The Gravity of the Situation [Video, cross-campus]

[trustycrowbar]

[Normally Gordon's little messages to the school at large are brief. Terse, is a better way to put it. A quick flick of the switch and a message that inkling ink may be non-toxic but that doesn't mean you should paint the lab specimens with it (For example.) and a quick flick of the switch off again.]

[Not so today. The feed comes on and he stares at the camera, raking a hand through his hair and starting to mouth three silent beginnings to three different sentences before he actually finds one with a voice. There's something he wants to say, but no permutation of words will make it easier to hear.]

I've, uh... Students, faculty. No doubt you've noticed that the moon hasn't gone out of full for the past week or so, and in fact looks even bigger now. I've been taking some readings. The shift in the center of gravity of the moon-planet binary and parallax measurements tell me that it's... not just an optical illusion.

The moon has, somehow, left its orbit.

I only mentioned this to the security chief before now, because I wanted to be absolutely certain of my suspicions and of where the moon was actually headed. I would like to say that it'll just harmlessly slingshot around us and into the sun. I really, really wish I could say that, in fact I spent several nights trying to make the numbers work so I COULD say that... but I can't. There's no other way to plot the trajectory, other than directly at us.

[He picks up some papers, eyeballing them on the camera, making sure he this part straight.] Now... Apparently this has happened before. A world by the name of Termina actually survived the event, but they had four guardian giants that awoke and... [A mistrustful squint at the paper.] physically shoved the moon back into orbit. [He puts the paper down.]

Obviously we're a little light on sleeping giants. As a matter of fact, I have no damn clue how to fix this, or even if we can. The four masks are involved--and there ARE four--but it's anyone's guess as to how they are. What I do know is, if we don't do something, the moon will strike the earth, and every single living creature on this planet down to the last microbe might be eradicated.

If anyone knows anything about this or has ideas, now's the time to step up. You might just save more than just the school. Also... in the event that we CAN'T stop it, I advise everyone to start making plans for quick evacuation back to your homeworlds. If you know someone who doesn't have a homeworld or can't reach it, then consider taking them with you. They may have to start all over but trust me, if that moon hits, then any place will be better than here.

[Private, to Skull Kid]

Kid... I know you were there. Your student file is hazy on the details, but I know you were there in Termina when this happened the last time. I didn't mention your name earlier and I don't intend to, because when people are panicked they can do some awful things when names are dropped. But, we still need to know everything you know if we're going to keep this planet in one piece.

So what exactly happened there?

Comments

[monotreme_101]

My home is an Island that floats in the sky. It's stuck there by the power of the Master Emerald - If we can find a power source like that, maybe we can somehow figure out a way to get it up there onto the moon and it will... float...?

I dunno. I'm not real good at plans.

Hey, what about if we just... smashed the moon? Is it far away enough that we could blow it up? Or punch it in half??

[trustycrowbar]

...

Punch it in half?

[Uh.]

If we're talking that kind of solution, the only scale that makes sense to me is a nuclear warhead. It might change its trajectory, but I doubt it would blow it off-course enough for it to miss us.

[And of course, then we'd have to deal with radioactive rubble falling into the atmosphere, but honestly a couple of rads per person might be worth it.]

[machomonotreme]

Yeah. Punch it. In my regular form, I can punch the ground hard enough to cause earthquakes. But when I have all seven Chaos Emeralds, I can go into a Super form that gives me way, way more strength. I don't HAVE any Chaos Emeralds.... but I mean, if we can find 'em and somehow get me up there, then maybe I can fix this. I never tried punching anything that big that hard, but it couldn't make things any worse, I figure.

Or even if I can't smash the moon, maybe I can dig enough tunnels through it that it gets weak enough to blow apart with a bomb? Dunno how big the moon ACTUALLY is or whatever, but I can dig real fast.

[trustycrowbar]

Wwwwwhat the hell are Chaos Emeralds? Before we cover ANY other part of that plan.

[And trust me, he will.]

[lovesthepain]

...My world's history has seen an incident like this one, too, and it rendered the surface of the planet inhospitable to human life for years. Even centuries later, it's still recovering.

This isn't the time for baseless optimism, no matter how remarkable the people here might be. I... feel evacuation might be the safest choice, but what can we do about those who aren't able to leave this place at all?

[trustycrowbar]

[Aw hell.]

How many people can't?

[It's an obtuse question, but this line of thought catches him off-guard. He himself literally can't go home, but he can at least take a portal offworld somewhere.]

[lovesthepain]

I don't know that for certain, only that in some cases people are unable to leave whatever rift this place exists in. Even one is enough, though, that we need to consider options other than evacuation, even if it seems like the only reasonable option.

[private]

[drawin_on_trees]

[OH NO. Skull Kid always knew this day would come, when somebody here would find out he was involved in what happened in Termina. With everything happening again, someone was bound to come after him about it. His days here were numbered, he was sure of it.]

I... I was... it wasn't my fault, okay? I swear! I didn't mean for it to happen!

Re: [private]

[trustycrowbar]

[Asdf... simmer down, scarecrow.]

Look, it's okay, you're not in trouble! I overhead your reaction to Zero and those masks. No one who's really guilty would react like that.

