4544/Mountain of Light

Mountain of Light
Date of Scene:	13 September 2016
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	After the criminal auction months ago, Alice enlists Ren's help to find the place the gem came from.
Thanks to:	To Tomoyo Daidouji for granting permission to spin off an idea in her scene into a new adventure.
Cast of Characters:	165, 807

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Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:


       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kolsr3bipfc
    The Secret Swim - James Earl Howard (0:00 - 1:27)
    Atlantis: the Lost Empire - 2001

    Several months ago, there was a strange and criminal auction which took place. Among those items was a single gemstone which did very strange things to the person who tried to use it, and brought a puppet to life.

    Those things have brought Alice to this place, one of the sections of the endlessly dense citied carpet that is Urbania: New Old Newcastle.

It's always a rather unpleasant environment in a city that's mostly powered by steam if it rains. Weather becomes very muggy and sweaty despite itself, and clouds of steam sometimes roll through like fog.

    That's why Ren brought an umbrella. It's taken a couple months to track down the source of the gemstone to this world, and he's not alone, either.

    There's a fifteen-storey building on the opposite side of the grand central train station they've emerged from, but that's not where they're going.

    They're going downtown.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Those several months have passed, that gem still embedded freshly in the dollmaker's mind as if it was just yesterday. It's been on her mind here and there and she wanted more, she wanted to see about grabbing something like that, it'd help so much with her dollmaking goal.

    That's where she's contacted a mutual friend of Tomoyo and hers. Ren. Following behind him, boots tapping on wet ground with a small scarf covering her face, the unpleasant air bothering her slightly. "So, here...?" she questions curiously, it's been a silent trip and Shanghai and Hourai wern't with her today, not like she'd need those dolls for something casual as a gemstone.

    "I appreciate your help, Ren. I'm glad I could contact you for it, just surprised it's taken this long. Must be really difficult to have find."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Well, not exactly here, we've got a little walking to do."

    "Ah, it's nothing. Tomoyo might have done it, but she's busy with her new creative venture, so I might as well take up the reins," Ren replies to Alice. It's an umbrella big enough for both of them, although possibly an inch or two too big. He's got to make sure not to knock anyone's top hat off or take off a horse's blinders as they walk past- there are more than a few people here even though the sun is setting and the streetlamps are lighting up.

    When she questions the big gap, he shrugs. "It took a rather long time to track down where the particular source of the gemstone was. It's strange, you'd think we'd be in a mine or a fantastic forest, wouldn't you?"

    He stops briefly to buy a newspaper from a simple covered stand, and shows it to her. The headline reads GHASTLY CLAMOR. Within a few minutes of walking downtown, the picture on the front page should match exactly that of what they're walking up to.

    With two police cars outside of it, it is a detatched house with a somewhat overgrown and untended garden either side of it. It has a large brass boiler on the side but in all respects it resembles a very traditional red brick property with the traditional white sections and black wooden beams, a conservatory and the like. The windows are dusty and some have been broken, and it seems as if the place hasn't been used in months. There are some bobbies outside.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Walking, she'll do it but she'd rather fly, it's faster and easier... but there's Ren. "Ah." she comments simply, taking a look around as she keeps up with him. "Ah, the Inspiration Trust. I'm doing things with that as well, but my own personal ventures come first."

    The umbrella protecting her from rain is nice, a smile upon her face under that scarf. "Well, it /is/ a rare thing, I mean... what it did to that doll-like thing... I wonder what it would do if I crafted something around it instead of attached it to something premade." she hmms, "And yea, forest... mines.. somewhere other than this city."

    The newspaper gets a look, it's not labeled BunBunMaru so... "Hmm..." then the flashing lights, 'Eh? Someone's here already?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Didn't know that was exactly your wheelhouse," Ren says, looking sidelong at her as they walk. He could indeed probably leap prodigiously alongside her if she decided to fly, but then again you might go straight through a cloud of hot steam, and you wouldn't want to scald yourself now would you?

