing his chin to check over his words. Valentina looked up, taking in the scary emptiness of the celestial sphere. The stars never twinkled like they did on Kerbin. Polemistis was where it should be, conveniently near the zenith. Sure enough, there was a tiny light blue dot near Kanopus. She adjusted the dish, feeling the creaking echoing through the metal she was standing on. She turned to Jebediah, giving him a thumbs up. His smile turned to a grimace as he started to wave his arms and point. The comms must of dropped out. She turned around, seeing a little bright dot in the distance, probably a planetoid. She shrugged and started to crawl back, picking up her tether inch by inch. A little static pop. The comms came back on.
“I know you’re excited about that little dot over there, but you aren’t like that usually,”
“VAL! GIT IN RIGHT NOW!”
“No need to yell, wh-” Valentina was cut off by a small asteroid slamming straight into the hull in front of her. She smacked her lips and started to quickly hop to the entrance so she wouldn’t get hit by one herself. Jebediah had already run off, presumably to the cockpit to check the radar for bigger specimens. A fair sized asteroid violently struck Valentina as she clasped the airlock, severing her tether and knocking her out in the process.
It was cold.
“Val?” She opened her eyes. She felt a lot weaker, and there was a comforting pressure holding her down. She wasn’t in space anymore? She sat up slightly, brushing hair out of her face and rubbing her eyes. An old man smiled to her and offered her breakfast. Without responding, she stood up. The gravity was giving her vertigo.
“Valentina?” She was in a slate blue room that felt homely and warm. She looked down at her hands briefly. They were wrinkled and aged. An unfamiliar ring rested on her left hand. She walked out of the room, confused where she was. The next room was the size of a nice living room, with a patio of sorts leading outside. The house was on a beach. The sand had gone up to around a quarter of the screen upward, as if it were buried. The air became cold as she approached the screen. The man gasped and tugged her back.
“Val, you can’ that! Can’ go out,” Valentina pushed the man off weakly, stumbling for balance as her heavy head weighed her down. She made her way to the screen again, catching herself on the window and looking outside. The sand looked grey and lifeless, the water was an unnatural shade of blue. The sky didn’t look quite right either. Her eyes made their way up in the sky until they hit a large, stunning sliver of bright green. She screamed and fell down, scared of the green thing in the sky.
“Valentina, let’s go back to bed, you’re sick,” The man warmly took her hands.
“W-who are you?! Where am I?!” She started to panic, shaking from the cold metal floor and resisting the man’s help.
“Valentina.., you’re starting to forget me too? It’s me! Jebediah?” Valentina huffed again and pushed his hands away.
“You’re not Jeb! He isn’t old!”
“Val, it’s 2008. We’re both old,” Jebediah dryly chuckled and walked over to the wall to grab a small mirror.
“See?” Valentina stared at the old woman looking back at her. Her hair was light brown and mostly greyed out, her face covered in age. Her hands were shaking from stress.
“Wha..,” She felt that hot feeling in her eyes again. She looked back up at Jebediah kneeling down in front of her. His face came to her. The quivered lip and faded smile in the wrinkles. What happened? So many questions flew through her mind. This wasn't right. She couldn't have just lost decades off of her time again, could she?
“Let’s go to bed, okay?” Jebediah sighed and smiled again at Valentina, who was frozen in shock. She took his hand and let him help her up. He looked outside, making a sarcastic comment to her to lighten the mood.
“I’m tired of lookin’ at Jool everyday,”
(Okay it's finally over! Time to rehaul 'er mhm. I'll let this thread float for a little bit. Tell me what you thought. Drop any criticisms and comments. Even an analysis would be cool. You can PM me if you don't feel comfortable sharing your opinions in the public domain.
Before I continue, should I go for a proper rehaul of this story in a chapter system so i can flesh it out better and make it more cohesive, or should I go for a telling of another part of my canon?
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you guys. Seeing notifications on my dashboard lightens up my day!)
-
---
The pleasant alarm woke up Jebediah. Valentina was already tucking herself under her covers, done with her four-hour shift. He climbed over and strapped her to the bed so she wouldn’t float around in the room. They worked in both four-hour shifts that overlapped for two hours when they both happened to be awake. The onboard lighting system was starting to slow down each day. By the time they reached their destination, they would be fully accustomed to the day/night cycles on Laythe.
The door opened with a light hiss as it always did, letting the fresh aroma of the greenhouse into the resting area. Their bedroom was right under the cockpit and led into the huge atrium of the ship. Jebediah yawned a bit before stretching, freely floating into the open space. The complex piping that wrapped around the ship was durable and served as objects to catch and hang onto. He grabbed the edge of a greenhouse module, opening the hatch to snack on a tomato. The greens really had grown nicely.
Jebediah climbed his way back to the cockpit, loosely buckling himself into the seat. He checked the attitude control and rubbed his eyes before checking in to ground control. It was his job to warm up the satellites and wait for Valentina to wake up before they could contact home. The machinery was acting off, either disregarding a command that was issued or doing something else entirely. He dismissed it as him being tired and typed his command in slowly just in case he didn’t type in correctly beforehand. The engineers back home made the interface a lot simpler than having to type in several lines of code.>open petals
He sat in silence for a moment, inspecting the screen flicker and freeze. He groaned and tapped the screen.
>COMMAND CANNOT BE ISSUED
>INTERNAL MEMORY CORRUPTED
>ᚙ5 ERROR
>ᚙ5 ERROR
>ᚙ5 ERRORJebediah rubbed his eyes, scoffing at the message. He wasn’t familiar with computers, barely understanding the keyboard alone. He scratched the back of his head and remembered the time Linus got so frustrated with teaching him how to type. Jebediah vaguely remembered that the engineers also programmed a ‘hyper-advanced AI’, whatever that meant. Something about being able to answer questions. He cracked his fingers and started to type again.
>what is the error?
>MEMORY OVERLOADED
>INTERNAL MEMORY CORRUPTED
>ᚙ5 ERROR
>ᚙ5 ERROR
>ᚙ5 ERROR
The screen kept scrolling through the error message, and the scrambled characters didn’t look good at all. Valentina understood computers more than he did.She woke up, letting her muscle memory take over her hands to unstrap herself from the bed. She blindly flew around the cabin, grabbing hold of the food cabinet and finally opening her eyes to get out a pouch of caffeinated beans. They weren’t great when dehydrated, but it was the closest thing to coffee she could get. Jebediah unintentionally scared her awake by climbing up to the drawers.
“You gotta check this out, there’s a probl’m with the computer. Won’ let me turn on the satellite,”
Valentina worriedly climbed to the cockpit with Jebediah, unsure what to do without an onboard manual. She turned on the monitor and typed in the prompt that was supposed to activate the array.
“That’s the same thing I got earlier. I did’n do anything to it. It said that its memory overloaded,”
“I don’t understand how the memory could be full already, much less overloaded. It doesn’t save any information..,” Valentina muttered. She grabbed her EVA suit from the console and started to suit herself.
“I’m going out there to see if it’s a problem with the actual satellite. Maybe we could even do it manually,”
“You want me out there too?”
“On second thought, you can stay near the ceiling of the atrium to monitor me. Something like this isn’t worth the risk of harming two suits,” Jebediah nodded to her plan and started making his way to the top.
