Additional: Return journey
“I wonder how things are going back home,” Carlos asked, idly, staring into space. Carlos was often asking vague, unprompted questions like this, though in instance the fact that home was where they were all now heading made the question at least a little less than random.
James and Isaac - being the other two that Carlos was sharing the table with - looked at one another before answering, Isaac being the one to actually speak:
“The same as when we left, probably. The place is still going to be the same blasted, toxic, radioactive shithole we left behind. Maybe a little tidier. Some of the rubble might be in stacks,” he said. Carlos frowned and shook his head, still looking away.
He was looking in the direction of some others attending the ‘The humans are coming back through on their way home let’s all have a party like we did the first time’ party, but he wasn’t actually looking at them per se. He did this a lot, too.
“I don’t know, man, I have a friend who works with the Reclamation teams and they seemed to be doing pretty good before we left. At least from what I saw,” Carlos said. Isaac rubbed his eyes.
“Look, full credit to your friend, Carlos, and to all the others doing the same shit. I’m sure they’re all doing good work but there are still some places that are going to be uninhabitable for decades, even with hard work. Fuck, centuries even. Some of that chemical shit sinks into the soil and can sit there basically indefinitely, I heard. And London still fucking glows in the dark, you know, how’s that-”
“Can we talk about something else?” James said, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was bad enough they were heading home in the first place without having to hear about some of the reasons why he wasn’t enjoying the prospect.
Awkward silence followed, barring the background hubbub of humans and ponies getting along and having a good time. Equestria was by far the most aggressively benign place they’d run into on their expedition so far. Certainly, the only place where this sort of party would have even been attempted.
Sure, they’d met some of the locals in some of the other places and in some of those places they’d even been able to talk to them, but none of them had been quite so friendly as the ponies. Some of them wouldn’t have been able to share a drink with the humans anyway, physically speaking. Not having a throat - or a body - can do that.
“So how’d the laser go for you, anyway? You get to use it?” Isaac asked, breaking the silence. James sipped his drink and nodded.
“I did, I did. Went really well, actually. No recoil’s a little odd but other than that it’s great. That shit’s messier than I expected, though,” he said.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, they did explain it to me first and I’ve done the VR like anyone else but you still kind of just expect it to cauterise stuff, don’t you? You just kind of expect it.”
“Right.”
“Not at all. It’s all just bloody, screaming meat and burnt hair. Can’t say it doesn’t work but fuck. Kind of nasty,” James said, grimacing a little at the memory.
“But fun?”
“Shit yeah.”
This was undeniable.
For a given value of ‘fun’, of course. At the time, the threat of sudden, violent death had been somewhat pressing so James had not thought to appreciate the effect of what he’d been doing, but in retrospect the memory stood out.
Another lull in the conversation. Someone - or somepony - had a very loud laugh and this was obvious for a moment, and then was gone. Pegasii flew overhead, something which made all three of them flinch and none of them comment on it.
“Nice to be back here though,” James said, the first to properly relax again after the flyover.
“It’s so calm here,” Carlos said.
“Not the word I’d use, but sure. Calmer than most. And the locals are nice, too. Nice as shit. This place is tops,” James said, stretching.
“Suppose you’d know more about the locals than most,” Isaac said and James paused mid-stretch.
“You going to add anything to that or just let it kind of hang around?”
Isaac swirled the remains of his pint around. He’d say his drink was half empty, were anyone in the mood to ask him. James, seeing the glass at least half full, did not. But that was by the by.
“Just saying. You’re the only person on the expedition that I know of who made a habit of sleeping outside the Borer when we came through the first time. The only person. Not including those guys on the science and diplomatic trips, obviously, but they had an excuse. You didn’t, as far as I know,” Isaac said, finally drinking once he’d finished speaking.
“Let’s See spoke to me about it, seemed cool enough,” James said.
“Ah well, why didn’t you say so? If the machine says it’s okay then it must be okay.”
“You do know they can hear you, right?” James asked, casting an eye vaguely towards where a stage had been set up. It was hard to see given the distance and the people and other crap in the way but on that stage was - or had been - sitting Let’s See Where This Takes Us’s face-to-face interaction frame.
