13 - In which Alkaid braves the elements

[icolo_alkaid]

Hey, Haseo! Atoli, too! Oh and Saku and Bo. Hell, anyone that might wanna tag along

Comments

[epicenity]

Why would you want to go out and see a bunch of stars?

[icolo_alkaid]

Because they're beautiful!

[epicenity]

But they're just a bunch of lights in the sky. What's so great about that?

[icolo_alkaid]

Well, when you think about the scale, it's overwhelming. Those are balls of burning gas that are easily much bigger than the planet we're on, so far away in the universe that they look like little spots in the sky. But each one of those spots is actually something so massive that we wouldn't even register as a dot on it if we were there.

And the light we see might not even exist anymore... that's how long it takes for the light to travel. A star could be dead and we'd never know it!

[epicenity]

... ehh. I never knew stars were that complicated. I’ve always thought that they were just dots in the sky, but I guess they’d have to be pretty big if we can see them so clearly so far away.

How do they die? Do they fight battles?

[icolo_alkaid]

Not exactly - they're balls of burning gas, like I said, so they're like a planet made of fire. Somewhat.

And stars can die two ways, if I remember right. They either burn to their extremely flammable core and explode violently and massively, or they slowly fizzle out as they burn all their fuel steadily.

[epicenity]

That sounds pretty cool. Do you think I'll see a star die if I watch it long enough?

[icolo_alkaid]

You might get lucky, but stars live for billions of years, usually.

We're sorta just microscopic blips on the map of space.

[epicenity]

Then I'll just watch a really old star. It's going to have to die eventually. Everything does.

But it does sound pretty amazing when you put it like that. I'm going to have to see this for myself.

[icolo_alkaid]

You should check out a book on stars, they're actually pretty awesome! It's so humbling, remembering how massive they are when you lay back and stare at them.

[epicenity]

I don't really read, though. It sounds pretty interesting, but it's not that interesting.

But if you lie on your back at night, wouldn't you just fall asleep?

[icolo_alkaid]

Pff, I love reading, I don't get what you're talking about. I bet if you read a little each night you'd get your fill.

Not me, I'm too energetic. I have a hard time sleeping!

[epicenity]

I only like reading when it's interesting. But if it's all just facts and stuff like that, I'd just get bored.

But reading implies that you have to actually sit down, right? How can you like reading if you're too energetic to even sleep?

[icolo_alkaid]

You obviously don't read good books! A good book will keep me paralyzed in my seat until I'm done reading it. Usually, if it's an action novel, once I'm done I can't sleep well for days!

[epicenity]

I read plenty of good books. They always have a lot of dragons and candy-houses in them. And isn't that just called 'insomnia'?

[icolo_alkaid]

No, I can sleep well when I'm not all wound up and excited. I'm just weird, is all.