Campfire Discoveries
Present
The Extraordinary Adventures of Captain Francis Aristarchus
After many years of gallivanting about the universe, hopping from the birth of one star to the death of another, swimming in stellar nurseries and skipping stones across event horizons, Captain Aristarchus began feeling an acute awareness of the inevitable death of all light.
Sensing this darkness take hold of him, the Cosmic Nudibranch fulgurated back to the Cassiopeiae of his home galaxy, where the peoples of Cepheus had long ago survived their star going supernova. As the sky grew exponentially brighter, they developed the means to filter this influx of luminosity through harmonic synesthesia.
When the Captain was first zapped to the surface, he could only perceive vague shadows and a dull hum. He was then approached by a figure who fitted him with an audiovisual translator, and he could suddenly hear the faces of kind strangers and see the warm notes of their language.
After commingling his senses here for some time, Francis left feeling supremely at ease once more with the resounding splendor of the stars.
Here on earth, this device translates audio frequencies with unworldly fidelity, yet the synesthetic effects appear limited to the spontaneous imaginings of the listener.
Campfire Discoveries #4: Supernova Survival Techniques