Chapter Text
The world that the Star Blaster descends towards is hot. Hot, and dry, and bright. The desert stretches as far as they can see, the sun glaring off sand and forcing them to squint. Shrubs and cacti are scattered across the landscape, and not a lot else.
“This might not be so bad!” Despite the unwelcoming surroundings, Barry sounds optimistic, and the mood is more or less shared by all of his companions. On the last planet they had been as successful as they could have hoped for - Light of Creation collected, no crew deaths, and they had prepared the world’s inhabitants as well as they could before the Hunger arrived.
“It’s better than freezing our asses off for a year, that’s for sure,” Merle agrees, trying to get a better look at the flora below them as the ship continues to move towards the ground. “A bit desolate, though.”
A bit desolate, but not completely. They can see a couple different towns in the distance, connected by a long straight road - the same road they find themselves hovering over, about a hundred feet in the air when Davenport stops their descent. There are small figures spread out along the edge of the road, holding brightly coloured flags. Most of them are gesturing up towards the ship, and those of the group with sharper eyes can see one of them bring a small device up to his ear.
“We’ll have company soon,” Lup reports, watching the man speak although she can’t tell what he’s saying.
“That can be dealt with momentarily, watch for the Light for now,” Davenport raises a hand over his eyes, trying to block out the sun, his eyes following the road as the rest of his crew spreads out along the deck.They have a routine by now, eyes in as many directions as possible with the hope that one of them will see the Light of Creation arrive on the new world.
And they’re lucky, this time, because they do see it. The fast, bright streak of white is impossible for any of them to miss because it’s so close - it falls directly into the closer of the two towns. There’s an even brighter flash for a split second as it hits the ground, but no sound or movement, and then their surroundings look exactly as they did a moment before.
Magnus lets out a whoop and punches the air. “This is going to be an easy one!” He holds up a hand towards both Lucretia and Taako, who are on either side of him, and receives near simultaneous high fives.
“Wish there was a beach though,” Taako glances around the scenery again, and nearly misses some movement in the distance, well away from the road. “Uh...guys? I think there’s someone down there in the sand, by that cactus. He’s holding...scissors?”
“Never mind that, the cavalry’s here,” Davenport points a ways down the road, and they can see several blue vehicles coming towards them. “Everyone listen up. With any luck, these people will be rational and listen to reason, and this will be a simple extraction. We’ll go with a diplomatic approach for now, but stay sharp, just in case.” He begins to bring the ship down again, landing on the road gently as the vehicles continue along to meet them.
Reasonable people and a simple Light recovery - that wasn’t too much to ask for, right?
~
More exciting news, listeners!
Night Vale has visitors. And no, I don’t mean that streak of light that fell from the sky minutes ago. You know, the one that landed in The Vacant Lot Out Back of the Ralphs? The one that was quickly taken into custody by the Sheriff’s Secret Police and escorted to City Hall? It’s a shame they got to it so quickly, I know of at least one scientist who would have loved to get a look at it.
Anyway, it’s not that - it’s a spaceship, out on Route 800! A real - and I assume tangible - spaceship! I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid.
One of the traffic cops out on the road called it in, and Sheriff Sam is already on their way out to...greet...the newcomers. I’m sure we’ll be getting an update soon.
More on this as time progresses - despite our best efforts. And now, a word from our sponsors...