Numb3rs AU: "oil and tears" (outer space)
Title: oil and tears.
Author: Keenir
Fandom/Claim: Numb3rs, Amita.
Rating: Mature.
Prompt: Outer Space
Summary: As a mathematician, Dr Amita Ramanujan is a crucial teammember when it comes to the Calone...and their fate.
Author's Note: This type of world (and other kinds) can be found in the magazine Cosmos.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Double-check your seat belts," Colby Granger told her as he tapped the brake.
"I'm good," Amita Ramanujan said as their house-sized ship slowed its descent into the atmosphere, as Colby steered towards the appointed landing spot. Great care must always be taken, given how many things in the Pythagorean skies were flammable - their target had been chosen because of the grade of the land and the region's weather at the moment.
There were no windows for her to look out, so Amita contented herself with watching the numbers change on the screen instruments...We have to hurry up and land - there's a hydrocarbon rainstorm coming out way from the oil oceans - but she said nothing, dread to interupt Colby's concentration.
The landing was smooth as silk, gentle as a considerate lover. The proximity readouts informed them both that one of the natives was already very close by, and coming closer. Amita unbuckled herself and, before darting to the sidecar, dropped a peck of a kiss on Colby's nearer cheek in thanks. "I'm fixing beans later," Colby called after her.
Amita smiled a little, visible only to herself at this juncture. Pretty much anyone who went near this planet knew about the ancient Greek mathematician who had met his end in a bean field.
Once in the sidecar, Dr Ramanujan instructed the hull to retract from the armorglass that was the sole means of visually looking at Pythagoras and its inhabitants. She gripped the railing and waited.
Like the core of faroff Earth, the core of Pythagoras was iron and like liquid metals spinning quickly. Pythagoras was like Earth in many ways: possessing continents, oceans, an atmosphere, and native life.
One of those life-forms was approaching right now, in fact. Their own name still being unknown to humanity, they were called Catone, a noun contraction of Category One or Below, a simple legal statement declaring the fact that the Catone civilizations was still far below Category One on the Sagan Scale - C1s could harness all the solar energy from their star. Humans were only slightly above C1 by now - and she and Colby were part of the organization whose purpose was to enforce the laws - and protections - of the human sphere (her and Colby were part of a sub-organization focused on this one solar system).
Amita braced herself as it neared the screen. There were many nicknames for the Catone, often drawn from the stories of Earth itself...cthulhus, vodyanoi, the blobs. "Hello," she said to the Catone as it drew itself up to eye level with her, hoping that 'hi' had finally been added to the translation program's list of successes. Whether in answer or jumping right to business, it said -
2=1 2=1 1=2
Amita sighed. This is going to be a long day... but then, she'd suspected as much when she boarded with Colby to ask questions down here.
~~
Pythagoras was like Earth in many ways. Except, Amita knew as well as everyone else, I can never walk barefoot upon its surface. None of us can. And the reason for that was carbon...an element Pythagoras did not simply have in abundance, but had spilling out the figurative ears.
The crust and upper mantle were thick with the carbons and certain ceramics. Like Earth, the crust of Pythagoras was thin in comparison with the rest of the planet; and like Earth, that thin crust was large enough that the upper crust pressed down hard upon the lower and mid-reaches of the crust...
Creating diamond. Such vast deposits of diamond that the greater asteroid impacts left shimmering craters in their wake.
And, within this year, there would be one more crater added to Pythagoras' sum total. That was why their boss, Agent Eppes, was talking to them over live video conferencing in their ship: "That was the last one, I'm afraid," Don said. "The asteroid's still coming."
"What do we do now?" Amita asked.
"Same as before - keep people from pestering the Catones, help them in any way we can, and salvage what we can."
It's left to us to comfortingly hold the hand of an entire race as they slip into extinction.
"So that's it?" Colby asked. "We run out of things to throw at this thing, so now we're left making sure nobody hits the guy on Death Row?"
"Pretty much, though your analogy sucks."
Colby shrugged.
"I agree with you, for what its worth," Eppes said.
"But orders are orders?"
"That, and we can't rewrite the laws of physics."
True, Amita thought to herself. That asteroid is going to crash into Pythagoras, carve or boil or smush out a new crater, and wipe out God knows how much life from the surface and the seas...at least it'll be a match set with my heart.
Before this call from Agent Eppes, Amita had recieved a tele-mail message from Charlie...lacking even the decency to show his face in the message, he had said that he was sorry, but he was getting back together with Susan.
She'd cried in Colby's arms until Don's call.
