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.
flatteries: (everyone's scared someone knows)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-01-24 11:28 am (UTC)(link)
He clicks his tongue.

"I can't believe they just dropped us off in a place that big and just said 'oh yeah, go look for this being, good luck!'" He doesn't sound fully annoyed. Or, at the very least, not at his upper limit of annoyance, at the very least. But to say Inigo sounds exactly happy about it would be a wide stretch too.

"Last time around we had that map on our SCAs to point us towards what was important. Does really no one or nothing know where that Great Autumn is so they could've just made a map for us and spared us the effort?"
happyends: (lies in the palm)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-24 11:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you really think they'd be that different though..?"

She can kind of understand his hesitation. They do travel to some really odd places, after all. But at the same time..

"I was around the pandas and the armadillos a lot during the last mission, and even though their colours were entirely different than back home, they acted exactly like the animals I know. That's why I thought the alpacas should be safe too.."
flatteries: (this was gonna be easy)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-01-24 11:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's no more answer to Roland's question. Which may have been a little worrying, but Inigo is just much too busy running to think about answering - which is why it's probably a good thing that this new higgledy actually seems capable of getting through to Roland's heart enough to make the man understand.

Inigo, in the meantime, just keeps running. Even with the cheerleader squad of higgledies now crowding around him, he still wants to hurry up - if not just to be able to get back to Roland before they get boxed in any further, before anything happens. Inigo would hate to make him worry for no good reason, after all.

Hopefully they're at least hiding in the right direction. Surely the caped higgledy wouldn't lie to him about it, right? ]


How much further is it?

[ Inigo is starting to sound a little out of breath, but not to an extreme point. He's used to having to run for his life, after all. This is nothing new. ]

Are we almost back to Roland yet?
happyends: (through even darkness)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-24 12:27 pm (UTC)(link)
...

Trying to think back on what she knows about Yoite so far, Madoka can't help but feel that the reason Yoite didn't call wasn't because he never got into trouble - he seemed awkward about even accepting her help in helping him get back to his room that last time he got hurt, after all. Oh, Yoite..

"Y.. You should promise me too, Yoite-san!" So she can't help but pipe up now, at least wanting to have made sure she said this much. "If you're in trouble, call me too! We have these SCAs here, after all.. I'll come help you out the moment you need it, just like just now!"
irrationally: (ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴍᴀᴅ ʜᴇʀᴇ.)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-24 12:36 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not a surprise to hear that last part. Natsuno doesn't exactly seem like the type to have some heart-to-heart conversation, after all, not even with cheery people. He's maybe more the type who just lets them do as they please as long as they're not being annoying..?

Or so Alice thinks, anyway, letting the thought go.

"Would you say you know me well then?" It's hard to tell if she's joking or seriously asking. Especially with her teeth still clattering slightly from the cold, though she's at least not totally freezing anymore now.
longforgottenpromise: (confused)

[personal profile] longforgottenpromise 2021-01-24 12:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"We have a map... It's just.... There's a lot of it." He pressed his SCA until the map came up and looked at it pensively.

"It's not very helpful, since we don't really know where anything is and it's all so big."

It wasn't like there were any major landmarks or anything to help orientate.
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (Default)

Re: malfunctions

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-24 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"Will do! And then we can talk allllll about your super cool magic stuff!"
blitzcheer: (prbly huffin' 'bout dad)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-24 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, don't remind me of deserts." Ugh. He can already recall the heat and endless, exhausting walking around with little to no supplies and barely any direction to follow.

"Actually, now I'm not so sure if this isn't alright. Last time we were in a desert, we got stuck out of the way from everyone else for two or three days with that attacked all through the night. I'll take boring over that again."
hisblueskies: Blond-haired boy looking off 3/4 stage left, looking dubious. (Concerned)

[personal profile] hisblueskies 2021-01-24 01:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Alfredo nods intermittently, both focused on Devero's story and trying to picture it all for himself. "Wow... that's a lot that can be different, though; enough to leave an impression on anyone."

"... People who came before?" he asks, trying to figure out the man's initial phrasing.
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (let's fly let's fly away)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-24 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Her eyes are glittering. "Can we do it now?"
firewalled: (No you never crash if you don't try)

[personal profile] firewalled 2021-01-24 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Rich keeps his eyes peeled, and sure enough, after some time he notes a steady flow of water near one of the pipes. He grabs onto it, sliding his hand down to check for leaks, and then makes a face before dunking his head under the water.

When he comes back for air, he sighs. "Yup. It's already been submerged. I think I can patch it, but it's gonna take a little more time."
firewalled: (That sense of guilt)

[personal profile] firewalled 2021-01-24 02:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hey, as long as you've got a pair of eyes, I'm fine with you watching for me. If you see something coming, I can always help too."

Though that would mean neglecting some repairs.
flatteries: (we were caught up)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-01-24 02:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, I can get that..

[ Especially since Della, being the way she is, can probably appreciate the oddness of this place much more than Inigo. Who is very easily startled outside of battle.

But rather than getting up in that thought, he shakes his head and tries to smile, especially when he can feel her squeezing his hand. ]


So how about we do something about the silence, huh? [ And before Della can even get a word in, Inigo is already shouting: ] LIKE THIS!
flatteries: (but the red on the rest of)

[personal profile] flatteries 2021-01-24 02:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Inigo nods.

"That sounds like a plan. It's probably going to be quicker than the other way around." Especially if they try to make their way over to where Taiki is, only to be blocked by yet another one of these dumb walls. Inigo swears to Naga he's going to scream if that happens again. He's had it up to here!

"And you don't think he minds shifting to that form, right?"

