>> since you came along || [ spock + leonard | nasa ]
It's not unusual to find him out and about if he hasn't got work. He stays a bit outside of the city, lives in a small house with neighbors that aren't too nosy, and that's just the way he likes it. As is, he's driven a bit away from town with dinner to sit on the hood of his truck and try to imagine he's back home. It isn't that he minds Texas - it just ain't quite home, and sometimes he'll admit to pining after the familiar fields he used to lay in and watch the stars from.
He's never had much of a desire to reach those stars, too comfortable with his feet on solid ground. The roots grow pretty deep, and he's got no interest in dragging them up from the ground to put himself in a combustible tin can and send himself up there to see them in person. But that don't mean he's not interested in helping other people do it. He's curious about getting up there -- he's not sure what everyone's hoping so much to find, but he knows they want to find it before anyone else does. It's a matter of pride, and that, at least, is a thing he can understand.
Jocelyn hadn't been pleased about the whole thing. Told him his head was up in the clouds, trying to send those men up there just to die, and he'd told her that that was just what he was trying to prevent -- those crazy men going up there and not being ready for it.
'course she hadn't wanted to hear it, and that's part of why he found himself here, alone, watching the stars, and --
What in God's good name was that? Shooting star? Nah, too close for that. Sitting up a bit more, he put his plate aside and leaned forward -- there was a light, in the sky, and if that didn't sound like something out of a science fiction movie he didn't know what did. All he knows proper is that it's falling, and it's falling fast.
It's not...a failed launch or something is it? It doesn't look right, but it seems like the sort of hairbrained thing those folks would do behind his back, send someone up there without his clearance. He hadn't thought anyone was ready, and maybe it's no one at all, but he isn't going to hang around here and wait for a news report to tell him.
Jumping into the truck, he cranks it up and pulls back onto the road, jerking the stick into gear and gunning it. Whatever it is, it's past his line of sight, and he's leaning forward, over the steering wheel, scanning the sky for sight of it -- all he can see is a soft glow somewhere on the horizon, something...burning.
Aw hell.
It's precious minutes lost before he pulls up to the crash site, bailing out of the truck like his own life depended on it and immediately moving towards the burning wreckage, looking around. It doesn't make much sense to him -- if it's NASA gear, it's nothing he's been privy to. He's no engineer, but he hadn't thought they were hiding anything, or...
"Hello?"
He feels a little silly, calling out, but if anyone's there and conscious, it'll save him a hell of a lot of time if they can tell him where they are. He's only got a rudimentary first aid kit in the truck, but he's the best damn doctor this side of the United States, and he's not just going to let a man die out here.
