Fiddle and Drums

Tuinor · 11-12-2009, 02:35 AM

Prologue

It was a typical night at the observatory for Caitlyn. She had finally nabbed a time slot to use the observatory’s largest telescope to observe and photograph her senior thesis’ topic, the volcanic moon of Io, and its orbital path around the jovial planet, Jupiter. The sky was clear, and though there was some light pollution, it was the best she was going to get for a while, and her thesis wouldn’t wait.

Still, photographing the Galilean moon didn’t promise to be very stimulating, and, knowing herself, she acknowledged that she would probably doze off accidentally if given half a chance to. Realizing this earlier in the evening, she had decided to bring in with her a bit of music to make the next twelve hours go by as painlessly as possible. However, her playlist on the little 8g mp3 player was only about four hours in length(and, regrettably, still managed to hold on to several songs as regrettable remnants of a formerly dissolved relationship), and even with the shuffle on it wasn’t long until she began to feel like the night would drag on forever.

After hearing a particularly annoying song, which had so disastrously been a big hit in the late 90’s (and, unfortunately, in her recent ex-boyfriend as well) for practically the tenth time she concluded that the demonic digital device had it out for her sanity. Shutting it off (only after she’d deleted that song!), she decided to sit in silence as she watched with morbid concentration the little moon as it crossed the face of Jupiter with a drudging slowness that only a glacier could ever hope to match.

It wasn’t long before she started to find it a bit strenuous to keep her eyelids up. Worse still, the chair she was in was undoubtedly designed with the evil intention of being perhaps the most comfortable one on the whole of the campus. “Why does this night have it in for me?” she thought to herself mournfully as she reluctantly forced herself up out of the black leather office chair.

She decided it was probably time for a cup of coffee to help push her through the last couple hours of the evening. Leaving the telescope to do its thing, she walked out of the domed observation room, down the hallway to the student lounge. As she passed through the dimmed hall, she glanced up at a clock hanging just a few doors away from the lounge’s entry. “Fifteen till three? Oh, god, what am I doing here? All I can manage to think about anymore is a cup of hot chocolate and my favorite fleece blanket."

So detached with her thoughts Caitlyn was that she failed to notice a certain redheaded man leaning against the far wall to her right as she came in.

“Well, evening, Caity!” he said in a loud, overly enthusiastic voice that made her start as she was jolted from her sweet daydreams.

“Oh, god!” she said with a gulp, “Doug! You scared me to- oh never mind! It’s Caitlyn to you, anyway.” Doug was a fellow peer in the astronomy department, and she shared many classes with him. However, he had a rather obnoxious personality at times, and tended to be much too immature for her to tolerate for any great amount of time. Needless to say, they rarely conversed much, but regardless of the fact, he still addressed her with that tone of familiarity which only served to further her dislike of him.

“Oh, c’mon, Caity,” he said with a chuckle, “we’ve been in the same classes for, what? nearly three years now. I think I deserve to get to shorten your name just a little bit.”

“Caitlyn’s too hard for you to say?” she asked with annoyance, “It’s got the same number of syllables as ‘Caity!’”

“Hmm,” said Doug, “I guess that’s one point for you.”

“Well, what are you doing out here this late at night anyway?” she asked.

“Oh, I work here part times,” he answered, "it's for the work study program."

"I tried to get into that program!" Caitlyn was screaming in her mind, but what came out was“It doesn’t matter, eitherway. Is there any coffee put out tonight?”

“Ugh, you mean you trust the staff to serve coffee?” Doug asked with a sneer.

“I’m sure they don’t poison it or anything,” she answered.

“You never know,” said Doug just as Caitlyn found the coffee pot on its heater and the cups right beside it, “all it takes is one disgruntled janitor…”

“You’re full of it,” Caitlyn retorted as she poured herself a small cup and began to add her cream.

“Maybe so,” he replied. “Maybe I’ve had one too many bad encounters with our dear Max. Still, even for a janitor the guy is a bit of a gloom-and-doom personality, wouldn’t you say?”

“He’s never unkind to me,” Caitlyn carelessly replied as she turned to head back to her telescope.

