Heroes

You could write a thousand novels out of the fantastic tales Dipper Pines had experienced in the last few weeks of his stay in Gravity Falls. Though at the time those adventures may have been terrifying, agonizing, or so daunting that he was consumed by the urge to run away forever, by the end of every day, an unbeatable tenacity propelled him to do it again the next. As the cuts and bruises faded his mind enlivened. That which had so often gone unnourished, his curiosity, had found Nirvana in the backwoods of Oregon. Almost every day had something incredible, or unforgettable, and he found himself drawn towards it like light in the darkness. Speaking of darkness, it was already nightfall in the sleepy town, and thankfully, here in the heart of the woods, Dipper, safe in the warmth of his room, could stare from the window into the infinite majesty of the Cosmos above. He wasn't thinking about extra-terrestrials, or space travel, or even adventure; he was just thinking about how beautiful it all was.

However, today, for whatever reason, had not been one of those adventurous days. There was no rampage that had to be dealt with, no zany farce to be gawked at, nor even a 'very special' moral to be learned. Wendy and Soos were away, Stan was God knows where (the less he knew was probably for the better, he thought), and even Mabel was having a sleepover with her friends. The Shack felt empty, and every creak of the old floorboards sounded much louder than usual. Of course, he wasn't there alone; Great Uncle Ford was working diligently underground. As silly as it may have been, Dipper still felt apprehensive about meeting him. Sure, they did kinda bond over that whole DD&mD game, but there was a line to be drawn. Great Uncle Ford was someone he placed high on a pedestal, and he was both desperate to ask questions and scared to do so. Something about his distance, his obsession with his work, that air of gravitas and power that surrounded him may have been fascinating to speculate about, but was a much different story to delve into. It was oddly amusing for Dipper that he could feel more fear about other flesh and blood people than the various denizens of the Supernatural that haunted the town. The longer this void between him and the Author held, the more reluctant Dipper became to approach his Great Uncle. He steeled himself, and made a commitment.

"Alright Dipper," he said to himself, "Tomorrow's the day! Tomorrow, I'm going to-"

"Going to what?" asked Ford, standing in the doorway.

Dipper spun around gave a terrified shriek, though this fear immediately devolved to embarrassment at how 'girly' he perceived his own voice to be. Out of all the people he wanted to look cool to, Ford outranked even Wendy. The blushing reddened his cheeks to boiling levels, as he held his twisted hands behind his back, fidgeting wildly to try and contain his nerves. "Uh, uh, Great Uncle Ford! N-nothing, w-what are you doing here?"

Ford stared at Dipper in mild puzzlement; thirty years with almost no human interaction had left him somewhat blind to human body-language, so the sight of this young boy getting so nervous at his presence was something which left him flat-footed. That said, he did think this boy knew something. He walked up to him beside the window.

"Well, you see Dipper, I've spent thirty years entirely outside of the human species. I therefore have no knowledge about anything that's occurred on the planet since 1982. No knowledge of global affairs, culture, technology…I've realized I've got to at least get some passing understanding of how the world has changed if I'm to rejoin society. So, I'm asking you to tell me what's been going on all this time."

Dipper's eyes widened so much he almost became an Anime character. To have someone who he saw as the Oracle of man, the intermediary between magic and science, a being he considered beyond anyone on the planet, come to him for information was at once a flattery he adored and a burden he feared. Typically for Dipper, his neurotic nature took over.

"Me?! C-couldn't you just Google it?"

"Google it?" asked Ford with a stretched eyebrow. "What does that mean? Is there some 'Seeing Tower' where I must stare intently to have all revealed to me?"

The surreal answer, a further bizarre moment in this crazy escapade, left Dipper dumbfounded. He realised how much of an idiotic order that was, but slowly, the compliment took hold. It imbued him with a sense of purpose about himself. He straightened up, and smiled.

"Don't worry Great Uncle Ford, I'll tell you all you need to know!"

"That's great! First and foremost, how are relations with the Soviet Union nowadays?"

Dipper smiled. "Doesn't exist anymore."

Ford's face turned white as death. "D-doesn't exist? You don't mean…" he said looking in terror outside, "That Nuclear War already happened? Dear God man! Why didn't you tell me?! My pre-WW3 body isn't ready for the radioactive bombardment you survivors are!"

Now as on-edge as his beloved Author, Dipper raised his hands to calm him down. "Relax! Alright? They broke up peacefully into Russia and bunch of other countries. Cold War's over, no one's worried about Nukes, and WW3 never happened."

Ford quieted down. "Oh. Well…that's somewhat anti-climactic I guess. But who cares about politics? What I want to know about is Science! So, have we already established a Mars-Base, or have we only got as far as landing a person there?"

