Another of these, (here’s the previous four), and I might share the rest tomorrow. Don’t know yet. Still bad writing, still want to share it.
I hope you enjoy.
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It was the third alarm that woke Purvell up. From a deep sleep involving dreaming about things that they would not be able to remember anything about other than vague notions of things happening and vague, lingering emotions they found themselves jolted into a state of grumbling and wanting to go back to sleep. Unfortunately it still was a day of work and it was likely to be another day of very little happening.
They rushed about, getting ready as quickly as they could and fixed themselves a small breakfast before taking off to the observatory. It was a nice day and as such it was a nice day for cycling which, as always, was just long enough. Still, it felt far longer than usual and that may have had to do with being as tired as they were. Maybe they’d be able to sleep at their desk, but that was probably not worth the risk. They probably could get away with it, but if something went wrong and they were the only ones who could take care of it, they weren’t sure that they’d be able to wake up quickly enough to be of any use.
Purvell reached work easily enough and it was a day of days, as it usually was. Clouds hung in the air and seemed to drift in the way that only clouds of a certain size can. They spent a little bit of time looking up before parking their bike and heading on in.
Into the foyer they walked and they went and they attempted to scan themselves in, but the scanner was not working. It was not the first time it had happened this month and it probably wasn’t going to be the last and so Purvell begun knocking loudly. Some of the evening crew should still be on – they would be wrapping up pretty son, but some should still be on – and so they hoped one would answer. Thankfully Purvell didn’t have to wait so long.
One of the staff came on and opened the door. They talked about whether they should leave it propped open or not and decided to wait and see. Whilst they were walking to their working space, the scientist told Purvell about how two people came around trying to ask about Mercury Retrograde. They thought it a silly thing, coming around at a late hour at night and told them that the observatory was open in the morning before telling them to go away. Purvell wondered if these two people had seen the same thing. It certainly was odd to come late at night. Maybe they were drunk. Maybe it was coincidence.
After eating Purvell went to the shower and showered as cold as they could tolerate. They felt it would be better to be s awake as possible now rather than later.
Soon they found themselves at their little space once more and, after loading everything up and punching in data from watching Mercury’s path, they set about trying to kill some time. There still were plenty of hours left in the day and so there were plenty of hours they were able to spend waiting for something to happen that they could take care of.
This was a time where Purvell hoped that they’d be afforded the opportunity to stretch their legs and go wandering, but of course they were unable to for now as they could still be needed. They had a strong feeling that they wouldn’t be needed at all, but just in case they had to be there. Just in case they needed to make sure that they were at the ready if they had to take care of something and so once more the day seemed to stretch out into eons compressed into hours and they were there, feeling and living the whole thing and unable to get away from it in any way, shape or form.
Eventually they decided to let go and go for a walk. It was a much better use of their time and they were sure that something would be along their way by the time they got back, or at least they hoped that something would be there for them to take care of. Of course there was no telling at this particular juncture in time, but hope was always there.
They did the rounds and kept an eye out for Rigby and Clay, assuming that they would’ve been there somewhere, but neither seemed to rear their head.
Eventually Purvell made it to the telescope and thought about what they saw the evening prior. They thought about it and thought about how it probably meant nothing, if anything. They wondered if this was some sort of new phenomena, or if it was really hold and they wondered if perhaps Mercury had interacted with something near it that caused the stretch to occur. Maybe it was no stretch at all and what they had seen was light coming back to Earth in a really weird and delayed way, and that’s why it looked like there was a trail. Of course there was no real telling without further research and there probably wouldn’t be anything more unless they could discern something more than what they saw.
They wondered what else they’d collect data on, then decided to head back to their desk and see if they could view the footage again. It was something of a eureka moment for Purvell; specifically, the kind of one you have when something really obvious seems like something rather genius due to how tired you are. Still, it was a good moment for them as it meant they’d be able to spend at least a bit of the day doing something.
There were some issues with getting their computer to access the recording, as though the computer was resisting attempts to view it, but it gave up and let Purvell continue on. They first made sure the data was definitely logged. It had been logged in the morning, but they just wanted to double check. They then created a backup copy of the data and included the additional information from what they had seen, so they had a comparative that, if more evidence presented itself, they’d be able to refer to and continue on from there. They then watched the footage over.
It seemed as though the trail had completed disappeared. There was no glitch; there was nothing other than Mercury moving across the sky. However, after a while it became apparent that there was a slight smoothing left behind Mercury as it moved across the sky. It was strange and it invited curiosity, but at the same time Purvell was willing to chalk it up to visual data glitching. They wanted to know more as they felt it meant more, but they also were too tired to care enough to go on with further research on this particular smoothness.
Within themselves they began to argue about what they should and should not do when they heard that two people had come looking to find out more about Mercury Retrograde. This was not something they wanted to deal with at this particular moment, but they needed something more to do and so once more abandoned their desk in pursuit of some sort of engagement.
They met up with the two people who looked unassuming enough, though one had a bit of a wilder look in their eyes and the three of them proceeded to discuss Mercury retrograde and why it occurs. They went into detail about how it appears and what happens as it travels across the sky, and how it is interesting that it appears in the sky even thoguh Mercury is a bit farther away, asking it seem much closer and smaller and more insignificant than it is even though we know it is largeish and much farther away.
One of the two asked about Mercury doing strange things doing retrograde, which Purvell met with silence initially, for they needed to think about the answer they were going to provide. To them this seemed like two other people saw what Purvell saw and perhaps this could lead to some sort of confirmation that there was something more to it, but three people hardly make a consensus strong enough to put something forward. On a personal level it meant that Purvell was assured that they weren’t going crazy in some manner. However, they still felt they could not say anything about it and so, after thinking for what felt like an additional eternity, they advised that there was no information they could provide, but they’d note that the two had seen what they saw.
After describing it to Purvell, Purvell invited them to check out more of the public access areas whilst they headed on back to their desk to note the information, then said their farewells.
Purvell found themselves hurrying a little faster than they would have liked. Getting to their desk sooner wasn’t going to make much of a difference in how quickly things happened, but they still rushed regardless. Once they sat down they made notes of what was discussed. They then decided to head back to the telescope to kill some more time.
When they got there they decided to take a look at whatever it was pointing at at that particular time. However, they found that there were issues with the viewing, as though something internal had broken.
They gathered a few other people to take a look and, confirming that none of them were imagining it, found themselves at an impasse. How soon could they get someone out to have a look at this? This could halt a good deal of research and reporting and so this needed to be addressed as quickly as possible. They began to leave the room when a creak cut through the air.
The telescope’s supports snapped and the telescope dropped toward the ground, letting out a loud, violent and sudden thunk that was over as quickly as it started. Seemingly it was still quite intact but quite damaged and dented, and this of course created issues that complicated things.
Purvell was not looking forward to the rest of the day.
Stupidity Hole 