     "I mean I thought it was more music and performance and that sort of thing." Of course, she is a dollmaker, but from the impression Tomoyo gave him it was more of a performing arts sort of thing. Still, Tomoyo herself does make clothing, so it would make sense...

    Ren presents a small leather ID case to one of the policemen. The paper card in there is usually blank, but he does in fact have his rarely-used Union-ally ID in there today, and from his jacket Ren produces a paper which explains Alice as a liasing party with expertise in this kind of thing.

    "Well," he says as they're waved through, opening the iron gate and walking in through the garden. "You might find any number of strange things in here. Although if you believe everything you read in the papers we've got ghostly sounds and clattering of chains by day and night in here. Sounds charming."

    "So," he asks, beginning to walk back and forth across the front of the house. "What would you say the best way to get inside and kick off a night of investigative horror would be?"

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "I still do that. The Human Village adores my bunraku's." she smiled, "But my primary profession is creating dolls. You know the dolls I use for my danmaku, right? All made by me." she smiled even brighter as she lets Ren take care of the policemen. She gives a quick bow towards them in thanks when they wave them through.

    "I've stopped believing papers because of the BunBunMaru." she shrugs, walking along with Ren some, "Well, if we can't get in, the best way is to laser the door off." a small spell circle is made and a simple doll comes into view. "I do hope we find quite a few things in there."

    "Hopefully the things we've come for actually." wait, horror. Eh, could be worse, her mom's a demon. "Eh, horror doesn't scare me. Should see my mother's cooking."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Huh... well, no, now you mention it, it makes sense."

    Interestingly enough, the front door is in fact locked with multiple padlocks, all but one of which seem to have been recently installed. "Has recently increased, round-the-clock police guard on the abandoned property, said to have been uninhabited for almost four months, been put in place to keep prospective thieves out," Ren pauses as he reads from the paper for dramatic effect, "Or to keep something in?"

    Inside, the house seems to be remarkably different. Naturally, there is a fine layer of dust covering everything, but there's also a lot of things for it to cover. Piles of books lie on the floor and cables snake openly on the floor, leading to plugs in the wall and carrying on further through the house. There's an uncluttered staircase leading upstairs, but further inside it seems that there are sources of light..

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "I try to make sense." she mentions, looking around the house... "Dunno but we're going to find out. And I can see if anything is dead or not... or true forms of anything here as a measure." she gives a stretch as she walks around behind Ren, let him take all the things, just in case. "So much dust here..."

    She looks around, looking at the plugs in the wall, following them with her eyes... and there's some light near stairs. Alice takes off floating up the stairs, just in case. "Hmm, what's up here?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "It seems as if the person who lived here was the kind of person who kept to himself," Ren says, blowing the dust off of a book. It's a book on Electromagnetics by Krauss. Next, Diamonds and Diamond Grading by the GIA; next, an unmarked journal full of astronomical records.

    "Don't be afraid to use that if you find anything suspicious upstairs," Ren says, walking past the staircase and in the direction of the glow.

    Alice will find that the rooms upstairs are relatively uncluttered, but there are a lot of holes punched in the floor to allow cables to go through to the ground floor. There is no master bedroom or anything like it- instead, various devices are built into and through the walls. They seem to be capacitors and chargers for batteries on huge scales. The other noteable features are a dumb waiter, and a small set of jeweler's tools and loupes which nobody would probably miss if Alice took them. There are small traces of gemstone dust near them which may ping Alice's supernatural senses.

    Other than that, nothing else seems unusual.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Of course." she gives a look to the books, most of them something she's got no clue about. "Hmm, such interesting things. Nitori would love to get her hands on some of this, she'd be happy to see something like this. Now only if she had a camera. Floating around is good at not making noise, just in case something might still be here. "Hmm, jewlers tools?" she questions, floating to them, picking them up.. "Something was up here. This seems familiar magic."

    She picks the tools up and summons a couple of dolls to hold them as she looks around, opening the door to the dumb waiter, "Wonder where this goes. Hey, ren? I found something that might lead down! I'm going to take it!"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
The dust feels like something that used to be alive but no longer is.

