A Rose by any other name...!

[thespaceopera]

Suddenly, the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose begin to move on their own... slowly, calmly, they drift to into the same direction, away from the other ships of the fleet. Slowly, they move until they side by side.

Over the two ships' intercom, an old song begins to play. And that is all the warning there is before the engines engage -- full speed ahead.

Like a pair of rockets, the ships torpedo forward. As they move, they start circling around each other, like a synchronized dance. They move with incredible grace and skill, far more masterfully than the average pilot augment. Except, each time that they pass each other, they clearly get closer to one another.

And closer...

And closer...

No matter what buttons the crews press, no matter how much they might panic, nothing is going to stop the inevitable. On the final pass, it becomes clear there's not enough room between them to avoid a collision. Any impact alarms on the bridge are blaring at full blast. Any other ships watching will not have time to attempt any sort of interception.

CRASH!!

As if to shield spectators' eyes from the horrors of ships colliding in space, there's a blinding light upon impact -- and once it gradually fades, the results can be clearly seen by all: There is no wreckage. Nothing is broken. But where there were once two ships... now there's only one.

One ship that is looks completely new, but yet is reminiscent of both the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose.

-----------

On the bridge, the crews of the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose arrive, along with the usual pop! of Atroma confetti and ridiculous jingle music upon a successful shuffle. Sitting in the captain's chair is a round cake, just large enough for everyone to have one slice. There's a single candle, and the following message scribbled on top in yellow icing:

"Congratulations - SS Twin Roses!
Happy Fusion!"




... What, did you think you were going to die? Sorry about that.

Comments

[goldenglasses]

Oh. [He debates saying how maybe she'll be saved back home at the last second, but feels that may be rude. He doesn't know how she's about to die after all. Still, not a great future to think about being sent back to one day.]

Well, at least you're here now. You have all kinds of places to move forward to.

[passingthrough]

[Just so much downside with going back even if she does survive it in the moment.]

At least there's that. The plan, in as much as we can have plans, is finding a way to get out of here of our own choosing and going back to Winn's world with him. [It always sounds like such a fairy tale when she says it aloud to someone else.]

[goldenglasses]

That sounds like a pretty good plan. What world is Winn from? An Earth one? [Vash doesn't actually know for sure, but as it seems about 80% of the fleet seem to be from some sort of Earth it's a safe bet.]

[passingthrough]

[Nodding.] An earth one. From a place called National City. Known for their generic city naming abilities. He thinks they have the best pizza. He's right about so many things, but not that one. [Little smile.]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash laughs at the pizza. He remember the pizza day he went to that Kitty and Pinkie put on. He went mostly for Pinkie, but it's pretty clear now why there was a pizza party.]

Oh yeah? I think I remember hearing something about a deep dish pizza?

[passingthrough]

Chicago's specialty was deep dish. It wasn't even my favorite back then, but... it reminds me of home now. The good parts of it.

[goldenglasses]

I think I can understand that. There was this type of... ah, well, it was called food but it was more like eating a rock that people would sometimes eat. Never thought I'd want to eat that again, but you know what? If I found it on a planet I would probably buy one for that taste of home.

[passingthrough]

Okay, deep dish is definitely better than rock food, but I get what you're saying.

What was it called? The place you landed after leaving earth?

[goldenglasses]

You know, I'm not sure we've given it an official name. Most call it Gunsmoke. Although I've heard No Man's Land used now and then.

[passingthrough]

Gunsmoke like the TV show? Not a hospitable place? [No Man's Land isn't the most welcoming, nurturing sounding name for humanity's home away from home.]

[goldenglasses]

I can't say. Never seen a show of the same name.

And no, not at all hospitable for humans. You were around for the moon covered in poison, right?

[passingthrough]

It's an old one from Earth that ran a long time. It was a western. Which, maybe doesn't mean anything to you under the circumstances. [She doesn't know how much people older than him spoke of earth.]

I was there. It was like that?

[goldenglasses]

You know, there was a desert planet we landed on that I heard some people describe as "western" if the show was like that planet I don't think it would be too far off. [Just add some sandworms, occasional futuristic technology, and a lot more murder!]

And home wasn't poison like that moon was, it's the terraformers, I don't know if you went inside one, but they were designed unsettling familiar to the ones at home. Different power source was the main difference. [He'll leave that topic alone unless she asks more about it. As trying to explain his sisters was never a topic he enjoyed getting into.]

