Old planet. 24 hours before the crash.
The mornings on the Lens are always the best. Waking up early, having a nice breakfast, with bread from the farm, and milk from the cows. Zisteau is not the number one fan of milk, but since his research on how to make a good scotch is going all but well, he has to cope with what's available.
After a good breakfast, taking care of all his farms and almost-automated inventions gets him busy. Every day, there is always something new to do, something different to repair. A good and healthy lunch always follows up: sometimes a good, succulent beef; other times a tender chicken breast; but most of the times, both. The afternoon is dedicated to various different things, most usually spent relaxing or doing any other of his various hobbies.
During the night, the Zisteau likes to dedicate his time on his lens. Researching the skies quickly became one of his greatest passions, and the recent discovery of a new planet only fuelled his passion even more. Every night, Zisteau looks at that distant beauty, in hopes to go there someday soon.
The planet is habitable. Zisteau himself conferred with Kurt. And Kurt told him that they could go there, any moment they wanted… as long as they could get 5000 diamonds and 100 more times the amount of coal. Zisteau's mouth dropped.
- Why the heck do we need so many resources? - He asked at the time.
- Well, space travel is a costly thing, and we would need a lot of funding to put this spaceship in the air. - Kurt patiently explained. - I've been trying to get some funding, but I don't think we would have enough money even if we combined all the diamonds from all the Mindcrackers. - He continued. - And we need the coal because, well, the ship doesn't run on potatoes.
It was such a shame that they just couldn't explore the new planet, but Zisteau understood. In fact, it only got him more motivated. No matter how hard it takes, someday he will be on that planet. It might be in in 10 years. It might be tomorrow, who knows? But someday, he'll be there. It just probably won't be tomorrow.
Well this day was just like any other. After finishing all his duties and taking a quick refreshing nap, Zisteau was ready to examine the space once again, either looking for something new, or just staring at that beautiful planet, way up in the distance. Tonight, however, it felt different for some reason. Something that Zisteau couldn't quite explain...
After the usual preparation, Zisteau looked through his lens. And the sight was not only unusual, but it made him jump out of the seat. After a momentary pause, he leaned again, looking for a better angle... And immediately jumping away. Zisteau was not a man to panic, but the sweat in his forehead indicated the opposite.
- Holy crap. I need to go see Kurt.
Mumbling to himself, and dropping stuff as he descended to the ground, Zisteau mounted on his fastest horse and hit the road with one destination in mind: Kurt's lab.