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.
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (once i get you up there)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-23 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Lies. Scrooge is 100+ and still calls for Mummy. ]

Well... that's true! We all have our own strengths. I'd never claim to be a genius, myself.
stillnewatthis: (hello!)

[personal profile] stillnewatthis 2021-01-23 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh no, they are gorillas!" Again, as if this were very normal. "One of them is a great hero who I hope to meet someday. But he isn't one of the ones on the moon."
onehandsomeslickninja: (turned away cool)

[personal profile] onehandsomeslickninja 2021-01-23 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"I met one, she's gone now." Nor did Edge bother to disguise the bitterness he still felt, despite the time that had passed. "Sadly, the science most people talk about here is way beyond me. I understand airship engineering and that's about it."
sciencegirl: (100)

[personal profile] sciencegirl 2021-01-23 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
She's used to scowls at that idea, too. But Entrapta knows she can do more than look out for people. She can make them even stronger if she has to. She can make it even easier for them to look out for themselves.

"Yeah! I like you. You're creative." And he's doing it all on his own, regardless of who made him. "It was fun. And if we can buy more materials with whatever we earn from doing this mission? It'll be even more better. I heard that there are some incredible fighters on this train, and I want to build a robot for them to practice fighting after I finish my current project.

"It'll take some time, but imagine what a multiverse worth of knowledge would be able to build! The armaments! The capacity to self-repair! Solid weapons functions. And we could record data while people with awesome abilities take it on. Isn't it exciting!" That last part comes out as a delighted squeak.

"It would take a while. But I'd definitely want your help on it."
gundamofthedesert: (over shoulder)

[personal profile] gundamofthedesert 2021-01-23 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Of course."

Quatre began to walk with him, looking around as he does. Of course, he almost runs into a wall that wasn't there before because he wasn't paying attention. But now it seemed that they were separated at least temporarily.

"Weird," Quatre said, staying by the wall. "None of these appear on SCA. Clearly, there is something malfunctioning, but I don't know it is."
schrodingersghost: (Default)

[personal profile] schrodingersghost 2021-01-23 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
A shrug. "Most people seem to be headed in that direction."

He points at the closed ending of the street.
schrodingersghost: (pic#6326414)

[personal profile] schrodingersghost 2021-01-23 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Eh, its a little difficult pointing out directions from above and trying to to help people through the maze on the ground at the same time. Unless I duplicate, but that tends to give me headaches.
gentle_jim: (eyebrow raise)

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-23 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"Wow, a smart-ass cetacean. That's a new one. How come you can talk and fly and all that shit?"

While Jack is adjusting some of his code, it appears of the incoming help-mates has found something like a power drill. That might be a problem.
subcircuits: (run that by me again)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-01-23 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"They're not robots," he says, watching as the construct scatters into big, 3-D 'pixels', which then fade away. "They'd be leaving hardware behind if they were.

"Unbelievable as it seems, I think they're some kind of-- holographic construct? Which means they have to have some kind of hardware somewhere to operate them with."

He looks around as he says that, as if he expects to see a terminal helpfully appear in view. No such luck, of course. He looks back down at Romeo. "Have you seen anything that looks-- er, electronic at all?"
deductiongeek: (stubborn)

[personal profile] deductiongeek 2021-01-23 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Conan, meanwhile, has closed the panel and started to make his way back over.
namethattune: (I was left to my own devices)

[personal profile] namethattune 2021-01-23 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
His name throws lots of people for a loop. It's not the first time someone has had trouble with it, and it won't be the last.

"Like cats, finding the one person in the room who is allergic." He doesn't know if this AI network is intelligent enough to have a sense of humor, but he wouldn't be surprised either way. "Regardless, I will not allow them to harm you."

He moves away from Rich, approaching where the Helpmates are floating, and lowers them closer to the ground, addressing the frontmost one. "We are here to assist. If I release you, will you leave us be?"
controlsthedie: game art of Thanatos default conversation picture (But the other saying I like so much more)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-01-23 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"..." Thanatos just stares at his roommate. He's only been moving away from the train? That's his main reason for moving along this path?

"Perhaps we should wait in one of the shelters and regroup with the rest of the team."
dreamtamer: (running)

[personal profile] dreamtamer 2021-01-23 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Guilmon waves down at Takato as Trunks carries him up. Takato waves back, and then starts climbing up the pipes after them.
blitzcheer: (i go where you go)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-23 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, he'll be alright the sooner we get to him!"

