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.
sizedoesntmatter: (15)

[personal profile] sizedoesntmatter 2021-02-09 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Maybe, though it does kinda make me wonder who is using the panels since apart from the helpmates, I don't think I have soon many others."

Maybe it was more helpmates that used it which would make sense but he soon nodded and headed over to the direction she had suggested making sure to check every aspect. Soon though he stopped and waved his arms.

"Found one!" he called before he started to look over. "Don't know what button is which but... maybe we take a guess." He carefully looks over what there is before pressing one. Was it the one they needed? Quite possibly.
happyends: (my feelings are all i can rely on)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-02-09 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Madoka looks over at the dome to see what happens the moment Yugi presses that button.

And something does seem to happen, at least! So this isn't totally anticlimactic. But even so, there's no door opening. Instead its roof opens up a little, and from the hole rises an.. wait, is that some sort of alarm?

Apparently it is, since it starts going off, and a moment later Madoka sees various alpacas heading in their direction.

"A-Ah, I think that's calling them over!" Oh gosh, and the animals look so excited too. Do they think it's dinner time or something?
sizedoesntmatter: (25)

[personal profile] sizedoesntmatter 2021-02-12 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
"M-Maybe. We need to be careful and not get trampled." Because that would not be a good thing and with them rushing closer and closer they didn't have a whole lot of time to avoid it.

Yugi moved away from the panel as they seemed to be running at this point and looked around, seeing where he could go. There only seemed to be one spot.

"Over here, quickly!" he called gesturing her toward the direction.
happyends: (my feelings are all i can rely on)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-02-13 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
"Ah?!"

Madoka seems to only realise a moment later than Yugi that they ought to get out of the way. She was still busy trying to think of a way to actually open the dome, but when he mentions 'over here', she turns her head, looking pretty surprised.

She realises the sense of moving out of the way with the speed the animals are moving at only a moment later, and the girl's tiny legs quickly move her over to where Yugi is, her eyes wide, her mouth open.

"D-Do you think we'll be okay here?" There's no more time to get further out of the way, though..!
sizedoesntmatter: (ygU5q9a)

[personal profile] sizedoesntmatter 2021-02-14 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"I hope so. I mean it looks like they aren't coming over here and are going towards where you just were and... I think they are eating, which means if you want to pet them now seems to be the time."

Which was what they had been trying to do at least, so he was a little bit happy about that. Though as to how it worked he still didn't have a single clue.
happyends: (better than the rest)

[personal profile] happyends 2021-02-14 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Madoka cautiously glances from the creatures over towards Yugi.

".. you think so?"

Look, Yugi may not exactly be a responsible adult, but when it's just the two of them, Madoka is definitely going to treat him as such. Because she doesn't trust her own judgement enough to go by that, which means she definitely needs a second opinion like this.

"They won't get startled again? Or start running around like that again?" Because if Madoka gets stuck in the middle of a herd of stampeding alpaca, it won't end well for her.

And she really doesn't want to have to explain that death to people later on.
sizedoesntmatter: (Ithinkhesgoingtolose)

[personal profile] sizedoesntmatter 2021-02-16 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"I mean maybe. They are eating so it means they are focused on that at the moment." Most responsible adult right here, but at the same time he is thinking things over and going over things in his head.

"One can never be sure what will happen either, it all depends on how you feel."