OOM: A (Mostly) Uninhabited World

[mandercommander]

On the other side of the door is a large forest.  The door opens on a high ridge in this forest; through a clearing, you can see for miles and miles.  There's not a human in sight...no signs of civilization, and though the plants are similar to those one might find in a forest in the Pacific Northwest or in Britain, there's also something somewhat alien about the place.

Off in the distance, one can see a large river flowing towards an ocean.  There are some splotches of clearings here and there, but mostly the area is covered in miles and miles of old-growth forests.

Comments

[themidnightson]

"People would have you believe so--"

Edward stops where Bonzo does, lifting golden eyes slowly, traversed his gaze, stoically, over the object.

It means far more to Bonzo than it does to him. It's an insect carcass, and even though it is quite large, insects aren't all that interesting on any basic level to vampires.

"--while literature and history frequently prove it otherwise."

Especially that the simplest things to have or want were the most complicated to attain and maintain. Being alive, feeling alive, chiefly among them.

Finally, eyes moving from it to him, peripherally; in a tone that is both indifferent and yet still calmly, evenly aware and musical; "Would you prefer a different way?"

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

There's a long moment of thought before Bonzo replies. He's really got to think on that.

"What do you mean?" He's perplexed, as Edward might note.

[themidnightson]

He's rarely had to repeat himself for Bonzo, but he supposes this is a trying enough case in and of what it is. He wonders if Carlisle or Jasper would be more interested in the thing, even as he answer the question he was bid to.

"That we could take an alternate route?"

A forest was full of paths.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

"I think I'll be fine." He looks the exoskeletons over for a moment. "Just that I never saw one up close before."

[themidnightson]

"Never?"

Edward's gaze doesn't change per say.

But to have never seen your opponent....

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

"No. They were...always light years away. We saw pictures, vids, but..." Shrug. "Space is a really big place."

[themidnightson]

Edward's expression was slightly wrinkled.

That was so very different.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

"We just had no way of coming into contact with them one-on-one. The war was fought with a commander on Eros commanding his fleet over an instantaneous communication system."

[themidnightson]

Fighting them from a long distance.

Never once seeing your enemy even as you killed them.




It's so very




(inhumane is the word he's searching for)

But it isn't at once, too. It's very human to want to push a few buttons and eradicate what is in ones way, without any due cause to it. His kind would approve.

"That's a very different way of fighting a war."

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

"It's...really the only way to do something at those distances, I guess." Pause. "You can't have your best guys on all the battlefields of the galaxy in the space of a few weeks, after all."

[themidnightson]

Only.

How many leaders and wars were recorded having used that word?


"Why not?"

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

"Physics. The speed of light is...something of an unbreakable law for objects. You can communicate, but not move, faster than it."

Though Edward might well try and disprove that proposition, Bonzo would be hard-pressed to see that done.

As they continue past the ruins of what was probably a Bugger logging operation, Bonzo leads them down the empty road...for ease if nothing else...for a while.

[themidnightson]

Wars fought through computer screens, across light years. How far that was from the war he'd envisioned entering before his life so entirely changed with the Spanish Influenza and Carlisle.

Edward walked companionably well, at least, appearing unruffled by the differences.

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

And on some level, Bonzo would have trouble envisioning outright trench warfare. He'd seen something akin to it in his time, but nothing quite on the level of World War I.

"It's strange..." Bonzo looks around at the forests and meadows. "...I never got to see any place this...open...back on Earth."

[themidnightson]

Edward looked up, from the extensive distance he'd been looking forward into, for the space of the trees and the span of the sky.

"And yet you did adjust to the openness of Milliways."

[mandercommander.livejournal.com]

"It took time. It...wasn't overnight, and I did get into a few fights when I was first there." Pause. "Also, it was limited. It was open, but...there's almost a backdrop in Milliways."