Chapter Text
The biting chill of the cold alpine night is the first thing that Kel notices. While home wasn’t exactly a tropical paradise this time of year either, something about the pitch-black darkness and lumbering pines made it feel colder than it probably actually was.
“So, do you know how many people are stationed at this observatory?" He asks his driver.
He soon realized, during his journey here, that his driver was a man of few words, preferring to grunt and gesture in response to any question rather than use actual words.
-Maybe I found the last living caveman.- Kel briefly thought to himself before the driver could form a response.
“No clue.”
…
-Well, at least he can talk. -he thinks as the driver opens the trunk to grab Kels' luggage.
Kel packed sparsely, only a few days of clothes, his laptop (with plenty of entertainment and useful apps pre-downloaded), phone, a few small necessities, his diploma, and a plush that he's had for as long as he can remember.
His new employers told him that everything he would need would be at the site or readily available for him, although they weren’t very forthcoming with details about his living conditions, just the nature of his work.
He was told that he would be stationed remotely in the alpine wilderness and would actively search for anomalous signals in the night sky. Exactly the kind of thing he got his astrophysics degree for. The pay isn’t half bad either, at least for a fresh graduate. On top of all that, he was stationed in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than what his employers describe as a “minimal workforce” and the owls to keep him company.
-God, I still remember the hordes of unwashed masses that accosted me regularly back in school.-
A particularly nasty memory of a certain lab partner who was philosophically opposed to taking regular showers caused a shudder to run down Kels' spine as his suitcase is handed to him.
“Thanks, is the main base beyond that security booth?” Kel asks the driver.
“Yep” the driver so eloquently grunts
“Well, thanks for driving me all the way here.”
And with that, his travel companion of 6 whole hours gets back in his car and is gone from his life forever.
“Suppose there's nothing left to do but get walking” he states as he begins the hike of unknown length and difficulty in the middle of the night in unfamiliar woods.
-Why did I have to be dropped off in the middle of the night again?- he thinks as he continues past the guard booth until something catches his eye.
-And why the hell is the guard booth boarded up?-
Sure enough, a handful of planks stand on guard on the door frame. Kel turns on the flashlight on his phone to get a better look at the interior and finds it in a state of complete disrepair.
“It looks like no one has been in here in years. I guess minimal staffing might mean that they don’t hire a round-the-clock guard?”
Ignoring this red flag, Kel continues past the gate and makes his way down the gravel path. This turned out to be significantly more difficult than he had originally thought, as the small wheels of the suitcase did practically nothing, and he was forced to effectively drag it along behind him.
As he struggled his way towards the main base, he began to feel progressively more anxious. The pitch-black night, the wind howling through the valley, and the complete lack of any distinct noises like he was used to back home. Everything was coming together to creep him out; however, something else was contributing to his growing anxiety, something that he couldn’t quite pin down.
As he continues down the path, he finds a sign pointing in the direction he came, labeled as 'base', right next to a bridge that crosses the river flowing through the valley. Just beyond the trees, Kel thinks that he sees the vague outline of something big with a bright red light hovering at the top.
-Might be one of the satellites, the base is probably in the middle of the array.-
Looking back at the gravel path, he sees that it continues on in the same way he had been following and figures he should keep going the same way. So Kel begins his struggle down the road once again.
As he continues walking, the sense of anxiousness that started as an itching at the back of his mind has evolved into a small pit in his stomach, slowly growing with every step. Eventually, Kel begins to identify at least a part of what is making him feel this way: the loneliness. A loneliness that one can only feel when they’re walking through dark woods alone at night, and start to question whether they’re actually alone.
Quickening his pace, he finds another signpost with one arrow labeled 'gate', another as 'base', and a third arrow labeled 'whiskey'.
“I wish” he says as he continues down the path.
A short time later, he begins to see a shape forming in the darkness in front of him, along with another red light. Kel realizes that it looks a lot like that massive shape he saw earlier, and quickens his pace again to get a better look.
Finally, he reaches the base of the monolith of steel and concrete. A satellite dish, quoloqialy known as 'Juliet', according to the nameplate in front of it.
“Hot damn, I knew they were big, but it’s something else to be so close,” He thinks aloud as he thinks about the poor bastard who has to maintain these steel behemoths.
Just beyond the hill ahead of him, he thinks he sees the top of some other structure that was most likely the main base. His anxiousness had only grown worse over the course of his hike, and he would like nothing more than to get out of the open, but the opportunity to directly inspect the equipment he would be using to scour the stars was too tantalizing to give up. Besides, he would probably be cooped up in the base for most of his time here, so taking the chance to get a good look at one of the satellites would be a rare opportunity.
Beginning the climb up the obviously rusted metal stairs, he takes care not to walk too hard or fast in any one spot.
-God, this thing could use some maintenance. I can literally see the joints rusting.- Kel thinks as he moves as fast as he can along.
Reaching the top, he sees a double door made of steel with a button depressed into its center. Pressing the button, the doors open with the sound of hydraulics.
-Why does the satellite have such a heavy-duty door? Do they get trespassers here? Then why the button and not a keypad?-
Forgetting that line of thought, he walks into the room and finds a light switch to the side of the door. He sees one server rack and an integrated terminal. The server rack was alive with the sounds of cooling fans, hard drives, and countless electrical bits doing their job, whatever that is. A green light at the top of the server most likely indicated its operating status, which Kel could only assume to be functional.
After a quick inspection of the server, he turns to the terminal and turns it on with the power button. A debug screen is the first thing that pops up, with a list of commands to the right. Kel decides to test one of the commands and enters 'sv.ping' into the terminal. To his delight, a list of multiple satellites ranging from Beta to Zulu, all saying that they receive 4 out of 4 packages, which he hopes is a good thing.
With his first official act as Astronomer of this observatory finished, Kel turns to leave the satellite with a feeling of pride swelling up in his chest.
Turning off the light and leaving the small room, he is greeted by the same crisp air that he felt getting out of the car that brought him here.
*CRACK*
The loud snapping of a sizeable branch being crushed underfoot rang through the air.
Kel froze.
Swiveling his head towards the general direction of the noise, he holds his breath and feels his heart rate skyrocket. He scans the surrounding area with an attention to detail he hadn’t bothered with until the notion of something being out there with him had come up.
He stays as silent as he possibly can for 30 solid seconds as he waits for something else to happen and for his adrenaline rush to go away.
Eventually, after an appropriate period of careful attentiveness, he loosens his stance and tries to calm himself down some.
-God, I’ve been here all of 5 minutes and I’m already paranoid.- He thinks as he lets go of the breath that’s been building up in his lungs.
Chalking it up to some woodland creature bounding majestically through the woods, he begins to carefully make his way down the stairs of the satellite.
Once he reaches the ground, he continues with his walk towards the base at the same pace he had when he arrived at Juliet.
Meanwhile, an unknown observer thinks to themselves -Shit! This may complicate things.- as they slink back into the darkness as silently as they can manage.