-
4 minutes ago, Three_Pounds said:
Maybe you should try websites actually focused on art. I think imgur isn't one of them. It's mostly image hosting and memes. Deviantart has a bit of a reputation I know, but if you stick to relevant groups you can get good feedback there.
I had a Tumblr account that I ran for about five+ months and got nowhere, even with reaching out to sci-fi audiences that would appreciate the style and humour I use. I also had an Instagram for around a year, but the same thing happened. It took a lot of effort to make the pages because I did everything through MS Paint (poor, can't afford much else), so I ended up retiring the project since nobody was really caring.
Makes no sense to stress myself over something that wasn't helping my mental state in the first place if nobody's looking into it.
(Edit- I did have a Deviantart account long ago, and I don't think I'd be comfortable going back there again.)
-
I was working on a graphic novel that nobody paid attention to so I quit. I made this drawing as a call-back to those days and it got a -1 so far on Imgur. Maybe I should stop doing things I like and start mindlessly pandering to the general audiences!
-
Unrelated to your loading screen, which I would dismiss as a graphical glitch, how did you get into your current location?
>curiosity intensifies
-
Everything ended rather anticlimactically. The Laythe I completed its burn on the first day of 1982 and continued on its normal course with a small adjustment planned mid-course to be on target with the schedule. Several jobs opened up for people inspired to become scientists. Plans for a similar mission to Duna started coming to fruition. The story isn’t quite over yet.
This entry turned out to be three pages long on Google docs, so the spoiler here is that it's super mega long. It should be just one more entry and that's the end for this entire section.
SpoilerTHE DAILY GRASSLAND
1983, DAY 409 P3a
Retired astronaut Bob Kerman is in legal trouble again for the murder of an infant. Bob places fault on a theoretical therapy method known as ‘rebirthing’. Bob hired a therapist named Chuck Kerbía to carry out the process on a baby that Bob found in an alley near his apartment, leading to the death of the baby.
Currently, an investigation is being carried out to check the liability of the the therapist. Bob’s trial will be held on the first day of the second minth of 1984. Investigators thin-
...
The rest of the paper was too soggy to make out any more words. The rain flushed out the alley’s gunk onto the sidewalk. Linus smirked and shrugged, scooting the paper under the dumpster with his foot. He was only walking through the city to see a rare Minmus transit over the sun. People lined up in crowds near the beach to see the spectacular event. The post-precipitate weather made a rainbow on the horizon under the transit. How pretty. Solar eclipses were much more frequent and stunning than a transit, but the event was still cool anyway. Linus thought back to a time where he seen the transit of Eve in front of the sun with his old solar telescope.
The KSC staff in the tracking station took a break to look at the Minmus transit. The R&D department predicted a short power outage would happen in the afternoon due to a powerful solar flare erupting, so most of the day shift staff were discharged for the day. No electricity meant no work getting done. Linus was the only man left in the tracking spacious tracking station before the electricity outage was supposed to happen. Everyone else was either watching the transit or playing frisbee outside.
The door opened downstairs. Linus looked down from the balcony onto the ground floor, seeing Bob saunter around, as if he were disoriented. Linus grinned a sick smile and twined his fingers together, resting his hands on the fencing. The only light sources were dim computer monitors on the ground floor, flickering in brightness due to the solar flare.Suicide is painless,
Bob looked up blindly, not knowing where the sudden voice came from.
And it brings on many changes,
He looked up towards the balcony, faintly recognising the voice as Linus’,
And I can take or leave it as I please,
before he recognised the song as well. Linus cackled as he made his way down the steps, clapping for Bob.“Good job! I can’t believe I didn’t have to say anything before you screwed yourself again!” Linus laughed again, making Bob step back a little.
“L-linus, I-I-I-”
“Don’t explain yourself, you sicko… Gross, you smell like cheap alcohol and vomit! Drinking is harmful to a person's insides, don't you know?” Linus waved his hands as if to ward away the smell.
“Hu, huhu,” Bob wheezed and sloppily wiped his face with his sleeve, stumbling backward onto a desk.
“Ugh, I don’t know how you got on campus, but you’re too inebriated to have fun making fun of, come on,”
“N-no…! I d-d-don’t want to go!” Bob whined. Linus thought of a way to rose Bob.
“Are you here to see Jebediah die?”
“I w-w-an” Bob laughed and started to fall asleep on the desk he stumbled onto.
“I’m not going to question why you still hate him… I thought you patched that all up but
since you’re now apparently an accomplice to kerbslaughter, you must be a liar as well,” Linus petted Bob’s head, looked at the clock on the wall, and waited a moment for the power to shut down. The room turned completely black, spooking Bob back awake. A lone computer flickered on.“This is the emergency computer, one of the ones connected to the Laythe I. This one’s important because it controls the connection. There’s a specific crypt that I know how to corrupt that will permanently render the satellites on the vessel useless,” Linus turned to Bob, who was almost stirred sober by the haunting consequence.
“O-oh,”
“You’re so cute when you realise how much power I have. It’s like you forget,”
“O-okay, uhh, l-l-listen fer’ a s-second, I uh, i-it’s th-this is a b-bit much,” Bob propped himself up, feeling Linus’ warm hand cradle his own. Linus opened Bob’s palm and traced the lines with his thumb, all while staring at the computer screen.
“There’s no security cameras active, no one watching. It’s now or never, and when the lights come back on, his fate is sealed no matter what you choose to do,” Linus took his hand away, gesturing towards the computer.
“B-bu-”
“But nothing. We both know about your distorted mindset when it comes to this,” Linus winked. Bob dryly gulped and gave his associate a desperate look before nodding.
“So brave, finally picking a clear side,” Linus sarcastically scoffed and typed a code that was four lines long into the terminal. Bob recognised the language of Linus’ code as C++, a new language on the scene. Linus wrote a simple replicator.
“When the power comes back on, this little virus will spread to the Laythe I and overload the memory banks without a sound. It’ll trash the RAM of the onboard computer and nobody will know until it's too late,” Bob stood in shock, feeling his stomach turn itself into a knot. Why would Linus do that, after all the work and fuss?!
“Th-this ain’-” Linus slapped Bob, gripping his collar and shaking him.
“THIS is what you wanted, and THIS is on YOUR hands! I have a solid alibi. You? Not so much. See you in about 20 or 30 years,” Linus threw Bob onto the floor and started to walk off. He ran after Linus, and was met with a metal pipe to the face, knocking him out cold. The lights came back on as Linus was tinkering with a LCD screen all the way in his office, holding it up to the light when the overhead stuttered to life.
Little red and blue flickers reflected in his window. He smiled and hummed to his favourite song as the police sirens skittered to the tracking station.
Eeloo is no goddess...
-
-
Millions of television sets broadcasted the launch live across the world. Countless films, commercials, TV shows, and radio shows would go on to copy the moments of the launch. The two pilots making fun of the senior flight director, the brave and controlled behaviour of the pilots as almost 15 g’s worth of force pressed them into their seats and propelled the craft up and out of the atmosphere, the flawless way everything was executed. Everything was perfect for everyone but one man.Linus had his television set off, his radio dismantled. He skulked within his office, hearing distant cheering from the crowd all the way at the runway. He grabbed the Eve idol and threw it at the mirror, shattering both items.
