middleofsomewhere | Fierce New World- Mission Start!

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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.

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"Hm." Devero stops and crosses his arms, cupping his chin in his hand as he considers the alpaca. After a moment of stillness, he takes a huge stride forward-- and that's saying something, given how long his legs are. The alpaca distinctly shuffle back in response, one of them giving a low cry that sounds more like a tiny foghorn than anything else.

"Yep. They're walking away." He looks down and back at the kid. "...Any ideas?"

If Madoka's brain didn't immediately kick into overdrive at that last question - as eager to help as always - she would have stood there in awe of just how big his steps are when he takes them like that. Especially compared to Madoka's tiny fourteen year old girl legs.

But for now she's much too busy considering those last two words, not wanting to say anything dumb, but also not wanting to not help out at all--

"Um.." Her hands fidget a little, obviously nervous over what she's about to say. "I think we need to show them that they can trust us.. They don't seem afraid of the Helpmates, and those feed them, so maybe we should try to feed them too..?"

No need to be nervous, kiddo; Devero's eyes brighten right up. "That's a brilliant idea!" he says. "We just need to find somewhere that their food is stored."

Which shouldn't be hard; each of the grazing quadrants seems to have some kind of bunker or shed where the Helpmates go to fetch food for the animals. He's seen enough of them as they've been making their way across this (mostly) idyllic landscape, enough that he's sure there's one nearby.

Madoka is right behind him, figuring that Devero has already figured out a place where the food could be, considering how decisively he's walking across the landscape here. And who would Madoka be to do anything other than follow him like an obedient little duckling when he looks like he knows what he's doing?

Though it does feel a little awkward to her to just walk and say nothing, so the girl does pipe up again.

"Have you seen alpacas before back home, sir..?"

"Maybe on a field trip when I was a kid?" Devero says. "They took my whole class out to one of the ag complexes so we could learn about where food and fiber and stuff come from."

He leans down towards her and confides in a stage whisper, "I mostly remember thinking the whole place smelled funny."

He has already spotted a shed, although around here, 'shed' seems to mean a low-lying, unobtrusive little building with a turf roof. To make it blend in? To have that much more growing space for plants? He certainly isn't going to try to speculate.

There also seems to be an alpaca up on that turf roof, grazing. It looks up as they approach, emitting a soft call like the sound of a bell tolling.

.. She's not too sure what an ag complex is. But considering Madoka has had a similar field trip to a farm, she's about to add something to what he's saying, maybe relating to the experience.

But before she can even get out a single word, she stares up - at that alpaca on the roof. The one that starts calling out like that, making Madoka stop in her tracks, her eyes growing wide as she stares up at it.

"Ah.."

Swiftly suddenly her gaze shifts from the alpaca towards Devero.

"W-What does that mean? Is it a bad thing?!"

Is this some sort of alpaca security alarm they just set off?! Not like Madoka knows. This place is so odd that anything is possible.

Devero stops about half a step later, looking between the girl and the animal. "I-- I don't know!" he admits. (He is really not an animals guy.)

But getting squirrely about it isn't an option when he's got a kid with him. So he takes a deep breath and says, "Listen, why don't you wait here, while I go a little closer and see what it does."

Right now all it's really doing is watching them intently. When neither of them moves immediately, it calls again.

Usually she may have protested him going closer to it by himself, but Madoka is at the very least pretty sure that alpaca can't be dangerous.. At least, not by itself. So Devero should be fine.

But she still can't quite figure out what it's doing, especially as it starts calling out again. Madoka's hands raise up to her face, now being held in front of her mouth in Tension and Anticipation.

"It keeps making that sound.."

"It does..." It is not making Devero want to get any closer to it. Still, he steels himself and takes a couple of steps forward. The alpaca goes quiet, watching him with unnervingly intense eyes.

He stops again and waits, and just like before, it bells at him when he stands still for too long. Hmm. Experimentally, he repeats the cycle. When he approaches the alpaca is quiet. When he stops, it calls.

