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.
forleaving: (005)

[personal profile] forleaving 2021-01-18 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah." Adam could easily agree with that.

The meeting. That he hadn't attended though he probably should have. He nodded. He didn't like asking for favors from people, but if they were already offering to teach people...what could it hurt? "I will. Though I wouldn't mind learning some survival skills, either," he said. The more he learned, the better, in his opinion.
controlsthedie: concept sketch of Thanatos (You'll be killed by what'cha don't know)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-01-18 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
Being that this is Thanatos's first mission, he doesn't have anything to compare to. "Things look unfinished yet falling apart, and these weather fluctuations aren't safe for mortals."

They come to a split in the path. One path is colder than the other, so Thanatos avoids the colder one. "Does it really seem easy to fix?"
subcircuits: (embarrassed)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-01-18 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know if I'd say that, if this is the kind of stuff that gets produced on your world." He pulls at the neck of the bodysuit, stretching it out and then letting it snap back in. "We don't have anything this adaptable where I come from."

Not that that means he doesn't want to meet Trunks' mother! Whom... Trunks has apparently mentioned him to! "You were telling her about my world's tech?"
subcircuits: (feral)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-01-18 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
"...That's a good point," Devero says. One that hadn't occurred to him. "We can't even be sure if it's humans... oids, humanoids that this thing's being built for. We might be the only humans these creatures ever see."

And maybe it's because he's standing here next a small, obviously yearning child. Maybe it's because he's still floating along on the heady relief of having patched things up with Koumyou yesterday after their awful fight. Maybe it's because he expected this mission to be a grueling horror and so far it's mostly been a pleasant march.

Whatever the reason, the normally responsible and somewhat staid Devero looks down at Madoka with a mischievous grin. "We might be the only humans who can ever say they got to touch a blue alpaca. Shall we try?"
worthallthis: (eyeroll)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-01-18 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, and it's dumb that we can't use them on the train, but. We work with what we have, I guess." They have tried to work out how it can be that they don't work on the train while they work everywhere else but, well, it's probably magic, and magic has stupid limitations like that, sometimes. It's not like the pseudo-science that keeps them some semblance alive is anything less weird than magic, either.

"Same to you, though," they add. "If you need anything." Not that they can help, exactly. But they're making the suggestion more explicit, since Inigo had blown right by the offer before.
worthallthis: (look up)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-01-18 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Still pretty cool," Soldat says, watching with interest. They're at the corner of the building now, able to turn and put the electric field behind them, out of sight, and they are clearly relaxing for it. "I can jump further or higher than a standard human could, but I definitely can't float."
its_dad_sanzo: (the moon greets the rising sun)

[personal profile] its_dad_sanzo 2021-01-18 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
And Koumyou just tips his head up and plants a smooch on him.

They've got this.
light_of_willpower: (long-hair looking down)

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-18 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
"It's not mass produced, is the thing. The armor is more for personal family use." Trunks noted. "Most of the world still doesn't necessarily believe in aliens outright."

At the next comment, Trunks ducked his head a bit. "I mean, at least about the books. I'm not sure I could accurately describe the rest."
renegadeprince: (confused 03)

[personal profile] renegadeprince 2021-01-18 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm, [Vegeta thinks it over for a few minutes, considering if to do it or not. While the armors were designed to stretch and pull to an extreme degree, they were still modeled on a male frame rather than female, so would it be an issue? He's not sure, he tends to be the only one wearing the sets now, rather than how they were shared out during their battles with Cell.

Wait.]
She's from the future. [Duh, but stay with him.] She would have better stuff. [And he wants it. If his gear is this good, then Vegeta can only imagine how much it's improved over the years.]
light_of_willpower: (long hair profile talking)

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-18 06:59 am (UTC)(link)
If she has armor, she might. She might not have armor at all though. She's been through a few different worlds before being kidnapped by the train, Father.
longforgottenpromise: (confused)

[personal profile] longforgottenpromise 2021-01-18 07:15 am (UTC)(link)
"I know... I'll be careful."

He doesn't want to cause a fight. He looks on the panel. "I can't... I can't see anything about walls... sorry... I'll keep looking."

It must be here somewhere. This place is so strange. But there must be ways to make the walls move back.... Surely...
longforgottenpromise: (confused)

[personal profile] longforgottenpromise 2021-01-18 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes... I'm not sure I know anyone for who this sort of technology is normal... But there's probably someone on the train."

Perhaps. There were a lot of people who Taiki didn't know very well after all.
longforgottenpromise: (confused)

[personal profile] longforgottenpromise 2021-01-18 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes... I lost Tidus behind one before..."

That had been worrying, "He's fine but there doesn't seem to be anyway for us to make the walls move back... We just have to wait."

So holding hands was for the best.
knifewithnoname: (serious)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2021-01-18 08:28 am (UTC)(link)
"I do no really be knowing anything about electricity."

She wrinkled her nose, "I think if you did be being smart with science you could be fixing it and if they did be building this whole world." What a weird thought. "Then they should be able to be fixing stupid electricity."
knifewithnoname: (listening to you)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2021-01-18 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
She could be dangerous, when she was told to be. But right now she wasn't trying to be, she was trying to be calming and she kept her breathing light as she led them away from the crackling of electricity.

