Fierce New World- Mission Start!

[voidtreckermods]

"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.

Comments

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"Okay, that's a fair point." Raven conceded. "Still, I think they'd mention if we were meant to do anything with any spaceships. Or be in space at all, as opposed to in the station. That's what happened when we were last in a space station for a mission."

[subcircuits]

"Oh, that's brilliant." He would beam at Koumyou, but he's too weary for that, so the current intensity of his smile will have to suffice. "It'll be good to have a heads up if something tries to get in."

He twists apart the halved avocado and uses the tip of the knife to extract the stone inside. "I know I'll sleep a little easier knowing the kids are inside any kind of barrier," he continues as he does.

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"That implies an intelligence of sorts at work." Raven commented. Honestly, she's been helping others phase through if needed too. Not everyone was comfortable stepping into a portal of darkness though, and Raven understood that.

[light_of_willpower]

"From my world, if I've understood the comparisons right, that'd be ki." Trunks commented. "I mean, I suppose you could scan me, but why?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

Spend a few decades with a target literally draped across your back, and you pick up all kinds of little tricks. Particularly when you're someone who usually travels either alone, or with one precious kid along for the journey.

"I'm not used to traveling with so much company," Koumyou notes, wryly amused. "But at least we have some space, unlike on the train."

[subcircuits]

Devero doesn't hesitate to strip right there, unself-conscious of his near nudity in the somewhat open space of the armory car. He's from a world without any significant taboos around that so it doesn't occur to him that maybe he should not. He does turn his back to Trunks, though, even though he's leaving his, well, trunks on underneath the armor. That's just polite.

It's easy enough to don, and as Trunks said, it really does stretch to fit his broad, tall frame. He's surprised and impressed and it's obvious as he turns back around, smoothing out the rich blue bodysuit over his hips. "This is brilliant," he breathes. "It fits like it was made for me."

[subcircuits]

Hoo boy. What has he gotten himself into.

"I'd guess they're meant to be domesticated animals, given how cultivated this section is. Like livestock. Surely they're used to being handled. So it must be all right, right?"

(Devero has never been around livestock in his life and that statement would make it painfully obvious to anyone who has.)

[nutkrusher]

"Wouldn't recommend it," Cassie says. "Then again, I wouldn't recommend Chuck E. Cheese generally. The pizza sucks shit."

[light_of_willpower]

"From where I was, it sounded like bullying. Especially the actions that made him do the 'call out' as you put it." Trunks was not impressed, crossing his arms over his chest.

[subcircuits]

"It's nice to feel like I can breathe," he mutters, and inhales a deep lungful of the tangy, smoky air of the camp with obvious relish. "Everywhere on that damn train is too close."

He hands the first couple of slices of tender avocado over to Koumyou. "I'm not used to traveling out in the wilderness without a company, and we'd all have exos with us," he says with a laugh. "Imagine this--" He gestures with the tip of the knife around at the little camp, surrounded by the square of trees. "--but with 'bots in low power mode, all crouching around at the edge of the clearing. Sometimes felt like they were enjoying the firelight as much as we were."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Oh?" And Koumyou does look around the camp as he nibbles on a slice of the fruit, picturing what Devero describes as best as he can without ever having actually seen an exo. Devero had once told him the size of his, at least. The basic shape of it.

"Perhaps they were."

[magicurls]

Perfect. Mami can work at systematically destroying the offense, and she's efficient once she gets going. A few volleys of shots later, there's a lull and she drops down, single rifle in hand.

"Thank you again..."

She looks sheepish. "That's impressive weapon work."

[magicurls]

Mami's eyes widen. That use of the term...Kyubey hadn't said anything. (But Kyubey is a lying liar who lies, and it is in fact her soul...)

"No...it's just the source of my power. I have to recharge it now and then, and I can't be too reckless."

She doesn't look concerned. See, all smiles. "Don't worry. I have plenty of energy to heal anyone else in trouble."

[bakegarasu]

"Oh. Okay. ... Sorry, just... thought it might be something like... never mind."

It's fine. He's a weirdo who has a weird situation. It doesn't bother him as much as it probably should. He tucks his amulet back into his pocket.

"Looks like your little friend there is helping out, too."

[magicurls]

Mami makes sure not to drift too far ahead. She's not sure she's strong enough to help if it's needed, but she can try bending her ribbons upward and onward.

She places them below her ally, making footholds that appear under each of their steps.

"I can heal flesh...but I'd have to memorize the blueprint of your arm to be able to fix it. I'm sorry."

[magicurls]

Mami smiled approvingly. "So I see!"

She was getting better at predicting the bots with practice, at least.

"I wish everyone didn't have to fight...it's a tough burden. But I'm glad we have such a good team."

[magicurls]

"Incredible...just what I need."

Emboldened, Mami lines up her shots with all her usual precision. There's a gentle smirk on her face as she sets them off, dispatching of the threat as efficiently as she can.

"Thank you so much---do you see more coming?"

[subcircuits]

"You think?" he asks wistfully, then laughs at himself. "They weren't, of course. They're just machines. But when you spend that much time with a machine like that-- when you learn it and it learns you..." He trails off, then chuckles again. "It's hard not to get sentimental."

[magicurls]

"Mm, it is odd. But I still owe Miss Lightning a full mission with her team. Maybe we're solving four corners of the same problem to bring the world into balance?"

She's pretty sure she's heard stories like that before.

[magicurls]

Mami knows at least enough to pry it open. She's careful lifting away the cover, squinting at the circuitry. At least she might learn something?

"Here. That's clearly an error message...it's beeping pretty fast."

[blue_ice]

Seto gently helps her up when it's safe, checking on their work one last time. It's all clear in this section.

"Sorry. I'm just not eager for a repeat of last time."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"Why not?" The priest looks over at Devero, and raises an eyebrow.

"Babysitter may not have a consciousness, per se. It may not have a soul of its own as we may understand it, but that does not mean it hasn't been imbued with some sort of..." Koumyou gestures vaguely with one partially-covered hand, "spirit."

[blue_ice]

"Mm. Balloons are classic. I had a blimp too..."

Seto looked back to ensure Senku was all right, slowing to walk with him to the spot. No problem. He has simple rations stuffed in his backpack, and pulls out the first one: an odd avocado paste concoction. It doesn't look appetizing, but it'll do.

"...maybe I should focus more on the ration part of prep," he laughed.

[pleple]

"Cities in orbit around Earth. Most people live in them, in my time, to reduce the human impact on Earth's environment." And then sometimes people, uh, drop the colonies onto Earth and ruin that whole business.

[blue_ice]

[ Hey, he's cold too. Judging by the way he keeps rubbing his hands together. Definitely putting workers' gloves on his shopping list. ]

Ha...Yugi's a lot further away. But I have an extra blanket in my pack if it gets unbearable.

[ He flexes his fingers, not entirely numb yet, and places his hands to hold up the next falling pipe. A...very cold pipe. He flinches. ]

Okay, more we do this, faster we get, right?