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content/read/029.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 It was difficult for Codrin Bălan to reengage with the project at hand after what seemed to be an ever-mounting pile of oddities.
 
-It was not simply that ey had been finding piece after piece of new-to-em information about those that ey loved --- though it was also that --- nor was it that eir entire clade seemed to be entangled far deeper into something going further back than expected --- though it was that as well --- but that, by virtue of the twin launches and the L<sub>5</sub> System remaining back around Earth, ey was limited to reading much of this over plain text. Text that had flowed over sheets of paper in a comfortable font, bound itself up in books, and begged to be pored over, stood itself before em and said, "Read me, understand me." It all added one layer of remove that, despite eir attraction to the written word and fine paper and comfortable fonts and nice books, left em feeling caught up in some dreamlike state of almost-understanding.
+It was not simply that ey had been finding piece after piece of new-to-em information about those that ey loved --- though it was also that --- nor was it that eir entire clade seemed to be entangled far deeper in something going further back than expected --- though it was that as well --- but that, by virtue of the twin launches and the L<sub>5</sub> System remaining back around Earth, ey was limited to reading much of this over plain text. Text that had flowed over sheets of paper in a comfortable font, bound itself up in books, and begged to be pored over, stood itself before em and said, "Read me, understand me." It all added one layer of remove that, despite eir attraction to the written word and fine paper and comfortable fonts and nice books, left em feeling caught up in some dreamlike state of almost-understanding.
 
 As an example, there was this seemingly universal agreement among the Odists that no one of them should be the one to tell the entirety of the tale, and each for their own reasons. There seemed to be shame bound up in all of them, in some way, but beyond that, both instances of Dear had diverged to the point where the foxes were starting to come up with their own explanations for not providing that info to their respective Codrins Bălan.
 
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ The Dear on Pollux: *You could interview any one of us about the entirety of our
 
 Eir Dear had said, *"You will doubtless tease it out of me, bit by bit, you tenacious fuck."* But given what both May Then My Name and Dear#Pollux had said, ey no longer wished to try.
 
-And so here ey was, sitting in a dark field, looking up at the stars. Very dark. Well and truly dark, beyond almost anything Ioan had experienced phys-side, or even after uploading. There was a purity to that blackness, just as there was a purity to the red-filtered flashlight that Tycho Brahe (not his real name, but he had requested the pseudonym) used to guide them both to the top of a --- yes, pure --- grassy hill.
+And so here ey was, sitting in a dark field, looking up at the stars. Very dark. Well and truly dark, beyond almost anything Ioan had experienced phys-side, or even after uploading. There was a purity to that blackness, just as there was a purity to the red-filtered flashlight that Tycho Brahe (not his real name; he had requested the pseudonym) used to guide them both to the top of a --- yes, pure --- grassy hill.
 
 "I come out here on nights when I am depressed," the old astronomer had grumbled. "And that has been most nights, of late."
 
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ And so here ey was, sitting in a dark field, looking up at the stars. Very dark.
 
 "Isn't it? It reminds me of a trip to the west coast that I took long, long before I uploaded. This grassy hill in the middle of a wide ring of firs. You can't see it, but the grass is not actually grass, but a sort of moss. When it's freshly dried out after a rain, it's delightfully soft, isn't it?"
 
-Codrin nodded, then, realizing that ey could barely see Brahe next to em, murmured, "Almost cushy."
+Codrin nodded, then, realizing that ey could barely see Tycho next to em, murmured, "Almost cushy."
 
 They sat on that hill in silence, leaning back on their hands and watching the stars overhead.
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ It had taken a few moments for Codrin to get eir bearings when they had first st
 
 Codrin frowned up at the sky. "I didn't think that pictures could make it into the System. Systems."
 
-Brahe sighed quietly. "They can't. This is just a projection. A description based on what I know the stars to look like combined with information based on where they are relative to the fisheye lens on the side of the Dreamer Module."
+Tycho sighed quietly. "They can't. This is just a projection. A description based on what I know the stars to look like combined with information based on where they are relative to the fisheye lens on the side of the Dreamer Module."
 