“B- hey! Wait!” called Doug as he followed her out of the room, “What is it you’re working on anyway? Your senior thesis?”

“Is there anything else?” Caitlyn asked with renewed annoyance upon realizing the twerp was going to follow her.

“Hmm, I guess not at this point,” he replied. “So, what’s it on?”

“What? My thesis?” she asked as she reentered the observation room. “It’s on that bright little dot right there,” she said as she pointed to the telescope’s computer monitor. “And if you don’t know what it is, then there’s no reason to talk with you about it.”

“That’s Io,” Doug said, matter-of-factly. “Uh, but, wait a minute! What’s that there?”

He pounced forward and stuck a long freckled finger on the monitor’s screen were a small yet brilliant light had suddenly ignited just down and to the right of Io.

“I… don’t know,” Caitlyn said, “there aren’t supposed to be any other moons or anything...”

“Hey! Maybe it's something to do with Io,” Doug said with enthusiasm, “you could write your report on it!”

“Maybe, but I don’t see how- oh my…” Caitlyn said, suddenly struck speechless by what she saw. Several lights, just like the first, suddenly blipped in out of nowhere. They speckled the face of Jupiter, but even as they appeared, they slowly fizzed out.

“What on earth is going on…?” Caitlyn asked.

“No idea,” Doug replied. “Hey! What’s happening to Jupiter!?”

Caitlyn had no words to reply. She watched in bewilderment as the high altitude gases began twist and leap off the planet’s surface like threads on a ball of yarn suddenly unraveling. Suddenly, the planet’s poles caved in, and the two hemispheres began to twist and contort like a blob of wax in a lava lamp. Then, slowly at first but gaining momentum, the now amorphous blob that was once Jupiter began to spin apart. Slowly but surely it gained momentum as yellow trails of helium and hydrogen spun out into the blackness of space. For a moment the two students stood in horrified amazement at what they’d just witnessed. Doug was the first to say anything at all.

“It… it just…” he stammered.

“…disappeared,” whispered Caitlyn in terror.

