Part 11: Unplanned Stay

There is goon participation in this chapter!







(Isol's lines are spoken.)

: Hey Isol, how's it going?

: It's 'going,' in a sense.

: Oh yeah? Busy day so far?





: ... 'Occasions dash... retaining...'

: Oh, 'time flies when you're having fun.' I don't think we have a, like, an antonym for that expression. 'Time stops when you're bored?'

: Well, you know what is that I denote.

: Is there anything I can assist you with, Ezra?

: Do I need a reason to call you, Isol? What if I just wanted to talk? It's not like either of us are terribly busy.



: Uh, what?

: Dally. You know... where you say lighthearted nothings to try and entice the one you're talking with to like you.

: ... Oh, 'flirt.' I guess half-and-half. Although if you're asking me, I guess I must be failing, huh?

: Ghians handle the will-they-or-won't-they issue a little unlike Earthlings, is all.

Isol is the best girl, confirmed. Would that we human beings could be just as direct without needing to be coy and not seen as weird! Or at least in modern western culture!

: Well, before I make things any more awkward between us: I was wondering if you were available to go somewhere this afternoon.

: Oh, so you were! This was all a lead-in to that!

: Yep, the cat's out of the bag now.

: At daylight, the day was nothing yet house chores and student accounting; then, at lunch, I had a session on culinary onsets across Earth to Galilei.

: Sounds important.

: It's all dull. Dreary, drowsy, dishearteningly dull. I could really rather use the distraction in the day and you calling at this hour is a lucky reward on sticking it out until now.



: ... In case it wasn't clear, yes, I would enjoy going out today. Anywhere's good, as long as it's not here.

: Hahaha! Well, if you need an ear to rant at for a little bit, I like to think I'm a pretty good listener.



: Hah, well, if ever there was a time to blow off some steam, it'd be now that we finally have peace and the war is over.

: So! Where did you want to go?

: I actually didn't have any place in particular in mind. Is there anywhere special you'd like to go today?

: ... Yes, actually.

: Do you recall the discussion we had the other night on Starseekers?

: On – oh, right, on the Observatory! Yes, I remember.

: I think I'd like to go there today. The Starseeker's use until now was entirely war-related – three days is likely not a long duration to 'switch gears,' as it were, though I'd still like to try and see that residents can enter.

: That, and I'd like to see how Earthling starseeking technology equates to Ghi's.

: You asked where I'd like to go today, and I decided. That is where we'll go.

: I certainly can't say that Isol is a woman that doesn't know what she wants. And I think I kind of like that sort of confidence...

You slept with her two nights ago in a threesome she beckoned you on, Ezra. She knows exactly what she's after. Do you?

: Sure, that works for me. Do you know the way there?

: I just said I hadn't gone there yet.

: Right, that's my bad.

: The university is a bit of a detour for me, but I can meet you there, if that's easier.

: Yes, I'd like that. I can get there in one-third an hour.

: Twenty minutes. Got it.



: ... Well, alright. That settles that, then.

: I have twenty minutes to get from here to where I'm going. Which isn't a lot of time.

: I'd better get moving, then!

*The screen fades to black.*





: Ghi is a hot world. I reside in Galilei all year and it's insanity that Earthlings succeed in colds this intense.

: Uh... it's twenty-two degrees Celsius. That's room temperature.



: Wow. That kind of heat would kill a human in a few hours.

: And Ghians can endure these colds, although not contentedly. I guess Ghians are just sturdier than Earthlings.

: Hah, well, if this is a competition, then on Earth, there are people that live at the north and south poles, where the temperatures are coldest. At the south pole, the warmest day of the year averages to about minus twenty-six.





Hey, have some respect for Inuit cultures and those researchers on the Antarctic ice, Isol!

: ... Anyway.

: Yes, anyway!

...And Beyond, the Stars



: Technically, what I said was I had yet to see this starseeker.



: Whose would you say is better?

: We landed here eight nunites ago, Ezra. It'll take longer than that to list the distinctions.

: Eight nunites... that's... four minutes, right?

: Closer to three, I think.

: One thing I can say is that Ghian starseekers weren't usually so... direct with the data collected. Usually, when you wanted to know the stars the seeker was seeing, you had to ask the scientist running it. Or you'd just look and see on your own.



: Huh. It was the Ghians that first made contact with Earth. You'd think that they'd be more upfront with the sort of information that an observatory would be collecting and not be so secretive about it.

: It's likely that the starseeker I stayed at on Ghi was only... 'under-rolled,' should you understand.

: I... don't think I do.



: The coins. The cash. It lacked the cash to generously hand out the data like this one can.

: Ooooh, you're saying it was underfunded.

: Yes, thank you.



: Hah, well, I'm an Earthling myself, and believe me when I say that it's not exactly a picnic for us either. Our most popular language is some gross Frankenstein-esque mishmash of words stolen from other languages.



: A 'Frankenstein.' It's what you mean when you're referring to something that was created when you mix a bunch of other things together to create something that looks vaguely like what all the other pieces started with, but not.