 "And so you project that combination into a sim?"
 
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ Brahe sighed quietly. "They can't. This is just a projection. A description base
 
 There was a quiet lie in that admission, but Codrin let it slip by. "Can you tell me some more about what I'm seeing?"
 
-"Of course, Mx. Bălan," Brahe said, audibly brightening.
+"Of course, Mx. Bălan," Tycho said, audibly brightening.
 
 He pointed first to the brightest star, low on the horizon. "There, see? That is the sun. The launch arms let us go at such a point that we are traveling along the ecliptic in order to use some of the existing orbital velocity we were already on. We have a disadvantage from Pollux, as we were released counter to that orbit."
 
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ He pointed at something else, and it took Codrin a moment to discern in the dark
 
 "You don't seem particularly happy about your situation."
 
-Brahe's laugh was bitter. "Of course I'm not happy. I mean...I *am* happy, but that happiness is tempered by the whims of reality more than I had expected."
+Tycho's laugh was bitter. "Of course I'm not happy. I mean...I *am* happy, but that happiness is tempered by the whims of reality more than I had expected."
 
 "What would your dream experience be?" Codrin asked, enjoying a secret smile at the phrase couched within the ultimate dream experience that was the System.
 
@@ -80,13 +80,13 @@ Brahe's laugh was bitter. "Of course I'm not happy. I mean...I *am* happy, but t
 
 "I suppose that's why this place feels so much more romantic to me," Codrin mused. "I'm a storyteller, not an astronomer. Still, I imagine that that need for stories runs deep, and I can see the allure to possibly being able to actually look out a window at stars whizzing by."
 
-"Yes." Brahe sighed, then lay down on his back, with his arms crossed behind his head. "Yes, to see it all."
+"Yes." Tycho sighed, then lay down on his back, with his arms crossed behind his head. "Yes, to see it all."
 
 There were a few minutes of silence as astronomer and historian looked out into the night sky, there in the simulated pacific northwest, there on the simulated moss surrounded by the simulated trees while simulated stars shone still above them.
 
 *They don't twinkle,* Codrin thought to emself. *That's what it is. They don't twinkle, and the last time I saw them was from Earth, and all those who uploaded and made sims with star-filled nights, never left that aspect out.*
 
-Ey mentioned this to Brahe, who laughed good-naturedly. "Of course. You're right. If they twinkled, it might feel more natural, but there is no reason for it, here. This place is a dream. My dream. The stars are there, and they don't twinkle."
+Ey mentioned this to Tycho, who laughed good-naturedly. "Of course. You're right. If they twinkled, it might feel more natural, but there is no reason for it, here. This place is a dream. My dream. The stars are there, and they don't twinkle."
 
 "You said this view is constructed with data from the Dreamer Module," Codrin said, gently directing the conversation to topics that might please the astronomer more.
 
@@ -96,13 +96,13 @@ Ey mentioned this to Brahe, who laughed good-naturedly. "Of course. You're right
 
 "Alright, close your eyes."
 
-Ey did so, and when Brahe instructed em to open them again, the sudden change in the sky was, indeed, a little dizzy-making. The entire field of stars had changed, and where there had been warped but familiar constellations, there was now a deeper blackness, brighter stars, and far more of them. Far, far more. "What is this?"
+Ey did so, and when Tycho instructed em to open them again, the sudden change in the sky was, indeed, a little dizzy-making. The entire field of stars had changed, and where there had been warped but familiar constellations, there was now a deeper blackness, brighter stars, and far more of them. Far, far more. "What is this?"
 
 "A different view. A more powerful telescope looking at a patch of sky that we've never had a chance to see from this angle. One compounded from hours of exposure. I have no idea how exact it is, though, as it's all interpreted through the perisystem infrastructure, but it's still doing a slow sweep of the sky at a high enough magnification that the star field is completely different from what we're used to."
 
 "I wouldn't have thought that that would've had such an impact on me," ey murmured. "I felt like I was falling for a moment."
 