It hadn't seemed like he minded the last time he did it, back when they were trying to round up those pandas during the last mission. But they can't help but still have Taiki's wellbeing as the #1 priority, right.
adregem: (lofty you say the silliest things.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-24 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Sounds like quite the combination, indeed. I don't think I'll need to be keeping that close of an eye out for anyone, it seems.

[ He brightens at the pride radiating off of the blue-haired woman. ] I guess it should be the other way around, huh? I should be calling for one of you guys if I'm in trouble. I know Trunks can fly pretty fast. What more the rest of his family?

[ Was it safe to assume Bulma was just like Trunks in that manner or was he missing the part that she's the human in the half-saiyan equation? Tales for another tag time! ]
knifewithnoname: (curiousity)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2021-01-24 02:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes, smashing robots did be being better than this." She wrinkled her nose. "It do be more boring if we can no even be killing monsters."

She's being a bit more open than she usually would be, though still careful, still taking his cues from him.
adregem: (ready to get to work.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-24 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Whoa.

[ He's no stranger to magic - water or otherwise - but that was actually really awesome to behold. Roland's eyes are wide as the sitar summons back the water soaking him, and suddenly he's as dry as the ground beneath their feet.

Not for the first time is he caught in admiration for magic and all its many uses. And Demyx seems quite skilled in it. Brooms for flying, instruments for casting spells...what's next! ]


What an intro. It's good to meet you, Demyx. Are you new from platform? [ As the Helpmates are all settled down, Roland goes ahead and takes a bit of the lead, walking back around in hopes of meeting nicer AI. ]
ballseeker: (you're the one I want tonight)

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-01-24 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)

“What does she do?” Color her curious, because of all the different types of people in Bulma’s version of Earth, she’s never met a spider person. Or a sentient spider? She’s not quite sure how to term it. Either way, she hefts a patch over her latest spot, beginning to make her way out of the little area she’s squeezed in to in order to put away her tools.

“Okay. I think I’m done in this area. Did you have anyone else to check up on or where you wanted to go? Or are you staying with me for the moment?”
adregem: (so this is where they kept it.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-24 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's true. But we shouldn't let our guards down so easily. We don't know what's causing them to go crazy yet. Last thing we need is a surprise attack in a place like this."

And what a place it is indeed. Even with the hand in his, Roland feels disturbed. It's just a vast nothingness that he can't understand. There's no one to ask questions, and if a Helpmate comes, there's a chance it'll go haywire first before they can even prod at it for help. Pods are unfinished, barely functional...homes barely resembling their namesake.

He hums deeply, a breath audible.

"I know that place messed with our memories, but I'm missing Jema'grethy real bad. At least the island was by the beach, with nice fresh air." His chuckle is not one of joy. When you start wanting to return to past missions no matter how much they messed you up, you know it's gotten bad.
ballseeker: (you tryna make shit so concrete)

[personal profile] ballseeker 2021-01-24 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)

Not with Trunks around, no. [ Vegeta tended to look out for himself and her altruistically where people could see him, but for others? It was usually in the form of saving Earth, not scooping people up and putting them out of harm’s way. And Bulla.... well. She couldn’t speak for her yet considering she getting to know the teen version of her daughter.

She laughs, shoulders raising in a shrug as he says he ought to call them for help. Yes, he could, and they could all help in different ways, but - ]


Well, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for me unless Trunks or Vegeta are around to fly me. I could’ve learned to fly I guess - other humans have - but I always had vehicles so I just used those. [ now saying it like that it seems silly, so maybe she ought to at.. some point .. ]

The kids learn to fly pretty much at the same time they start walking with saiyans. Vegeta’s been pretty insistent on that so they learn to fly pretty early but training waits until they’re older.

[ because she’ll kill him if he over trains one of their children or accidentally hurts them, basically. ]
shadowslipping: (Smile)

[personal profile] shadowslipping 2021-01-24 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"Unfortunately, a lot of people in history have had the habit of getting invested in things without thinking them through, and then abandoning them when they decided it was too much for themselves..."

Ah well. "Ah, but you're definitely right about that! We got a bit carried away on a tangent, it seems... ...fortunately, I don't think we should be at risk of anything like that though," she adds as she holds her glove up. "This detects anything with life- anything with a soul. I would expect that even monstrous aliens have those, neh?"
knifewithnoname: (serious)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2021-01-24 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh." She wrinkled her nose, "There do be being lots of dead people on the train. I do no be knowing why."

But only the dead could live on a dead world... "So that world did be stealing your soul after you did be dying?"

She tries not to sound as horrified as she feels about that.
shadowslipping: (pic#13315175)

[personal profile] shadowslipping 2021-01-24 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
What!?

The idea is to go through this safely, not to start fights..!!

[She can't even properly join this fight!! What if she hits her teammate!! AAAAAAAA!]
shadowslipping: (Sigh)

of course!!!

[personal profile] shadowslipping 2021-01-24 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's only the truth after all..." If the tables were turned, she'd probably be feeling just as humble though, so she can't help but understand how he feels on that.

"Ah- I'll be following with Purple, yes. I think I should be relatively prepared...unfortunately, if I pull on my armor the only thing that isn't affected is the SCA though- I can't really carry anything with me as a result," she admits with a weak smile.
happyends: (so it's now or never more)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-01-24 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Madoka nods.

"Don't worry, sir! I've been on so many of these missions, I'm really good at them now..!" Or.. well, 'really good' may be overplaying it a little, but at the very least she's experienced. Despite just being a teenage girl without any prior combat experience, she's learned to adapt.

"I'm making sure to be really careful around the Helpmates so I can stay safe. I wouldn't want anyone to worry about me.."