Most people who knew the proper way to care for them and bring out their full potential have either perished or the technology has been so damaged they can't thrive like they could be capable of. If we hadn't have lost both those things then the Plants - our terraformers - would have been able to eventually terraform the planet into a place humans could live.

For now, they're doing all they can to keep producing enough food, water, and basic needs to keep the population we do have going. If we lose those Plants then the planet would be completely uninhabitable for humans.

[When he speaks of the Plants he doesn't have the tone of someone talking of a machine. Instead his tone is one someone may take when discussing someone living. Of course there is the possibility that the affection could be assumed is derived from how important the terraformers are to the planet.]

[passingthrough]

I think those shows had a desert-ish vibe. Dusty at least.

[She's a nerd for science, but she's also been a bit distant from the places they visit, so she doesn't ask about the terraformers. She'll enjoy a system if there is something to be enjoyed, but for someone who has spent her whole life trying to protect others she's been remarkably uninvolved when people are in trouble. Her last abduction was to a prison that turned out to be virtual reality and they played with people's heads a lot. It was hard—impossible really—to know what was real and what wasn't. And some of that carried over here. She's not sure she's not still in a virtual reality environment and even if she's not she doesn't really believe the people and events they are encountering haven't just been selected for drama by the Atroma. She's not interested in jumping through their hoops. Even if she still pulls in a lot ratings money just from living the life she wants to live. Of course, if someone was in immediate danger in front of her of course she'd act. It's easier to stay away when it's something her augment doesn't suit her for helping with. But right now they aren't talking about the inhabitants of the poisoned moon. They're talking about Vash's world.]

I'm sorry. It must be a rough place if you've lost most of your engineers already. [Unless they were very old to start with, judging from Vash's apparent age she'd think they'd still be around.]

[goldenglasses]

With twin suns my home is very desert. Nothing but actually.

[He shrugs with an easy going smile. Like the fate of his world doesn't bother him when in fact it does.] Well, most were lost during The Fall- ah, a crash that happened when we first arrived. Not to say that home isn't rough, but it's not all bad. The stars at night and all the moons are absolutely breathtaking every night.

Although, I guess that's not so impressive after living in space for this long, huh?

[passingthrough]

It can still be impressive. I'm still impressed when I see plant life that is growing and healthy. That was less and less common back home. [So more about what they didn't have than what they did, but she wouldn't put down his night sky if that's all he had or even if it wasn't.]

[goldenglasses]

[Sadly, it's hard to find positives on Gunsmoke, but Vash would pretend like it was easy.]

I'm sorry to hear that, but maybe one day it can bounce back a little. [That was the point of Project SEEDs. It wasn't the whole population, just enough to give the Earth a better chance.

They hoped.]

[passingthrough]

[Sometimes just the fact that a place is home is something even if that home is the worst. Though she has good memories of home before it was the worst in her case.]

...Maybe someday. [Kurt painted a very doomed picture of the world after her death. But maybe the world will heal itself after all the people are gone and some other race will find it and make a home from their ashes.]

Either way...we're here now.

[goldenglasses]

Here and on the... Twin Roses is what it's called now, right?

[passingthrough]

That's the name. It's going to take some getting used to. All of it. The crew matters to me a lot more than the ship, but it's still a big change. [Big change to the crew too. It's not like a single new person arriving who they integrate into their ship.]

[goldenglasses]

Yeah, maybe we should check on each of our crews for now. I mean, we're alright, I guess I was kind of hoping with the last ship fusion that happened while I was asleep no one was hurt during it?

[After all, shouldn't they be hurt if it was overly dangerous?]

[passingthrough]

No one's been hurt. I think pushing more people to interact is probably the goal, not the drama of injuries. Or maybe they just don't want to maintain so many ships.

[goldenglasses]

Probably. Can't be entertaining television after all if nothing ever changes. Or at least, I assume so.

[passingthrough]

Probably not a lot of television on a developing planet, I guess. Well, I'm sure we'll all have a bonus for this week in our account. Not bad for something you slept through.

[goldenglasses]

None at all on my planet. [He sighs at the idea of sleeping through something so massive.] Lucky me. If there is a big bonus for sleeping though I may just put it towards upgrading the new ship.