-Brahe sighed. "I did, too, the first time, and even now I'm not sure why. I think it's the mix of contexts. Here we are, looking out to space from the westernmost edge of the Western Fed, and yet all of the stars are different. They progress in such strange ways as the telescope searches on its automatic pattern."
+Tycho sighed. "I did, too, the first time, and even now I'm not sure why. I think it's the mix of contexts. Here we are, looking out to space from the westernmost edge of the Western Fed, and yet all of the stars are different. They progress in such strange ways as the telescope searches on its automatic pattern."
 
 "It's uncanny."
 
@@ -110,11 +110,11 @@ Brahe sighed. "I did, too, the first time, and even now I'm not sure why. I thin
 
 "Goodness, no." Ey laughed. "We were too poor for that."
 
-Brahe laughed along with em. "As was I. I do wonder, though, if I would have felt the same way I do now if I'd just had the chance to see the stars in such a new context before doing so here."
+Tycho laughed along with em. "As was I. I do wonder, though, if I would have felt the same way I do now if I'd just had the chance to see the stars in such a new context before doing so here."
 
 Codrin nodded, and a few more minutes of silence enveloped them as they took in that alien sky. 
 
-"You asked about the Dreamer Module, though." Brahe's voice had regained some of its strength. "And you're the one who works with stories. I'm sure you had your own questions, but there's a story there, that you might find interesting."
+"You asked about the Dreamer Module, though." Tycho's voice had regained some of its strength. "And you're the one who works with stories. I'm sure you had your own questions, but there's a story there, that you might find interesting."
 
 "Of course. I'd love to hear."
 
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ Eir frown grew. "Do you remember any names?"
 
 "The Jonas clade was pretty vocally against it. I think they even had compunctions about the launch, for that matter. There were some of the Odists, though I never took much interest in who. Their names are always so impenetrable. Let's see...there was Àsgeir Hrafnson, who has always seemed like he's against everything. Such a sour man..."
 
-Brahe continued to list off a few names, and Codrin continued to nod dutifully, but eir mind was elsewhere. The Odists' opinion on the launch seemed to range from, at best, utterly ecstatic, as Dear's had been, to, at worst, simply uninterested, to go by what Dear and May Then My Name had said.
+Tycho's continued to list off a few names, and Codrin continued to nod dutifully, but eir mind was elsewhere. The Odists' opinion on the launch seemed to range from, at best, utterly ecstatic, as Dear's had been, to, at worst, simply uninterested, to go by what Dear and May Then My Name had said.
 
 Was this another lie from Dear, or had the fox simply not gone looking for names in the debate?
 
@@ -152,13 +152,13 @@ Was this another lie from Dear, or had the fox simply not gone looking for names
 
 "I'm not sure," Codrin said, mouth dry. "Perhaps it was more of an image thing? As in, adding the module might damage how others viewed the launch."
 
-"Perhaps." Ey heard Brahe shrug against the moss-grass before he continued. "Anyway, that's the story. I don't know if it'll be of any use to you in your project."
+"Perhaps." Ey heard Tycho shrug against the moss-grass before he continued. "Anyway, that's the story. I don't know if it'll be of any use to you in your project."
 
 "It might. It already answered most of my other questions, too. The last one I have is that you invested entirely in the LVs. Why?"
 
 The astronomer was silent for a long time. "As upset as I get that I'm not actually able to see all the stars, even I am not immune to the romance of the idea. Imagine sitting at home, knowing that you could have flung yourself off into space, out among the dangers and excitement, and choosing instead that boring safety? The only benefit would be the combined knowledge of Castor and Pollux arriving at the station at the same time we'll get it on either one of our LVs, but, well."
 
-Brahe gestured up to the shifting night sky, leaving his words at that.
+Tycho gestured up to the shifting night sky, leaving his words at that.
 
 Eventually, even Codrin lay back in the grass. Lay there with Tycho Brahe in all his sadness and happiness and wisdom and romanticism. Lay there and looked up at the stars ey knew not for how long.