“You LIED TO ME!!” Linus yelled and collapsed onto the floor, feeling claustrophobic as the room appeared to melt and loom over him.
“Eve..,” He started hyperventilating and reached for the red and white pack on his desk, sloppily bopping his hand around in a search for a lighter. He lit a cigarette and let the rest of the pack spill out onto the floor as he crawled over to the corner to think. Eve said she would stop the screaming and the visions a̦͍̱̖̹ń̟d̲͝ ̞̹s̢͈͎̣̟h̜͚̠e̝̗͟ ̗̼̟̲lì̦̼ḛ̼͚̥d̨̗̜…
Linus’ vision turned pink and then black.
There was a man in a suit, his hair slicked back with grease, glasses slightly askew. He buzzed for a moment to warm up his mouthpiece before sticking it into his trombone, blowing a few fuzzy notes before the lights turned on behind him, lighting up the band. He smiled warmly and approached the edge of the stage.
“Hello and welcome to the Glenn Kerbell Band! We have a wide selection of songs for you tonight and a special guest! Come on out, Artie!” He gestured to the side where another famous band leader walked in with his clarinet.
“Let’s begin the beguine,” Artie slyly muttered, adjusting his reed. Glenn turned around and counted off the band, starting the easy tempo. Linus sat in silence deep in the audience. Here he was witnessing the union of two of his favourite musicians. He looked around, noticing the rest of the chairs were empty. He looked at the stage. No more music, no more band. Linus got up from his seat, walking onto the stage where the band was. A woman in a extravagant dress. She looked like a flapper, her hair cut short and her dress decorated with elaborate rainy designs.
“Your body finally shut down, it needed to rest,” The woman’s voice was ethereal and piercing. Linus grimaced and before he could respond, she continued, stepping behind him and inspecting his lab coat.
“No, you’re not dead. Just asleep. I don’t know what you were so worried about, honestly. I got that house-boat into the sky where you wanted it. Just like I promised,”
“But Eve, the-”
“Do not talk back to me,” Eve hissed and singed the corner of his coat before walking back to his front and facing him. She continued,
“Your soul is only worth three aurei, I can only do so much. In fact, I have done a lot for you. I could stop caring what happens to you at any point!” Eve scoffed and crossed her arms.
“Not like any of this matters to you, this is a just a dream. You aren’t a kerb of Jool. To you and your practical magic, I’m not real. Your magic disproves my existence in the mortal realm. If I really do exist, then you should be grateful. If I don’t, then why are you getting worried?”
The smell of coffee opened Linus’ heavy eyes. He steadied his stiff limbs and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He frowned where his cigarette stained the carpet and burned the side of his lab coat.
“Dear Linus, you missed it! You shouldn’t have stayed up so long, yeah?” Wernher offed a fresh cup of coffee Linus. He reluctantly took the cup and took a sip, feeling the caffeine slog through his veins.
“Was everything okay?”
“Mhm, the craft is going to enter its burn in a few hours. Happy late new year’s!” The old man chuckled and grabbed a party horn, playfully blowing it. Linus sighed and struggled himself up. His mind felt clear. Maybe it was all the stress of the mission giving him the migraines.
“It’s not too late for a celebration yet, I have another bottle of 1945 Yeoja Nunmul in the ground floor’s wine cellar. You have to try it! I know the guy that made it, a lad from Korea-” Linus stopped listening to Wernher ramble on about a story he must have told dozens of times already. He didn’t take to heart what his dream was about and quickly forgot what it was about, not wanting to think about what Eve said.
-
-
Valentina sat in the large cockpit, still taking time to soak in the amazing quality of the interior. The inside was decorated with beautiful greenhouses and artwork. There were life-sized murals of famous works of art with mathematical and scientific symbolism thrown in to look twice as stunning.
Symbolic language was scattered about the interior. An ancient work from Michelangelo Kermanicci from the Renaissance was repurposed to serve as the main art for the atrium of the vessel. Valentina saw more graphical motifs as she passed through the massive atrium, looking at all the bedrooms and complex piping of the greenhouse. There was Jool giving a right triangle to Laythe and Tylo as they stood on the disk of Kerbin. The pilot put her hand one of the annexes of the huge work of art, where an artist imitated the style of den pictures of early kerbals sitting around a fire. Weird to think that kerbals had hands for feet at one point. Valentina looked up and over to the opposite side of the atrium where a mural of the solar system was painted. An arrow arose from Kerbin and went to Jool, following the path the Laythe I would take. She would’ve taken more time to soak in the art, but after peeking at the clock, she realised she need to go immediately.
It was a long climb and walk just to get into the cockpit. The art on the walls may or may not have extended her walk a little bit. No wonder why it was so expensive. They probably did all that just to help encourage creativity among the future colony. Also more incentive not to wreck the whole thing, that might explain the two pilots team. The control panel was streamlined and pleasant to look at, being colour-coded for convenience. There were shiny new cameras mounted on both sides of the interior of the cockpit. She figured that they would be used for relaying the mental state of her and Jebediah back to Kerbin. The plan was to do that every day along with a check on health and vitals. Fun.“Hey Val,” Jebediah tapped her shoulder and unwittingly scared her.
“GODS!! Don’t do that when we’re live,” She laughed it off, wanting to keep her integrity intact in case the cameras were streaming feed already.
“Haha, sorry. Just wanted to yet ya’ know we’re clear for launch in 3 minutes,” He sat down in his seat and adjusted his finicky soft cap before putting on his helmet. Valentina nearly forgot to put on her own, scrambling to slip it on in a timely manner. The sun was setting behind the western mountains, casting its scattered light about and turning the sky a lovely pink. The runway had to be tempered and greatly enlarged to hold up against the Laythe I’s massive weight and size. Excited kerbals ranging from commonwealth families and amateur astronauts crowded safely behind gates surrounding the runway, almost everyone holding some sort of glow stick.
Gene Kerman cleared his throat and readied his microphone, pointing to his assistant, Bobak, to go live.“The crazy guys who built this thing just wanted to let you know that the engines are seriously powerful. Don’t get knocked out! We can’t really afford something like that happening,” Valentina scoffed at the Philly accent ringing through the comms.
“Oh come on, Gene, hasn’t every launch thus far just been a glorified test drive?” She throttled the engines up to 80% and engaged the attitude control. Jebediah laughed hysterically at the delivery of her snarky comment.
“Very funny, just don’t laugh if you wreck that thing beca-”
“Ugh Gene! Stop bein’ a killjoy. You’re not even full-time anymore. Put on Bobak, he’s cool,” Jebediah double checked the steering on the wheels and wings, opening the hatches to the air intakes.
“Bobak present! You guys seem set and we’re ready to launch when you are!” Gene crossed his arms and passive-aggressively took a sip of his coffee as his wife laughed at the pilot’s excursions. Valentina nodded to her partner and he smiled in response.
“We’re ready to light ‘r up. Give us the countdown!”
-
Any suggestions? I might make a graphic novel in the remastering process and I can't decide. Doing kerbals would make the biological/social traits of the characters more believable in the scientific context, but humans would make facial features more recognizable to unfamiliar audiences... I might do kerbals but I don't know at this point.
