Ben's immediate thought is, of course, the creatures on the other side of the portal. They live in another world - another dimension, maybe - but could encroach and invade through him in a similar way. They brought death and violence with them, too. And apparently, of the two forces, in this type of conflict at least, his otherworldly parasite was the more dangerous one.
It is only belatedly that Ben remembers Cole's powers, that his thoughts are bare and open, that he would have heard Ben drawing that comparison as clearly as if he said it aloud. But there is no way to keep his thoughts controlled one hundred percent of the time. Or, if there is, he doesn't have the training for it.
Ben's not familiar with the name Eudora, and so it's a little shock of surprise when Cole mentions his brother - and not the one he's apparently met before. If someone else is out here and improperly equipped, they ought to help her, too, regardless of her connection with his brother. Ben picks up the pace, walking side-by-side next to Cole.
But the red shift has no intention of allowing them quick and easy passage. What comes next is not an object, or a monster to be fought. It is, in some ways, harder. There is dust all around them, kicked up by a nearby meteorite strike, and in the silence been hears a voice, calling his name. It is small, faint, distant. But he thinks he recognizes it. Ben stops in his tracks, listening hard. The voice comes again, and this time, he is sure. It is Five. But not Five sounding the way he had when he'd returned after so many years. This is Five the way Ben remembers him before he'd vanished. He sounds like a kid. He sounds scared, lost, alone. He keeps shouting Ben's name - and a few times, Vanya's, or calling for their father - and Ben is tilted headfirst into a panic. What if he'd shown up here, but outside of the arrival zone where the rest of them came? What about the radiation? What about the monsters? Who was going to keep him safe.
Except that the voice sounds like it is coming from a totally different direction than Cole had been leading them. Ben turns away from the unsettling stranger, just orienting himself a moment before fully intending to go plunging off blindly, to find his brother, and help him.
(He'd forgotten about the rumors of the red shift causing auditory hallucinations, after all....)
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It is only belatedly that Ben remembers Cole's powers, that his thoughts are bare and open, that he would have heard Ben drawing that comparison as clearly as if he said it aloud. But there is no way to keep his thoughts controlled one hundred percent of the time. Or, if there is, he doesn't have the training for it.
Ben's not familiar with the name Eudora, and so it's a little shock of surprise when Cole mentions his brother - and not the one he's apparently met before. If someone else is out here and improperly equipped, they ought to help her, too, regardless of her connection with his brother. Ben picks up the pace, walking side-by-side next to Cole.
But the red shift has no intention of allowing them quick and easy passage. What comes next is not an object, or a monster to be fought. It is, in some ways, harder. There is dust all around them, kicked up by a nearby meteorite strike, and in the silence been hears a voice, calling his name. It is small, faint, distant. But he thinks he recognizes it. Ben stops in his tracks, listening hard. The voice comes again, and this time, he is sure. It is Five. But not Five sounding the way he had when he'd returned after so many years. This is Five the way Ben remembers him before he'd vanished. He sounds like a kid. He sounds scared, lost, alone. He keeps shouting Ben's name - and a few times, Vanya's, or calling for their father - and Ben is tilted headfirst into a panic. What if he'd shown up here, but outside of the arrival zone where the rest of them came? What about the radiation? What about the monsters? Who was going to keep him safe.
Except that the voice sounds like it is coming from a totally different direction than Cole had been leading them. Ben turns away from the unsettling stranger, just orienting himself a moment before fully intending to go plunging off blindly, to find his brother, and help him.
(He'd forgotten about the rumors of the red shift causing auditory hallucinations, after all....)