[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RkT0NcZ.png[/img] [h3]In[/h3][h1][color=C71585]Space Oddity[/color][/h1][h3]Episode 04[/h3][/center] [hr] The commotion at the spaceport as Andrews was picking up a package had caused great alarm in the marketplace. So much so that the seller of “gently used goods”, as they called them, had simply ditched the meeting place. Andrews and his security detail had begun pushing through the crowds as vendors quickly packed tarps and ripped off crates, while some instantly collapsed on the spot. A being sitting on what Andrews would have described as a hover chair dashed by leaving a goopy mess in its path. “We should see what the hubbub is about. Explore if there’s a angle we can exploit a bit.” “Don’t you think we should called Mrs. Patton? Doctor Andrews?” One of the earpieces suits spoke up. “We are deviating from the current plan afterall.” “I don’t see why we should, we’re not throwing ourselves into any particular danger.” “I respectfully disagree.” The woman standing next to him said echoing her colleague. “I am skeptical of what would make visitors to this planet quickly pack up their wares as if the place was set ablaze. Calling Mrs. Patton should be our priority.” Sighing, Andrews succumbed to logic presented to him, perhaps he had let his curiosity take over his own common sense. “Fine. We’ll inform Mrs. Patton. But we should ask around and get answers as well.” While his bodyguards contacted their boss; Andrews had came up upon a merchant still packing away his goods. Short and lacking arms the bearded creature was moving things with the many tendrils that made up his thick facial hair. “You there. Fine Merchant. What is happening to cause such panic.” Looking towards the human the Beradain rubbed his tendrils together as such a pace the sounds it produced vocalyzed words that Andrews could understand despite how high pitched and raucous it was. “A cosmic being has landed, you have fun with that one. Wish you luck. Human of Poseidon.” Taking that knowledge in as the short being tossed crates upon a hover lift, Andrews spoke with his guards as they had just informed Mrs. Patton of the recent developments. “What shall we do. If we don't make haste and vacate this place ourselves then we could get caught up in something quite perilous. Our business was cut short and we no longer have a purpose here.” --- Meanwhile at the Poseidon Pacific Point plant --- The news was slowly getting wind of something happening in Davenport. The Military had kept things quiet enough; for whatever that was worth as videos surfaced of a strange being floating over lake Champlain. “A hoax.” One commenter said. Another comment was jiberish as if they smacked thier keyboard. A few minor heroes typed out evacuation instructions to anyone recording. Briley Patton was sitting in a chair feeling uneasy about the whole situation all she did know was something touched down, her Military contacts didn’t give her enough clearance to wipe a General’s ass so asking them anything was a waste of valuable time. “Andrews.” Briley called over the comms as Andrews and his team were waiting for further instructions on their way to the parking lot. “Extract to safety if such is possible and put a drone in the air, I wish to confirm a few things and speak with this armored hero conversing with such a beast. No not beast; Celestial. I think that would be more fitting of a name.” Driving out towards the airport they readied the drone as soon as they entered Vermont Airspace. It would bounce signals off satellites once it was close enough to its target as no one would be hanging around long enough to ensure it got anywhere near Lake Champlain; this was an expensive kamikaze toy as no one expected it to return in any piece that would be recognizable. [hr] Fear was one of life’s most universal instincts, or so had Takol told him once. All living creatures, no matter how powerful, felt it. Even nigh omnipotence could not make one immune to it. However, there was a vast difference between knowing this in theory, and actually understanding it. To experience that emotion through such a great being’s perspective, to share that invisible, intangible impulse within, made the idea of universal constants seem a lot more real than he could have ever imagined. And this being, which could so massively yet effortlessly distort space, was afraid. They felt panic, dread, and it affected them to their core. [i][color=C71585]“What frightened you?”[/color][/i] Asked the Andromedan, sparing a sideways glance to the being’s matter as it spread towards Burlington, threatening to bring their cosmic energies to the people he had grown up with. When he turned his eyes back to the being, they emited new sound, lower than the previous ones, but also thicker, as if sound could be comprised of particles. That did not clear things up in the least. [i][color=C71585]“Please, show me.”[/color][/i] They repeated the sound, and this time its resonance made the Andromedan feel like his very atoms were quivering. Not exactly a new sensation for him, but certainly a clarifying one. An image came to him with that sound, and much like the being that communicated it, it was hard to comprehend. Yet the Andromedan understood just enough to feel the being’s fear replicated within him. Something, someone, had come for this being, hunted them down like a ravenous predator. Something from dark space, from far beyond the Milky Way. Then another image came to him, of something relatively small, metallic, approaching Lake Chaplain with great speed. A drone, but not a military one. The being became defensive once more, and the Andromedan felt the return of its pulsating energy, growing ever more frantic, ready to distort and destroy the incoming threat. [i][color=C71585]“Oh, no”[/color][/i], whispered the Andromedan. He clutched his anchor, willed it to share more of its spatial magic with him, to help him stabilize the space around them. [i][color=C71585]“No, no, no, no... Please, don’t move. Don’t attack. I’m here. I’ll keep you safe. Let me keep you safe.”