He glances back at the child. "I think. Maybe it wants us to get closer?"

"You think so..?"

It seems more Madoka asking for confirmation than her really doubting him, since she's already moving a moment or so after Devero says it. It's a very careful movement, like she doesn't want to approach the structure or the alpaca too quickly, but she's following Devero towards it now.

Then she raises her voice a tad, just enough to say "M-- Mister alpaca! Or miss alpaca!" Yes, she's just going to talk to the creature. As if it could somehow understand them. "We're only here to get some food..! T-That's all!"

As if in response to Madoka's words, the alpaca stomps a hoof and bells out at them again. And when Devero and Madoka don't immediately jump to give it what it wants, it jumps-- down from the roof of the shed. Devero jerks back, glancing at Madoka and making sure he puts his big body between her and the animal.

Just in case.

There's no denying that its voice is sharper when it calls to them again, before turning and striking a hoof at the very door that Devero was planning on entering. It looks back over its flank at them, and paws the door a second time.

Devero stares slack-jawed at it for a moment, and then laughs incredulously. "I think food is what it wants, too!"

Madoka jumps too, the moment the animal jumps. Not quite as big of a jump - instead she just instinctively jumps a step backwards. It's not even that the alpaca seems that threatening, but it's more just a startled reflex than anything else. Even as Devero puts himself between her and the alpaca just in case. Madoka can't help it.

And for a moment it really seems as if things may end up tense--

But then the laugh breaks absolutely every last bit of tension that may still have hung in the air.

Madoka stares at Devero with wide eyes, and then glances over at the alpaca, realising the guy is right.

"Then.. what are we waiting for?"

They can't make this poor creature wait for food any longer! Madoka is so determined about it that, despite shyness, she's reaching out to lightly tug on Devero's arm, as if to urge him on, little kid style.

"Please, let's open the door so we can feed it..!"

Oh no. She's adorable. How could Devero possibly resist her little hands on him, urging him forward?

"Of course, of course!" he says, starting forward again. The alpaca does back off a bit once Devero gets close, but not far. In fact, it sits-- and not like an ungulate, with all of its legs tucked under its body. No, it sits like a dog, with just its hindquarters tucked under and its font hooves planted together in the first in front of it.

As Devero figures out the latch holding the shed door closed, it calls out again, this time a high chiming sound like a wet finger drawn around the rim of a glass.

Don't mind her over here. While he's taking a moment to open up the door, Madoka is definitely going to use this opportunity to pet the alpaca. It's sitting there all cutely, after all! And apparently it's eager enough about the idea of food that it's not just running away.. especially since Madoka is making absolutely sure to be very soft and gentle about these pets. Just some soft brushes through its wool.

And once she spots the door being open, she pulls her hand out of its fur, instead heading into the shed first.

It makes her momentarily disappear into the darkness inside, but Madoka emerges a moment later - and rather triumphantly, since she smiles up at Devero with some of the alpaca food now in her arms.

"Look, sir, I found it..! Now we can feed our new alpaca friend!"

The alpaca sits very still and doesn't even seem to be looking at her as she approaches. Its attention is too focused on Devero at the door. It's not until she touches it that its head snaps down so it can look at her. Its coat does crawl once, at the first touch, but after that it seems to accept the contact, and goes back to watching the door intently.

When Madoka goes into the shed, it hops up and trots at her heels like an oversized dog, stopping to wait at the door with Devero. The both of them peer inside, trying to see the girl through the gloom, and they both step back when she re-emerges.

"Good job, kiddo!" Devero says brightly. The alpaca lets out a sound like a slide whistle and snatches a mouthful of the fragrant, fluffy dried hay right out of Madoka's arms.

"Woah!"

It's a slight, startled sound when suddenly the alpaca already starts eating. But when she realises that weird tug she's feeling on what she's holding in her arms is just the creature eating, Madoka relaxes a bit, smiling instead.

"Ah.. It must have been really hungry for it to already start eating right away, huh..?"

