The direction by which the Pegasus entered Sol's well was undoubtedly an unusual one, almost exactly orthogonal to the orbital plane. From this angle, one would normally see the planets arranged like on a ceiling mobile, albeit spread out more than one could manage on their bedroom ceiling. Astrological magnitudes did not scale well to the extents of human visual comprehension.

"I hate it." Donovan scowled at the screen. He had been moving toward what remained of Sol for the better part of an hour now, absorbing the 'sights' with an increasing degree of hatred.

There was no light, at the very least nothing in the visible spectrum. The sun had been reduced to a mass of absolute darkness, darker than the photon scattering of the infinite void behind it, and the sparkling beacons of orbital habitats had long since been extinguished. He didn't even want to consider what happened to the lunar and planetary colonies, though the clouds of dust following the orbital paths of those bodies kept pushing the question to the forefront of his mind.

"I hate it."

"So you've said." Arc came off less sarcastic and more like a detached therapist, which Donovan wasn't entirely sure he appreciated. "Are you feeling anything besides hatred? Perhaps sadness? Disgust?"

Donovan knew what Arc was trying to do, something which lessened the efficacy of his method, but there wasn't much reason to point that out. Arc knew it just as well as Donovan, and had likely selected this method because it would be the most effective. Even if it felt manipulative from the patient's point of view, this was undoubtedly the most honest way of going about managing his emotional status. Donovan recognized how much weight he placed on honesty, at least outside of conflict.

"I don't know." He would return that honesty to the best of his ability. "There's this pit in my stomach that keeps gnawing at my mind, urging me to do something, but I don't know how to classify that emotionally."

"Would you describe this pit as something missing? Perhaps better explained as a void from which something important was removed?"

Donovan contemplated that pit for a little, switching between sensor displays as he tried to attach a visual to that which existed only in his mind. The only three that provided any meaningful returns were the radiation, gravitic and Split modes. The infrared sensor couldn't pick up so much as a hint of a signature from the sun. How a ball of mass that size could be emitting such intense radiation without an accompanying heat source eluded even Arc, however such occurrences were the norm. 

"I think its more like nothing was there in the first place, but there should have been. A manufacturing defect, if you will." He did not feel as though this empty, targetless rage of his was caused by the loss of Sol, though he could be sure that the erasure of what once was had an exacerbating effect on it.

"Would you like to attach some sort of analogy to it? If only to give me a better understanding?" Donovan once more sunk into thought, which didn't take nearly as long this time around. 

"I feel like a car without suspension. On a smooth and well maintained road, the ride isn't that bad. Sure, it might be a bit bumpier of a ride, but it isn't anything to get worked up over. Once I go off that road though-"

"Driving at speed becomes impossible."

"Not without damaging the rest of the car." The wheels in his head kept turning as he tried to pin the metaphor to portions of his psyche, growing irritated that this still wasn't quite an adequate explanation. "But at the same time . . . it doesn't feel like I'm the car. I'm sorry if that's confusing."

"There is no need to be sorry, Donovan."

"Don't give me that, Arc." Even if the intentions were pure, the sentiment behind them was flawed. "Our position doesn't afford me the luxury of ignorance. If there is something wrong with me - and there most certainly is - then I need to know. If I can't figure out how to fix it, then at the very least I need to know how to plan around it. I don't want to end up hurting Diana because of this."

Donovan knew he had issues. He would have to be an idiot not to. For example, he had become hopelessly detached from his own emotions, those precious few connections that remained existing on a level of intensity not readily expressed by those around him. There were advantages to this, sure, but he recognized that it wasn't normal. It was a necessary psychological adaptation set upon him by Doctor Helmsguard in order to provide the best possible chance of success, the most noteworthy of many he would surely realize moving into the future.

This experience was a different matter entirely. It didn't feel like a modification of his psyche, like something that had been done to him intentionally. It didn't even come off as something that had happened unintentionally. At this point he wasn't certain that this was at all the product of human intervention, but instead something he had been born with, or rather without.

But what was it?

"Calm down." Donovan snapped out of his spiraling thoughts with a jolt. "The first step in addressing a problem is being aware that one exists. We will work this out, eventually, and there does not seem to be any need to rush."

"I know buddy, I just . . . I don't know what to do." He closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, taking a few deep breaths before continuing. "Normally I'd ignore something like this, you know? An issue I have no clear method of resolving? I mean, I wouldn't completely ignore it, just put it somewhere in the back of my mind until I came across or developed the means to solve it, but this doesn't feel like something I can do that for."

"And it is stressing you out. I understand." Arc shut off the display, gradually turning up the lights in the pilot room behind him. "I think the best thing you could do at the moment is take a break. Go get something to eat, take an hour to exercise, and do something for your own leisure for a little bit."

"I don't need to-"

"Yes you do." Arc put his proverbial foot down, putting a two hour timer up on screen. "As it stands there is nothing of note for you to look at, and what little there is has taken a toll on you mentally. You've been under an intense amount of pressure for a very long time, and in the past few weeks you haven't had the same opportunities to decompress. Practically every moment has been spent in that chair, which isn't good for you on any level. Now that you don't even have passengers to keep you company, it is more important than ever that you keep an eye on your mental and physical health."

- - - - -

'Out of sight, out of mind' - the phrase perfectly encapsulated the thought process behind Arc's decision, and while Donovan didn't want to admit it, cutting him off from the controls was probably the correct one. Just taking his eyes off of the disaster was enough, replacing that image with some delicious microwaved leftovers and an hour of exercise was even better. Of course, it didn't mean he wasn't thinking about it, but it wasn't the only thing that occupied his attention. After a quick shower, he decided to lay down on his bed and read the messages Diana sent while he was in Split-space

"Megafauna, huh?" The summary of Diana's experience of the night life on Nectar intrigued him to some degree. "Does that mean the average animal size is much larger than on earth, or are there just a greater number of extremely large species?"

