voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-01-17 06:05 am

Ongoing: All Teams

The first few days are taken up with solving the problems in the various sectors, all the while getting closer to their goal. The Great-Winter, Great-Summer, Great-Spring and Great Autumn.

On Day 9 of the month of Jelly they will see on their map a clear indicator of where to go. As they draw near it will be obvious what they are looking for.

The Overseers

In the centre of each of the sectors there is a large metal tube, hundreds of pipes lead from it, spanning up to the ceiling above and down below, creating a field of pipes and tubes to clamber over and crawl under to reach the central tube. On the tube itself there is a panel, wrapping around it in a circle. The SCA's of the Voidtrecker show an exclamation mark, if they click on them they will see the message.

Reach the panel, enter the inner systems and give your aid.

As Voidtreckers step towards the tubes it will seem as if the world shifts around them. Instead of metal and wire they will see trees. The Great-Spring is a tree in blossom, pink leaves spreading up across the canopy. Great-Summer has strong green leaves, Great_Autumns leaves are brown and falling and Great-Winter has no leaves at all.

The panel is still there, the only part of the scene that doesn't look organic. As the Voidtreckers move towards their goal the tree begins to move, branches fighting against those trying to get through the roots. The aim seems to be to push intruders away, going as far as flinging them back with higher branches.

The branches aren't the only security measures in place. As they push forwards they will find creatures coming at them from the trees.

Strangely the creatures look like creatures from their own worlds, any creature they would expect to see in a tree. Regardless of species they attack with claws and with lazers from their eyes. They don't move far from the branches, but try and stop invaders from getting close to the trunk.

For those that get through they will find that as they draw close to the 'trunk' the attacks stop, as if they have reached an eye of a storm.

Going Further

The panel is a simple glowing screen, there are no instructions but their SCA's will beep softly and if they press their SCA to the panel they will find everything vanishes, the trees, branches and weird animals.

Or perhaps it is they themselves that vanish as they find themselves in a large white room, everyone is together here. No matter what sector they had travelled through and which overseer they entered through.

There are four tubes filled with liquid, pink, green, orange and white towering over them.

"Our systems have been compromised." The four voices ring out. "Heal what has been harmed, destroy what should not be here. Find the source and purge it from our world."

The overseers and the room vanish and the voidtreckers find themselves in a forest, a forest that is slowly being choaked by red sickly vines.

The Voidtreckers themselves will find themselves looking different, almost like the hard-light holograms of the Helpmates though they certainly feel like themselves. They are carrying a sturdy stick but nothing else and depending how imaginative they are will quickly find they can alter their appearance to fit their wishes.

Heal and Destroy

The voidtreckers will find themselves drawn towards the vines, if they touch them they will be able to soothe, a glowing blue light from their hands that runs down the vine before it fades away, freeing the trees that it held in its chokehold.

There are many pathways, many vines and it will be a long task to clear it all. It is not long also before the first threats find them. Threats that look like mongeese, small creatures that will lunge at them, teeth bared and claws out.

Luckily the Voidtreckers will quickly learn the ability to soothe is not the only power gifted to them.

On the Outside

For anyone who does not enter through the panel it will seem like their fellow Voidtreckers have entered a deep trance. The area they are sat around the tree is calm, no threats enter there. But outside that area there are still threats, the branches attack, the animals attack and sometimes Helpmates try to evict those they see from the area, claiming it 'restricted.'
10billionpercent: (This Is So Exciting)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-01-25 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"The technology is certainly fascinating and I haven't determined how the helpmates were glitching out. It's not acting like a computer virus or it would've hit all of them." Senku hummed. It was curious.

"Of course. I'm happy to share any knowledge I have, or gain. I'm a believer in continuous learning, which shouldn't be that surprising, since I'm mainly an autodidact."
subcircuits: (just give me a moment to think)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-01-28 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"I mean, with how damn big this place is, they could have dispersed server cores that are partially insulated from each other," Devero muses automatically. "--No, wait, you'd still have all the Helpmates in a given area glitching if that was the determining factor." Hmm.

He regards Senku sidelong as he moves to another vine. "I guess you'd have to be, wouldn't you?" he says thoughtfully. "We lost so much expertise in the wake of the Pathogen where I come from. Had to pick up a lot of pieces and try to fit them back together in the first years of Gov. No one wants to risk that kind of expertise attrition happening again, so cross-disciplinary learning is a big thing. Guess that's why Morraine-- that's our chief mechanical engineer-- didn't mind taking me under their wing when they found out I was interested in maintaining my machine, not just riding in it."
10billionpercent: (Huh?)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-01-29 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
"That's what makes it especially curious." Senku hummed lightly.

He nodded. "I did mean beforehand. Now there's no books, I'm mostly in the position of instructor, and my practical knowledge now comes from trial and error. Knowing how to do things only gets you so far if you've never done it. Still needs practice." He explained as he worked on the vines too, if nothing else, he could do that.

"But if I was going to learn more, I would do it indepedently. There's no way school could've kept up with me in the scientific fields. I outpaced my peers by decades." He paused. "Just don't ask me to write you a haiku."
subcircuits: (that crooked smile)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-01-31 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"What's trial and error, if not learning, though?" Devero says. "Sometimes the best way to figure something out is to just do it until you get it right. That's true whether you have textbooks or not."

Devero pauses for a moment to just look over at Senku-- until that crack about the haiku, which makes him snort. "You'd get along with Drs. Adís and Ioleya," he remarks wryly. "They have about the same aptitude for the arts-- and feel the same way about their peers, actually."
10billionpercent: (This...is exhilarating)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-01-31 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sure, and most of the time it's not a problem. When it was life or death it was a lot more of a problem, but we're past that part now." Senku responded with a bit of a smirk.

"I used to be a lot less charitable about my peers." He admitted openly. "I didn't think much of them at all, actually. But you know, when you have 3700 years or so to think about things, sometimes you get a bit of a change in perspective and in the world we're in now..."

He paused a moment, considering his words. "They're far more likely to survive than I am. I need help, one way or another. Through science, or people, I can't survive indefinitely on my own."
subcircuits: (oh come on then)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-02-01 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
"All right, all right, fair point," Devero concedes with a wave of his hand. He knows the stakes were just as fraught and high for the survivors on his world after everything went dark in the wake of the Pathogen.

"...It's good you were able to realize that," he says as he resumes the work of soothing vines, "and change as you needed to. Stagnation is death, but there are people who never can realize that."
10billionpercent: (I Sense A Plot)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-02-01 06:24 am (UTC)(link)
"I've always admired people who could do things I can't. But at the same time, I wasn't sure what to make of my peers." Growing up was a complicated thing. "Then again I'm not good at knowing how people think. And I definitely wasn't very adaptable."

Senku had faults, and he was aware of them. "But every human is built for adaptability. It's one of our natural gifts, and even if it took the world ending for me to latch onto that then..."

He smiled slightly. "I think humans are pretty amazing that way, the way we've evolved."
subcircuits: (appealing)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-02-04 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
"We're definitely that, aren't we?" Devero says with a wan, crooked grin. "Where you come from, where I come from-- there's been no choice but to adapt. Adapt, and overcome. Even here, on the train, it's almost a microcosm of that adaptability, isn't it?"
10billionpercent: (Default)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-02-04 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. I find it fascinating." Senku said, even though that might seem like a strange perspective, after all he was a human, but a sole person wasn't enough of a sample. "Humans are some of the most fascinating creatures on my planet."
subcircuits: (encouraging)

[personal profile] subcircuits 2021-02-07 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't think we can help but be, no matter where we are," Devero says with a grin.