space oddity

[rockeye_stonetoe]

One day in fairyland, there is an immensely bright flash of light a about a mile above the ground. Something like a metal house is suddenly flying through as if it came through a portal, faster than all but the fastest fairies.

It's flying, not directly down, but still very much towards the ground. It does not take long for it to stop flying and start carving through earth and trees. Eventually it runs out of momentum near a certain lake. The thing seems to still be in one piece, which is rather miraculous considering the two miles of destroyed trees behind it.

After a few minutes, a mortal covered in unusually bulky clothes emerges from the thing. All that is visible is his face. He starts inspecting the outside of his space oddity.

Comments

[rockeye_stonetoe]

He pulls something off his belt. "This is the one that could tell the general area where you were. It's hard to explain how it works, but it detects all nearby objects in a small sphere. You use it by holding it and wanting to, it gives you an entirely new sense. The power cell will last, oh, a year. But I'll give you a few of em and maybe you can duplicate it with sorcery. I've got a few more scanners for you, just not with me right now."

[imeanforever]

Promise take the object and tucks it into her sash.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

And Nick goes back into the ship. A few more days pass uneventfully. The card-game-playing mortals invite her to join them for a few of the easier games that don't require talking.

[imeanforever]

"I can hear again now," she says. "But sure, I'll play."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

The mortals all congratulate her. None of them seem to realize she'd done it deliberately. The more complicated games are a lot easier to understand when someone can actually explain the rules to her.

One of them asks, "Capn' said you needed to watch us first, to help us. Do you know how much longer...?"

[imeanforever]

"Not too much longer. A few more hours."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

She nods. They all thank her. One of them wonders aloud, "I still don't get why S... Fuck! I almost forgot. No names."

The others tease his mistake, but the friendly atmosphere is gone now.

[imeanforever]

"I can deafen myself again if it's hard to watch out for that. I didn't get enough to be a problem."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"Oh, so that's why you were deaf. That's probably for the best... I just know someone's going to forget. Sorry."

[imeanforever]

"That's actually not why, but yeah." She shuts her eyes; there are two faint pops. There.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

They go back to their games. Promise can still join the simpler ones if she wants.

The pace of activity inside the ship picks up. She passes more people working on things on her way in and out every day. Nick explains that it's starting to make preparations to leave.

[imeanforever]

And she de-ages all the card-players and bids them goodbye.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Nick asks, "Anything else you want from me before I leave? I'll be gone for at least ten years."

[imeanforever]

It may take me that long to work through all these books, she writes dryly.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Nick nods. "Farewell."

He goes into the ship. The ship lifts off, ascends into the air miles and miles above fairyland almost ponderously, and disappears.

[imeanforever]

And Promise goes to read her books.