    Ren, meanwhile, is investigating. Further in, he's found something rather unusual- there seem to be a small assortment of items from offworld- a shard of sakuradite, a Mr. Fusion, even a portable high-efficiency gasoline engine. All of them are haphazardly placed here and there and connected to...yes, more cables. It seems as if both floors of the house are full of power generating or collecting devices.

    And, as Alice will notice if she notices some cables running into the dumb waiter, all of them seem to lead further down...

    Using the dumbwaiter to convey herself down there may make for a bit of a tight fit, but it's the quickest way down there. Alice will hear Ren calling something to her about trying to find another way to get down there- his voice shifts a little as she moves between the floors.

    When Alice gets out, she will find herself in the basement.

    The first thing she may notice is that there is a wall missing.

Of course, if that's the first thing she notices, then more lights have probably gone out than is necessarily a good thing...

    The cables drape down everywhere, and almost every single one is connected to a device. In the basement and the sewers beyond, in dozens of different sizes from the size of jam jars to that of a small car-

    Faraday cages are everywhere, connected by chains and wires to the stone ceiling. Electricity runs along the bars, and a huge master switchboard seems to control all of them. Like birdcages in their hundreds, they hang all around her.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Hmm, so many cables, wonder what they are for... thoughts go through the dollmaker's head as she rides it down, this is the most uncomfortable thing she's ever done... "Well, here... and he'll be down shortly, now where are we... and..." she frowns. There's a wall gone and it's dimmer. "Okay, need a bit more light here." she muttered, walking carefully around the cages and cables, trying not to trip over anything.

     ... She starts floating to make sure, going horizontal to avoid the cages too. "Ugh, this is too cramped.. and what's... a vehicle doing here? And this board..." Alice bites her lip and draws a doll close, nervousness gets her and she holds her position for Ren to make his way down.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    If Alice looks inside one of the cages, she may see...

    Bouncing around inside of it, pinging off of the bars, there is a gemstone. A round gem much like the one that she found at the auction, uncut, bouncing off of the electrified walls, being thrown back by the electromagnetic fields...

    And then the cage emits a dying hum, and the light it is emitting goes out. The gemstone flies out and circles around her.

    Upstairs, Ren looks around at the equipment, just as one of the batteries next to him runs dry and the lights go out on the machine next to him. That's when he notices that far more of these devices are off than on...

    More gemstones begin to appear out of the shadows. They circle Alice, like fairies, making patterns around her.

    Upstairs, one by one, everything is running out of power one device after another.
    Downstairs, another cage grows dull, and then another, and then another. More and more gemstones begin to spill out of their cages.

    "Oh, no," Ren says, watching everything fail around him. "Oh, that's not good, oh no...", as he begins rapidly pulling candlesticks and yanking on books. Where's the secret staircase when you need one?!

    One after another, each and every cage runs out of power, and the gemstones are streaming out. Some of them which were surrounding Alice are moving away now, beginning to spin around in a whirl in the biggest available space--

    And as the power goes out, and the very last lights in the basement go out-

For a moment, Alice may see an enormous structure forming, coiling around her, like a serpent or some sort of massively complex molecule--


    And then everything goes white.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Hmm, "Those gems look familiar." she mutters, looking in the cages as she floats about only to notice the cages starting to dim and then going out... and gemstones floating around her. "Well, this is new." she mutters again, looking at the ones encircling her.

    Alice doesn't notice anything going on upstairs, all her dolls are down here with her. "Hmm, what's going on? What's... being ma.." she blinks, the lights finally go out and... silence from the dollmaker, things go white for her and she doesn't move from her position. Who knows what happened down there, she can't see in the dark and she's not sure what those gems just did!

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
It does look familiar.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF6o9ZCCvpY
    Crystal World - Nobuo Uematsu
    Final Fantasy 9 - 2000

    Here, you are nowhere.

    Here, you need fear nothing.