Or whatever the hell that thing was called now. One of the Governing Intelligence’s bodies it used to walk around and support the expedition outside the Borer and general make people nervous.
He did manage to spot it and see that it was still inactive. Inactive and waiting for the rest of the Expedition Council to show up for some kind of speech later, but still.
Just sitting there. Waiting.
Even at this distance it was succeeding in making him a little nervous.
“Yeah, yeah…” Isaac said dismissively, waving a hand. James just shook his head and kept on looking at the stage, or at least the direction it was in. The shifting crowds meant he got glimpses now and then, but not a good look. When the speech itself - or speeches, from the sound of things; great fun - got started he would not have the best view.
Apparently, the diplomatic overtures of the expedition had borne fairly considerable fruit. Friendly, formal relations had been opened up between humanity and the ponies, apparently, and as opposed to the proposed waystations and robotic mining complexes and other such facilities that were due to be set up on some of the other levels, Equestria was going to be getting something special. Apparently.
James expected the speeches to be something about a dawning golden age of prosperity and cooperation or something along those lines. He did not expect to enjoy them much, and did not expect he would really listen.
“Hey look, it’s your really good friend,” Isaac said, pointing and bringing James back to the moment with a bump.
James turned and saw Lyra. She saw him too and smiled and waved but didn’t approach, still talking to someone else. He waved back and hissed through his smile:
“You and your insinuations, man, get fucked. She’s nice. And - hey - it’s pleasant to be somewhere the air won’t kill you and the locals can actually smile. Remember the sentient clouds? Friendly enough, yeah, but you’re stood inside them when you talk to them. That’s weird.”
“Whatever you say, Jimmy,” Isaac said.
“Making friends is kind of the point of this whole thing, isn’t it?” James said through gritted teeth.
“I thought we were trying to find, uh ‘material, techniques and resources to aid the reconstruction efforts’ back home and to ‘aid and benefit the human race’?” Carlos asked even as he made a complete hash of trying to eat one of the local apples. The things were big enough that humans always had a little trouble getting started on them. Most cut them up, Carlos insisted on not doing so and was suffering the consequences.
Where he’d got it from without leaving the table was another question.
James gave him a withering look.
“Well, yeah. That’s another reason, yes, but building bridges is important. We could always use more friends. That’s what Let’s said anyway. Or at least that’s what I inferred from our conversation. Anyway! You guys like them too! Don’t even lie.”
“Oh yeah, course we do. Just not as much as some present is all. Not as vigorously or as often…” Isaac said, putting particular effort into sticking out his little finger as he took another sip of his drink. James nudged the bottom of his glass with fairly decent results.
“Fucker,” Isaac spluttered, grabbing a fistful of napkins. “I was nearly finished with that.”
“I’m missing something here, aren’t I?” Carlos asked. Given that he’d only been half-paying attention this wasn’t surprising. James spared Isaac - still grumpily mopping himself - a sharp look before answering.
“Dear Isaac here is implying lewd things about my friendship with the locals, and one local in particular..”
“Oh. Is he?” Carlos asked, looking genuinely surprised to hear this.
“He is, yes.”
“Long has it been mankind’s wish and hope to stick it into alien beings. James here is a pioneer, really. He’s living the dream,” Isaac said, one hand still mopping while the other held up a dramatic finger. James looked daggers at him.
“Okay first thing fuck you, right? Second it’s not like that.”
“Sure it isn’t. Yet. We’re watching you.
“I’ll stick to humans, personally,” Carlos said, decisively, as though this was a decision he was going to have to make and adhere to for life. He even nodded to himself, to show how firm he was in his conviction. Isaac looked at him sideways.
“Is that what you call that last one?” He asked, sweetly.
“Har fucking har. Insensitive and rude, man,” Carlos said as he wagged an admonishing finger, then adding: “Oh look, your friend is coming this way, James.”
Lyra was, indeed, heading over. Seeing this James leant in across the table and said in hushed tones:
“Figured that’d happen. Alright shitheads, keep it civil, yeah? She’s my friend and she’s nice and wouldn’t hurt a fucking fly and I don’t want her hearing about the details of what I do for a living or what you think she and I get up to or anything, right? Keep it civil and friendly.”
