VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-01-11 05:58 am

Fierce New World- Mission Start!

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day six of the month of Jelly." 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.

Preparation and Arrival

They have a short time to prepare for their mission, enough time to read their briefs, make decisions, meet in their teams and gather anything they may need.

A few hours later there is another announcement. "Shortly arriving on System #2207385. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world #2207385. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train judders as it leaves the void, the colours from the windows turn into the blackness of space but quickly white as the train descends into the entrance of the biosphere.

The doors of the train open and passengers can enter the large white-walled holding bay. Currently, they are the only vehicle inside. There are four large doors around the bay each labelled with where they lead. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The doors open easily, and their SCA’s show a basic route, though the non-linear nature of the sectors mean that obstacles will need to be navigated. While they are in a closed world, there is a day and night cycle: the panels far up above are designed to make it seem like there is a natural sky, brightening and dimming every ten hours.

Red/Summer

Empty Streets

Wide streets divide sealed-off factories and manufacturing pods that tower up towards the ‘sky’. It is hot here, though the fumes from the factories are vented out, leaving the air breathable if overly warm.

Sometimes the pods are not yet finished, empty shells that can be sheltered in. There are also stations for living, with plumbing and basic amenities scattered through the sector. Places to rest as they move towards the center and the Great-Summer that they seek.

Helpmates

Where factories are still being built they will find Helpmates, operating machinery or moving materials.

They will not pause in their tasks for long but are programmed to answer questions so can be drawn into a conversation. Or, if the Voidtreckers are unfortunate, they will find those that are malfunctioning turning on them as they approach.

They aren’t too difficult to fight, but can do some damage with the machinery if they manage to take a Voidtrecker by surprise. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down outright.

Wild Weather

Though warm, the corridors remain a constant temperature that is not too unpleasant for people. For the most part. Unfortunately, due to the malfunctioning state of things routes may become impassable. Boiling air, freezing blasts, electricity crackling across a pathway.

Their SCA’s do a good job of warning them, allowing them to change direction or shelter in nearby buildings.

Purple/Autumn

Exploring

The Autumn sector is the least complete of the sectors, with shells of habitation pods and not much else. No one is expected to live here until nearing the end of construction, and so the pods are unfurnished, many missing doors, some missing internal walls.

Outside the streets are wide and clearly made to be pleasant to walk on; it is airy, bright and spacious, if a bit eerie due to the quiet.

There are panels on the walls, to call Helpmates to appear. Here they are primarily for helping citizens, giving directions and offering aid.

Malfunctions

Since there are more helpmates there is more risk of them malfunctioning. They attack with or without weapons, using any tools they can pick up to attack. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

They won’t chase people into the houses, their privacy programming preventing them from doing so.

Turned Around

The roads seem simple, built in a grid pattern around the houses. However, whatever is going wrong here is affecting the very streets themselves. Sometimes there will be a wall where there wasn’t before or roads go in circles. Sometimes they find themselves at a dead end, trapped until structures shift again.

Their SCA’s do their best to keep up but it can take a while for them to reroute and by the time they do, that path might be blocked too!

Blue/Spring

Patchwork Forest

The Spring sector houses the hydroponics and pastoral sections. It alternates between grazing land and more heavily forested areas with rows of pine-like trees in a checkerboard pattern, with empty plots interspersed. Walkways divide each square, but all squares appear able to move about as required, as though on a conveyor system.

There are clear walkways to avoid stepping on any newly growing plants. In the grazing land live flocks of camelid creatures resembling alpacas with blueish wool, on average a metre and a half tall at the shoulders. Helpmates appear here as if on a timer to feed the animals and tend to plants.

Destruction


If the Helpmates here malfunction they attack anyone nearby, cause havoc to any farming equipment and frightening the animals.

They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down. The panels here are less obvious than they are in the more urban sectors, low to the ground, looking almost like energy panels. But once they know what to look for they will be able to use them to shut down the Helpmates.

Stampede

Frightened animals are likely to flee and unfortunately in this case it means rampaging across the grazing land to the newly growing trees.