Deep down, Amita wondered if there was another level of meaning to the planet's name: The stupidest outcome possible, she thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End
Author: Keenir
Fandom/Claim: Numb3rs, Amita.
Rating: Mature.
Prompt: Outer Space
Summary: As a mathematician, Dr Amita Ramanujan is a crucial teammember when it comes to the Calone...and their fate.
Author's Note: This type of world (and other kinds) can be found in the magazine Cosmos.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Double-check your seat belts," Colby Granger told her as he tapped the brake.
"I'm good," Amita Ramanujan said as their house-sized ship slowed its descent into the atmosphere, as Colby steered towards the appointed landing spot. Great care must always be taken, given how many things in the Pythagorean skies were flammable - their target had been chosen because of the grade of the land and the region's weather at the moment.
There were no windows for her to look out, so Amita contented herself with watching the numbers change on the screen instruments...We have to hurry up and land - there's a hydrocarbon rainstorm coming out way from the oil oceans - but she said nothing, dread to interupt Colby's concentration.
The landing was smooth as silk, gentle as a considerate lover. The proximity readouts informed them both that one of the natives was already very close by, and coming closer. Amita unbuckled herself and, before darting to the sidecar, dropped a peck of a kiss on Colby's nearer cheek in thanks. "I'm fixing beans later," Colby called after her.
Amita smiled a little, visible only to herself at this juncture. Pretty much anyone who went near this planet knew about the ancient Greek mathematician who had met his end in a bean field.
Once in the sidecar, Dr Ramanujan instructed the hull to retract from the armorglass that was the sole means of visually looking at Pythagoras and its inhabitants. She gripped the railing and waited.
Like the core of faroff Earth, the core of Pythagoras was iron and like liquid metals spinning quickly. Pythagoras was like Earth in many ways: possessing continents, oceans, an atmosphere, and native life.
One of those life-forms was approaching right now, in fact. Their own name still being unknown to humanity, they were called Catone, a noun contraction of Category One or Below, a simple legal statement declaring the fact that the Catone civilizations was still far below Category One on the Sagan Scale - C1s could harness all the solar energy from their star. Humans were only slightly above C1 by now - and she and Colby were part of the organization whose purpose was to enforce the laws - and protections - of the human sphere (her and Colby were part of a sub-organization focused on this one solar system).
Amita braced herself as it neared the screen. There were many nicknames for the Catone, often drawn from the stories of Earth itself...cthulhus, vodyanoi, the blobs. "Hello," she said to the Catone as it drew itself up to eye level with her, hoping that 'hi' had finally been added to the translation program's list of successes. Whether in answer or jumping right to business, it said -
2=1 2=1 1=2
Amita sighed. This is going to be a long day... but then, she'd suspected as much when she boarded with Colby to ask questions down here.
~~
Pythagoras was like Earth in many ways. Except, Amita knew as well as everyone else, I can never walk barefoot upon its surface. None of us can. And the reason for that was carbon...an element Pythagoras did not simply have in abundance, but had spilling out the figurative ears.
The crust and upper mantle were thick with the carbons and certain ceramics. Like Earth, the crust of Pythagoras was thin in comparison with the rest of the planet; and like Earth, that thin crust was large enough that the upper crust pressed down hard upon the lower and mid-reaches of the crust...
Creating diamond. Such vast deposits of diamond that the greater asteroid impacts left shimmering craters in their wake.
And, within this year, there would be one more crater added to Pythagoras' sum total. That was why their boss, Agent Eppes, was talking to them over live video conferencing in their ship: "That was the last one, I'm afraid," Don said. "The asteroid's still coming."
"What do we do now?" Amita asked.
"Same as before - keep people from pestering the Catones, help them in any way we can, and salvage what we can."
It's left to us to comfortingly hold the hand of an entire race as they slip into extinction.
"So that's it?" Colby asked. "We run out of things to throw at this thing, so now we're left making sure nobody hits the guy on Death Row?"
"Pretty much, though your analogy sucks."
Colby shrugged.
"I agree with you, for what its worth," Eppes said.
"But orders are orders?"
"That, and we can't rewrite the laws of physics."
True, Amita thought to herself. That asteroid is going to crash into Pythagoras, carve or boil or smush out a new crater, and wipe out God knows how much life from the surface and the seas...at least it'll be a match set with my heart.
Before this call from Agent Eppes, Amita had recieved a tele-mail message from Charlie...lacking even the decency to show his face in the message, he had said that he was sorry, but he was getting back together with Susan.
She'd cried in Colby's arms until Don's call.
Deep down, Amita wondered if there was another level of meaning to the planet's name: The stupidest outcome possible, she thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End