voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2020-07-13 05:43 am

Onward: Orange

A Stormy Night

The night of day six of Grasshopper begins to get blustery, and rain begins to fall shortly after the sun sets. Just after midnight they are facing a full-on storm. It’s quite interesting to watch, for those who need a break from investigating. Especially up on the top floor, where the glass roof gives a good view; all the instruments are set up to monitor weather patterns and are operating perfectly, a fascinating watch for those interested in such things.

It’s a little noisy, but not too bad for those that want to sleep; it’s just another distraction along with the perpetual light. Still it is, for the most part, a peaceful night.

Lights OUT

Peaceful, that is, until about an hour before dawn on day seven, their third day on-world. A large clap of thunder booms overhead, a massive flash of light brightens even the sky around the station… and something hits the facility so hard that it seems to rock. The lights go out.

Every single light and screen in the building go dark at once. 

It’s only a few moments before the machines whir back to life. Monitors and equipment rebooting, a cascade of beeps and whirrs and start-up tones. The lights, however, do not come back on. Clearly emergency lighting has never been a concern for a people that can see in the dark.

It’s a concern now. From across the facility, everywhere there was an orb, there are now monsters. A lot of monsters. Grey, long limbed and ready to attack.

Luckily for the Voidtreckers, the monsters on the very bottom floor have found something more interesting than hunting them. Within moments, they smash through the grates along the floor, and begin clambering downwards.

Downwards seems to be through some kind of service shaft, though easily big enough to fit a person in. They skitter down into the darkness, if any of Orange try and follow they can. It will be a steep, treacherous descent; they may need to break out that climbing gear to descend safely. 

Something Approaches

Back in the facility, the monsters that didn’t descend are instead attacking anyone they find with mindless savagery. A little while after the attack starts those near the top floor will hear a siren, ringing out into the darkness. It is not constant, rather it peaks and fades. Anyone who goes to investigate will find it comes from a black metal machine on the top floor, its screen showing a now constantly flashing, wavy green line and the words SIGNAL FOUND. As time passes, the green wave on-screen grows taller.
Luckily, they only have to last the remaining hour until dawn and when the sunlight shines through the glass of the facility the monsters shatter. In their place rise familiar orbs. Any monsters on the sub-levels remain active whilst the facility is in darkness.

The alarm subsides during the day. The machine’s wave remains the same size, pulsing only occasionally. Once night falls on the third day (Grasshopper 7), it shrills, and the wave continues to grow.
blue_ice: (headached)

[personal profile] blue_ice 2020-07-13 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"Who? Is there any way we can bring more help in?"

They need to solve this, and soon, if they're to have any hope of completing the mission. He looks at his companion, face resigned to their fate.

"It's all we have, light. It might have been a bad idea for the train to largely stick the noncombatants on a single team."
iamnotgod: Many lines curving off into the distance and entangling, shaded in colors from yellow to purple (Default)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2020-07-13 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"I believe the Spider-"

Kumoko, not that Webmind addresses her by any particular name.

"Can arrange for teleportation of a certain number of people - but apart from volunteers from the Terrans and perhaps the Gry, we are largely on our own."

Not reassuring, he knew.

"But we are all armed, technically speaking."
blue_ice: (rainy day)

[personal profile] blue_ice 2020-07-13 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Kaiba stares down at his wrist and sighs. The light is bright, but small...and he needs it working, no matter what.

"Right. The first priority is securing our position and making sure everyone is safe. Then, figuring out what's coming and making a plan to stop it."

He glances up at the glass ceiling, the stormy sky above. "But what kind of storm would specifically destroy the building lights and leave the other equipment undamaged?"
iamnotgod: Many lines curving off into the distance and entangling, shaded in colors from yellow to purple (Default)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2020-07-13 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Clustering people into one room makes it easier to defend against attacks," Webmind notes.

Bringing everyone in here might suffice. Might; Orange is one of the larger teams...

"Whatever's directing it likely knew where we are; the same may have happened to the other labs. It would require positioning data from above or below."

So, GPS or sub-ground monitoring, basically. Pick your poison!
blue_ice: (Default)

[personal profile] blue_ice 2020-07-20 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
"...there are cities underground...but what if something's up there?"

Kaiba frowned up at the ceiling, wondering what was waiting for them. If something was waiting for them.
iamnotgod: Many lines curving off into the distance and entangling, shaded in colors from yellow to purple (Default)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2020-07-20 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"Given this planet knows of other life in their own galaxy, that is not far amiss of a guess."

Not exactly a specific answer, but an answer all the same.

"Quatre and I are collating data from the rest of the computers in this base; we would appreciate your help in making sense of it."

Webmind is asking as much to engage Kaiba as it is because he likes sharing the work; if he were in his usual form, however, Webmind wouldn't have needed to... which admittedly sounded a bit brusque. No matter.
blue_ice: (Default)

[personal profile] blue_ice 2020-07-21 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
Kaiba nods grimly, opening another page of his notebook. "I'll look over everything. There has to be a sense in all these patterns, if the devices tracking them are competent."
iamnotgod: Webmind projecting a smile. The robot is wearing an orange hoodie. (A smile!)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2020-07-21 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Follow me, then."

With that, he'd lead Kaiba to one of the other floors - after seeking out appropriate light-backup, just in case.

The SCAs were efficient, but very limited in their range.

"As long as the data has been properly labeled, we should have minimal trouble; it is just a matter of lining it up correctly..."
blue_ice: (richer than god)

[personal profile] blue_ice 2020-07-22 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
Kaiba nods and immediately gets to work, sketching things out in his book. It'd be so much easier if he could interface with the computers.

But after a while he shows Webmind his work to compare notes.

"These two are rising in the same pattern, if not in the same amounts. Do you think that makes sense?"
iamnotgod: Webmind projecting a smile. The robot is wearing an orange hoodie. (A smile!)

/handwaves timeskip!

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2020-07-22 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"A correlation?"

That wasn't too far out of the normal - graphs were graphs, after all, and in most respects numbers were the same for Terrans as they were for Earthlings.

"I believe it does, yes, or at the least it is not irrational."

What it represented, however...
blue_ice: (Default)

Re: /handwaves timeskip!

[personal profile] blue_ice 2020-07-28 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
"And what it means is nothing good. Something's looming on the horizon."

He hates that he has to invoke such vague terms, but there's nothing else for it. He lets out a low groan.

"Wait and research more?"
iamnotgod: Many lines curving off into the distance and entangling, shaded in colors from yellow to purple (Default)

Can wrap if that's preferred at this point.

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2020-07-28 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Webmind nods.

"We must continue to make the best use of the time we have, Kaiba."