They will need to be calmed, returned to their grazing lands and the plants restored. Or it might be that the Voidtreckers can stop the Helpmates before the creatures get too spooked.

Orange/Winter

Exploring

The Winter sector’s primary concern is life support. Huge banks of air scrubbers form artificial cliffs, while other sections are tanks filled with water in varying stages of processing or recycling.

The paths here are a lot narrower than they are in other areas, sometimes requiring moving between pipes or scrambling over layers of railing.

There doesn’t seem to be any easy or straightforward path through the sector, their SCA takes them on wild winding routes through the machinery.

Help or Hindrance

The fluctuating temperatures here are causing problems with many of the pipes, several sections are flooded, others are in danger of being so.

There are patch kits in easily opened panels, designed to be used by the helpmates and indeed there are many helpmates out.

But some are less helpful, those that are malfunctioning are more likely to cause more damage than they are there to fix. They will attack any one who tries to interfere with them. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

Patch Job

Once the malfunctioning Helpmates are dealt with the pipes still need to be fixed. The patch kits do not have any instructions but are simple enough that anyone with a basic knowledge of how to fix things should be able to figure them out- though the more knowledge and expertise they have the better the fix!

For those that don’t, many of the jobs will need more than one person and so for those that don’t mind taking instructions they will find an extra pair of hands is always welcome.
hotheadwarmheart: (Attentive)

[personal profile] hotheadwarmheart 2021-02-02 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
With all the robots, maybe it's meant to be fully automated? Like they let the robots do all the work of setting up, then when everything's ready, the people move in. Because at least in this section it doesn't look like there were people here who left; it looks like there weren't ever people here at all.

[He smiled slightly at that.]

Which is actually kinda cool if you think about it. I mean, we could be the first people to ever walk down this path, looking at these trees. The first people to set foot in this whole place.
worthallthis: (frowny face)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-02-02 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
Believe them, Buttercup, there is nothing at all to like about all that. It was the most terrifying thing they'd ever experienced, and for Soldat, that's really saying something.

"Oh. Oh, yeah, somebody mentioned that to me before. Dark clouds, they said." If they were actually flying monsters... that's kind of horrifying. Soldat's seen some pretty creepy things, but most of them didn't fly. ( ... I want my goddamn rifle. Ugh. Me too, pal. Yes.)

They shake their head, and start to pick up their rucksack again. "Should get going. Think I'm steady enough, now. Thank you, Buttercup."
mynameisallen: (canon-allen-084)

[personal profile] mynameisallen 2021-02-02 09:05 am (UTC)(link)
"That seems to be the case, but with the ways missions go I'm going to expect an attack from something at some point. Just... maybe further down."

Not that Allen was wanting a fight. It just seemed to be a thing that usually happened.
mynameisallen: (Well ★ You see..)

[personal profile] mynameisallen 2021-02-02 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
"You know I bet you there are people who might be able to make it so. I mean there are a lot of people who seem to enjoy things like science and making improvements for the sake of people on the train."

He at least wouldn't be at all surprised anyway.
paopuofyourlife: (ItXWBcO)

[personal profile] paopuofyourlife 2021-02-02 10:42 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't honestly understand the teams either really." Was there a reason they get put in certain ones? Was it just random? She hadn't really asked anyone to get some answers for that one.

"I just know I was put on Purple"
paopuofyourlife: (NewCanvas6)

[personal profile] paopuofyourlife 2021-02-02 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
She nodded slightly as she soon started to walk on ahead. She hoped there wouldn't be any trouble. At least as she looked around she didn't think there was any dangers so far.
paopuofyourlife: (14)

Re: Prep

[personal profile] paopuofyourlife 2021-02-02 10:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Okay, I think I understand. I hope the mission isn't to hard or anything. This is my first one, but if it is it's a learning experience." She just had no idea what she was going to be expecting really.
azrthmtrnznthos: (....really?)

[personal profile] azrthmtrnznthos 2021-02-02 11:15 am (UTC)(link)
"I should warn you then, I can teleport, albeit with limitations, too." Raven didn't really actually want to scare anyone. Despite that she was often seen as creepy.
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (my darling baby boys)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-02-02 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Della wipes at her eyes a bit - she's not full on sobbing, but this conversation did get kind of intense. But she does manage to smile after a while, squeezing his hand in gratitude. ]

... Thanks, Roland. I appreciate it.