Dipper awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, um…neither."

"What?! We haven't even landed a man on Mars yet? What else are you meant to use the Moon-base for?"

Dipper stared in confusion. "Moon-base?"

Ford gave the look of a man who realized that his winning Lottery ticket was a fake. "Don't tell me we haven't even got a moon-base," he groaned.

Dipper shrugged awkwardly, hoping that merely being the messenger of bad news would not be enough to make Ford think less of him. "Things have been kinda slow since the Moon landings. Space Travel's been pretty disappointing since 1982, I'm afraid."

Ford face-palmed and sighed that his childhood dreams of where man would be when he was this age seemed just as elusive as ever. Finally, he looked back to Dipper.

"Alright, since much of this information disappoints and depresses me, I'm going to ask questions of a more practical significance. Dipper, what would you say is the biggest difference now between 1982 and today for the average person?"

Dipper, feeling the weight of Atlas on his shoulders at such an open-ended challenge, looked around his bedroom for inspiration. Furbies? DVDs? Phones? And then it struck him at once. He raised his finger professorially with a satisfied grin, and proclaimed, "The internet!"

Ford was confused again. "What's that? Is it like a really big net you use to catch fish?"

"N-no," sighed Dipper in frustration, before lighting up again. "It's the coolest thing in the world! It's kinda hard to explain, but it's like a big collection of information that everyone's connected to! It has news, videos, encyclopaedias…it has literally everything! You can connect with people on the other side of the world in seconds and talk about whatever!"

"Wait," said Ford with a dawning smile, "I can connect with whoever I want virtually instantaneously?"

"That's right!"

Ford was acting differently now. Gone was the scholar aura; now he looked like he'd found salvation, laughing happily and victoriously, rubbing his hands in anticipation. "I can get him now! I know it's been a while, but my word, he'll be thrilled with what I've done here! I can't wait to tell him!"

Dipper was confused yet fascinated; was there a man behind the Author himself? "Tell him? Great Uncle Ford, who are you talking about?"

Ford stopped and looked to his Great Nephew. He gave him a stern look of analysis, measuring whether he felt he was worthy of this information. It quickly dawned on him that if he trusted Dipper to tell him about the state of world affairs, then the state of his relationships shouldn't be so bad.

"Alright, you've come this far, I'll let you in on it!" he proclaimed, words which instinctively excited the impressionable twelve-year old. "See, I was just waiting to tell him all about what I was doing, but I didn't know how to contact him. Now, from what you're telling me, I can just look up his name and find him anywhere?"

"You got it!" smiled Dipper.

"Fantastic!" grinned Ford. "Now, would you like to guess who I was talking about?" he said in an uncharacteristically boastful tone.

Dumbfounded, Dipper racked his brains for an answer, no matter how outlandish, but only unintelligible noise came out of his mouth in the most embarrassing of ways.

"Relax," chuckled the old man calmingly, "I'll tell you. It was none other than…Carl Sagan himself!"

Dipper's eyes lit up in wonder and bewilderment; his Great Uncle Ford was going to talk to…Dipper's heart skipped a beat, and the light in his eyes was extinguished. Speechless to his Great Uncle's happiness, from the depth of his soul, he felt a surge of painful pity. He'd already brought enough bad news his way; to do so again felt sadistic. His arms fell limp, and the wind was knocked from out of him.

Ford was lost in anticipation. "Oh man, I can't wait to see him again! We have so much to talk about!"

Despite all the strength that was needed to survive the summer, Dipper found this the most impossible situation he had been in. He wondered if Mabel had been as conflicted when her hand hovered over the button, and how she made the right call. What was her secret to knowing what to do? What on earth could he possibly do in this circumstance? The internal debate was cut short by the thunderbolt of his Great Uncle's voice.

"Dipper?" asked Ford. "What's the matter?"

Dipper's hunch, the failure to avert his eyes from the floor, the droop in his frame, with one hand covering his face had alerted the Author. With the spotlights burning, Dipper took a deep breath.

"Great Uncle Ford, I'm really sorry that I have to say this…but Carl Sagan's dead."

For ten seconds, though it felt like a thousand, Dipper didn't hear a sound. Too scared to look up, he could feel an eerie cold sweep over his room. The Shack felt empty again, and only the howls of the forest wind outside told him the world hadn't stopped. Slowly, Dipper heard the creaking of footsteps in front of him, punctuated by the sound of his Great Uncle sitting on his bed; he had no objection. Slowly, he peered at the Author, the enigmatic titan that ignited his fantasies for months on end, now shell-shocked, his face a contortion of denial and grief. Ford was lost in his memories, too broken to register Dipper from the corner of his eye.

