Third Floor Common Room, Thursday Afternoon

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There was a blue girl sitting in the third floor common room looking absolutely enraptured by the television. She was currently supporting her chin on her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. By her side laid an encyclopedia and another archaeology book... completely untouched.

She was watching BIGGER FISH: a History of the Whale in Human Art Through the Millenia.

It was fascinating.

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[pulseof_life]

"Earth doesn't have a way to see any other planets?" Yeul asked curiously. "I wonder if you could take a day trip to another world from here?"

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"Most of the humans I have met so far... they say their species has only been to the planet's moon-- once," Liara replied.

She sounded a little frustrated.

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"That's not remotely as advanced as you are, correct?"

Even though it was more advanced than they'd ever tried on Pulse.

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"No," Liara said, looking her in the eye. "My people visit different planets... colonize different planets... daily."

[pulseof_life]

Yeul looked a little sheepish. "My people have never even made it so far as the moon," she confessed.

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"Perhaps it is only a matter of time?" Liara proposed. "You don't seem terribly put out by this level of technology."

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"No," Yeul said, sounding very certain. "I do not believe my people will."

She glanced around the common room. "Our technology level is similar to this, though we're more advanced in some ways and less in other ways, but as a whole, I think this planet will reach the stars long, long before my home does."

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Liara tilted her head curiously. "Why?" she said. "It is hard to predict the course technology will take."

[pulseof_life]

She frowned a little. She knew for a fact and yet was loathe to explain the real reason how she did.

"Two hundred years ago, Cocoon fell," she said with a faint smile. "Cocoon was... akin to a floating planet, only man-made." Sort of. But explaining the fal'Cie would needlessly complicate this. "Most of humanity lived there, because the land of Gran Pulse, that Cocoon hovered above, was too dangerous for them to live off of safely. One day, Cocoon fell out of the sky. Humanity managed to catch it and support it by creating a crystal pillar underneath it to keep it from landing on Pulse and destroying everything. Now, all technological advances are being bent towards building another Cocoon because the pillar will not hold forever."

Yeul shrugged a little. "That is why I believe that space will be out of our reach for a long, long time."

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Liara frowned.

"And there is no way to make the land itself safer?" she said, a slight hesitation in her voice. "That sounds like a very precarious position to be in."

[pulseof_life]

"I am not a scientist," Yeul said apologetically, with a bit of a shrug. "My understanding is there isn't because Cocoon is large enough to overwhelm any defense we constructed."

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"But you said Cocoon was--" Liara sighed, then shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time picturing your world."

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"Don't apologize for that," Yeul said. "It just means I'm not describing it correctly. I've never had to do so before, so the fault is likely mine."

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"Maybe," Liara said, "But I'm more familiar with the idea of other planets than you are-- I should be used to comparison."

Yes. Let's play the blame game, Liara.

[pulseof_life]

That would go swimmingly, that was for sure.

"I said Cocoon was a man-made planet," Yeul offered, "but that's only the outer appearance. The inside of it was where most people lived, because it was hollow."

Cocoon was a strange, strange world and she was probably not helping with the confusion.

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"So it was something like a space station," Liara ventured, "But one that maintained a very close orbit?"