... But what's done is done. I've got to live with the stupid mistakes I've made... and do everything I can not to make worse ones. Gotta keep moving forward, y'know?
firewalled: (I know I'm nothing but a ghost)

[personal profile] firewalled 2021-02-02 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"We should keep going. I haven't done that much yet..." Trunks might not have realized it before, but Rich is particularly stubborn when it comes to taking breaks.
shadowslipping: (Saddened)

[personal profile] shadowslipping 2021-02-02 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"Indeed it does yes- though it would be more accurate to say that the abilities create the suit. Unfortunately, I can't determine what that outfit's form is...I do have a few pouches, but I worry about the state of the items between phasing- ultimately I've been afraid of my best option being to carry objects after we've already disembarked, and offload whenever I remove the armor..."

A pain, but it does guarantee nothing...odd happens. "I should test things after this mission I think...but I'd rather not risk ruining anything difficult to replace either."
shadowslipping: (pic#13315175)

[personal profile] shadowslipping 2021-02-02 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm surprised you haven't had more troubles then... [she laments, even while trying to scoot around the helpmate enough to access its control panel.] ...Actually, perhaps I should ask how that isn't the case..!
shadowslipping: (Small Smile)

[personal profile] shadowslipping 2021-02-02 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"It certainly does yes." And, as another thing where the answer is yes-

Yuume nods. "That's right. Typically the glove comes into play while I'm inside a soul- when I need to locate anything, it's what I need to replace."
luckydragonsfoot: (he ran into my fist 12 times honest offi)

[personal profile] luckydragonsfoot 2021-02-02 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"Righ'! Righ', uh..."

Well, trying a bit of a whistle, a bit of coaxing with the 'alpaca' pets...

"Th's way..!" Does he know which way? Only Technically. He won't question it. The important part is that they're going to get this job done! They're going to pet So.

Many.

Fluffy things!
seacub: (AND NOW A PIPE TOO??)

[personal profile] seacub 2021-02-02 04:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Right!" It makes sense!! "It definitely smells good at least." ...

"...I guess I could warm it up to try a bite?" Just to be polite. And all that.

wait hows he warming it
schrodingersghost: (Fenton - Worried3)

[personal profile] schrodingersghost 2021-02-02 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"It really depends on the mission. Some of them have been fun. Some of them have been boring, like this one so far. And some of them have been total nightmares."
knifewithnoname: (yes okay)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2021-02-02 07:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"You do be being welcome." She nodded at them. "We can be continuing, hopefully nothing else stupid will be happening."

And if it did, well they had her to protect them.
irrationally: (Default)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-02 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Even without having any personal experience with politicians, and even never having paid attention to that sort of thing in her world in the first place, Alice can recognize the description. Isn't that how everyone who has even the slightest shred of power works? Using and abusing it, constantly trying to stretch the boundaries of what's acceptable until everything is, no matter how awful.

"Don't say that last part too loudly. The last thing we need is for everyone on the train to get sick." Especially when the train is such a small place, and it won't take any time at all before everyone will end up infected if something is contagious enough.

But Alice shakes her head. That's not the important part here - or at least, it isn't what she's thinking about. Instead she speaks up again to say: "I wonder if there is some way for us to talk to the people in charge of this odd place."

This biosphere thing, that is. Not the train itself.

"Give them a piece of our mind."
10billionpercent: (Huh?)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-02-02 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm hoping so, at any rate. It would be unfortunate to miss my friends."
10billionpercent: (Slight Smile)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-02-02 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
That was very true, there were more pressing matters.

"Come find me when we get back. I'm not that busy anyway."
irrationally: (Default)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-02 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Alice doesn't say anything to the last part - which is surprising. Alice, actually skipping out on an opportunity to make a sarcastic quip? That really must mean she's being serious right now, while they're discussing this whole heavy topic.