11-12-2009, 02:35 AM	#1
Tuinor Elven Warrior Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Wandering in circles until they become triangles Posts: 292	Fiddle and Drums Prologue It was a typical night at the observatory for Caitlyn. She had finally nabbed a time slot to use the observatory’s largest telescope to observe and photograph her senior thesis’ topic, the volcanic moon of Io, and its orbital path around the jovial planet, Jupiter. The sky was clear, and though there was some light pollution, it was the best she was going to get for a while, and her thesis wouldn’t wait. Still, photographing the Galilean moon didn’t promise to be very stimulating, and, knowing herself, she acknowledged that she would probably doze off accidentally if given half a chance to. Realizing this earlier in the evening, she had decided to bring in with her a bit of music to make the next twelve hours go by as painlessly as possible. However, her playlist on the little 8g mp3 player was only about four hours in length(and, regrettably, still managed to hold on to several songs as regrettable remnants of a formerly dissolved relationship), and even with the shuffle on it wasn’t long until she began to feel like the night would drag on forever. After hearing a particularly annoying song, which had so disastrously been a big hit in the late 90’s (and, unfortunately, in her recent ex-boyfriend as well) for practically the tenth time she concluded that the demonic digital device had it out for her sanity. Shutting it off (only after she’d deleted that song!), she decided to sit in silence as she watched with morbid concentration the little moon as it crossed the face of Jupiter with a drudging slowness that only a glacier could ever hope to match. It wasn’t long before she started to find it a bit strenuous to keep her eyelids up. Worse still, the chair she was in was undoubtedly designed with the evil intention of being perhaps the most comfortable one on the whole of the campus. “Why does this night have it in for me?” she thought to herself mournfully as she reluctantly forced herself up out of the black leather office chair. She decided it was probably time for a cup of coffee to help push her through the last couple hours of the evening. Leaving the telescope to do its thing, she walked out of the domed observation room, down the hallway to the student lounge. As she passed through the dimmed hall, she glanced up at a clock hanging just a few doors away from the lounge’s entry. “Fifteen till three? Oh, god, what am I doing here? All I can manage to think about anymore is a cup of hot chocolate and my favorite fleece blanket." So detached with her thoughts Caitlyn was that she failed to notice a certain redheaded man leaning against the far wall to her right as she came in. “Well, evening, Caity!” he said in a loud, overly enthusiastic voice that made her start as she was jolted from her sweet daydreams. “Oh, god!” she said with a gulp, “Doug! You scared me to- oh never mind! It’s Caitlyn to you, anyway.” Doug was a fellow peer in the astronomy department, and she shared many classes with him. However, he had a rather obnoxious personality at times, and tended to be much too immature for her to tolerate for any great amount of time. Needless to say, they rarely conversed much, but regardless of the fact, he still addressed her with that tone of familiarity which only served to further her dislike of him. “Oh, c’mon, Caity,” he said with a chuckle, “we’ve been in the same classes for, what? nearly three years now. I think I deserve to get to shorten your name just a little bit.” “Caitlyn’s too hard for you to say?” she asked with annoyance, “It’s got the same number of syllables as ‘Caity!’” “Hmm,” said Doug, “I guess that’s one point for you.” “Well, what are you doing out here this late at night anyway?” she asked. “Oh, I work here part times,” he answered, "it's for the work study program." "I tried to get into that program!" Caitlyn was screaming in her mind, but what came out was“It doesn’t matter, eitherway. Is there any coffee put out tonight?” “Ugh, you mean you trust the staff to serve coffee?” Doug asked with a sneer. “I’m sure they don’t poison it or anything,” she answered. “You never know,” said Doug just as Caitlyn found the coffee pot on its heater and the cups right beside it, “all it takes is one disgruntled janitor…” “You’re full of it,” Caitlyn retorted as she poured herself a small cup and began to add her cream. “Maybe so,” he replied. “Maybe I’ve had one too many bad encounters with our dear Max. Still, even for a janitor the guy is a bit of a gloom-and-doom personality, wouldn’t you say?” “He’s never unkind to me,” Caitlyn carelessly replied as she turned to head back to her telescope. “B- hey! Wait!” called Doug as he followed her out of the room, “What is it you’re working on anyway? Your senior thesis?” “Is there anything else?” Caitlyn asked with renewed annoyance upon realizing the twerp was going to follow her. “Hmm, I guess not at this point,” he replied. “So, what’s it on?” “What? My thesis?” she asked as she reentered the observation room. “It’s on that bright little dot right there,” she said as she pointed to the telescope’s computer monitor. “And if you don’t know what it is, then there’s no reason to talk with you about it.” “That’s Io,” Doug said, matter-of-factly. “Uh, but, wait a minute! What’s that there?” He pounced forward and stuck a long freckled finger on the monitor’s screen were a small yet brilliant light had suddenly ignited just down and to the right of Io. “I… don’t know,” Caitlyn said, “there aren’t supposed to be any other moons or anything...” “Hey! Maybe it's something to do with Io,” Doug said with enthusiasm, “you could write your report on it!” “Maybe, but I don’t see how- oh my…” Caitlyn said, suddenly struck speechless by what she saw. Several lights, just like the first, suddenly blipped in out of nowhere. They speckled the face of Jupiter, but even as they appeared, they slowly fizzed out. “What on earth is going on…?” Caitlyn asked. “No idea,” Doug replied. “Hey! What’s happening to Jupiter!?” Caitlyn had no words to reply. She watched in bewilderment as the high altitude gases began twist and leap off the planet’s surface like threads on a ball of yarn suddenly unraveling. Suddenly, the planet’s poles caved in, and the two hemispheres began to twist and contort like a blob of wax in a lava lamp. Then, slowly at first but gaining momentum, the now amorphous blob that was once Jupiter began to spin apart. Slowly but surely it gained momentum as yellow trails of helium and hydrogen spun out into the blackness of space. For a moment the two students stood in horrified amazement at what they’d just witnessed. Doug was the first to say anything at all. “It… it just…” he stammered. “…disappeared,” whispered Caitlyn in terror. Last edited by Tuinor : 11-20-2009 at 02:11 AM.