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The ground rumbled under Zedaph’s feet, making him almost drop the camera he had been trying to place on top of the counter. It was the second earthquake in the last hour. If before they had one every other day, the tremors were now almost constant.
And that was why Zedaph was doing this now.
He righted the Zedcam on the counter one last time before he hit the record button. A small redstone light lit up inside the device and Zed took a few steps back. He fixed the collar of his labcoat, checked his notes again and then turned to the camera with a small smile on his face.
“Log number 19. We have been doing these experiments for a while now. I thought it was time to take a look at all we have discovered so far. Because you know… I’m starting to think I won’t have another chance to” He laughed, but it sounded hollow, fake. Zed glanced at the window outside, night was still hours away, the sun had barely passed its peak and yet, he could already see the moon rising, its presence all encompassing, so big he could hardly see the sky anymore.
Zed swallowed and turned to the camera again. “Why don’t we start with the very first experiment of the season? The Pitch Drop” He raised his hand and made a sweeping gesture with his palms open.
Just then he felt another tremor. The Zedcam toppled over and Zedaph hurried to catch it before it fell on the floor “Right. Better get started.”
With that he started cataloging the experiments one by one, explaining their purposes and why he had set them up in the first place. From the Pitch Drop, to the Wool Wall, the maze, the chamber, every single one. Every so often he was interrupted mid sentence by a tremor and he hoped the apprehension in his face every time it happened wasn’t so obvious on camera.
All in all, he had collected a fair amount of data, and he took his time explaining his finds with each experiment, pride and joy clear in his tone as he got lost in technical terms and leaps of logic.
The last one he showcased was the Farm Arm. The farming machine he hadn’t quite finished yet and that he wished he had more time to work on. He quickly explained the purpose and the data he had wished to gather when he started building it.
“I still needed to make a few adjustments, didn’t quite get it right yet. But it is what it is. I’m hoping, whatever happens, this record of what went down and what I have discovered stays for posterity. The world is… struggling. The moon is perfect in size to crush us all right now and gravity decided it’s not necessary to exist anymore, so I believe this might be my last log. I hope someone in the far future finds it and continues what I could not. I also hope that someone is me! And that I’m wrong about the world ending. So future Zedaph, if you are listening now, first of all, hello! Second of all, get back to work! Those experiments won’t experiment themselves!”
Another rumble, this time the camera didn’t shake, Zed had apparently figured out a way to keep it firmly in place. Maybe that should have been an experiment.
“Anyway. This has been Zedaph, it’s been a pleasure to experiment with all these subjects with… me. There’s just me here, you, who is watching this is just a hypothetical you. I wonder what that's like, to be a hypothetical person.” He laughed “Ok. This is all for now,”
He pressed the button to stop recording. Just like that the smile slipped from his face and Zed let out a sigh. He looked around his lab with fondness and a sense of melancholy. He had so many ideas, so much to do, he never thought he would run out of time, not this soon, at least.
He walked outside his base, the sun was about to set and the moon was well over the halfway point over the horizon. As Zed walked along the mountain he called home, the blocks all around him lifted up to the sky. He had seen it happen before, but not like this, not to this scale. The blocks weren’t coming back either, they raised and left, to where, Zed had no idea.
He fired a rocket and glided to the tallest point in his base, on the topmost block of snow where he felt as if he could reach up with his hand and touch the moon. No matter how high or low, though, the blocks kept rising, all around him, whole chunks, blocks upon blocks of dirt, stone and everything else, disappearing into the sky. The world itself was dissolving and all he could do was watch.
Zedaph sat down on the ground, ignoring the wet feeling of snow on his butt as he leaned over his knees and plopped his head on his hands. It was cold up there, the frigid mountain air made him shiver as a breeze ruffled his curls. The lab coat wasn’t thick enough to shield him from the cold but at that point, Zed didn’t think it mattered. He kept his eyes on the moon that slowly went across the sky as it watched the Hermit Continent, judging them, killing them and everything around them.
Zed wondered what the moon thought, if it was looking for something and found it lacking, if it was just hurt or angry and he wondered why it decided to come down like this.
Or perhaps it hadn’t been its decision at all, perhaps it had just…. detached and couldn’t stop its own fall anymore than they could. Perhaps it was as scared as the hermits over the fact that it was falling.
Zed watched the moon, silent and alone.
Both of them.