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.
irrationally: (ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴍᴀᴅ ʜᴇʀᴇ.)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-16 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Alice takes it back, though she doesn't seem to take a sip of it herself. Maybe she's already had a bit of it a few moments ago.

"Well, that is pretty common for these missions. Last time around we had an entire jungle to traverse."

Which was just as big as this place.

Though less weird, thinking about it.
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.
irrationally: (i don't even have a song)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-24 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"True," she easily agrees. "Although you would think that they could just send the people who built this place over here to fix.. whatever it is that is going on here."

Since even that doesn't seem to be clear. Sure, the odd robot-yet-not-robot-like beings around seem to act strangely, but it doesn't seem to be any threat on a level they've faced before.

"Now it just feels like we are cleaning up someone else's mess. Without knowing what said mess is or where it originates from."
Edited 2021-01-24 15:40 (UTC)
inquisitor_lavellan: ‘cause I see now, I’m a veteran of things I don’t want to be (I’m a veteran of things I don’t wanna be)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-01-24 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"Cleaning up someone else's mess is kind of my life calling, I'm starting to think," Alley grunts. She leans the back of her head against the wall she'd slid down to sit against, and shuts her eyes for a moment. "Maybe whoever designed this place is dead."

Cheerful thought! She's good at those.
irrationally: (i was travelling through the past)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-25 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
".. Dead?"

Alice repeats the words with some surprise in her tone. Like it's a possibility the girl herself hadn't quite imagined yet, though she supposes it's not entirely impossible.

"So they started building this place.. and then stopped when the person who was making it died? What a waste."
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14480649)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-01-26 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, everyone involved in making it could be dead, too," Alley offers with a shrug of one shoulder, "it's just a possibility. I haven't seen anything that actually, you know, indicates that... other than this place needing a bunch of people who don't know what they're doing to come in and fix it."

Maybe they're just too busy to even know their project's in danger.

...Or perhaps they're really incompetent.

Any of the above? As likely as the next, to Alley.
irrationally: (tell me what's my situation)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-26 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
That part of it is bothersome, isn't it? Alice recalls Alleyana not even knowing what a train was. And Alice herself may know that much, but she's certainly never seen any place that even remotely looks like this. Not even the most technological parts of Wonderland.

Why are they the ones who have to come fix this, instead of mechanics? Or someone who knows literally anything about modern technology?

"People are so irresponsible."

For dying before they finish a project? Alice's standards are high, apparently. (Or maybe she too is considering that these people are either too preoccupied or too lazy to do anything themselves, and that's why she's saying it.)

"I truly detest it."
inquisitor_lavellan: only difference this time I wasn't calling out your name, yeah (had a dream had a drowning dream)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-01-31 01:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's people for you," Alleyana agrees, "seems to be a pretty multiversal truth."

People? People suck. Everywhere. You might find an exception to the rule here and there, but that's all they are; an exception.

"And don't get me started on politicians."
irrationally: (i was travelling through the past)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-31 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"You have politicians where you come from?"

Hey, it's mostly a surprise to her since Alice thought Alleyana must be from some really old time - considering she didn't know what a train was. It's not even as if Alice knows a whole lot about politics back in London, she had plenty of other things to worry about. But she's pretty sure that back in the old days, there were just kings and all that, and no one else ever got to have a say in anything.
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14488473)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-01 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Nobility jostling and vying for power, playing their idiotic Game like everyone else's lives are just game pieces for their amusement..."

Alleyana? Not a fan. She's been forced to play the Game for the greater good, but outside of the times when she had no choice -- or rather, her other choice was to let the whole world burn...

"Pretty sure everywhere has politicians of some stripe. And plague and pestilence, too."
irrationally: (Default)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-02 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Even without having any personal experience with politicians, and even never having paid attention to that sort of thing in her world in the first place, Alice can recognize the description. Isn't that how everyone who has even the slightest shred of power works? Using and abusing it, constantly trying to stretch the boundaries of what's acceptable until everything is, no matter how awful.

"Don't say that last part too loudly. The last thing we need is for everyone on the train to get sick." Especially when the train is such a small place, and it won't take any time at all before everyone will end up infected if something is contagious enough.

But Alice shakes her head. That's not the important part here - or at least, it isn't what she's thinking about. Instead she speaks up again to say: "I wonder if there is some way for us to talk to the people in charge of this odd place."

This biosphere thing, that is. Not the train itself.

"Give them a piece of our mind."
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14480649)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-05 12:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'll leave the piece of mind giving to you," Alleyana offers tiredly, "I'm getting too old to keep telling idiots what they're doing wrong every time I fall into a new situation."

Alice seems to have the energy for it. She can have at it!
irrationally: (ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴍᴀᴅ ʜᴇʀᴇ.)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-06 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh boy, does she ever have the energy for it. Perhaps a benefit of still being so young.

"Oh, don't worry. If I ever have the chance to, I absolutely will."