I still need to know everything that happened over there. Just tell the truth. That can't get you into trouble.

[C'mon, kid...]

Re: [private]

[drawin_on_trees]

Promise you won't send me away?

[golonghorns]

So, you're sayin' that this world is roughly seven shades of screwed.

I got no patience for masks or sleepin' giants or anything else. I think we need to start gettin' kids on to trains and teleporters and whatever else we can to get 'em as far away from here as possible. They've got to survive.

[trustycrowbar]

Agreed.

I'm still trying to work this puzzle out. Can I count on you to organize getting the the kids out of here? I'm not going to sugar-coat this; I've seen simulations. An impact of this scale would probably liquify the planet's crust. Everyone has to get off the surface.

From what I understand, some of them actually can't leave, but hopefully with some of Zero's and the other's help and the advanced tech in their worlds, we can try to construct something in low orbit to bunker them up somewhere. It'll be rushed, though, so it's best that as many people head home as they can instead.

[golonghorns]

Jesus - sending kids into space? I don't know about your version of Earth, Gordon, but that's something people train for for years where I'm from.

How much time are we talking about here? You must have some kind of idea of the time frame.

[babylonmechanic]

Hm. If we still had the Ark of the Cosmos, this would be a piece of cake. If only we had something capable of altering gravitational forces on a macroscopic scale...

[trustycrowbar]

[Well, now that you mention it...]

...Have you ever heard of a "zero-point-energy-field manipulator?" It's a gravity gun, basically. Experimental to my world, and I think I have the only portable version. It suspends gravity around objects and fires them back with extreme force. That sounds hopeful, but this version can't budge anything more massive than a car, let alone a moon.

If you think you can up the scale on the idea, you can take a look at it.

[babylonmechanic]

...You have a device capable of suspending gravity around objects, and you didn't think that might be useful?

I want to see it.

[shiest_sunbeam]

Without knowing more about this particular celestial object, it's harder to figure out a proper procedure to ensure the safety of the populace...

But I'm willing to help in anyway I can.

[trustycrowbar]

It's... the moon. About one-quarter the mass of the planet, covered in weird portal-conductive dust...?

Hold on. Do you have any moons around Aza... as...

[What was the name of the world, again?]

[shiest_sunbeam]

Azeroth? Yes, we have two.

[She feels there's a condescending hint to his words which doesn't faze her but does make her visibly uncomfortable so she looks away.]

When things of this magnitude act abnormally, usually back home there was much more of a reason than just 'it suddenly began to act this way'.

I guess I was just trying to figure out if there was more to this world's moon than just being a 'giant rock in the sky'.

[She sighed a little before crossing her arms, still not looking at the camera.]

Well in any case, offer still stands, with evacuation or whatever else.

[pyroblasters]

Whoever the Moon god of this dimension is must really be slacking, huh? You might want to look into finding them and telling them to get back to work.

[trustycrowbar]

[Gordon grumbles a little. Oddly, judging by what Skull Kid had told him, he's not that far off.]

Out of curiosity, you can't do anything about this, can you? There are a LOT of people here that would prefer not to have their day interrupted by the whole "moon smashing into us and destroying all life" thing.

[pyroblasters]

Hm. Pyrrhon doesn't really have the firepower to destroy it. Pyrrhon's managed to push a pretty big object around before, but it left me so drained that I was comatose for a year and a half, and it wasn't as big as the moon is...

Worst comes to worst, Pyrrhon might be able to try that, but I'd rather wait to see if anyone else has any ideas first.

[will_be_god]

My research has yielded the same conclusion. That said, there is insufficient time to construct rockets large enough to correct it, and we cannot risk the destruction of the moon either.

...Perhaps the fabled Regigigas, mover of continents, would be able to fight against this. However, it would have to be launched into space to do so, and with enough force that it could not be retrieved.

This planet has survived an even larger collision in the past. However, it was a calamity so great that it is believed to have created that same moon...No life would survive, as you conclude.

[trustycrowbar]

Regigigas?

[Oh god. It's another Ancient Legendary Thing That Saved Us All That One Time, isn't it? That makes the third one today...]

You're right on all accounts. I'd been holding onto hope, but building a rocket on freakin' school grounds just doesn't seem feasible in the time we have left. I'm holding out on destroying it or changing its trajectory, only because it's the only choice we've got left. That and getting the hell offworld as fast as we can...

...

What do you know about masks, Cyrus?

[Well THAT was an abrupt change of topic. One that implies either a correlation somewhere, or that Gordon's losing it entirely.]

[will_be_god]

Regigigas is an ancient being, the leader of what is commonly known as the Regi trio, or "Regis". They embody steel, ice, and rock, while Regigigas is a normal type. Legend says that it, as I said, moved the continents during the creation of the world. Although this is doubtful to be true in the literal sense, there may be a kernel of truth, albeit several billion years removed from that time. The planet is constantly changing, as you know, and there have been many movements in the past that seem to have no tectonic trigger.

That said, we must alert those here that to destroy the moon will only destroy us all. You are aware as well of the destruction that would cause to the structure of the planet.

...I assume you speak of a specific relic. Those brought up not long ago?

Now I ask you. What do you know of the Red Chain?