• Published 2nd Feb 2014
  • 509 Views, 8 Comments

The Travels of Trivial Knowledge - CCC



A crew of ponies travel through space, meeting strange creatures and bizarre lifeforms

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Dead Planet, Part II

“What's happened to the Captain?” asked Fine Control, nervously.

“Some sort of mind-controlling gas?” suggested Magic Surge. “Wanting nothing more than to spread and take us over?”

“Don't be ridiculous,” said Healthy Growth, firmly. “The Captain's short on breath, not mind-controlled. The question is what to do about it...”

“Fine, can you dry out the Captain's lungs a bit?” asked Trivial Knowledge. “Not much, just a little. Surge, could you cool down the air around her? Think... arctic midwinter at midnight. I'll help with that.”

“So, a serious drop in temperature and a little dryness?” asked Fine Control. “How will that help?”

Healthy Growth nodded. “I get it.” he said. “Just do it now, you two, the Captain doesn't have much time, we'll explain later.”

The three unicorns' horns glowed; the temperature dropped. Captain Swift Wing coughed, a much smaller cloud of green bursting from her mouth. A second gasp, and this time the green was almost invisible. On the captain's third gasp, she no longer exhaled in green. Healthy Growth stepped forward, and carefully lifted the Captain, taking her in to the small infirmary.

* * *

“So what was that green stuff?” asked Magic Surge, once the Captain was safely resting and, according to Healthy Growth, well on the way to recovery.

“Moss.” said Trivial Knowledge. “Even back on Equestria, there are certain kinds of moss which are a known danger to cavers; the moss likes warm, dark, moist conditions. As can be found in certain caves, or...”

“Or in pony lungs.” said Healthy Growth, grimly. “And the last thing anypony needs is moss growing in their lungs. It's next to impossible to get rid of the stuff normally, too.”

“Airborne moss?” asked Magic Surge. “How does that work?”

“On a planet like this, with no intelligent life or wild magic, very well.” said Trivial Knowledge. “You see, without pegasus or wild magic to affect the weather, a tidally locked planet like this one must logically have a very simple weather system. The air on the side facing the sun heats up and rises, while the air on the opposite side cools down and sinks; the continual wind that we feel is the result of the sinking air from the nightside moving over to the dayside; in the upper atmosphere, the wind direction will naturally be reversed. Since the moss grows and reproduces naturally in the upper atmospheric conditions, but can't survive in the lower atmospheric conditions, all we had to do was reproduce the lower atmospheric conditions in the Captain's lungs to kill off the moss growing there.”

“So that's why you had me cool down the air.” said Magic Surge. “The cooler air, added to the Captain's body heat, would have dropped the temperature enough to freeze the moss.”

“But why did I have to dry out her lungs?” asked Fine Control.

“Ah,” said Trivial Knowledge, “when the sun shines on the dayward side of the planet, it doesn't just heat up the air; it also heats up the water. There are probably seas that are boiling around there; the upper atmosphere isn't just warmer than the lower, it'll also be substantially more humid. I wasn't sure if it was the temperature or the dryness that killed the moss, so I had to go for both options.”

Comments ( 4 )

Interesting stuff! I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention, I think it's quite good. Reminds me pretty strongly of Star Trek TOS episodes, especially some of the early ones.

CCC

4061053

Thanks!

I'm definitely going for a sort of 'old sci-fi' vibe in this story. I'm glad to hear it seems to be working. :twilightsmile:

So, when will they meet the humans?

CCC

5904176

Probably never. This is supposed to be Equestrian sci-fi, after all; and who would believe that a world where *nopony* controls the Sun could hold intelligent life?

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