Especially since being sassy with the train never seems to do much. Alice is itching for an actual person to harass over any of this nonsense at this point.

"But it seems that if there are people behind the train, or behind any of the annoying things in any of these worlds, they don't often like showing themselves. What a bunch of cowards."
inquisitor_lavellan: caught in the eye of a dead man’s lie, start your life with your head held high (one two three four)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-07 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Alleyana barks out a tired laugh, "I would sic you on Solas if I had the chance, Maker's breath."

Alice would tell him exactly what kind of cowardly idiot he is, and very possibly at great length! It would be quite cathartic to witness.
irrationally: (now the past is gone)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-07 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"Give me a description of them."

Judging by the context, one might almost assume that Alice is making a joke.

But her voice is too straightlaced for it. She sounds entirely serious about this.

"I'll give them an earful, the moment they appear on the train." Is she totally ready to go yell at someone she doesn't even know? Oh, absolutely. Gladly. The more outlets she has for her temper, the better, in fact.
inquisitor_lavellan: and do you think you can beat me? why don’t you wait until you get out of bed? (do you want to fight me)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-09 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Bald, pointy ears like mine, a little scar above his right eyebrow, dimple on his chin."

Faint freckles across his cheekbones, a soft snort when he laughs--

Fuck, Alley misses that idiot.

"Please get me first so I can watch."
irrationally: (i don't even have a song)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-09 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, that description is easy enough. Alice knows not a lot of bald people ever arrive on the platform, so a guy like that is bound to stand out - especially with the combination with the ears. Alice is sure she'll remember this conversation the moment she sees him.

"Sure." Alice says it so casually.

But she is still so serious about this. That guy better watch himself if he ever shows up on the train, because Alice has a lot of pent up frustration just waiting for a target.

"He must've done quite something to earn your ire."
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14480611)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-14 08:28 am (UTC)(link)
"He's done a lot," Alleyana confirms, "to me personally and to the world. And he plans to do worse, because he's both a coward and an idiot who thinks he's so much smarter than anyone else."

And she misses his stupid, stupid, stupid face.

But her aim's getting better.
irrationally: (a little more now i'm awake)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-14 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"A coward?"

That's not doubting what Alleyana says. It's more just curiosity, because.. well, you can't blame a girl for getting curious when the other is speaking in such vague terms, right?

"What kind of cowardly acts was he planning on carrying out that would endanger the world itself?"
inquisitor_lavellan: and do you think you can beat me? why don’t you wait until you get out of bed? (do you want to fight me)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-15 08:51 am (UTC)(link)
"He's a coward because he won't face me," Alleyana clarifies, "he lurks in the back of my dreams and if I try to talk to him, he runs away like an idiot every time.

"Not to mention the number of times he's physically tucked-tail to avoid dealing with me. He's afraid I'll talk him out of his stupid plans, which really should be a clue for him that his plans are stupid."
irrationally: (i was travelling through the past)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-15 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait.

Hold on.

Alice frowns, as if she thinks she isn't quite understanding something here about what the other is saying.

"Do you mean that literally?" Look, she can't be sure. "He appears.. in your dreams?"

If Alleyana didn't sound so annoyed about him, Alice might have made a joke that it sounds like a symptom of having a crush, more than anything.
inquisitor_lavellan: (pic#14486532)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-17 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"Literally. He's a dream-walker, a somniari."

Alice's joke may have been a bit on the nose anyway, since Solas was... sort of Alleyana's ex, at this point.

Nothing like finding out you'd unknowingly gotten involved with the ancient trickster god of your people.
irrationally: (goodbye to reality)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-19 10:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Is that a common thing in your world?"

The surprise is slowly turning into curiosity - the emotion that has always come easiest to Alice, though the past few years it's been having competition from some other, much more negative ones. But there's still some part of that little girl who just likes finding out everything about everything inside of her, even now.

Like these dream-walking powers. They sound so cool.

"Can a big group of people just wander into others' dreams? Is it something they have to learn, or are they born with it?"
inquisitor_lavellan: the angry river rises as we step into the rain (these dead men walk on water)

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-02-20 09:34 am (UTC)(link)
"It's extremely rare."

Sorry Alice.

"I can do it sometimes too, but not on purpose. I can't control it. And it hasn't happened since I lost my arm, so it may not even be a thing I have to worry about anymore."
Edited 2021-02-20 09:34 (UTC)
irrationally: (a little more now i'm awake)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-21 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
She almost asks why it would ever be anything to worry about. It seems like such a great power. Alice would absolutely love to wander dreams, if she had the opportunity to do so.

But even she can tell that the other must have a reason for saying so, and she decides not to pry as to what it is.

"I wish I could do that. In a controllable way, either way. Only wandering my own dreams gets so dreadfully boring after a while." Sorry, Alleyana: Alice may be pretty reasonable when it comes to most things, but she definitely isn't devoid of whimsy like this.

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