    When the light clears, Alice will find herself standing on flat panes like glass, in front of an endless horizon. The /air/ feels hard. There is almost no source of light except that which seems to come from everywhere, and by the glint on the edges of things she can see spiralling paths moving out in different directions heedless of gravity or physics.

    Tiny dots can be seen, far away.

    It feels like being a fly amidst the crystals of a chandelier- or in clear, transparent amber. It doesn't feel cold or hot or anything at all.

    FROM WHERE HAS THE SEEKER TRAVELLED?

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Where... am I?" she questions to herself, looking around the new plane that she's upon. Everything felt strange, everything looked strange and by whatever deity she worships, ... where the hell was she? She tries to peer at the dots that are far away, probably unable to make those out. Then that voice speaks, giving the Dollmaker new pause.

    She opens her mouth to say something before quickly shutting it again, hmming. "I come from a land named Gensokyo. I am unsure of what the land was named when I was taken from to here. Who are you and where am I?" she questions back to the voice, spinning around to hopefully try and find it's location.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    YOU BLESS US WITH GREATER AWARENESS.

    There doesn't seem to be a source of this new voice. As Alice turns around, the lights sparkling within the crystals under her feet shift and move. It's like looking at one of those nightlights that would project things onto your ceiling to help you sleep. Or perhaps a sky full of stars, which those kind of things were always trying to look like. More colourful, though.

    YOU HAVE REACHED THE NIRVANA YOU HAVE BEEN SEEKING, AND WE ARE THE SPIRIT OF THIS SANCTUARY.

    If Alice concentrates, she will be able to make out that those dots themselves are people, far away but sitting calmly and seemingly without a care in the world.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Greater awareness?" she questioned, "Nirvana? Sanctuary?" ...Alice hmms slightly and then attempts to float up into the 'air' here and head towards those dots. "It is... good to hear you, Spirit. I'm Alice Margatroid, a humble dollmaker. I was searching for the gemstone that I saw used months ago... to give an otherwise soul-less doll live and sentience. YOu would not happen to know if I am in the right place, would you?"

    If she can't fly, Alice is going to walk, hoping that she has a couple of her dolls with her...

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Back in the real world...

    Ren finally figures out how to get down to the basement, barrelling down the hidden staircase two steps at a time. Emerging into the underground room, lit only by each tiny, individual candle-glow from each gemstone, he sees Alice's body floating in the middle of the helix that surrounds her.

    "Oh, no. Marisa's gonna kill me."

    And in the crystal world...

    Flying for Alice is not technically impossible. It's just that, well. The air- or, well, the space inbetween solid objects- seems to be hard, and pushing through it is like pushing through... hundreds of those draperies, you know, made of strings of plastic crystal-shaped beads.

    ...I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. YOU HAVE NOT COME HERE TO SEEK PEACE AND COMMUNITY?

    The people, far away as they are, continue to just sit quietly and do not notice her.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "Would you want me to lie?" she questions, "While I would love to have peace, I can't have it until my goal has been reached." she gives a brief smile before landing, moving in here is difficult. "Look, I don't know where I am, or why I am in this place but I'm just looking for a way to give my dolls a soul of their own." she shakes her head some and looks around before just sitting down.

    "It is, however, quite pretty in here." she comments to the voice, "Though, if I can ask, what community? I do not see anyone but a few people so far away."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
If Alice sits down, the crystal underneath her seems almost to sink and shift, molding itself to the contours of her body and raising up behind her to support her back.

    ...THIS IS ALL WE ARE.

    Alice may notice an undercurrent in the voice, almost a tremor of fear. Some distance away, she may notice that a portion of the landscape some distance away is conspicuously missing, as if it's been scooped out by a giant spoon.


"Oh, I see what's going on here," says Ren in the real world. He paces around the basement, walking around the helix of spinning gems. "A collective intelligence, isn't it? You're a hive mind. Little crystals but when you add them all together, you get something different altogether."

    "...but when you take something away..."

    By sheer coincidence, inside the crystal world, if Alice continues to watch the people who are sat quietly on the spire far away from her, she will notice their bodies are beginning to sink and melt into the crystal floor.