But at least it's not afraid of them, not with how close to them it's lingering now. That's a good thing!

"Maybe it just really likes this food? I'd think it would be able to just graze if it was that hungry..."

But what does he know?

He steps back a bit and watches the cute tableau as the animal lowers its head for another mouthful of hay. (He may or may not capture a photo with a twist of his fingers, because cute.) "Do you think it would let us pet it while it's distracted...?"

Apparently, while he was distracted with the door, he's missed that she already beat him to that.

It's indeed a discovery Madoka has already made.

But she doesn't want to point that out to him. She doesn't want Devero to feel bad - especially since Madoka has figured most adults feel kind of bad when kids grasp something quicker than they do. So she's quiet for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to go about it, the way that won't hurt Devero's feelings in the slightest--

And then she's got it.

"Do you want to try? I kind of have my hands full, so.."

The perfect excuse. Madoka's feeling pretty clever now.

Oh child. If only you knew that Devero is one of those few adults who would probably thank you for pointing out something he didn't yet know. Perhaps at some point.

Devero looks between the girl and the animal once or twice, all of a sudden a little nervy about the prospect of petting alien livestock. But that's the whole point of this little side quest, isn't it? And he's not about to snatch the hay up and insist the child do what he's hesitant to do himself.

So he nods, says, "Good idea," and turns towards the alpaca. It blinks at him lazily, stalks of hay disappearing rapidly into its mouth as it chews, then bends its neck for another mouthful. While its head is down in the hay, he reaches out and brushes his fingers against the lovely blue wool.

!!!

Those are the mental exclamation marks appearing in Madoka's mind as she watches the man move over to pat the alpaca. It's a mix of anticipation, hoping that it'll all go well, mixed in with just a feeling of happiness. After all, Madoka isn't the type of girl who likes keeping all nice experiences to herself. Half the joy of a nice experience is being able to share it with someone else.

And it doesn't even matter whether she knows said someone else well or not. Devero may be someone she hasn't often seen before, but Madoka instinctively smiles all the same as she watches his hand disappear into the wool.

"How does it feel, sir?"

It's a weird mix of politeness with barely covered excitement hiding underneath it.

"It must be so nice..!" (Not as if she was petting them a moment ago and actually already knows..)

"It's not as soft as I expected," he says, sounding surprised but not at all disappointed. His big hand doesn't disappear into the creature's coat quite as much as Madoka's hand had, but he's able to card his fingers very satisfactorily through the wool. "It's... bouncy? It feels bouncy!"

Those dragging fingers of his catch a snag and pull sharply on said bouncy wool, making the alpaca's head come straight up out of the hay. It swivels its head around almost a full one hundred and eighty degrees and honks straight into Devero's face in protest. He yanks his hand free and lurches back a couple of steps, startled-- and then laughing as he brushes spit-covered bits of greenery off his cheeks.

"Well, I guess it didn't like that much, huh?" he says, watching the animal resume eating peacefully from the little girl's arms.

Edited 2021-02-20 03:24 (UTC)

For a moment Madoka is worried. The exact moment it honks into Devero's face, at least, when he startles and stumbles back. Her hands instinctively move to be in front of her face, to smother her gasp, but before she can even ask if he's alright, he is already very much alright, laughing at the whole thing.

"Well, it is as if you're pulling on its hair.."

.. She thinks, anyway? Madoka isn't too sure how animal anatomy works, but she can imagine it's similar!

"You wouldn't like it either if someone tugged on your hair, right, sir? It would hurt!"

~~funny thing about that kid.....~~

"Of course I wouldn't like that," Devero says cheerfully, because he has boundaries and knows what is and isn't appropriate to talk to a kid about. "That's a good point."

He approaches the alpaca again. It watches him warily out of the corner of one eye, its chewing slowing down noticeably, but he only pats it on the flank, on top of its springy coat of fur. "I'm sorry about that," he tells it. "I didn't mean to pull."

After a couple more chews, it looks away from him. Apology accepted?

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Fierce New World- Mission Start!

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