Side note, I suck at drawing human faces. Everyone has high cheekbones and chiseled faces! That's not realistic!
-
You know, I was having a bad morning and that made my entire day.
-
“Except now I’m the one with the baby,” Jebediah carefully held out the plantborne to Bill to let him inspect it. Valentina sat on her old bed and silently watched the two men talk about the puppy.
“I didn’ know I could be right ‘bout that plant. Looks like my huntin’ days paid off! Lemme see ‘m,” Bill took the baby from Jebediah’s warm jacket, prompting the baby to start whimpering in the relatively cold air.
“Did ya talk t’ Vanessa already?”
“Yeah, she’s been wantin’ another kid and this is much easier. Maybe we can raise ‘m as a dog if it becomes too much of a hassle in our old age,” Bill gently rocked the baby and wrapped it in the sheet from the bed.
“Hey, uh, did ya by chance take care of the little rocks too? Luggage managers got a bit cranky wit' me,” Jebediah croaked, barely managing to get his words out in an attempt to whisper.
“Little rocks?” Bill looked up from the baby to face Jebediah, confused by his wording. He quickly realised what he was referring to.
“O-Oh, yeah! I got them taken care of. Pitch down, yaw west. I gotta get yer’ gear,” Bill winked and chuckled, setting the baby down to fetch Jebediah’s suit. Valentina scratched the back of her head, confused at the code lingo Bill was using.
“Little rocks?”
“Uh, yup’m, just some personal keepsakes,” Jebediah nervously laughed.
“Okay, I guess,” She shook her head and retrieved her helmet.
“See you on the launchpad in 10,” Valentina waved and left the room without a word. Bill gave Jebediah the look of -hey man you gotta let her know- to which he responded with a look of -shut up I’ll get to it dude- and checked the pocket as soon as he slipped the suit on. Sure enough, in the lower left interior pocket, there were two little rings tucked underneath a pair of socks. Jebediah smiled and sucked in his stomach to let Bill zip up his IVA suit.
“Duna give you speed, Ike give you luck,” Bill saluted Jebediah after checking his suit and handing him his helmet.
“Jool give me mead, Eve give me-” Jebediah sang along with the old folk song.
“Those ain’ the words! There's a kid in here! Git on out there b’fore I slap ya, champ!” Bill heartily laughed at his friend’s juvenile attitude.
-
---
1981, Day 405Launch of the Laythe I
---The day of reckoning had finally come. A day to mark the start of the new era of science, discovery, and technology!
The KSC campus was flooded with journalists, religious folk, and eager scientists and everyone else in between. Gene Kerman dusted off the nostalgic vest he wore for the first Mun landing. Gus Kerman and his crew made last-minute checks through the massive vessel to triple check every little screw was in place. Linus Kerman sat unblinking and unmoving at his seat for the convocation. He’d occasionally look down and see his fingers involuntarily twitch. He blinked for a moment and when he opened his eyes the sea of once-empty chairs were filled by a gigantic audience. Convocation had started. Jebediah was at the podium, delivering his final lines as he shuffled slightly in the uniform.
“...while you are at home, wrapped in the comfort of yer’ loved ones, me and Valentina will be alone in a paradise made for hundreds. Our journey will be almost four years long on the way up, and every day until we land on Laythe, we’ll be working hard to make sure everythin’ is on track for you and your families watchin’ at home. Dr. Wernher?”
“To address the protocol for the landing for future reference, the KSC has prepared a set of instructions in case our brave pilots encounter intelligent life on Laythe. They are not allowed to go outside without sterilisation, they are not allowed to interact with the life without direct permission from the ground crew, and they are to recite specific symbols to the life supposing it is intelligent. We know not if Laythe has life on this day, day 405 of year 1981 A.B., but to find life there will be the first instance of life elsewhere than Kerbin.
For the religious, we offer a moment of silence for prayer before concluding this convocation,” Wernher bowed his head and held his hands behind his back in respect. Jebediah ended the moment and adjusted the microphone on the podium.“Just as Laythe gave life to our very species in legend, we must take it upon ourselves as kerb to give life to another world. Duna was promisin’ but Laythe has much more potential,”
“Keep note for the critics out in the audience and at home that there are plans to colonise Duna by the 2000s. Bill Kerman, Elite Kerman and Tom O’Kerman, that’s the crew… Are you out-? Ah! I see Tom jumping out of his seat! I’m as excited as he is. Convocation is over! The staff has put together a party and endless snacks for you to enjoy as we prepare for tonight’s launch! Don’t miss the time, 3 o’clock! Las tres en punto!” Valentina smiled and waved the crowd off, fixing her pants behind the podium after the camera crew left to record the party.
“What are you looking at? These pants are horrible!” Valentina scowled at one of the event managers that looked the wrong way at the wrong time. She straightened herself out and followed one of the scientists to the R&D Department so she could take care of her eggs. Jebediah stayed behind at the guest space and watched the cleaning crew put up the chairs and clean up stray messes. He had about half an hour to screw around before suiting up and boarding the spacecraft. He drove one of the spare shuttle carts towards the inland where the grass started properly growing past the sand. There was something he wanted to check there before he left.
A somewhat large bulb had grown out of the soil and he had seen the shape in a photo some tourists took that ended up in the campus newspaper. The pointed top and the rounded bottom was a dead giveaway that this was no regular plant. He poked the side of the ~30 cm tall plant and felt something squirm inside of it. A pair of tiny hands came out between two of the petals and next a head. The small kerbal looked up at Jebediah with an expression of curiosity and wonder, its heavy head trembling from not being used to being held up. The pilot sat down and touched the creature’s hands, smiling and humming to encourage it to come out.“Cute lil’ guy ain’chya? I don’ know who died and flew over here, but I know people who’ll be nice parents,” He gently petted the baby’s head as it opened up the bud for him.
“Glad I caught ya young. There’s some real bad people out there who do some real wicked stuff. This might hurt for a second,” Jebediah flipped out his army knife and quickly snipped the umbilical cord, watching the plant twitch about frantically. The baby started crying in Jebediah’s shirt, much to his chagrin.
“You won’ even ‘member this lil’ man,” He grumbled to himself and took off his jacket to cradle the baby as he got back into his cart. The drive back to the astronaut complex was slow and he got back with minutes to spare before his schedule demanded he change and board. He was supposed to go back into the old, abandoned part of the complex for security purposes. Good thing the staff fixed the place up to look like how it did decades ago. The pool table and the dart board were still in one piece but the marimba wasn’t so lucky. Bill was in the other room helping Valentina get her space suit on.
“Hey Jeb! Just like Bop VII huh?!” He chuckled and turned her around to make sure there weren’t any zippers, buttons, or straps undone. He stopped and noticed the little creature Jebediah was holding.
-
"...and then Moho rose from the ground in a blaze of fiery glory, leaving the men shrouded in terror and awe. The god stepped upon the grasses of Kerbin, and subsequently everything he touched turned infertile..."
"The mortals screamed and ran away from the fire, scared for their souls being snatched by Moho and given to Eeloo..."
"...His purpose was done in the mortal realm, and thus he sunk back into the ground. His path was burnt and scarred into the ground. He left only badlands in his wake..."
