Video

[heypartner]

In case anyone was wondering what that strange light looks like I got me a pair of binocs.

[ Cobb waved a truly ridiculous pair of binoculars that are violently green and purple and look like some sort of rabbit/dog/animal. ]

And took a closer look. It's kinda like looking at the binary suns back home. A lot of bright and not a lot else around it. You can't see anything else but the bright.

[ Which explained why Cobb face was not centered in camera and he was still rubbing at his eyes. He had a few minutes at least before the bright spot burned into his eyes fades away. ]

So, sorry this didn't help much but if anyone needs to borrow some binocs I've got a pair handy.

Comments

[beholding_archivist]

I feel like this is something I should have known.... There are deserts on Earth as well after all. Though I have never been to one.

[ Though the feeling Cobb gets may be justified. London may be pretty core world-y. ]

[heypartner]

Can't escape 'em on Tatooine. Whole planet is deserts with the occasional canyon. Hot during the day, freezing cold by night. You can see stars for miles though and there's nothing as pretty as the twin sunrises.

[ And now he's feeling a little homesick. ]

But if you can get my yarn I can knit things. Socks, scarves, gloves. Made a blanket once. Those take a long time.

[beholding_archivist]

I'm sure there must be at least part of it that's ocean.

[ Come on, there's life on your planet. ]

B-but yeah. I'm sure we can find a way to spin yarn from that wool.

[heypartner]

Nope. No water on the surface anywhere.

[ When Cobb calls it a desert hellhole he is not kidding. ]

Could ask around and see if anyone knows. Maybe one of those data things has the information.

[beholding_archivist]

I can speak for the medical, security and communication data points that there is nothing of that sort coming with them. May ask someone with the agriculture one...

Also ...I find that hard to believe. An entire planet made of sand and nothing else. Are you sure the entire planet has been mapped out already?

[heypartner]

Been thinking about that one myself. Seems the most useful since we got all these engineers and pilots.

[ Just, give him a moment to sigh. Yeah, he's not well educated but he knows his home planet. ]

There's maybe one percent or less surface water on the entire planet. What there is, is controlled by the Hutts. Some folks think it used to be an ocean planet once but I think that's a load of bantha shit. It's always been dunes, canyons, and rocks.

[beholding_archivist]

Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe that’s just the one continent. I have seen documentaries on deserts and yeah, they can seem massive. But even those end.

Unless.... You did appear quite at ease with the ships in the hangar. Do your people have actual space travel? Viewed the planet form space?

[heypartner]

I promise you, friend, I've lived there my entire life and it's been explored extensively. Tatooine is just sand and canyon. Nothing else. The binary suns keep it dry.

Yes, there are two major spaceports on Tatooine. Mos Espa and Mos Eisley. Planet's been mapped.

[beholding_archivist]

What about the poles? Your planet apparently has day and night, meaning it rotates. Around two suns, somehow, but it rotates. Which means there must be an axis it rotates around and therefore- Poles. Unless, of course, the angle keeps it exactly parallel to the suns, which would be a ridiculous coincident given it's two suns, which would...

... Christ. You're practically living on a doner skewer!

[heypartner]

I've never been to the poles. I'm just tellin' you what I know from fifty years of livin' there. Never left it until I got dragged to this place.

It's desert and rock. Mostly uninhabited except for a few cities and small towns. No surface water I've ever seen. We pull it out of the air in moisture farms. We got two sunrises and two sunsets. Three moons in case you're curious about that.

Hell, there are other people here who can confirm this. They know Tatooine. Mando's been there.

[beholding_archivist]

Fine.

Fine!

But what I don't understand is-- How- Why do people live on such a planet? How does life even exist on it? As far as I know most living creatures require water to live. The absence of any reliable water source implies that any living organisms on the planet have been brought there. Which, again, implies anyone once has decided this life-rejecting place is a great place to live.

Why don't you leave if there are these spaceports?

[heypartner]

Because we can't. Most of us were born slaves and never make enough credits to get passage aboard ship. That's if we're lucky to get our freedom and make any credits. And some people do leave, but...

The one thing we can do? Survive here.

[beholding_archivist]

[ Slavery. Such a nasty little word that gives so much context and easily offers out a selection of potential explanations that even shuts off this Archivist quite effectively. ]

... shit.

I.... ah... I had no idea.

I'm sorry.

[heypartner]

[ Yeah, that's usually what happens when people find out. Cobb sighs and shrugs. If the pity comes next he might possibly curse. ]

Not your world.

That's home for me. It's miserable but it's home.

[beholding_archivist]

...no. Not my world.

I won't ask about it again.

[ Even though there may be a decent amount of fear and misery to unearth in this story. ]

Just... Do you want to go back?

[heypartner]

Look, you can ask about the world. Just trust I ain't lyin' to you about it. What do I gain for making up that my planet has no surface water? And trust me, if I don't want to talk about it, I won't.

[ Oh, there's plenty of misery to unearth in Cobb Vanth's past. ]

I'm free now. Marshal of a small town. Got good people around me. People who trust me to look after 'em. Yeah, I want to go back. Though I'm gonna miss all the water here. You know, showers with water are a luxury back home. We use sonic vibrations.

[beholding_archivist]

I wasn't assuming you were lying! I just- It's--

I am very familiar with being convinced of something being the truth that- Well. Isn't. Even on my Earth there are plenty of people that hardly know the basic geography of their planet. Especially in remote locations.

[heypartner]

Well, maybe your folks haven't explored as much as ours but space travel and faster than light travel makes it real easy to get a good look at the dust ball I live on. And folks have lived there a long time.

[beholding_archivist]

Well, no. We haven't really moved past our moon outside of science fiction movies. Please don't expect me to assume that's the norm for everyone else.

[heypartner]

Well, it helps when you want to map a planet.

[beholding_archivist]

Without a doubt.

That aside, I will leave you to your observations. Curious as your new tool may look, it appears to do its job.

[heypartner]

Have a good day, Jon.