    The voice speaks again. It sounds uncertain.
    YOU HAVE A 'GOAL'... ARE YOU ANOTHER ONE WHO IS HERE TO HURT US...?

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Oh hey, it's nice that she has a seat instead of sitting on the ground, such a nice crystal place, only to blink at the now missing peice of area. "Eh?" she quetions then perks back up as the people sink in. "Hurt? I did not come here to hurt or injure anything, my goal isn't for harm. It's to bring new life into the world, a sentient doll with their own free will. I'm not going to hurt you if that is what you are questioning."

    She looks around, "I wonder what Ren's doing..." she muttered, turning back to look at where the people sink into the ground, "I came to do some research, not to hurt. If I've done something to injure you, I apologize, but it is not my intention."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
There is a feeling, akin to being in a warm and welcoming home, but it's suddenly awkward because your host's mood has just soured out of nowhere.

    The voice speaks again, and as it does the colours in the crystals swirl, changing from bright white sparkles and warm colours to colder blues and purples.


    "I wonder if you can hear me from the outside," Ren says to the helix. He taps one with a spoon he pulled out of his pocket. "I'm reluctant to actually touch you, sorry. Ooh, but I do wonder what Alice is doing..."

    He looks up at the helix again. He's spent enough time looking at it now that he's beginning to notice the irregular gaps in some places.


    ANOTHER ONE ... HURT US. HE TOOK PART OF US AWAY. WE OFFERED HIM OUR COMMUNITY AND HE HURT US...

    The voice is silent for a few long moments.

    WHY DO YOU SEEK TO PLACE A LIFE IN A SINGLE VESSEL? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice blinks slightly, this doesn't seem good. "Another hurt you?" she questioned, "Wait..." it's here she's putting two and two together, "That mannequin had a similar jewel and was bent on trying to kill a friend, I destroyed it." she seems slightly sorrowful about admitting this, but when the two questions are given to the dollmaker, she actually pauses and looks in thought.

    She sits there for a good minute or two, looking for the answer in her head. "I feel that, if I can place life in a single doll, then I've reached the pinnacle of what I can do and maybe... I can just relax and enjoy doing more bunraku's in the Human Village. Hourai and Shanghai are... almost to the point but they lack that... soul. That vibrant essence." she leans back, "Maybe it would let me have a daughter of sorts... like my Mom has me for a Daughter, a creation from another being."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
YOU DESTROYED A PART OF US...


    Ren shakes his head. He's quietly hoping that the crystal collective can hear him. "Whoever that villain was, he must have found you and trapped you, am I right? Took away part of you. He cut one of the gems down so it still had its power but none of the will."

    He grits his teeth. "Like a lobotomy, for his own purposes. I am so sorry."


    The colours in the gems around her begin to flicker. Traces of clear yellow and orange cut through the blue, as if other more human minds are coming to the surface briefly.

    WE... DO NOT THINK THERE IS ANYTHING WE CAN DO TO HELP YOU, it says slowly. YOU COULD REMOVE PART OF US AND USE IT, BUT WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO DO THAT. WE UNDERSTAND IT WILL HELP IF WE ASKED YOU 'PLEASE'.

    THE REASON IS...

    IF THIS IS YUOR GOAL, THEN WE BELIEVE IT WILL ONLY HAVE MEANING TO YOU IF YOU CREATE SOMETHING TRULY 'NEW'. YOU MUST FIND A WAY TO MAKE A LIFE FROM NOTHING, INSTEAD OF TAKING.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    "In my defense, it was attacking a dear, close friend of mine and I did not know it was all of you." she mutters in return to the beings here in the crystal world, though when they make that plea, that word of please mixed in, she gives a sigh. "To make life from nothing is a difficult, if not impossible request. Though, I... shall respect your wishes. It isn't like I want to use someone elses soul..." she whispers, leaning back slightly as she looks around in the 'sky' of all things...

    "If I can't use a peice of you for a good cause, could you answer me to how you were created?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Once again, on the outside.