“We live to serve,” Isaac said. He gave a small, truncated version of the expedition salute. This was probably about the best James could hope for. Carlos just nodded, which was sufficient.
“Hi! I’m not interrupting something, am I?” Lyra asked, arriving. James sat up straight again and smiled down at her.
“Nope, no, not at all. Having a nice time?”
“Yeah! You?”
“Tops time, tops time.”
“Looking forward to going home?” She asked brightly and James swallowed.
“Oh, uh, y-yeah. Very much looking forward to going home, yeah,” he said. James did an admirable job of keeping a straight face while doing so, too, and then cleared his throat, eager to move things along:
“Lyra Heartstrings this is Carlos Pinto and Isaac Peters. I hesitate to say they’re my friends but that’s probably close enough.”
“Har har,” Carlos said again and Isaac just grunted, nodding at Lyra.
Lyra’s brow knotted as her brain worked through something.
“Peters? Isn’t that friend of yours who di-”
James leapt in to cut her off then, because he knew where it was going. Everyone present did. Even Carlos.
Peters had been Izzy’s surname, too, and while Lyra was still grappling with human naming conventions - English ones, at least - she knew enough to recognise that if popped up in more than one place it might be notable. She’d made a connection, though not enough of a connection to realise that Isaac was, in fact, Izzy’s brother.
“Yes,” James said. “Yes it is.”
“Oh. Oh I’m so sorry,” Lyra said, mortified at having put her hoof in it.
“It’s fine,” Isaac said with total and unconvincing serenity.
Another conversational void, this one of considerable uncomfortableness.
“Fag break, ‘scuse me. I’ll be back,” Isaac said suddenly, leaping up. Carlos made to say something but bit his tongue.
“Everytime he says that I always think it’s ruder than it is,” he said. Lyra gave James a questioning look but he just smirked and shook his head.
“Separated by a common language. Don’t worry about it. You want to sit down?”
“Sure!” Lyra said, immediately scrambling up onto James’ lap, utterly ignoring the chair he was mid-way through pulling out.
“...not quite what I meant but whatever works for you, Lyra.”
She didn’t pay this particular mind and set about getting as comfortable in his lap as she could, smiling the whole while. James could not hold it again her. If anything, he would have been shy to offer his lap anyway, despite how happy it made him having her there. Just so...nice...
“What’s the stage for?” Lyra asked once she was settled. James - who had been staring at her a little - blinked and looked back through the crowd towards where the stage was.
“Not sure. Speeches, we think. Big announcement,” he said.
“Ooh! Like what?”
“Not sure. Probably something good though. Official declaration of human and pony friendship! Or something,” he said with a shrug.
“Ah good, so we’d actually be proper, official friends? Not the cut-rate, bootleg friends we are right now?” Lyra asked with excessive seriousness. James grinned and put an arm around her.
“Yes. No more being friends in sin for us. Official, authority-sanctioned friends, that’ll be us. Or something.”
“I think I see what Isaac meant,” said Carlos, who was actually looking at both of them.
“What?” Lyra asked.
“Nothing. Human stuff,” James said, mouthing at Carlos: “Shut up.”
“I like human stuff! You guys are interesting.”
“Guess that depends on where you’re standing,” James said.
Isaac then returned, sitting back down again somewhat heavily. James sniffed.
“That’s not tobacco,” he said. Then he looked to Isaac, who was a little redder in the eyes than he had been the last time he’d been there. He also looked defensive.
“I thought the point was we were relaxing,” he said.
“Yeah but, you know, you can get in trouble for that.”
“Only if you dob me in,” Isaac pointed out and James shrugged - couldn’t argue with that. Although, Let’s See probably knew already, too, though they wouldn’t step in unless there was actual risk. Allegedly. Isaac added: “Look, I’m just unwinding in a place where nothing with a big fucking stinger is trying to jab me. I think we’ve earned that.”
A pause. On-stage one of the members of the Expedition Council had started talking, tapping a microphone and getting some kind of introduction going. They seemed to be covering the initial formation of the expedition, a history lesson that only some of those listening looked to be interested in, and they were all ponies. The humans knew already.
