voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2020-11-13 04:28 am
Entry tags:

Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day seven of the month of Imagination." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preperation

They have about an hour to prepare, a little less than usual but perhaps expected, given the urgency of the task.

The cupboards in the dressing room are open to reveal rows of tents, in all four team colours as well as some basic camp cooking equipment. They are in bags that should be easy enough to carry.

"Shortly arriving on System #6416. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world 6416. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The train rocks and lurches, bright colours of the void filling the space and then fading as they fly downwards towards a very green landscape.

Arrival and Initial Task

The train lands in a clearing, curving round in an attempt to fit. Once everyone who wishes to disembark has done it flies back into the air, vanishing from sight.

The air is heavy and humid, though it is not currently raining. The clearing is open to the sky and looking up will reveal a worrying sight. The sky is an angry red colour, colours shifting as if the clouds themselves were on fire. It's an unnerving sight.

Their SCA's show three points, one Orange, One purple and one that is half blue and half red. The three control centres. Each are a few hours treck through the jungle and it certainly feels like there is no time to waste.

Those that don't want to treck through the forest can start setting up camp, though the darkening sky might be a little distracting. As time goes on flecks of fire drift down, though they extinguish before hitting the forest floor.

Orange are to travel to the north, Purple to the south and Blue and Red must travel together to the west. Each route takes them through thick and unrelenting jungle. Flying is difficult here unless you can get up past the canopy layer, which means vision of the ground is severely hampered.

The control stations themselves are half buried in vines and require cutting into. If voidtreckers are unlucky they will meet their first security robots here, firing on the intruders. They might even meet their first giant Armadillos, the creatures are curious and may wish to investigate. They are not helpful or constructive to trying to power up the stations and prevent the destruction of the planet.

The control stations are simple enough to operate, but there's quite a lot that needs to be done in way of repairs and clearing. It will take a team effort to get it in working enough order to activate the shield.

The shield itself, when it is activated, is mostly invisible but there is a loud humming sound. The meteor, which has gotten more visible throughout the five hours, hits the shield and splinters, fire enveloping the whole sky. It is visibly terrifying, but no fire falls to earth, no rocks get through, the planet is safe.

Ongoing

Once the planet is safe the voidtreckers deserve a rest. But once the next morning dawns it is time to start with their next tasks, to make sure that this planet stays safe from future threats.

Red

The robots at the control stations are not the only malfunctioning security robots around. They roam the jungle, or are more often stranded in the jungle, powering up only when faced with a new threat.

Some are benign, terraforming machines whose only crime is using up precious power. These need to be dismantled so that power can be saved for the shield system. Others are security robots that will attack the intruders to the planet.

Though the machines are scattered they are often obvious, emitting warning alarms or flashing lights. Their SCA's will show some areas where there are larger clusters but machines can be found anywhere.

Purple

Their SCA's are filled with hundreds of purple dots, each a solar stations that needs cleared and brought back online. It's not the most glamourous job, the stations are deep in the jungle, the treck is difficult and most of the work needed is weed clearing.

But once the weeds have been cut away they will need to patch up the station, doing basic maintenance to get it back online. In some cases wires need to be patched back together but it shouldn't take any great feats of engineering to get the stations up and running.

They may run into some of the security automatons, needing to fight their way into the stations before they can begin the clean up operations.

Orange

Like the red team their SCA will show areas where there are clusters of the small insectoid automatons that need to be rescued and restored. However they can be found anywhere throughout the jungle, they are not too suited for the terrain outside of the stations and so they have gotten tangled in vines. They can be found powered down, stranded and in dire need of maintenance.

Tools and spare parts can be found in many of the solar stations that purple team have been locating. Actually repairing the robots takes some engineering knowledge but once they are restored they will go about their tasks in the stations. They will need help getting to the further flung stations as well as the main control centres.

They are very basic in design and follow pre programmed instructions rather than being able to hear and listen to orders. But once in the correct place they are very effective at their job.

Blue

Once the shield is up there is a faint humming that can be heard throughout the jungle if they listen closely and find it among the sound of rain and insects. But once they hear it, it is obvious where it is louder and more prominent.

Their SCA will pin point some of the larger control boxes but there are truthfully too many to show on a map. Not all of them have attracted Violet Pandas, but many of them have.

They are curious creatures, both of the power boxes and the voidtreckers. They are protective of each other but not so much of territory and therefore it is not difficult to move them on. Keeping them away is another matter, the power humming is interesting and they will unearth wires and chew through them. It doesn't seem to do them much harm, there is clearly safety stops in the system for such eventualities. It does however cut power off to entire solar stations and require a lot of patch work.

