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!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 5)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-11-23 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
WangJi was at least willing to give credit where credit was due. It had been a good idea that the toys be natural since they were willing to chew through mechanical cables so they'd probably chew through other things as well if given the chance.

"Hmm..." WangJi thought about that for a moment, looking around at the pandas. There were quite a few of them, but they also didn't want to make a lot of them in case the pandas weren't interested in them. "Let's start with three to see if we can get them interested in the toys. If they are, we can make more of them."

He reached into his qiankun pouch and pulled out Bichen. Pausing where he was, Bichen unsheathed on its own, floating up into the air and cutting down some further off vines on its own. There, no risk of the panda trying to reach for Bichen if he was holding it. It was already interested in the sheath so it was good to not encourage it to do more.
myblueskies: (followingdreams)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-11-24 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's a good idea! That way we don't waste vines if they don't like them!"

Romeo skipped forward to catch the vines that Lan WangJi was cutting down with his sword, adding them to those over his shoulder.

"We could plait them together like you do with hair! And then it would make a thick rope to play with..."

And it would be a bit like a wire, which pandas liked so much!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 13)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-11-24 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"Of course. They are still important to the environment here." Just because they were free materials didn't mean that they should use all of them carelessly.

WangJi waited until the vines had fallen and Bichen returned to him, sheathing itself when he held the sheath out. This again prevented the panda from touching the live blade. Putting his sword away he began to help with gathering the vines.

"That is a good idea. Simulating what they want to chew on. Let's try that."
myblueskies: (concentration...)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-11-28 02:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Romeo nodded, it was important not to hurt the planet too much, that would be bad!

He had a lot of vines now so he sat down on the jungle floor so he could take three vines and start plaiting, frowning with concentration as he did. It was a bit tricky!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 5)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-11-29 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
As they settled in and Romeo began to start working on braiding the vines together, WangJi carefully settled his panda friend on the ground as he knelt down. The panda didn't wander off, resting its head on WangJi's leg as he took up some of the vines as well and began to braid them together.

So they could work on it together.
myblueskies: (smile)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-11-29 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Romeo grinned as Lan WangJi began braiding as well, "I wonder where Rapunzel is? I bet she would be able to get all of these vines braided in no time! She's so good at it!"

She had to be, though she didn't have all her hair anymore, because it had gotten cut by a bad monster!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 4)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-11-30 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
A faint smile crossed his face and he nodded. "I'm sure that she would. I am capable, but those who make ropes and cord for a living do a much better job than I."

He didn't often use his hands to work save for using his guqin or a sword.
myblueskies: (of course!)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-04 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"There's people who have a job of making ropes?"

He guesses someone would have to make them! But he hadn't thought about it at all before! It must be a tricky job and maybe a little boring.

One rope of vines was fun to make but if you had to make lots and lots every day... That would be different!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 1)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-05 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm sure they do other things besides making ropes, but that would be one of the tasks that they would do during the course of a day."

WangJi wouldn't expect making rope to be a particularly exciting job, but since everyone always needed rope, someone to made it would never be short on customers.

"I'm sure if they have been doing it for a long time, they can make rope very quickly."
myblueskies: (Alfredo is speaking!)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-05 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"I bet they can." He nodded, "But people always need rope, it's really useful so I bet they work really hard!"

He smiled and then blinked. "What did you do as a job before you were on the train?"

He had a flying sword, so he might have been a hero of some kind!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 4)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-05 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes. It is a very important job." Even if it wasn't glamourous, it was important and WangJi would never knock someone doing something to make the lives of others easier.

"I am a cultivator. The ultimate goal is to achieve immortality through study and using our golden cores. What many cultivators do is use their qi to fight the monsters in our world and protect those who are unable to protect themselves."
myblueskies: (this is amazing!)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-06 10:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Wow!" Romeo's eyes widen. "That does sound like a really important job! What is qi? Is that your magic? What happens when you achieve immortality? Do you just get to live forever and ever?"

That's what immortality means, right?
achickenformylove: (mdzs 62)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-07 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Qi is energy. It is life. Everyone has qi, but not everyone is able to manipulate it in order to make it work for them. So it is the source of our abilities. Yes, that is what happens and we will teach other cultivators."
myblueskies: (smile)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-09 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
"Wow!" He grinned, "So if you work really hard you get to live forever like a god!"

It was very much like a god, except... "Do you get to stay with your friend on your world? Or do you go to a heaven place?"
achickenformylove: (mdzs 1)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-09 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes. It is hard to achieve that state. There is one who is supposedly many generations old by accounts, but she never leaves where she lives and once her disciples leave the mountain, they are not allowed to return."

It was something about her teaching. It was not his place to judge her rules. If everyone agreed with her rules, then arguing the contrary was rude as he was not her disciple.

"We would stay in our world."
myblueskies: (Alfredo is speaking!)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-10 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh!" He nodded, those were strict rules! If people could never return to the mountain once they left.

"Are you immortal? Did you manage to do it yet sir?"

He has no doubt he will eventually, he is a very hard worker!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 56)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-10 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"I have not as far as I am aware. Cultivators naturally age slower than those without a golden core so it may be sometime before I find out."

He certainly appreciates the belief that he would be able to.
myblueskies: (of course!)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-11 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
"I bet you do though! Because you work really hard!"

He doesn't doubt it for one second! "If you age slower does that mean you are much much older than you look?"

Not that he could even guess his age 'adult' is a very vague age bracket.
achickenformylove: (mdzs 58)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-12 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Thank you. It is something I hope for and I hope Wei Ying can as well."

He nodded his head slightly. "I believe so. However, it is improper to ask people you are unfamiliar with their age so I can only compare with other cultivators."
myblueskies: (big eyes)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-12 02:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh!" He looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry sir! I didn't meant to be improper!"

Or rude!
achickenformylove: (mdzs 5)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-12 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"I did not mean that you said anything improper as you did not actually ask my age. Just that I can't be certain if those I am meeting are in fact older or younger than I am as I cannot ask."
myblueskies: (of course!)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-12 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh." He nodded, "Where I lived before a lot of the gods were much much older than they looked as well. Ebisu was hundreds and hundreds of years old but he looked littler than me!"
achickenformylove: (mdzs 1)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-14 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
"I see. That must have been rather surprising, that he appeared to be so young when he had been around for so long. You were fortunate enough to meet him?"
myblueskies: (happiness)

[personal profile] myblueskies 2020-12-15 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
"I was!" He nodded, "Ebisu is one of my friends! He was really nice and he worked so hard! He had lots and lots of shinki and they were always so so so busy!"
achickenformylove: (mdzs 5)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2020-12-15 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"That is impressive that you were able to meet a god and that you were such good friends with him. What are shinki?"