MCYT RANDOMNESS 2

Perpetual Motion pt1

Pov: Cub

'Is the moon big?'

'No chance.' I reply to Grian at the S8 hermit meeting. 'Or it's part of its regular cycle. At some times of year it appears a bit bigger, but not for long.'

'Alright...' Grian sounds unconvinced. 'Even THIS big?'

He pulls out a couple of photos. I join the hermits crowding closer to see.

'Yeah, that's normal,' I hide my worry at the size comparison of the pictures. 'Besides, it's a scientific impossibility that the moon would get bigger without us experiencing some other dramatic events beforehand to knock it from its usual orbit.'

'I trust Cubfan's opinion on this,' Xisuma defends me with. 'But if anything else happens, message. Ok?' We all agree. I'm still hiding my nerves, but most of the server trusts my lies. 'Unless we have anything else to discuss... meeting's over.'

We all disperse. I'm still hiding my worry as I return to the Canyon. I'll just do a few tests of the server's gravity and the moon when it comes out to make sure I'm right. The moon growing that much is normal, right?

The ground shakes. 

I hold to the nearest rock as the world shifts under my feet. It's short, stopping only a few moments later. But chat fills with comments anyway. I don't join their chaos, running further into my base to see if this really is nothing.

A few days pass. I do some basic experiments, simple equations, measurements. Nothing seems off. Or if it does, not by much at all. There are a few more earthquakes, growing worse, but still too short to test, if I even had the right equipment or knowledge to test them. 

So... I conclude there nothing wrong. If something as big as the moon changing orbit happened, it'd be impossible to ignore. Some change in gravity, or huge increase in mass. Surely our bases aren't big enough to cause that. We've build more in other worlds. World generation? I message friends in other servers... Hbomb and Fruitberries from MCC and they no, say everything's fine where they are. And if there's no cause, there's nothing wrong. That's what I tell myself when I redo my tests and the results are different.

I just made a mistake, I decide, setting up to repeat. I missed some detail, or I incorrectly calculated a sum. Even the tiniest mistakes would create monumental difference for something like this. I redo everything from the numbers I got at the start of the tests. I get the same. So I redo the entire tests.

And get the same result.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And-

Knocking. 

Loud, insistent, knocking wakes me. I'm on the ground, surrounded by paper.

'Uhhh... I'll be out soon! Just tidying up!' I call, managing to stand.

'Is everything ok?' Scar. Of course its Scar.

'Scar, I'm fine. It's just a bit of mess... I'll tidy up, and then we can chat.' I speak over him. 

'Cub, seriously.'

'I've been looking into the moon stuff a bit... actually you could help me, once I've sorted out in here...' I gather handfuls of paper in my hands, hiding it in a shulker box. There's a bit more space now, so I let Scar in.

 'Cub, what's going on?'

'This will actually be really useful... I've never been able to start the timer exactly when I dropped the stuff, so you can just drop it when I say.' I chuck over the chunk on amethyst I've been failing to use correctly to test the gravity.

'I'm not just going to...'

'Now!' I start the timer. Scar reluctantly drops the amethyst. 7 seconds. 

'I think you dropped it a little late. Just, the moment I say go, drop it. Ok?'

'Cub, please, just... I want to talk.'

'And- now!' Again he drops it.

'I just want to talk.'

'No, no, we need to do it a few times to get a good sample.'

'Cub...'

'It just stop it being inaccurate again...'

'Cub.'

'That's what happened before.'

'Cub-'

'Just a few more times and then...'

'Cub, stop this!' 

I'm pinned to the wall. I drop the clock I was holding, blinking as I stare into Scar's eyes bright blue with vexling anger.

'Woah, man, are you ok?!' I question. 'What's wrong?'

'What's- oh my gosh, Cub, REALLY?!' He steps away, starting to pace. 

'Yeah, what's wrong?!' I repeat. 'One moment you're fine, the next you've ATTACKED me!'

'You've been interrupting me for the past 5 minutes! Making me do your weird experiments, just ignoring me...'

'Scar, seriously man.' He's still just pacing. I gather up my stuff. 'Why are you so upset?'

'Why have you been HIDING?' Scar yells back. He hasn't been sleeping. I know he hasn't been sleeping.

'Hiding?! What do you mean, man, it's just been a few days...'

'It's been 3 WEEKS!'

What.

'3... weeks?'

'No one's heard from you in 3 weeks. And now I come in here and you're interrupting me, your base is a mess... I've been messaging you over and over again... what HAPPENED?'

'I... I thought it was just a few days,' I barely say, the words a mumbled squeak. Surely it's not 3 weeks. Surely Scar's exaggerating. But there's so much mess in here. And I don't remember going to sleep. But... 3 weeks? Surely not. I'm better than THAT.

'3 weeks, Cub,' Scar repeats. Tears shine in his eyes. 'You've been unresponsive for 3 weeks.'

'You're... serious?' I run a hand through my hair. 'I- I must've been so focused on my experiments... it was just a bit of stuff disproving Grian's big-moon theories... stop the hermits worrying.'

'Have you... been outside at all?'

'I mean... all my stuff's in here, Scar. Why?'

'Grian was right.'

'Nah, nah... look, somewhere here I've got proof... I have reasons, some stuff on the time of year... the moon's not growing, Scar.'

'It- IS... bigger.'

'Really...?'

His communicator buzzes. Scar sighs as he reads it.

'What's going on?'

'Grian wants a Boatem meeting... urgently... now... everyone else's here... Scar come on hurry up... Grian, I am talking to Cub right now!'

'But, the moon can't be growing... ah, here it is...'

'I'm sure it's all wonderful sciencey stuff, Cub, but Grian's insistent I come to the meeting... something to do with the moon. If I don't come, he'll find me and force me, or I'll miss something really important... but I'll be right back, ok?' I follow him out of the canyon into the early night outside. 

'Alright, man... take it easy, ok? Get some more sleep and stop listening to Grian so much.'

'Bye, Cub.'

He takes to the air.

And then I see it.

The moon rises above the horizon. 

Bigger.

It's bigger.

Terror crawls down my spine. I can't breathe. I can't move. I can't look away from the moon rising, looming, huge, glowing. Despite everything I've learnt, and seen, and researched, the moon's big.

F***.