Good luck voidtreckers!
spikelet: (pic#14004050)

[personal profile] spikelet 2020-11-15 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't just-- I'm sorry, daozhang!

[the stress in her voice is almost entirely just aggravation at Buttercup outracing her to Xiao Xingchen, but there's a small share of it for the animal squirming in her arms, as well.

She doesn't quite drop hers on him as abruptly, but its flailing paws definitely collide with his shoulder as she flops down next to him and waves the younger girl to join them. It's time for a water break!]


They're the pandas from our mission.
feixuehua: (03)

[personal profile] feixuehua 2020-11-16 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
The Xingchen from before came from an earlier time. This one came from a later time where his life came to an end, and there's nothing to go back home to fix his mistakes.

He hears two voices, one of them is A-Qing. He felt a weight on his lap. "Oh, what is this?" It's furry, it wiggles and has claws. But it's an animal where he hesitantly pets.

Turning to A-Qing, "A-Qing? Is that you? I'm holding a panda." He all smiles as he handles the pandas in his arms and being surrounded by the curious critters sniffing at the humans in the area.
knifewithnoname: (yes okay)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-11-16 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
She is glad to have gotten rid of the squirmy thing. She was here to fight robots not to give small furry creatures free piggy back rides through the jungle.

She did move to sit down next to the two of them, out of grabbing range. He might be blind but that didn't make him not a threat. Water was a good idea.

She found her bottle and drank, she didn't think she would ever complain about heat, but the heat here was very different than the heat in Gauig.
spikelet: (IXa0PgR)

[personal profile] spikelet 2020-11-16 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's me, and I have one too," she agrees, with mild disdain towards the fluffy animal wriggling in her own lap. Who asked them to be so useless? Well, at least they weren't harmful, and they were entertaining him. "Ah, Buttercup is here, too. Normally she's with the Red team, but there was a big pack of pandas, so she got sent back with us."

She fished for her own water bottle, then fought the panda for it for a moment. In the end, she rescued it by pushing the animal off her lap. Victory.
feixuehua: cupcake_graphics @ dw (14)

[personal profile] feixuehua 2020-11-16 08:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Keeping one's cool is a difficulty in the heat of the jungle. With no vision, it seems the heat is all the more intense for him and keeping one's cool requires a lot of water to keep himself hydrated. The animal is licking at his cheek, wanting a drink also from his canteen.

Hearing's A-Qing's voice and another, sounds like a girl her age. "Ah, you have friends."

He turns to the other girl, what he thinks is the direction of her voice, "Buttercup, I presumed? It's nice to meet you." He smiles, and then pours the water from the canteen in the cup of his palm, so the panda can drink and lap up the water from his hand. "Drink as much water as you can, it's so hot here, I keep feeling thirsty all the time."
knifewithnoname: (excited smiles)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-11-17 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
She wasn't sure what she was expecting from the person who A-Qing had directed her towards, he was someone from A-Qing's world and so far the only person she knew who came from the same place as A-Qing was Xue Yang.

This man was nothing like Xue Yang. Or A-Qing for that matter. She glances at A-Qing. This was some kind of scam, right? A-Qing was taking advantage of this very kind seeming man.

That was the only thing that made sense, considering how gentle she had spoken to him, very different than how she ever spoke to her...

So she smiled and made sure her smile reached her voice. "It do be being nice to be meeting you as well. Do you be coming from a cold place?"

The heat here was different than in Gauig, so it wasn't easy for her either but she preferred it to the snow.
spikelet: (JmOtfSV)

im here im here!!

[personal profile] spikelet 2020-11-25 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
He really was very easy to take advantage of, but it was genuine devotion that had A-Qing scooting closer despite the warm stickiness in the air. It was a risk introducing the two of them, but he was so good, surely he'd have an influence on the younger girl.

And if she tried to be opportunistic, well. A-Qing had knives now. Her own voice was just as light as Buttercup's as she nudged the third panda over to Xiao Xingchen with one foot.

"In the winter. Right, daozhang?"
feixuehua: (03)

you're here!

[personal profile] feixuehua 2020-11-26 04:51 pm (UTC)(link)
To Buttercup, he smiles, "It was very cold where I'm from. I'm a man who used to live in the mountains and travel town to town even during the winter season. The winters tend to be long and cold, but there is spring and summer as well."

He felt another weight close by his foot, and he heard the animal makes a small whine, the cry it makes. He heard it, blindly search and found it to pick the animal up and put on his lap to pet.