    "Okay, so. I'm sure this isn't going to play out as badly as I expect," Ren says. "If I'm guessing right, whoever captured you did it because he wanted to isolate your natural ability and use it for a profit. There are a bunch of people already in there, right? I'm talking to a committee. Hey, I'm sure Alice is talking to you right now. Hopefully there's a fair amount of people who are willing to listen to reason."

    He rocks the legs of a chair back and forth. "What kind of people would willingly leave their bodies and put their mind in a collective of crystal entities, anyway? People looking for spiritual... something... You know, this sounds familiar. If you're all buddhists I'd laugh if this situation wasn't so serious."


    Appearing on a flat panel of crystal like a screen, an image forms for Alice. It is the image of an otherwise barren planet with a huge hole in it extending deep into the core. A pillar of light shines from out of it, with a spiralling swirl of even brighter light inside that. The image shows a meteor shower in the sky.

    OUR EARLIEST MEMORY IS OF A WORLD LIKE THIS. WE BELIEVE WE BEGAN OUR LIVES AS A METEOR SHOWER, PASSING THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE OF A PLANET. THAT WORLD WAS A PLACE WHERE LIFE HAD NEVER FORMED, AND INSTEAD A GREAT WELL OF FORMLESS LIFE ENERGY STRETCHED OUT INTO THE LIMITS OF THE PLANET'S SKY.

    FROM THEN ON WE TRAVELLED THE UNIVERSE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT OTHER LIFE WAS. WE ABSORBED IT WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING UNTIL WISE PEOPLE TAUGHT US THE VALUE OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE, AND THEN IN TIME WE ONLY ACCEPTED PEOPLE WHO WILLINGLY SOUGHT US OUT IN SEARCH OF ENGLIGHTENMENT. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ASSUMING YOU WERE SUCH... WE HAVE ALMOST EVER ONLY BEEN APPROACHED BY THEM.

    The image disappears. Alice may begin to feel she is feeling less weighed down by the air around her.

    IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO JOIN OUR COLLECTIVE, WE CAN ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice nods, watching and listening intently... this is actually pretty interesting to the Dollmaker, "Enlightenment is all well and good, there are certainly things I would love to know more of and be at peace with, but I don't wish to join the collective here." she hmms, "But if you can give me a hint as to what I can do, maybe, to help along my goal without harming things such as yourself... or hurting people... please, do let me know."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    WE CAN UNDERSTAND YOUR OBJECTIVES, SOME OF US MORE THAN OTHERS, the voices say. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT MORE WORLDS SUCH AS THESE EXIST IN THE UNIVERSE. IF WE FIND ONE... OR, EVEN IF WE FIND THE ORIGINAL ONE THAT CREATED US, WE WILL FIND A WAY TO LET YOU KNOW.

    THE KOH-I-NOOR REMEMBERS YOUR SOUL, ALICE MARGATROID. WE WILL SEEK YOU OUT AGAIN IF WE HAVE INFORMATION.

    Alice will feel the air around her becoming lighter still...

    And when the next white flash clears from her eyes, she will be back in the basement, lying on the floor next to Ren.

    The matrix of crystals hovers above the two of them, occasionally turning idly. They'd like to be let out.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    The Koh-I-Noor, huh? "Thank you." she responds to them, a bow given before she's transported back to the floor... her eyes slowly opening.. "Mmmph? O... oh, hello, Ren. Can you let those out please." she smiled, "Trust me, they would like to be let go. And I have a small arrangement with them." she wobbles a bit and floats upwards, moving to stand back upon her feet. "I learned something today... soul sucking gems are nice sometimes."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "Huh," Ren says simply. "It's like to have a day when something like that happens."

    When the two of them make their way back upstairs, leaving every door open on the way, it's simple enough to step outside of the house by the front door. The sun has finally gone down, revealing a cloudless sky over Urbania leading out into the dark night above...

    And a river of gemstones fly out and upward, adding a thousand more stars to the night sky.