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.
adregem: (guess i landed on my feet.)

Malfunctions

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-13 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She looks nuts, but is this strategy working? Actually yes. So who is Roland to tell her to stop when it's so effective? The poor things aren't reacting well to the in and out strategy, so they're stuck trying to figure out Della. Which means Roland has time to disable from the panel where his fingers work to rewire, type, and whatever else seems feasible to try to reset the damned things.

Thankfully, as outside of his wheelhouse as it may seem, Roland's actually got some basic tech skills up his sleeves. Forgive the smile of amusement on his face, this is a very weird mission and a creepy biosphere - ]


Keep that up, Della! Make 'em see stars!

[ He's trying to work faster, but she's gonna need more tricks up her sleeves if Roland's gonna succeed on this end...! ]
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (waiting on the wings)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-14 12:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait, really?

[ Della's so used to her ideas getting a GODDAMMIT DELLA response instead of positive feedback here on the train, so she's a little surprised. ]

I mean - of course! In fact, if we really wanna distract them...

[ She leans down, trying to twist off her prosthetic leg - intending to throw it as another distraction. ]
adregem: (gotta hurry.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-14 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Okay, so it's mostly a glass panel, like a touchscreen, which is good. He's familiar. He can work with that. And Broadleaf engineers from home would have taught him at least the basics of resetting, with intuition doing the rest.

But don't think he's so busy with his tap tap tapping that he misses what Della is planning. One hand lifts and points to her direction while the other keeps tapping. Just a little more, he's gonna get there...! ]


Miss Della Duck, don't you dare! [ ENOUGH LEG SHENANIGANS, you will make his conveniently young body sprout white hairs before their time, ma'am!!! Also, way to force him to use his dad voice on someone who isn't even a kid and is more or less his actual age!! ] Just buy me five more minutes! I've almost cracked this!
Edited 2021-01-14 16:48 (UTC)
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (in llama land)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-14 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Aw, c'mon! Fiiine...

[ Sheesh, what about her body, her choice? But she'll twist her prosthetic back on, and resumes hokey-pokey-ing... only this time? ]

Guess I'll just have to go the SPEEDRUN VERSION!

[ Which means same as before, except FASTER. In,out,in,out,inoutinoutinout- ]
adregem: (you're finally awake.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-16 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[ PLEASE DELLA, he's still traumatized!! But for now, it's mostly rapid pressing, and as soon as Della begins her sudden burst of movement, rubber-banding like a champ, Roland makes the final adjustments and actually cracks the code. He brightens up, standing straight immediately, turning over to where his companion makes for an amusing sight. ]

Done! They should be fine!

[ And fine they are, as the Helpmates settle down, no longer adamant to hurt either of them. Or chase them away a sector that's been compromised. In fact, they sound rather cordial now, if not robotic.

'Please standby.'

Sounds harmless enough, so he jogs over to cross the distance, rejoining Della. ]


Nice work, partner. Didn't know you could bust a move like that.
sos_pilot: by <user name=cupcake_graphics> (it's just a matter of time)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-16 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, please. Back in the day, I was the Dance Dance Evolution Queen of the arcade. You never lose those moves.

[ Lost a lot of quarters, tho. Totally worth it, apparently. ]

But you weren't too bad yourself there, slick!
adregem: (this is where you come in.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-18 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Me? [ Roland chuckles. The Helpmates begin rebooting, sounds coming out of their holographic bodies. Though some also begin powering down, returning to the panel. ]

Well, you've got an ambitious little robot named Andrew to thank for that. Back home, my junior consul put me in charge of his daily maintenance. Not quite the same tech, but it helps to know where to type. Heh.

[ And he's not forgetting such a grand statement, miss Della! ]

Seems there's a lot of groovy guys and gals on the train, then. One of these days, I'm sure I'll see you do your thing again.
Edited 2021-01-18 17:10 (UTC)
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (Default)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-18 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe during some down-time, you could teach me a thing or two! You can still teach this old duck a few new tricks.

[ She'd never dare to be a Gyro level - nor does she want to, the giant jackass of a chicken - but it'd be nice to be able to help out more. ]
adregem: (just looking around~)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-22 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Sure. Though it'll be a quick lesson. I'm no wiz. Just an all-around, regular guy from Earth. [ He gently nudges at her with an elbow, amused. The Helpmates are solved, for now. ] Though if you think you're old, then what am I supposed to be? The crypt-keeper? Heh.
sos_pilot: by <user name=noimpulsecontrol> (i'll be holding you so near)

[personal profile] sos_pilot 2021-01-22 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She gives a half-shrug at that. ]

Hey, different worlds could have different rules about aging, for all I know! One person's thirty could be another person's hundred!
adregem: (look forward to tomorrow.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-24 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
Well, you make a good point. Besides, after everything we've all been through, I really think age is just a number.

[ He chuckles sardonically. ] Literally.