[/color][/i] He tried to keep his voice steady and mostly succeeded. There was no desperate trembling in it, no panic, but he could feel it within himself. He knew he had two choices left now: either try to cast the being out, push it through a rift in space, or destroy the fast approaching drone. He heard a disturbingly catchy jingle play before it came into sight, a tune from one of Poseidon Energy's ads; the one that spoke about making a better world. “Poseidon Energy! A better world today!” sang a woman’s sugar sweet, chipper voice, accompanied by cutesy high notes from a piano, easily selling him on the slogan for a brief instant. There was a pause, followed by a woman's voice. “This recording, I want all of this.” The drone moved ever closer to the Andromedan and the cosmic being, its matter holding steady despite the growing push and pull of the surrounding spatial forces. Once it reached a distance close enough to converse with, it stopped and hovered in place, and the voice returned. “I am Briley Patton of Poseidon Energy. May I ask the business of the creature in front of us? This Celestial?” [i][color=C71585]“The Universe does love coincidences”[/color][/i], the Andromedan muttered to himself, and felt the space around them reduce its density. Some palpable tension remained, but at least the being was not about to panic and wreak havoc. He turned to the drone and spoke with an authoritative voice, his cosmomancer side shining through just as his human side was faltering. [i][color=C71585]“This Celestial, as you call them, came seeking my protection as a cosmomancer”[/color][/i], he said. [i][color=C71585]“So long as we treat them kindly, you have nothing to worry about.”[/color][/i] The absence of sound save the tiniest buzzing of the hovering drone was all that they heard it took a full minute to respond not because of technical errors no, doubt was why the silence persisted so until Briley again spoke. “So you say hero? If I am to believe that, kept a low profile even more than most so why should I take you at your word?” [i][color=C71585]“Well, I mostly deal in outer space problems”[/color][/i], said the Andromedan, careful to keep a mostly abstract hold on the uneasy Celestial. [i][color=C71585]“I’m the Andromedan. I have an Earth name too, if you’re curious, but I don’t know if I want to share it with a drone from a shady corporation...”[/color][/i] The sensation of the Celestial folding on themself made him take a brief pause. Either they were calming down or they were about to have a minor implosion. [i][color=C71585]“You should take me at my word because this is my home and all I want is to keep it safe”[/color][/i], he said. [i][color=C71585]“Now, I’ll be happy to explain whatever you want to know about me and what I do. But right now all I want is to help my new friend here and keep them from causing any harm to the city. This is what I do.”[/color][/i] A beep rang out as the drone took a moment to itself. “Fine I will assume that your intention is genuine, there will be more to talk about at another time this drone can be dropped off at any Poseidon facility. Should you chose to do so otherwise it will power down for now; I do expect to see you again under more casual circumstances and any personal information you chose to disclose is of your own choice.” [i][color=C71585]“Actually…”[/color][/i] said the Andromedan, trying not to notice that the Celestial was apparently very close to folding itself into a mass of moving crystal. [i][color=C71585]“I do have something to talk to you about, Miss Patton. Give me a moment to get my friend here to safety and then maybe you could tell me where we could meet”[/color][/i] With a bit of help from his part, maybe he would be able to make the Celestial small enough to fit in his pocket. Although, if he had his physics right, they would probably be far too heavy in such a state. [i][color=C71585]“So…”[/color][/i] he said a bit sheepishly to the Celestial, letting his anchor’s power course through him. [i][color=C71585]“Do you have a place in mind where you’d like to stay, or is it okay if I help you reduce your mass and volume so I can carry you around?”[/color][/i] The shrinking being from dark space responded in their bizarre, non-verbal way, making it quite clear that they would follow the Andromedan. They felt safe with him, which warmed Gabriel’s heart quite a bit. He allowed himself a smile as he got his spatial magic to work on their matter, aiding in its decrease with just a bit of a push. In a matter of minutes, with the Poseidon Energy drone still watching over both beings ih its disturbingly voyeuristic way, what had once been a cloud of sapient cosmic dust and gas transformed into a hovering, ever-changing handful of black and gold crystals with a light of their own. Gabriel did not dare put them in his pocket, but he did sigh quite audibly, relief washing over him like a light spring rain. [i][color=C71585]“Thank you, God”[/color][/i], he whispered into the skies, and watched with a smile as the space around him slowly but surely returned to its past state of relative normality. Lake Champlain became a proper Earth lake again. [i][color=C71585]“Well, Miss Patton, what say you?”[/color][/i] Another beep from the drone as Mrs. Patton replied. “I am currently at the Pacific Point Poseidon facility. Off KeyElectric road. That would be the most convenient for myself I have a schedule to maintain so I won’t be in the city long.” [i][color=C71585]“Sounds good to me”[/color][/i], said the Andromedan, pulling out his phone, thankfully still intact. He found the place on his map app, made a not-quick-at-all phone call to his family (they were a bit freaked out by the ordeal but not too much, on account on their good boy Gabriel being there to save the day as usual) and he was ready to go. With a flick of his wrist and a snap of his fingers, the Andromedan opened a rift in space and jumped through it, the Celestial following close behind in their new, miniscule crystal form. The drone crashed to the ground with a final saddening beep as it shut off power, being of little interest to Poseidon as it was no more advanced than a civilian drone with the exception of a satellite uplink which was cut as the power cell was turned off. Briley sat in Phister’s office thinking of this new interstellar hero and checking on what heroes were available nearby should this Andromedan fail.