middleofsomewhere | The Endless River

The Endless River

On the morning of day twenty one of the month of Kazoo there is a message on the ICP screens around the train. Their SCA's will light up the colour of the Void and show the following information.

World #398050 is a void nexus known locally as Tshering. As a void nexus this world has strong links with the void and the connection through worlds. World #398050 is home to the Endless River. Legends speak of this river being powerful enough to send thoughts from one heart to another across any distance. All that is needed is for you to know who it is you wish to reach.

On-board

The dressing carriage is open, filled with clothing best suited to a pleasant spring day. Light, airy and in a rainbow of joyful colours and florals. One closet is entirely filled with wide-brimmed hats bedecked with ribbons, feathers and ornaments. A stack of picnic baskets and containers filled with an alarming variety of passenger-suitable foodstuffs and flasked drinks sits in one corner, next to rolls of thick, weatherproof blankets in the four team colours.

The large box marked Do Not Use Yet, filled with small, empty jute bags, is hopefully still sat in the Luggage carriage, ready for passengers to grab handfuls of its contents as directed by the announcement.

Upon landing (after an appropriate countdown), the train remains on the surface, its carriages partially curved to form a gathering site for the day. Welcome to Tshering, the eighth void nexus!

A Day for Picnics

Tshering, system #398050, is a strange place, only habitable by grace of the passengers' SCAs. The sky is shot through with colours, a cascade of sunsets, and through it, the void shimmering through it in seams like a child's painting of the milky way. Still, there's a beauty to the chaotic mash of colours that soaks through its landscape, and in the shelter of the forests of towering funghi that dot its surface, the Void can go unseen by its visitors.

The temperature seems mild, suitable for the provided clothing, and if there are weather patterns around the world they've taken the day off. The funghi are sturdy enough that what air flow there is doesn't disturb their stalks, and carved grooves and holds in some of the larger examples indicate that climbing them to sit atop their glowing crowns is eminently possible, and, in fact, encouraged.

the Endless River

The Endless River is a font of pure chaos, flowing from a multitude of small rivulets across the area to a central reservoir, from which it pours directly upwards, away from Tshering's surface and out of sight, beyond the world's atmosphere.

Anything bagged and placed within the Endless River will also flow upwards and soon be out of sight, passing, presumably, into the Void. Scattered across the surface of Tshering are small, glittering pebbles, as described in the announcement.

The stones are pleasantly cool to the touch, and all passengers need to do is feel. Messages can be in any form that the Voidtreckers wish. Perhaps words, perhaps feelings, perhaps an image from their mind into the stone. Perhaps a mixture. Once they begin their message the stone will glow slightly and continue to glow as they secure it in the bag and cast it into the river. They will feel, almost instinctively, that they need to focus as they do so, thinking of the person they wish to reach all the while.

There are plenty of bags and many more stones; passengers will not be limited in their sendings.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That being a key consideration, yes - and I can see where there would have been advantages during the fight on the wall."

She pauses, though, brow furrowing.

"But if I understand it properly, there's usually a physical cost to such things. Large size, I mean."

She hums. It's not exactly a sound of agreement. Instead it's something a little more curious, mirrored in the look in her eyes once she glances over at Guri.

"What kind of cost?"

Of course that's not something Alice knows about at all. She's not very book smart at all, and the things she did know when she was younger have definitely faded with time and trauma. To her there are only upsides to growing so big. At least, definitely on the battlefield.

"Well the strain on the organs is proportionally larger, so I'm told. Which is why there are lots of specialized systems for larger creatures in my universe, in order for them to reach that size."

She shrugs.

"Then again, this place has convinced me there are many things I did not know or understand, and magic, of some variety, may be one of them."

Magic.

Is that what she'd call everything back in Wonderland? The mushrooms that make you grow in size, the food, the drinks - Alice isn't so sure. She never thought too much about it. After a while it just was a Wonderland thing, regardless of its true nature. She seems to think about it for a moment, even now.

"I've grown to such great size before." If only she could still do that on command. Please. It's her one wish in life. (Okay, maybe not her one wish, but it would be great.) "And I did not feel particularly odd at that moment. Even now I can still shrink without experiencing any problems."

"Amazing!" she says, brightly. "And I am glad for that - but you can still shrink at your will?"

"All the more amazing."

Alice nods.