"Nobody thinks I've gotten better." It's a stigma that just clings to you forever, especially in her time. Alice already knows she won't ever be seen as anything other than the local loonie. Hence why no one would believe her - and she knows it.

But while that part is something she might admit to more people, the next part is not something she'd say as readily. But right now..

"Some days I think they're right."
flatteries: (away from all the fears and)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-02-02 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
That's awful. They're not even afraid of stuff you've actually done, but just because you're different? [ That is something he can't understand. Despising people who actually do awful things? Sure, that's only natural. But why would you hate people just because they have powers different from yours? In that case Inigo would have to hate so many people, purely because he doesn't have magic and a lot of people here do. ]

I'm so sorry, Kitty.

[ The sympathy is obvious in his eyes. ]

You-- You don't deserve that.
flatteries: (you've been here before)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-02-02 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, 2X COMBO.

Except it's just getting more ridiculous by the moment. Inigo thought that maybe they'd somehow just move faster like this, and that's the whole reason the higgledy transformed.

But, oh no. That's not it. No, instead Inigo now finds himself stuck on the back of what feels like an amusement park ride he was totally not prepared for.

Which means that Roland, even on the other side of all these walls, will definitely be able to hear Inigo shriek his lungs out like a terrified schoolgirl. Please, he wants to get off mister Rannygazoo's wild ride!!

He doesn't even realise whether they've made it to Roland or not when the giant higgledy finally comes to a stop. Inigo just barely hangs on at this point, looking utterly defeated. Please. Will his feet ever touch solid ground again. Is he still alive. ]
flatteries: (i'm just trying to stop the bleeding)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-02-02 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"Thank you, father."

That quiet thanks is something Roland immediately gets in return for being so willing to go along with this. Even though Inigo thinks the idea of him collapsing because of stress is laughable - he's cultivated this whole 'Inigo the Invincible' thing for years, okay, he's not ready to let it go now! - he will accept the possibility existing in Roland's head just for now.

Just for this. Just for Inigo leaning his head against Roland's shoulder, cozily snuggled up to the other's side. Like the only bastion of warmth and companionship in this empty, wide technological desert.

But he doesn't sleep. Inigo's eyes are still open, and a moment later his Arms Band glows, summoning something to his hands.

It's flowers. A whole bunch of purple flowers. Obviously not from this place, since there doesn't seem to be any greenery here as far as the space stretches out before them until it hits an oddly placed wall.

No, these are ones Inigo took along from previous missions, exactly for this kind of scenario. If they ever ended up in a place without. And he knows the reason Roland would long for the island isn't because of what happened on the volcano.

It's for this, right? The quiet, relaxing moments he must have shared with other people. If that's what Roland longs for, then Inigo will give it to him right now, no matter how unsuited the setting is. (Maybe something like this is what he should have done back during the last mission too - if he hadn't been too busy freaking out himself to think of it.)

He takes Roland's hand into his free one, but just so he can drag it over to rest on top of Inigo's legs. It's easier to work on it that way.

And that's exactly what Inigo is starting to do. Starting to weave flowers along Roland's hand and arm. Rings, bracelets, circling up almost like a glove, though he's only just getting started when he speaks up again. Relatively softly.

"I think.. at a moment like this, my mother would have said something about how every place is just what we make of it with the people around us."
flatteries: (somebody said that life isn't fair)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-02-02 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Somewhere with water? That doesn't sound impossible. They've already been to a few places where they could swim, after all.

.. though this place is just about the furthest from it, huh. As far as the eye can see, it's like an empty, yet technological wasteland. Maybe that means they might get lucky for the next mission and actually end up in a place with water again..

"Just any place where you can swim?"

He knows there's a difference between just swimming and blitzball though, from the things Tidus has said.

"I don't know if we're ever going to run into a world that has a.." Sweet Naga, what was that word Tidus used a few moments ago again? ".. A sphere pool? I haven't seen one before, at least." So if Inigo is going to have to wait for that, he'll never get the chance to properly see Tidus in his uniform! If only blitzball was as easy to do anywhere as dancing, or he would have forced Tidus into so many demonstrations by now in return for the times the other has seen him dance.