-
Jebediah rolled his eyes and traced the seams of the blanket as Valentina went through the booklet for his parts.
“How much is there?”
“Not much, probably about ten lines total. Enough to make history,” She handed back his booklet to him.
“Just like always,” She winked and yawned, forgetting how tired her body was.
“You should go t’ bed, I’ll look through this, okay?” He rubbed his neck again as he got up. Valentina yawned again and rubbed her eyes before lying down and draping the blanket over herself.
“Be quick, we both need to sleep. It’s really late..,” She trailed off before passing out. Jebediah only hummed to himself as he turned off the overhead and studied the document. He only took a few minutes before taking the spare pillow in the drawer and choosing to sleep on the cold floor. The implicit religious tone of the booklet must have gotten to him.
Vivid, surreal imagery of symbols once long-forgotten to him dripped through his mind. Probably through the remains of his frontal lobe. He ‘woke up’, his environment assuming the look of a ruined stone tomb. He cautiously inspected the new area. He was in a state of unprecedented alertness. Looking down, he had a blanket made from a thick husk.
“General Bop! There are no more animals on the Northern sector!” A man in Spartan attire ran through the hall and stopped at the entrance of Bop’s room to report on the battle. The harrowing voice sprung his attention to its fullest. He stood up, throwing down his blanket and putting on his helmet before running outside. The light of dusk temporarily blinded him as his men surrounded him with stained spears and shields. They bowed before him after they set their weapons down in respect. Bop walked to his nearest soldier and took his sword, holding it up to the waning sunlight to inspect the rust. The infantry was parading in the far horizon, their stark silhouettes decorating the red sky. He lowered the sword and wiped the red off onto his tunic, not taking care for staining his gear.
“Did you spare the female king like I commanded?” Bop turned to his adviser.
“Yes. She waits in the pyramid of Tutunjebahn to the West,” He pointed to the pyramid with the statue of the titular king. Bop scoffed at the statue. The first attack on Eygpt made it slump to the side without any fingers being laid upon it, as if it were preemptively admitting defeat. Four of his rickshaws carried him on a carpet to the great pyramid as the sun set in the distance. The men laid him down, taking care to not dirty the rug in the sand and lit torches for him. Bop stood up and headed inside the dark corridors, only illuminated by four guards with dim torches. After what seemed forever of walking and admiring brief moments of the strange drawings on the walls, he and his guards came across the marble room where the female king had been chained and shaven. She squinted and gasped at the light, shaking in her chains to try to run away.
“Leyh?!” She screamed, with no response from the men.
“Leyh jeri neteki ne jinka?!” The woman screamed again, her jewelry rattling and echoing through the halls with her voice.
“Ne jinem wi’ neh wedtha senib,” Bop stepped forward and calmly responded, taking care to articulate his language correctly. He approached her, gently grabbing her jaw and proceeded to violently shake it loose as she screamed.
“Oh, sorry,” Bop sloppily jammed her jaw bone back into place.
“Put in the records that the female king Vall was weak, like the rest of her kingdom,” Vall started crying, as if she could understand the language of her captors.
“Should we dispose of her now?”
“No! For the gods..! I shall bring her home as a trophy to our victory at the Western Empire!” Bop took a torch and whacked one of his guards with it. He looked back at Vall, her mouth and eyes replaced by waterfalls. He stepped back, noticing the tombs had turned to damp blackness. Vall’s mouth contorted into an abyss, her jaw snapping impossibly backward and spilling out more rancid water. Bop ran in the opposite direction from Vall, being greeted with Moho rising from the dark, spewing smoldering flame and smoke. Bop panicked and tried to run elsewhere before Moho grabbed him.
Jebediah woke up in a blind moment of fear, being immediately comforted by Valentina.
“Looks like we both ended up with an hour of sleep, huh?"
“Y-yeah… I guess..,” Jebediah rubbed the back of his head,trying to recollect his fuzzy dream. Maybe it was for the best to not think about it. That was a scary dream.
“I didn’t have a good night either. I dreamt about some hippie with long hair and glasses yelling about ocean children and universes,” She chuckled and offered a hand to help her friend up.
-
---
Valentina sat alone in her ‘cell’, a replica of a bedroom that was on the Laythe I. For security purposes, she couldn’t leave her room after entering. Tomorrow was too important to botch up. She wondered where Jebediah was, supposing he hadn’t gotten back to the R&D department yet. She kicked off her covers and walked over to the cheaply made desk and ran through her legal papers. The excitement for the big day made her too skittish to sleep.The contracts ran through dark scenarios. If she died off the surface of Kerbin, all of her mortal possessions and savings would be distributed among the staff of the KSC, a la first come first serve. Good thing she didn’t have a house. If she were injured upon return, she’d receive a hefty paycheck and a purple heart. Valentina grinned to herself. If she ‘accidentally’ cracked her femur, that’d be an easy purple heart. It would right next to her Medal of Honour and her Air Force Combat Action medal. What pretentious names, she thought. She picked up the fresh, new blue jacket for the mission tomorrow. It looked like the one for the Eve mission all those years ago…
She slipped it on, feeling the soft leather warm up her arms and back. Wonder how many cows had to be skinned for it? She shuddered for a second and chastised herself.
“This is skin, alright,” It was part of the mission uniform, though. White short-sleeved shirt, black pants, white socks and the jacket. The astronaut suit would make the whole ensemble feel super uncomfortable. She could feel the pants inevitably chafing. Gross. Both shoulders had the mission patch on them, an embroidery of perpetual Joolrise over the shores of Laythe with bold white lettering ‘LAYTHE I’. The landing site was chosen so that the station would be near the shoreline and Jool would be near the horizon, with the viewing deck facing towards Jool. Every little parameter was planned out, like always. Valentina shook her head. She had no clue how the Laythe I would take off in the first place. It was too heavy according to her knowledge.
Her mind felt scattered. The prospect of tomorrow was too exciting. Jebediah exasperatedly walked through the door, snapping out of his exhaustion when he heard it lock behind him. Valentina turned and lost her train of thought. Not like she had a cohesive mindset to begin with.
“Don’t worry, the lock is just for security. I thought you were in another room?”
“I couldn’ find it. I just came in the first room I saw,” Jebediah hoarsely responded, feeling his throat still sore. He rubbed his neck as Valentina examined his demeanour.
“Were you yelling? Your voice-”
“I came ‘cross an old err, old friend. Primal scream therapy, Val,”
“Was it Bob?” Valentina felt her words shyly squeak out, nervous in asking. Jebediah simply nodded his head, not wanting to stress his larynx any more than it already was. He slumped over onto the bed, groaning. She didn’t want to provoke any malignant feelings by asking more questions. She sat next to him and swiped a finger through his combover, feeling his arm wrap around her waist.
“Jeb you shouldn’t do that… there could be cameras in here,”
“I know there ain’ any in ‘ere. They only have those in the active centres,” He cleared his throat and spoke softly.
“You think we could you know? Cuddle? It’ll be years before we have a chance like this again-”
“I wouldn’ risk it with the guys here,”
“Oh… mhm,” Valentina cleared her throat and kicked her feet. That was a little awkward.
“Yer’ due tomorrow?” He took a swig from her water bottle. She only nodded and blushed in response. She only got like that on that special day. Jebediah slung his sandy bag off of his shoulder and set it on the floor.