While they caught his breath, recovering themself she kept watch, stood at the corner, gun in hand looking for any threats.

"You do no be needing to be apologising." She wrinkled her nose. No stupid Helpmates at least.

"You can be taking your time, we do be being clear here."
goingthroughaphase: (pic#13971676)

[personal profile] goingthroughaphase 2021-01-18 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe something like that. Or maybe they just want to have the ability to change it whenever they want. I can't really say for sure.

It is a bit sad, though.
goingthroughaphase: (pic#13971649)

[personal profile] goingthroughaphase 2021-01-18 09:44 am (UTC)(link)
I mean, I could see something like this being nice for a night or so. Like if someone wanted to go someplace specific but couldn't travel, a place like this would be nice to change the environment.

But I don't know if I'd wanna live here.
goingthroughaphase: (pic#13971652)

[personal profile] goingthroughaphase 2021-01-18 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
"We should be able to use are SCAs to communicate at least, even if they aren't updating locations correctly. If we can talk to the team, then you can spot people who are stuck and I can phase in and out."
goingthroughaphase: (pic#13969459)

[personal profile] goingthroughaphase 2021-01-18 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
I'd guess they probably got here before us. One of the few notes we got was to deal with any hostiles. So someone must've seen something, right?
goingthroughaphase: (pic#13971963)

[personal profile] goingthroughaphase 2021-01-18 09:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ She nods. ] Yeah. It's really making it tough to do anything, isn't it?

Not that we really know what we're supposed to be doing anyway.
adregem: (< suit > you're all talk right now.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-18 09:58 am (UTC)(link)
Roland can only concur, but no words pass through his lips. The arms that come crossed against his chest fall to his sides as the area is surveyed with an uncharacteristic eye for detail, doubting immediately that this couldn't be as simple as a bare biome that looks like it was abandoned halfway through their blueprint. The hum that does escape him, low and deep, lends to the feeling of shifting attitudes. Everything is sterile and cold and lifeless that he can't help but be reminded of somewhere else he'd rather not be, or think about.

The eerie blanket of complete silence doesn't help his impression any. He walks, follows the initial flow of the streets if it can be called that, pausing only to peer at what does stick out...Though expectedly, there's nothing to find there either.

"Hm." Roland breathes out. "What a party." The sarcasm isn't lost on him, but he says it deliberately. A careful pivot on the ball of his foot to look back at the distance they've crossed, the doors that have shut, separating them from the rest of the train; he frowns deeply at the nothingness behind them too.

"No signs of forced entry or destruction from the holding bay," he says steadily. "And no signs of it in here. So who are we lending our aid to, and has the threat come and gone...? Or worse?" Paranoid as he might sound, how could one ignore such forewarnings when Roland flashes his trademark quirk of the brow, the crinkle in his forehead to indicate deep thought. Gears churning, wondering of what to make of it all.

But this was no time to sit and chat, so he keeps moving while talking with Tidus instead.
Edited 2021-01-18 10:00 (UTC)
goingthroughaphase: (pic#13971790)

[personal profile] goingthroughaphase 2021-01-18 10:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. How are we supposed to be able to do anything like this?
blitzcheer: (i should've gone for lyrics)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-18 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
This is so as stupid as being back in Bevelle's temple.

Sure, that had what looked like pits of darkness and singular, no-return tracks and there wasn't giant walls blocking one's path, but it's the same, annoying puzzle that was getting in Tidus's way. His feet slid, about to continue down the path he was going, then backtracking to the way he came. Did he? Whatever, it's the way he's deciding to go when the SCA beeps and vibrates, and Tidus taps it, his earbuds not in, but not necessary. He'll keep his wrist up.

"I'm jumping over!" No ifs, no buts! "Go back the way you came, let's try and meet somewhere near to where we were. Or stop, I dunno!"

He isn't stopping his quick-paced walking yet. He wants to be somewhere close to where they both got separated.
blitzcheer: (very gud thinker)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-18 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Why wasn't there anything actual useful around here?!

Tidus backs away from the wall he's standing by, searching for the sight of anything that wasn't white and drab. A useless endeavour, so he looks up, trying to make out the height of the barrier between him and Taiki.

"Hey! Can you fly over this? Pick me up?"
blitzcheer: (HUUMMM)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-18 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Tidus watches where his feet walk, the surrounding area, the far off distance. Nothing immediately standing out, and what did that mission briefing call this area again? Blue was pastoral, but that he only remembers thanks to Madoka. This place was... what?

He wonders, he thinks, a small dip to his brow as he continues to walk, waiting for his eyes to adjust and find some detail they haven't yet been able to. As if something more than this blank slate will finally reveal itself.

"They were working on this place," Tidus says slow, trying to piece together what's going on, what they should maybe be thinking about. "And it was a distress signal. If it's a signal... then maybe whatever's happened in some place. But the train doesn't know where? For some reason."

It's only on the end of those words that a thought occurs to him, a slow 'oh' dragging out from him.

"Nita did say she had a dream - somewhere with grass, or- a lake or pond. A body of water. That might be where we need to go."