: Where did this word originate?

: ...

: I'm not sure, now that I think about it. I want to say it started as a pop-culture thing back in the twentieth century? But I haven't seen or heard anything about whatever a 'Frankenstein' is since I was born.

: Maybe it's just one of those things where words that were invented in popular culture are adapted into normal speech and their origins are forgotten over time.

: Ghian languages share that trait.

Interesting that the word "Frankenstein" survived the test of time as an idiom with a definition, but the original story was forgotten. I wonder if there is a word or idiom we use today that was from an artist's vision, but we forgot the artist or work itself as the origin and kept just the word...

: There's a word in our largest language that originated in our own artistic cultures. The word is 'ghorulind' and it denotes when a creature – like a Ghian, let's say – struggles to create a sentence, usually when they're arguing.

: As an illustration, let's start arguing.

: Uh, what?

: Just say anything, you know, challenging. A thing I wouldn't like.

: Uh... you're smelly?



: Like that. That's what a 'ghorulind' illustration is.

: Haha, if I ever get into an argument with a Ghian and I can't think of what to say, I'm sure that'll come in handy.

: Say, Isol.

: Hnn?

: Why did you come to Aerodrome Galilei in the first place? We're awfully far away from Ghi and we're kind of a detour away from Earth.

: I...

*The music fades out.*



: I had gone to Earth to, as you Earthlings would say, 'widen the horizons.' I was staying on leisure. Ghi and Earth are good allies and were during the last three-hundred-ish years, so I wanted to see what the noise was all concerning.

: Your world is gorgeous, Ezra. Ghi is largely desert and rocks, and each oasis is a treasured resource that we work to shelter each generation. Earth was so... green. Green and azure.

: And cold, yet that's a thing that any Ghian would tolerate. Including yours truly.

: ... You know, it's funny. I'm a human – an Earthling – but I've never been to Earth. I was born and raised here in Aerodrome Galilei. I have no idea what it's like down there.

: I would wish that you go there when you can. Touring is a way to change a creature. Going to a whole other world... can change your own clarity on existence. You'll turn into an alternate Ezra once you're done.

: ...

: I ran to Galilei when the Riklid landed on Earth thirteen years ago. I was included with the initial rescues; the starting creatures that got away.

: ... You're a refugee.

: I was what you would call a 'tourist.' And then I was sent here, where it was considered sheltered.

: I think on that day occasionally. We all recall where we were when it started.

: I was lucky to get to Earth at all, initially. Then the Riklid landed – not what anyone would call 'lucky.' And then I was with the starting rescues to get away to land elsewhere.

: And then I was told I couldn't retreat to Ghi once I got here, and that I needed to start readying to join the war struggle. To shield a world that I was only holidaying on!

: I like to think that it all rounds out and I just own 'standardized' luck, in the end.

A tourist turned refugee turned militiawoman. That really sucks. Isol has spent a good part of her life contributing to humanity's total war against the Riklid in a world very far from her own. However, if the Riklid managed to beat humanity and Ghi itself had been spared until that point, then the existential threat would have eventually turned on her own kind as well. It's probably something that has crossed her mind, and the fact that she is finally free of her metaphorical shackles probably has something to do with her... let's call it sexual exuberance? She said she's staying in Galilei to open her eatery, though, so maybe she's grown to see it as a second home.

: I'm... sorry to bring up such a difficult memory. That must have been horrifying to live through.

: Sure. Yet it was also thirteen years ago, now.

Far From Home (Isol's Theme)

: I like to think I got through it, now.

: And hey! Galilei dodged the Riklid's ire, and now, they're gone altogether! This isn't the occasion to dwell on our dour history. We should look onward!

: That's an enviable personality and strength of character to have, Isol. You've been through a lot in the last thirteen years.

: Yes, well, like I just said: although I enjoy the accolade, I would rather we not hang on the last thirteen years' history and concentrate instead on what ensues next.

: Oh, right.

: ... Actually, let's talk on you, Ezra.

: I'd guess that it's too early in the day that the starseeker is any use to anyone. Yet let's just say, on discussion's sake, that it is.



: Huh. That's not a bad question to ask.

: Nikita and I visited this observatory yesterday, and we learned that Earth will be visible Friday night. That's a thing I could look at. I'm told that the Earth has some weird effect on people when they see it from a distance.

: But I could also just stare at the stars. Point the telescope in some direction and have a look, see what I find. Moving the lens even a quarter of a quarter of a millimeter would point me in a direction that likely nobody else has ever seen before.

: Or maybe I could try looking for Ghi. Isol made the trip from Ghi to Earth and this observatory is probably strong enough to at least see Ghi's star.



* * *

Goon participation!

What an interesting hypothetical Isol has posed! Where would you cast the telescopic eye? Would you look upon Earth for the first time, roll the dice and randomly scan the cosmos for something unknown, or sate your cultural curiosity and seek out Ghi, Isol's home world?