“We should rehearse the speeches fer’ tomorrow,” He handed her a little booklet for the convocation set the next morning.
“I already have mine memorised. Did you even look at it, Jeb?!”
“I’m an astronaut, not an actor,” He thumbed through the first few pages, skimming through the boring text.
“Huh, well don’t act like you weren’t in those movies in the 70s!” Valentina waved her finger at him. He flinched and nervously laughed from surprise. She wasn’t supposed to know about those ‘movies’.
“That's completely unrelated to the task at hand.”“Sure,” She scoffed and snagged his booklet to start highlighting his parts. Oestrogen spikes made her cranky. Jebediah shifted down into the bed, hands in pockets. There goes the proposal. He'd have to see when to try tomorrow.
-
“I honestly don’t know why!” Jebediah deeply inhaled and exhaled, trying to regain his cool.
“Y-you’re perfect! I can’t even com-compete with you!”
“You shouldn’t be jealous, Bob..,” Jebediah took another deep breath. He closed his eyes for a split second and was smacked across the face with Bob’s weak fist.
“Fff-” Jebediah bit his lip as he blindly tackled Bob to the ground, raising his fist in an attempt to scare Bob.
“YOU DO NOT HIT ME!”
“BEAT ME LIKE DAD BEAT YOU!”
“I-I… I-” Jebediah dryly gulped and realised his position. His fist waned as he looked at Bob sprawled out on the sand, his other hand curled tightly around Bob’s collar.
“COME ON!” Jebediah felt his hands turn to noodles as Bob yelled at him.
“Bob, this ain’ right..,”
“Y-YOU AIN’ RIGHT! YOU DESERVED TO GET BEATIN’S!”
“I’m not goin’ to do this, Bob,”
“Why NOT?! DON’ I DESERVE T’-”
“Shut up, Bob,” Jebediah sighed again, feeling his fuse shorten again.
“Beat me up,” Bob whined and watched Jebediah get up and start to walk away.
“I SAID BEAT ME UP!!” Bob screamed started crying, unable to handle the situation by himself. He pounded his fists in the sand, dirtying his clothes. Jebediah looked back and felt his heart break at Bob losing it in the wet sand.
“B-b-be--beat me up..,” Bob ended his tantrum and collapsed, sprawled out on his stomach. Jebediah reluctantly walked back to his brother, lifting Bob’s head up.
“Stop sobbin’ ya baby,”
“W-w-why can’t I be called legendary and cool a-and-”
“If you weren’ so selfish you’d see that you got to do what almost nobody did and yet yer’ still unsatisfied. Yer’ not liked by the public ‘cause yer’ selfish, Bob,”
“S-s-selfish..,”
“It’s turned you rotten, Bob. Stop cryin’ and get a life,”
“M-maybe if you didn’t kill Mary, I w-wouldn’t exist-”
“Yer’ just like dad. I'm not fallin' for yer' proddin', ”
“H-h-hated that o-old man,”
“Yer’ no better than ‘im,” Jebediah spat back. He decided he finally had enough and again started walking back to the KSC. Bob balanced his weight on his elbows and looked up.
“I didn’ ask t’ be born, Jeb!”
“Neither did I, but look where we are!” Jebediah responded as he walked, not taking the time to face his forlorn brother.
“Dad hated you! Killer!” Jebediah stopped in his tracks, refraining from exploding again. He turned one last time to Bob and murmured,
“I didn’ know, Bob! Remember when we were seven and dad came back from ‘work’?! Do you remember Bob?! I REMEMBER BECAUSE THAT MAN BEAT ME WITHIN AN INCH OF MY LIFE EVERY DAY UNTIL WE WERE YOUNG ADULTS!! REMEMBER WHEN HE SAID THOSE WORDS?” Jebediah was shaking, taken aback from his trauma. Bob sat upright and scooted back, scared of his brother’s impending fury. His head throbbed madly from his heart racing.
“THIS! THIS AIN’ YER’ MOM! THIS AIN’ YER’ BROTHER! THESE AIN’ YER’ CLOTHES ‘N FOOD!” Jebediah kicked the sand up in clods, becoming more angry.
“YER’ A KILLER, JEBEDIAH! YOU KILLED MY GIRLFRIEND! YOU KILLED ‘R BY BEING BORN! I’M FEELIN’ RIGHT MAD ‘N I’M GOIN’NA WRANGLE YER’ NECK!” Bob started sobbing again, his red eyes not being able to handle much more abuse. Jebediah’s tearing voice rattled violently against the sharp edges of the cave, scaring the wildlife. His scream was noticeably stretching his vocal cords, but it was almost completely accurate to how their dad screamed that day. Bob remembered that day vividly, crying in his mom’s arm as she held ice to her face and his dad screaming in the kitchen at Jebediah. The screaming turned to noises of furniture slamming against the wall and then more screaming.
Bob tightly hugged his shaking brother, feeling a pair of arms wrap around him as well.
“We need to go home and sleep, Bob. We- we can’t talk about this again,”
“Y-yeah… I-I’m so s-sorry, Jeb,”
-
---
Jebediah was sitting in his lonesome, running his fingers through his hair as he soaked in the dim munlight. He chose to sit on a sediment bank away from the cliff rising out of the cave. He dipped his feet in the warm water, knocking around little spiraled objects in the water. R&D said those were ancient fossils of some sort. He picked up one of the fossils and held it up to the Mun, admiring the rainbow inflections bouncing around in it before stuffing it in his shirt pocket. There were some crabs on a nearby bank. A male was guarding the den that was dug into the soft cliff. Two females seemed to pop in and out of the den, making sure there weren’t other creatures. Jebediah was in the dark, so he couldn’t be seen by the group.
A third female came out, handed her baby to one of the other females, and started to look around for food. Jebediah silently reached into his pocket for a granola bar. He wasn’t hungry, and the crabs might appreciate it better than he would. He stood up and calmly walked out into the light to not alert the male. The forager must have been already acquainted with people, since she casually walked up to Jebediah to accept food. He held out his arm, letting her sniff the bar. She curiously felt the wrapping, knowing food was underneath. He smiled and took the bar back, showing how to peel the wrapper off. The alpha looked on anxiously, smelling the testosterone around one of his women. The female happily ran back to her den with the food, giving a piece to the alpha. He sniffed more in Jebediah’s direction before deciding he was no threat to his family and headed back inside.
Jebediah dug his toes into the warm sediment again, feeling more little fossils under his feet. He appreciated the way the sand banks and stalactites poked out of the water as well as the cliffside decorated with bioluminescent algae glowed. If it weren’t for the 60s spoiling his views of the topic, he’d probably use this place to meditate. Nearly untouched by pollution and subsequently man, this was a perf-
The smell of smoke came across the cavern. Tobacco.
“Who’s over there?” Jebediah kept his voice down to not startle the wildlife. The last thing he needed right now was an angry alpha chasing after him. Quiet tumbles of footsteps echoed through the cave grew louder as the smoker approached.
“This is an unofficial conservation area, can you put yer’ smoke out, please?”
