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.
sciencegirl: (023)

[personal profile] sciencegirl 2021-01-18 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"We could do both! It sounds great. I wonder if we could control the motion with- what's wrong?"

She puts a big lock of her hair supportively on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, if it's because of this! You look like you're built fine and I promise, if someone tried to reprogram you or you glitched and I noticed, I'd fix it." She'd not give up until she fixed it! Jack's rough around the edges, but some people are just like that! And he has his dignity. He is allowed his dignity!

But that might not be the problem.

"Let's see if we can fix these little guys."
gentle_jim: (doubt)

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-21 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
He startles a little at the lock of hair on his shoulder, nearly dropping the gun.

"No it's - Wait, you would?" His eyes narrow a little, one eyebrow lifting in doubt. "Why?" She's got to have some weird motive or she's fishing for a favor from him, which is kind of funny seeing as he has so little power on this stupid train.
sciencegirl: (018)

[personal profile] sciencegirl 2021-01-22 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
"I'd be pretty mad knowing someone decided to change you without your permission, or force you to be someone you didn't want to be." She's seen that. It made her heart ache when it happened to Hordak. It was nightmarish when it happened to the others during Horde Prime's reign. She wasn't going to risk Jack running into a little bit of 'helpful reprogramming. "AI and machines need someone to look out for them. Plus, you've been looking out for me." Even if it's just a part of their mission. "We build things together. You're my friend, it's the least I can do."

She seems pretty confident that Jack is her friend anyway, right? At least he helped her build some nice laser guns. Maybe they're out of scraps, but they can always improve and polish them later.

"I understand my standards for friendship are a little different from other people's, but that's fine."
gentle_jim: (that's cute)

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-23 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
She'd be mad? But they'd only just met- why would she care if someone did something to change him? He scowls slightly at the implication that he needs taking care of or looking after.

"Friend?" is all he manages to blurt out, sounding like he's just heard her tell him he was made of solid gold. For a moment it seems like he's going to reject the notion but something about her last statement makes his expression soften.

"No kidding..." he says with a quiet chuckle. "Guess I can't say I didn't enjoy building those guns with you."

It's been...how long since he's had a friend? He really can't remember- after becoming CEO of Hyperion he'd only had yes men and sycophants, all of them after his money or a little fame. Before that, maybe his vault hunter team on Elpis- though Nisha had ended up more than just a friend and the rest of them had either died or abandoned him after the incident on Helios.
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."
gentle_jim: (unsure grin)

[personal profile] gentle_jim 2021-01-29 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Apparently every time he's sure he's got a handle on the conversation, she goes ahead and says something that throws him off again. Of all the compliments he's received in his life 'creative' hasn't really been one of them. Sure he's been praised for his ingenuity and his marketing genius, but that was just suck-up stuff from the board of directors.

His mind wanders back to playing with coding on his old ECHO at home and getting sharply reprimanded for wasting time...

"You're... really speaking my language," he says, the wheels in his head already turning on several of the projects she mentioned. He levels her with an impressed little grin.

"You got it then, princess."