Nevermind that there's plenty of others around to keep an eye on Taiki - their eyes would be better, and what's the point of staying apart? It's a solid plan of action to Tidus now, reuniting with the guy and sticking close. Tidus brings up his wrist with his SCA, thinking and walking.

"Think we should call him? Hmm... wish we could just teleport to him."

Which doesn't help them, but Tidus can't help but think. But there's something about the thought that inspires Tidus - speaking of cheating-!

"Hey, couldn't we get him to fly over to us? He can see us from above!"
schrodingersghost: (pic#6326414)

[personal profile] schrodingersghost 2021-01-23 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
He grins and holds out a hand.

"Well, if you want a pass through the nearest wall just say the word."
renegadeprince: (lean 01)

[personal profile] renegadeprince 2021-01-23 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not only about trying to find a challenge for himself, in fact Vegeta has already accepted he won't with the current passengers as no one's ki currently stands out to him. This is more about learning what his teammates can do and what he can entrust them to do in his absence. If a greater threat showed up, does he know he could leave them to handle that while they dealt with a secondary, but lower risk threat? Could they defend others who are not capable of doing it themselves? Vegeta may like to stand apart from a team, but he also knows the importance of knowing what each member is capable of doing, of knowing he can rely on them.

And as satisfying as it can be to just do mindless destruction... it could be very time consuming, Vegeta calling out to offer, "I hear the control panels can sometime stop them. Do you want to continue this way or try that?" Who knows, maybe 47 needs to let off some steam this way. Vegeta would understand that.
light_of_willpower: (long-hair-armor-smile-confident)

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-23 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"You should consider meeting her anyways. She helps a lot on missions." Trunks replied, but wasn't going to push it. Huh, his Father, afraid of worms... That was definitely something new to consider for him.
Edited 2021-01-23 23:58 (UTC)
light_of_willpower: (long hair profile talking)

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-24 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
Trunks meanwhile, is trying to use the pipe to herd the helpmates away from the charged conduits. It's not easy, as the pipe is easily longer than he is. He's managing pretty alright, but the sooner Entrapta finds that panel, the better. "She's an inventor, like her father, my grandfather."
achickenformylove: (mdzs 40)

[personal profile] achickenformylove 2021-01-24 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
Convenience for the machine yes. Convenience for the beings working here? Probably not. But then again, he'd really only seen this section, not the ones the other teams were looking at.

WangJi looked back at her as she finally turned to look at him. At the question, the faintest of smiles crossed his face at her concern for his safety.

"I am well. Yes, it was surprising. Are you alright?"
light_of_willpower: (long hair serious straight-on)

[personal profile] light_of_willpower 2021-01-24 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
"Doesn't mean he's not worth watching over." Trunks pointed out, knowing that he likely wasn't going to get anywhere trying to get this guy to see sense. "What it does mean, is I'm watching you. Carefully."
firewalled: (Would you kindly laugh at me)

[personal profile] firewalled 2021-01-24 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
"...Oh." Well, now Rich is feeling a little stupid, but he does his best not to show it.

"If it helps, you always look like a dumbass to me."
its_dad_sanzo: Ibun-era (ha ha we may be fucked)

[personal profile] its_dad_sanzo 2021-01-24 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Someone has to be!" Koumyou's response is quick and cheerful, and accompanied by another clap!
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14486533)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-01-24 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
"If I had my usual gear and potions this wouldn't be a problem," Alley glances back over her shoulder at all the fire, "especially fire."

If you can walk through dragon fire, regular fire on the ground's kinda nothing.
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14480612)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-01-24 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Maker's breath," Alley just backs off a few steps, and then goes around the mess of minions and agricultural blades while that whole mess has the helpmate distracted. She then jumps up into the machine's seating area to start attacking the helpmate directly.

Specifically, she slams it straight out of its seat and away from the controls with her borrowed shield. It's enough force to make the whole machine rock in place as the helpmate hits the dirt. Will the minions redirect their attack accordingly, now that the machine's doing nothing? Let's find out!
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14486532)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-01-24 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
"I suppose that makes sense. The train's not going to bring us to someplace that just needs a lever thrown."

Though it could be a nice change of pace for those who have been doing this for a while.