"I'm not too sure how it still works either." Especially since it worked so much more on a one to one basis back during her first time in Wonderland - only growing or shrinking once after consuming something.

Maybe it's since the last time she drank some, she was practically bathed in it..

"Although it tends to kick in involuntarily whenever I get hiccups. It's very inconvenient during those moments."

She nods.

"I will pay attention if I am nearby, in case there is a danger while you are shrunk," she responded, with conviction.

She may well be picturing a lot more shrinking than there is.

It's true that it's not exactly a power Alice utilizes often - since on the battlefield there is a whole lot more advantage in growing, rather than shrinking.

But she doesn't bring that up. Instead she just stares over at Guri, looking completely confused at the other's words.

".. What do you mean?"

Someone wanting to help her out? That's clearly a foreign concept to Alice, even if it's coming from Guri.

A curious response, but she immediately shifts to elaborate.

"Well, you may need lifting to somewhere, or aid avoiding people's boots. Or possibly predatory birds. That sort of general help."

"Yes, I.." She stops, letting out a breath that almost sounds like a sigh. Of course Guri would take it this literally. That's practically her speciality, isn't it.

"I was aware what kind of help you meant," Alice says, trying really hard to not sound too patronizing about it, despite being very much exasperated due to her inability to deal with the actual problem here. "It's just the ease with which it was offered that made me question it."

"Oh," she says, looking a little...well, disappointed perhaps. Because she naturally made an entirely different conclusion.

"Sorry, I presumed trust there, didn't I? It's alright - I know you have only known me a very short time."

Argh.

That slight disappointed hint in Guri's facial expression. It seriously threatens to kill Alice over here. Usually people just act like it's natural that she doesn't trust them, without having that look on their face. Or they just really don't care. Either way, she's not used to causing this sort of reaction in someone.

It makes her feel quite awkward.

"No, I just.. don't see why you would offer that to begin with. It's not as if there is anything in it for you."

People selflessly doing things for others? Please, that's clearly a myth, right.

"Not directly," she replies, "but your continued existence is of paramount importance. Not only are you a living being worthy of aid just because of that, but...well. I like to think of you as my friend."

She smiles, a little bit nervously.

"Do people...not offer to assist you when you need it?"

"Back in London?"

That idea actually makes her let out a laugh, even though it's quite obviously not happy, but instead wry, even with an edge of bitterness.

"There's absolutely no way anyone would help another there. Everyone is just trying to get ahead there, not caring who they trample on in the process. There wouldn't be a single person in the entire city with your sort of attitude, just valuing life itself."

She leaves unspoken her curiosity about what a London is. A place, and that's really all she needs to know for now.

"That is...unfortunate," she offered, shifting position. "I have seen places like that. It reminds me of the galactic capital, Coruscant. Where everybody is either desperately surviving, or clawing for power and influence."

A capital. A big city, then. Alice isn't surprised. She's fairly convinced at this point that life in any big city is just like that, with so many people gathering in one place.

So she doesn't question that part. Instead there's something else that grabs her attention.

"What's that place like?"

Galactic, Guri said. So out in space? It's got to be even bigger than London, judging by the description, and Alice's natural curiosity is just strong enough for her to can't help but ask.

"Oh." She nods.

"It's an Ecumenopolis - a city-planet. Once, thousands of years ago, the city grew to cover the entire planet. Now it is built upon layers of itself, with only the peak of the highest mountain still visible. As an artificial park, in a concrete valley between buildings."

She pauses, remembering a pertinent fact. "Perhaps a trillion inhabitants, but nobody has accurately counted the undercity. Or, really, cities - nobody even knows what's at the base of all of it."

"A trillion people.."

It's almost impossible to imagine. A city that covers an entire planet, with that many people living in it. It's bigger than London, and even London itself was already mind-boggingly huge to Alice. It has to be bigger than any city on Earth back home..

But rather than sounding confused about it, there's something more dream-like about her tone as she speaks up.

"I wish I could see it one day." It'd be fun, walking through those streets, seeing all the new sights. Like exploring Wonderland all over again.

Bigger than any city in her universe, really.

"If there are compatible computer or holographic systems that we encounter, I could likely access memory files and show you," she replied, with a slight smile.

"It apparently does make quite a first impression, what with the kilometers-high cityscape and all."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Endless River

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