Turning to A-Qing, "Yes, that's correct. In the winter. You remember, don't you? When you collect firewood to keep the fire burning in that house we shared in Yi City to keep it warm."
Edited 2020-11-26 16:52 (UTC)
knifewithnoname: (serious)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-11-28 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
So they had lived together before this train, she tilted her head as she watched them together. It was so strange to see A-Qing like this, and to see someone acting so gently towards her in return.

"You would be needing a lot of wood to be keeping warm, the cold do be being stupid." She pushed the nearest panda towards him, he seemed to like them so they could go bother him instead of her.
spikelet: (pic#14004038)

[personal profile] spikelet 2020-11-28 03:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Once the panda's whines have subsided and it's settled down in his lap, A-Qing flops back against the ground.

"That's right," she groused, "That little stove was always breaking, giving us extra work to do... Here, we get all kinds of clothes and blankets, and the train is warm-- the cold is no problem. This heat is worse!"

She punctuated the complaint with a swallow from her flask. "What about you? Is your home cold?"
feixuehua: recadreuse (13)

[personal profile] feixuehua 2020-11-29 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
At A-Qing's question, "I think it's always cold. And it's a struggle to keep everything warm. I tried fixing it, and nothing works."

He can feel it inwardly. How cold he is inside. He thought about his friend, Song Lan. The distant, cold bitter frost. Now he is so far away in another world and another universe. Alone to face life. It wasn't fair and yet, he only has himself to blame to never hear his apology, but he can feel it inside.

But he still has A-Qing here and he blames himself for the neglect and blindness also. He has much to make up for.

"The train is wonderful, isn't it? Giving us all a second chance. To here on this planet, that's a miracle. Imagine that." He said with a cheerful upbeat.
knifewithnoname: (yes okay)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-11-29 11:19 am (UTC)(link)
"No my home do be being hot." She told them with a wrinkle of her nose. "But no hot like here, hot and dusty and there do always be being a wind from the sea so that do be making sand be going everywhere."

She would hate to live somewhere that was so cold. "You do be liking it a lot on the train?"

The train honestly wasn't all bad, as stupid it was that they were on it at all. There were very wondrous things that she hadn't even known about before she had been brought to the platform.
spikelet: (pic#14004038)

[personal profile] spikelet 2020-11-29 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"The blanket helped-- Ah, hot all year?" She grimaces, then elbows Xingchen lightly as she feels him hunching where she's slowly edging towards leaning on him. The movement also jostles two of the pandas, who grumble in protest.

"Of course! The train is full of convenient things, and we never have to worry about food, or finding somewhere to sleep. The people who complain about it are definitely the type who just had everything handed to them."
feixuehua: recadreuse (11)

[personal profile] feixuehua 2020-11-30 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
You do be liking it a lot on the train? "..." He took a pause pondering at this question, and almost consciously wanted to touch his neck, but didn't, hands trembling. Almost for a moment, hesitant to answer. A-Qing's answer comes from a hard life on the streets, pick-pocketing, begging, and living in near poverty and pretending to be blind. It doesn't help that he helps poor people for free and he lets Xue Yang lives with them, taking advantage of their kindness.

He gives a a quiet answer. "I think so. The train is full of convenient things." He echoes after A-Qing's sentiments, because it's the truth. And he realized he's too blame for his mistakes.

"Let's just be happy for the days ahead." Because now he's pretty certain he has much to look forward to, including the sun rise, the worlds to visit, and the stars and as for the mistakes of his past life, he should never gain repeat.
knifewithnoname: (laugh)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2020-12-04 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
"It do be being full of convenient things." Even if the people on it were sometimes stupid.

A-Qing isn't stupid though, she's smarter than most people think and she can give her credit for that, even if she would never say it out loud to her. Her friend... She doesn't know yet, he just seems very gentle and that often comes hand in hand with stupidity.

"Yes we can be being glad that we do be having days ahead." They had stopped a meteor just days before, she knows they are pretty lucky to survive.
spikelet: (pic#14006206)

[personal profile] spikelet 2020-12-07 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's just as daozhang says." She's eminently agreeable about the prospect of staying aboard, at least until it's her time to be reborn. "We should enjoy ourselves, even if we don't know where we'll be tomorrow. It's sure to be exciting, being here at all is a blessing."

She pauses, and then stops her slow lean, instead flopping backwards again. Her sigh is gusty and overdone. "All except this stupid weather, anyway!"

And the pandas, but she wasn't going to say that bit out loud.