"Carl's gone?" he asked weakly. Ford lifted his arm and stared at his brown jacket, and the memories came charging back, all the hope and enthusiasm now shuddering to a stop. The use of his first name surprised Dipper.

"Great Uncle Ford…" he asked reluctantly, "You knew Carl Sagan?"

Ford sighed. "Yes, Dipper. Back in College, the first few months were…just terrible. My fool of a brother had condemned me to life in the lower-tiers of education. I had to do my best with what little I had, and little it was. The work of overwhelming, and the resources were lacking. Sometimes I even felt like giving up, and quitting my dreams of being a great Scientist forever. But then one day, I saw a flyer that said Carl Sagan was doing a talk at MY College! I just had to go. I came two hours early, I sat right at the front, and he gave a lecture about everything I ever wanted to know about; time, space, reality! It was an incredible experience, Dipper, it was like I could feel myself drifting into a dream, about the beauty of existence, that I had a place here! That behind every rock and blade of grass, there was something to explore and to learn. I know he wasn't talking to anyone in particular, but I swear Dipper, I thought he was talking to me the whole time. All my fears about College disintegrated like Autumn leaves. He gave me my purpose in the Universe, and I knew right then and there that there was nothing I wanted to be more than a Scientist, and that I would do whatever it took to make it.

"So, as everyone was leaving, I kept seated, I couldn't even move. I was thrilled! I was enthused! I felt like I'd been appointed for some grand mission to change the world. When I finally got out to leave, just outside, I could see him right there! It was Carl Sagan himself! Then he turned, and looked at me with this great smile on his face. The only person who ever smiled at me like before was, well, Stan. He started walking towards me, and I'm just completely floored! I don't know what to do! I'm paralysed in fear, as my hero's walking right up to me! He said that he saw me in the front row, and was impressed at how intently I was listening, and that I'd clearly go on to do great things. Well, the truth is Dipper, I wasn't sure I'd ever amount to anything after that College slip-up. Carl was the first person in months that had faith in me. I was sure I'd be nothing; that my life was just going to be one long string of disappointment and regret, but he changed everything. So I said thanks, and then we started talking about Science, and what we were interested in. When I talked about my own theories, the ones all my colleagues dismissed as crackpot, he was the first person to ever register even the slightest support. That's when I made a promise to him; that if I found out something, I would tell him immediately. He paid for my cab ride home."

Ford tensed, as the emotions that he'd held tight for years slowly exerted themselves. He held his arms out in front of him. "I read everything he ever wrote, heard everything he ever said, I even bought this Jacket that looked just like his. When I heard he was making a television show, I actually bought a TV; it was the only time I stopped my research. I kept trying to find him, but I never had the time to find the address since I was so married to my work. I just assumed that I was always going to have the time."

For the first time in years, Ford Pines began to cry. "And now he's dead; and I'll never get to meet him again. I just wanted to see him one more time. I wanted to tell him, 'Carl…I was right. You were right.' My work, it's all his work. He'll never get to see all the amazing things he inspired me to do. None of this would have been possible without him. I'm just…so scared he thought I left him. I wanted to make it up to him for being away so long, but now I never will. He was my hero, my only hero…and he'll never know now."

Dipper was shocked to see the mysterious Author of the Journals, a man he expected to be fearless, impervious to threat or danger, now laid bare, wracked in regret about the friends he lost. However, if one would think this would diminish his appreciation of his Great Uncle, they would be sorely mistaken. To see his Great Uncle not as an omnipotent mastermind, but the flawed human he was, removed all distance he had felt earlier. The walls between them crumbled to dust, as Dipper stepped forward just beside him. Ford held strong, though a single tear rolled down his cheek, as Dipper placed his hand on his back.

"Hey, Great Uncle Ford," said Dipper reassuringly, shocked at the position he found himself in, to find himself the support of his hero rather than the other way around, "It's OK. I'm sure Carl Sagan was more than happy to see that you cared so much about Science. Man! You actually made friends with Carl Sagan! Only you could be that cool! You want to find a new hero? Ha, try looking in the mirror some time! You are literally, no doubt about it, the coolest, most incredible person I've ever seen, let alone met! You're my hero, and if we're going to do anything for the rest of this summer, we have to complete your research! For Carl!" Dipper proclaimed with outstretched fist.

Ford was stunned at the level of enthusiasm and determination he found within this boy. That's when it struck him; Dipper was looking at him the same way that he had looked at Sagan all those years ago. Ford's shattered visage had rejuvenated back to life. He nodded at the boy he felt within the depth of his gut had the tenacity to become as great as he had. A few changes were obviously needed to sharpen him up, not that Dipper would have any resistance of course, but for now, he gave the same smile his old protégé had given him over thirty years ago.

"For Carl!"

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