“I smoke if I wan’ to!” Bob gruffly spoke out in response. Jebediah lost his train of thought for a second as he sifted through all the responses he thought of. Bob really did come back to talk. Bob came around the corner, looking as beat up as ever. His clothes were shabby and he looked like he was 50 already. Jebediah forced a smile and sat down on the nearest sand bank, patting the spot next to him.
“Well, er.., hi! Bob..,”
“Don’ you-you hi Bob me!”
“Calm down, wouldya? There’s a few dens in the cave and you yellin’ ain’ makin’ the guys happy,”
“You’dn’t’ve cared either!”
“Bob, just sit down right proper, come on now,” Jebediah kept his best poker face and kicked his feet in the water to indulge his brother.
“Whatcha wearin’ that blazer fer’? Out fer’ a date?” Jebediah winked and chuckled as Bob sat down in mental defeat.
“W-w-what yer’ wearin’ that sh-shirt 'n jeans fer’?” Bob tried to act as if his question was poking back at Jebediah’s snarky tone.
“I’m comfortable, Bob. Gonna git some good rest fer’ t’morrow,”
“O-oh yeah t-t-tomorrow sounds j-just WONDERFUL!” Bob spat with a bitter hiss, putting out his cigarette by rubbing the lit end into the sand. Jebediah nervously laughed, quickly digressing and rubbing the back of his head.
“Er, yeah-”
“Shut up, Jeb!”
“Bob, can you stop doin’ that? Can’ ya act with a lil’ respect?”
“No! Yer’ just perfect ain’ ya?!”
“For Gilly’s sake, Bob-” Jebediah closed his eyes and messaged his forehead, facing down at the water.
“I-I-I HOPE Y-Y-YOU-”
“You hope I what?” Jebediah calmly interrupted his brother.
“I hope you die on Laythe,” Bob murmured. Jebediah stood up and sighed, running his fingers through his combover and digging his hands into his pockets. He turned around to face Bob again, feeling only disappointment.
“You know, I don’t know why you hate me. I have never done anything to attack you and yer’ still takin’ every chance to be a prig!” Jebediah couldn't control his calm demeanour anymore.
-
“Let’s be honest here, Bob. The next time that you’ll see Jebediah will be around 2001. That’s if everything goes to plan. Be a shame if something were to happen and you never saw him again, hmm?” Linus darkly smiled and saw Bob’s fists clench.
“Go give him a piece of your mind, Bob. What would you do and never saw him again and never got to tell him what you really think?” Bob’s heart was racing as he felt angry urges seep into his mind.
“Your id wants to be set free, let’s go and talk to Jebediah,” Linus petted Bob’s head and lit another cigarette, kindly offering another for Bob. Bob could barely hold the cigarette from his hands shaking. On the five-minute drive back to the KSC, Linus indulged his companion more.
“Wouldn’t you like to take your seat back, Bob? You want to be with Valentina, don’t you? What if those rumours are true and they’ve been together all along? Jebediah could fall out of the picture at any time…and you can finally have her,”
“NO! No…! Women don’ work like that. I-I-I c-can’-”
“For crying out loud! Women are property. They’ve been property since long before we were-”
“Valentina ain’ an object! N-nobody's an object!”
"Not anymore, unfortunately. Just wait until those hippies come back and start arguing that those naked creatures running around in the sewers and alleys are people, too. What a world!" Linus smacked his lips, chewing the butt of his cigarette.
"Women aren't animals!"
“Don’t lie to me about your cute beliefs. I’ve seen your little blue psychotherapy journal. I know what you dream about, Bob. I know what you want, Bob. You’re a petty, sick freak, and tonight, there are no rules for-"
“I’m NOT THE SICK ONE! J-JUST LET ME OUT HERE I C-CAN’T BRING MYSELF TO DO THIS!” Bob started hyperventilating and rattling the door handle to no avail, turning back to Linus who showed no signs of caring. Bob started crying again, feeling his ability to control himself wade. That rumour couldn't have been true. Jebediah was a bachelor, a heartbreaker. He wasn't made for relationships, and he didn't deserve her! Bob uncomfortably tapped his leg in his seat, his hands clasping each other.
“No need to yell, you animal. You’re trapped in a god complex but you’re only an animal. Animal,” Linus calmly responded and waggled his finger.
“Animal..,” Bob whimpered back in response, not being able to feel the proper way to react.
“Yes, you’re an animal. What do you want to do?”
“I want to talk to Jebediah and confess to Valentina,”
“Good boy! And that’s what you’ll say to the police,”
“A-a-and that’s what I’ll s-say to th’ police,” Bob dryly croaked, twiddling his thumbs. If he played along with Linus’ sick game, he could get his pills back and be let out and go to sleep. He couldn't hurt Jebediah, and after this whole Laythe I ordeal is done, he'd report Linus. If anyone would listen to him, though.
“Good boy..,” Linus gently patted Bob’s head.
“I won’t pay bail again, though. Getting you out of jail was such a hassle last time,” Linus rolled the cigarette between his teeth, smoothly bringing the car to a halt as he approached the security gate.
“Hola, Linus, ¿asumiendo que es viejo Bob alli?” The officer chuckled as he gestured to Bob.
“Sip! aquí está mi carnet, vamos Bob, muestra la tuya también,” Linus pulled his ID out of his coat pocket and Bob dangled his own that was hanging from a lanyard.
“Bien, hombres. Que tengas una buena noche. Especialmente usted, Dr. Linus. ¡ duerme un poco! ¡ pareces la muerte!” Linus scoffed as he raised his window and started driving again. The car drove just past the R&D department and stopped at the small sea cave that decorated the beach near the rocks. Linus nodded and gestured for Bob to leave.
“Get out. You know what to do,” Linus hissed and quickly drove off after giving Bob his things, leaving him standing at the shoreline, his stomach feeling full of knots.
Unbeknownst to Bob, Linus' intent on bringing them together was to get Bob out of the picture again. He wasn't strong enough to push Jebediah into the rocks, not by a long shot. Bob wouldn't have the guts to even slap his brother. They would just end up yelling and Bob would storm back to his safe place in the junkyard. Maybe there would be an off chance that Bob would hurt Jebediah, but Linus deemed that marginal percentage too small to endanger the Laythe I mission. Valentina was sleeping deep within the catacombs of the R&D department for safe keeping. She wasn't in any danger.
-
A doodle that I spent a little time on during the week. I posted an uncolored version earlier this morning on my Imgur to see how far the finished project came. My roommate let me use her fancy markers. I might buy my own if the composition scholarships work out.
-
“Are you looking for this?” Linus took the little bottle from his coat pocket and rattled it in Bob’s face.
“H-hey I n-need that!” Bob whined and reached for the little orange bottle, being pushed back into his seat by Linus’ firm hand. Linus put the pills back into his pocket as Bob gulped.
“You only need them because you’re hurt, Bob. What hurt you?”
“E-e-excuse me?” Bob felt his dry throat croak in response. Linus lowered his voice, grabbing Bob’s long tie, inspecting the diamond motifs on it.
“What. Hurt. You,” Linus accentuated every syllable and make eye contact to make himself clear to Bob.
“I-I don’ know, just g-gim-”
“Did Jebediah hurt you?” Linus’ hissed tone make Bob’s head throb.