Lyra was half trying to listen to them, and half trying to listen to James and his friends, though they’d stopped talking then.
“How is Kennings doing anyway?” Carlos asked, breaking the quiet.
“He’s fucking dying, how do you think he’s doing?” Isaac said.
“We’ll get him home before you know it. They’ll figure it out there, they’ll fix him up,” James said, emphatically.
“Sure,” said Isaac in the way someone who thinks you’re an idiot agrees with you to get you to shut up.
“What are you talking about?” Lyra asked, looking up at James, who baulked, looking to the others for support and finding only confused helplessness from Carlos and utter apathy from Isaac. Swallowing, he peered down at her.
“Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
The introduction portion of the speech finished and there was a certain level of movement and hubbub around the stage. Equestrian guards and human security personnel arrived to take up positions, the ponies being the more numerous - likely a diplomatic sop to the hosts, this whole thing being mainly for show anyway.
Briefly, idly, James wondered what it might be liked to actually fight a pony, but the thought immediately gave him a stab of guilt.
He remembered the laser, and felt a little guiltier still.
“Hey, look, I’ll give you a better view,” he said, reaching down and picking up Lyra, who squeaked at the suddenness. Carefully he placed her onto one of his shoulder and then held her there supported. Wobbly and uncertain at first, after a second or so of balancing she got the hang of it and beamed.
“It’s great up here!” She said.
“I know, right? You should try being tall sometime.”
“I’ll make a note,” she said, resting a foreleg on top of his head.
Once the guards had all taken up position there was further hubbub and James caught fleeting snatches of something blindingly white with bits of gold, but only briefly. Annoyed at this he stood, Lyra again squeaking as she suddenly found herself even further from the ground than she had been before.
Now standing, James had a far clearer viewer of what was going on. The whole Expedition Council was on the stage and Let’s See Where This Takes Us had activated the frame, which was moving. But that wasn’t really what got his attention. What really got his attention was the big white horse on stage.
She - james took a wild guess and assumed she - really did look more like a horse than anything, very impressive with her big flowy tail and hair and her wings and horn. James was a little stunned. Ponies were cute, yes, but she was quite something else. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of her.
For her part she looked happy enough to be there. Not quite for the slightly smaller, darker horse beside her. But still. That’s diplomatic functions for you.
“Whoa. That the queen or something?” James asked.
“Princess Celestia,” Lyra said.
“Another princess? How many are there?” He asked, looking back to the stage. He hadn’t met any, but he’d heard about them, the ways one hears about these things. “She’s fancy looking,” he observed. Lyra looked at him sideways, eyes narrowed.
“Not as fancy looking as you, obviously,” he said, giving her a squeeze that made her giggle despite her attempting to maintain a grumpy facade. She also very nearly fell off his shoulder and would have done had he not held her there.
Celestia took a seat alongside Let’s See Where This Takes Us - they seemed to be having a quiet conversation - and a rather unremarkable looking member of the Expedition Council stood and approached a microphone that had been set up. James recognised the man as Harold Ransom. He was alright, as far as decision-makers went. His major fault being that he loved the sound of his own voice.
That he was the one heading to the microphone wasn’t a great sign.
Ransom cleared his throat, smiling out at the crowd which had quietened down considerably.
“Gathered friends, we stand at the dawn of a golden age of cooperation and friendship,” Ransom said by way of preamble. Around James‘ table all three of them groaned.
“This fucking guy…” Isaac muttered.
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Want! More! Story! Raaaaargh!
Seriously, you're such a plot tease.
9507011
This doesn't even really have a plot! It's just more "Hey look here's some more background stuff"
9507062
But all the background stuff points to a larger story!
9507148
Tee hee
9513866
Not a game actually. Its from the Culture book series by author Iain Banks, specifically the book Matter. Basically the FULLY AUTOMATED LUXURY GAY SPACE COMMUNISM meme but taken seriously.
9515280
I'd say this answer lacks gravitas
9515451
Let's ask GSV Where's My Fucking Gravitas if he has some to spare.
All your stuff is almsot all fluff but its just so good. I could read this stuff for hours.