Comet's Fall 1: Ostancine

1.4

I reached the library after lunch, and caught Gill just as he was getting back from his break. It was perfect timing, and I press ganged him into helping me locate the materials I needed until well into the afternoon. He was a handsome man, with a flat nose and the broad shoulders of a soldier. I knew he had served in the interior guard for years, and even seen active duty on several occasions, but there was not a scar on him which I felt was a real testament to his skill as a warrior. Despite his record at war he was usually here at the library these days, and even though he was always in a chain shirt, his uniform, he always insisted on helping my gather my books together. Today, with all of the sources I was gathering, I gladly built a big stack in his arms, book by book. Within an hour I was sure I had what I needed for my project.
    "Just look at it,Gill. Don't you find it intriguing?" I prodded, showing him some drawings from the book I'd pulled out of the library.
    "It's terrifying," he replied flatly.
    "No, Gill, it's not.It's just a theory about the heavens."
    "Gigantic chunks of rock hurtling around in the sky. That doesn't sound frightening to you?" I stared him down, and he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Have any of these things ever hit us?"
    "Asteroids have been well observed actually, or at least they were before the things got tense with Tarn. Most of them are completely harmless and have no chance of colliding with our own planet."
    "If they're so well documented, then what do these flying rocks have to do with impressing the doctor?"
    Gill was a member of the Ostancine interior guard, and so I could understand his lack of enthusiasm for my research proposal. He'd mentioned several times that he chose to transfer here so he'd have time to teach himself from the library's books though, and so I took it upon myself to help him on his educational journey. For all of his reading, and my efforts, Gill's mind was still surprisingly narrow. Still, he claimed he had wanted to be a scholar when he was young and I tried to open his mind where I could.

"Well, we know that there are other planets out there, or as you call them 'big rocks,'" I explained. "The problem is that we only know that they are there. Other than that we don't know very much. To most people they just blend in as specks of light among the stars. Some can be seen more clearly by small telescopes, like the ones we have in the observatory, but all we can really know is what color they are, how big they are, and how fast they're moving."

I looked to see if he was following. He smiled awkwardly as I paused, and then nodded.

"Some are farther out, too far out to even see sometimes," I continued, feeling the excitement that lead me to astronomy building "to see these, or get any detail on the closer ones for that matter, we need either bigger telescopes or a better vantage point. Obviously there's no way we'll get closer to these planets than the ground, so I've already started drawing up plans for a bigger telescope, one that's better at taking in and focusing light. Take a look!"

I thrust my notebook in front of him, and he looked at it uneasily.

"Listen," he started cautiously, "I know better than to talk about the sky with a star gazer."

"Is that really all that you think I am?" I asked sharply.

Gill swallowed hard. I was never really surehow exactly Gill felt about me. He only ever seemed half interested in our conversations, but sought me out every time I came in. At thevery least I supposed his tactical brain was good to run ideas past. If I was really honest with myself, it was more than that. It always lifted my mood to see Gill, because other than him I was alone in this city, and he had helped me through my struggles at the observatory since I started there.

He sat there uncomfortably for a second before breaking the silence.

"To be honest, it kind of frightens me, as does everything that old man does in his lab. I know pretty well how the world works, but out there is just a whole heap of unknown staring you in the face every timeyou look at the sky. That fact that Dr. Khalis is in there toying around with things that could change the way we look at the world... well that's just scary to me."