“I-I-”
“Did Rosbella hurt you? Valentina? Bill? Was it me?” Bob felt his eyes start to sting and water. He felt flustered.
“Or was it daddy?”
“Stop! I-I’m not in the mood for this!”
“Tell me where it hurts, Bob. Where does it hurt?”
“S-stop..,” Bob huffed, feeling his head throb from his heart pounding in his skull. He hated being confronted like this.
“Does it hurt here?” Linus rested his index finger near the bottom of Bob’s forehead. Bob started to feel tears running down his cheeks. He gripped the armrest and turned away, wiping his eyes with the back of his free hand.
“Bob, does it hurt?”
“N-no..,”
“Did Jebediah make it hurt?
…
Did he make it hurt, Bob?”
“Y-yeah,” Bob silently sobbed into his hand, his stomach turning. Linus leaned towards Bob, turning the other’s head toward him.
“Are you mad he gets everything?”
“N-n-no, I’m not s’posed t’ b-be angry,”
“Are you mad at Rosbella?”
“I-I h-h-hate..!”
“You hate her?”
“I hate everythin’,” Bob's tone became hushed and angry.
“Oh aren’t you lovely? Trying to be deep and existential are we?” Bob yanked his tie back from Linus.
“J-just ‘m stop,”
“I want to know, Bob. I want to know why it hurts,”
“Gimme the meds,”
“You don’t need these. These are just placebo. I know because one of my associates designed these pills. You only think it works because you want to make the pain stop, don’t you? That’s what you want,” Bob’s hope quivered as Linus shook the little bottle.
“Speechless are we? I know how to make it all go away..,”
“I’m not doin’ that if that’s w-what yer’ insinuatin’!"
“You’re only not going to try again after your little scene with Rosbella on the ISS,”
“Linus! Take me back to the KSC! I don’ like this game!” Bob’s voice shook with sadness and terror. His face was messy from tears and his sinuses were audibly clogged.
“Interesting how your stutter fades when you’re under pressure. It’s about Jebediah,” Linus inflected on his last phrase, peaking Bob's distorted mindset.
-
-
“...Dr. Nicole DeKerb, Dr. Harold Kerman, and finally, Sir Derrick Kerman. Another moment of silence for the brave lives that were lost in the pursuit of science and discovery,” An old priest cleared his throat and regained his ground by adjusting his feet, bowing his head in silence. The crowd before him followed his command. A mass funeral was being held for all 139 lives the Laythe I research had taken. Many of the dead were construction workers. Nearly a dozen were scientists.
Bob sat slumped in his seat, shifting through the numb feelings he felt as the names of some of the original crew were spelled out. He looked at the priest, wondering how the old man hadn’t been sweating from his ornate attire in the humid air. Ebony trim with a white underside and a wrinkly old guy sauntering around in it. That guy looked pitiful as his hands trembled from age. Bob digressed. He didn’t look too hot either, sporting a shoddy combover treated by dry shampoo and his patchy brown blazer.
He looked over at some of the signs hung around the area. The outside reception was held a day before the much-anticipated launch of the Laythe I as a way to honour the deceased for their effort. Bob didn’t believe in all the spiritual crazy-talk the people at the funeral discussed. Shame most of the crowd were proper scientists instead of Joolians. One individual even claimed to be a Dresite. Bob really only came for the food and sought to try to repair his relationship with his brother that night. Jebediah typically took a last look over the beach before interplanetary excursions. There was a little cave and a cliff at the end where it was possible to see Ciudad de la Playa and the KSC. That’s where he would be.
Bob walked to the nearby building, quietly tapering himself from the world to think.
“Hello, Mr. Bob,” Bob turned around to face Linus, snapping out of his thought.
“D-d-don’ talk to m-me, please,” Bob croaked and started to turn around only to be forcefully turned back around, Linus’ cold hand tightly gripping his shoulder.
“You will talk to me because we need to discuss something…privately..,” Linus’s grip tightened, hurting Bob’s shoulder. Bob felt a sense of panic, falling down trying to get away.
“Stop making a scene. Be an adult and come with me,” Linus held his hand out to help Bob up. Bob shook his head and got up on his own, rubbing the shoulder that Linus basically squeezed.
“I don’ w-w-wan’ I don’ wan’ t-to!” Bob quietly whimpered as he regained his footing. Linus snatched his collar and dragged him on the floor again, feeling his own head throb.
“You’re making my migraine worse, you idiot! You can come quietly or not, but we need to talk in a location where there aren’t widows bawling in every room!” Linus sighed exasperatedly, his hands shaking from anger. Bob caught his breath and nodded without a word. It would have been scary if they weren’t in a secluded part of the church near the graveyard. Most of the funeral people had left for the outside recession, only leaving indifferent nuns and traumatised widows inside.
Bob caught the smell of rotten incense as the nuns roamed in the corridors and pews. Distant crying echoed through the halls, mixing with the gentle chimes of brass carillons. Spooky. The sun shone through a stained glass mural of Eve, sending ominous violet and pink light bouncing through the church. Eve was depicted as she usually was, legs crossed and draped with a black chlamys that wrapped around her left arm. Everyone knew those four skulls that surrounded her. Sarnus, Urlum, Neidon; who died before birth. Then there was little Gilly, who still died before birth, but it wasn’t quite accidental according to legend. Bob felt his stomach churn.
“What are you gawking at Bob? I thought you weren’t religious,”
“I-it’s nothin’. J-just appreciating’ the a-art,” To be fair, the murals were beautifully done. The way the light from Eve’s mural mixed with the ambient glow of Moho’s mural was hauntingly beautiful. Bob caught one last look at the interior of the church as Linus dragged him out. There was a marble statue of Jool, set up to open and close its eyes depending what time of day it was. Jool’s eyes were nearly closed, looking melancholy as the massive sculpture loomed over the altar. Eve’s light tainted the Spanish marble to an unhealthy dark pink, the sparse white streaks turning lavender. Bob turned around to catch up with Linus and exit the church.
Linus’ car smelt a lot better, smelling of subtle caffeine and mint. Bob shifted uncomfortably in his seat, noticing that Linus’ appearance had considerably deteriorated. He had disgusting bags that made his eyes look like they were going to fall out, some veins in his forehead bulging out as a well. His hands had the same agitated veins. Linus was also skinnier, as if he hadn’t eaten in days, perhaps even a munth. His metacarpal bones stuck out and complemented his tiny forearm. Bob scoffed to himself. He thought he looked bad. Linus’ eyes were also glassy looking. Bob couldn’t think of a point where Linus blinked. Interesting.
The car stopped at a shady motel.
“O-oh.., I d-d-didn’t know you w-wanted to do this,” Bob blushed and nervously laughed as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
“What? No!” Linus slapped his forehead.
“Not after ‘74 we’re not! I took you here because this is private!”
“Huh, w-well okay. Can w-we make- make this chat quick? I n-need to top off my medic- top off m-m-my medication and talk to J-jeb,” Bob dug in his blazer for his bottle.
-
I'm glad you like it, @cratercracker! Can you elaborate more through PM?
It's not over yet, just a little more and then I can start formatting the entire thing.
KSP Fan-Art MkII
in KSP Fan Works
Posted
Does anyone know of any good CHEAP drawing tablets? Mouse is getting a tad finicky.