"The distinction is inconclusive at the moment, but I am certain of the latter half. That environment does roughly match the ecosystem of bears, dire wolves, and moose, however none of those approach the purported size of the predator and prey in question. I believe we may need a redefinition of the term 'megafauna' to suit the standards of this brave new world."

"Oh? What are they right now?"

"The general definition cites an average individual mass of 100 kilograms for terrestrial species regardless of class. An average individual mass of 500 kilograms is needed for aquatic herbivores and 250 kilograms for aquatic carnivores. Avian species in excess of 10 kilograms are also considered megafauna, with no distinction regarding flight capability or diet."

"I can understand the difference due to environment, but why is there a dietary distinction?"

"Carnivores generally need to exert more energy than herbivores to secure a similar number of calories, the biggest expenditures outside of base metabolic activity being travel and physical exertion during the hunt. Child rearing must also be considered, though this is only an issue for the females. A larger body will generally result in a larger energy expenditure for all of these activities, so carnivores tend to only be as large as needed to hunt their prey.

For herbivores, size offers several benefits. Larger digestive tracts are needed to process plants that are relatively less energy dense, and a larger frame allows them to store more internal energy for periods of famine. Being taller also allows them to reach for food in higher places, such as the tops of trees or bushes, and grants them the ability to find food and identify threats from a greater distance. Size is also an excellent way to deter predators, psychologically intimidating them, making it more difficult to land a killing blow, and being much more damaging if they decide to strike back. Of course there are drawbacks, however they aren't nearly as much of a hindrance.

Because of this, the largest carnivores in a given ecosystem tend to be much smaller than the largest herbivores."

"Hm. I guess that makes sense." Donovan didn't know too much about animals, however it looked like megafauna as a classification was quite a bit easier to achieve than he had initially assumed. "Would I be considered megafauna if I gained a few more pounds?"

"Unfortunately, Diana being well below the threshold means the species average will still not reach the mass requirement. You would be at the absolute upper range though, making you quite a specimen."

"Thanks, Arc." He snorted at the compliment's absurdity. "So how do you suggest we update the classifications?"

"I suppose my first option wouldn't be to revise the megafauna requirements, but instead create another class above it. Ecologists toyed with the idea of 'gigafauna' as a way to further exaggerate the size differential, but it died off in favor of 'saurofauna'. We would need more data to come to any concrete bounds though."

"Got it." Donovan thought about how big the creatures Diana described hearing might be. Part of him was concerned that she might be in danger - however reliable the Holifanians might be. A several hundred pound monster was still a several hundred pound monster, if one decided to go after her for whatever reason it would take a great deal of force to stop it. "I definitely think we'll need several levels to these classifications, especially regarding the stuff in space."

"How do you mean?"

"The size differential between the smallest and largest life-forms in space are a few orders of magnitude apart."

"How do you know that? We haven't encountered any."

"Huh? We have though?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, two of them."

"Two?" Donovan was incredibly confused as to how Arc hadn't recognized this. Well, he supposed it was reasonable for him to mistake one of those species for being terrestrial, but they were almost certainly voidborne.

"The Velar and the Great Csillacra, of course."

" . . . well now I feel silly." 

"I mean, would the Great Csillacra qualify as fauna though? It'd be flora, right?"

"Perhaps, but I don't think we know enough about it's biology to come to a conclusion. It may just be an animal with plant-like features."

"Or a plant with animal-like features."

"True, true, though I must admit my primary hesitance in classifying it are to do with it's degree of sentience."

"I guess that's understandable." Donovan returned to Diana's report, typing a few short words of acknowledgement and affection alongside his responses to her questions and requests. "You are definitely a plant though."

"Sorry?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. Congratulations, Arc, you are now a potato. I think they made a computer with those once."

"That was slang for an underpowered computer, though they made some that were powered by potatoes. But that's besides the point, why am I plant?"

"Well you aren't an animal, so that means you're a plant."

"That's not how it works."

"It is now." Donovan started typing something more in his response to Diana, informing her that from now on Arc was to be referred to as a plant, or perhaps a fungus, only to see that part deleted upon hitting send. "Oh, it didn't send. Must be a bug . . . perhaps an aphid ate the message on the way. Arc, have we invested in pesticide for you?"

"I am not a plant!!!"

"I know." Donovan smirked. "I just thought it would be fun. You told me to do something I enjoy, didn't you?"

"Harassment was not what I had in mind. . ."

"Maybe you shouldn't have been so vague." He shrugged, upping the sarcasm before dropping it completely. "I want NVG's, an anti-materiel rifle equipped with a laser rangefinder and FLIR scope, one box of tracered hollow point and another of tracered solid core for the rifle, a portable IRST with the capacity to relay what it sees to you, a spotlight, and a pattern for a ten meter tall watchtower with a roof to platform the IRST, hardpoints for the rifle, and a power supply."

". . . do I need to ask what you need all of that for?"

"I heard hunting is a fashionable past time of noblemen across the galaxy." Donovan got up out of his bed, making for the cockpit. "Figured I'd need the proper equipment before I got back."

cakeonfrosting

I don't think a 20mm hollow point round fired from an AM rifle will shatter inside of the body so much as punch out a cone of flesh, but I haven't watched enough youtube videos to know for sure . . .