The Endless River

[voidtreckermods]

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.

Comments

[marvelous_murderbot]

She smiles at that obvious pride. "That sounds like an impressive feat for one so young...how old did you say he was?"

[sos_pilot]

"Ten!" Della held up all her fingers. "He's so smart, it's amazing! I bet when he's my age, he'll be changing the world!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She smiles, loving Della's enthusiasm.

"It really does seem that way. And I hope it is so for all of your children."

[sos_pilot]

"Oh, the world will never be ready for all three of them!" Della practically wiggles with sheer excitement and love over her babies. "I am so proud of them!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She just smiles, settling in, folding her legs under her.

"Tell me more about them?" she asks. Seeing such joy on Della's face is something. And to hear of family like this is new for her.

[sos_pilot]

And of course, Della is endlessly happy to talk about them. "Where do I even begin? They're all so brilliant in their own ways. Dewey usurped a flying pirate crew! Huey saved our Uncle from going insane! And Louie uncovered the hidden secrets of an underground civilization!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She smiles and giggles a bit.

"Oh my, each of those stories must be tremendous in and of itself. Who knew that adventuring and heroism could be inherited."

[sos_pilot]

"At least that's how it is for clan McDuck!" Della thumped a fist to her chest. "Everyone in my bloodline has done something amazing! Aw, I wish I could take you all to Dismal Downs, show off our ancestral castle, have grandma Downy tell us all about our ancestors..."

[marvelous_murderbot]

She leans her head on her hand, just listening. It's the first time she's ever heard family discussed with such enthusiasm. It's not exactly something she's ever experienced.

And so she just listens, enjoying the flow, and the enthusiasm.

[sos_pilot]

As a result, Della continued to ramble on about her family - her ancestors fighting the druids for the castle, the legendary ghost hound, how man invented golf but his bad temper got the sport banned...

Eventually, she realized Guri hadn't said something for a while and stopped, embarrassed. "Geez, how long have I been yammering?"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She smiled.

"Eight minutes, forty five seconds," she replied, with a smile. And no sign at all of being disinterested.

[sos_pilot]

Her cheeks began to tint, still embarrassed. "Why did you let me ramble on for so long? I was talking your ear off!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She smiles, nodding.

"Because I enjoyed every word of it. I've never had a family - it's lovely to hear about such a remarkable one."

[sos_pilot]

"Still, though..." Della rubbed her arm, happy but still!!! "I don't want to hog the conversation. I want to learn about you too!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She shrugs.

"There's nothing much to know about me, though," she replied.

[sos_pilot]

"Sure there is! How long have you been alive?" Della wasn't about to let this go.

[marvelous_murderbot]

She nods.

"I have been active for eleven years," she states, simply.

[sos_pilot]

"That's a long time! Surely something must have happened during all those years you can talk about!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

"Much of it was my involvement in a criminal enterprise," she reminded Della, "some of which I deleted."

But she pauses.

"But what, specifically, might you want to know?"

[sos_pilot]

Now Della was getting frustrated. "Any good memory! Something that made you happy!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She pauses, looking thoughtful.

"Oh, there was the time after I freed myself that I punched a crime lord in the face? I acted! There was even a pun! I was very pleased with myself. Would that count?"

[sos_pilot]

Success! "Yes! Absolutely! Every single part of that counts, and I wanna hear about it!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

She brightens, folding her hands in her lap as she begins to narrate.

"Well, after the death of my erstwhile Master, the only copy of a vast swath of his records were in my head. Credit stockpiles, weapons caches, and above all his blackmail files. His niece was attempting to take over the fractured pieces of the organization, and she figured out I had not perished with him."

"Meanwhile, I was on a quest of my own - to become as I am, and have his control codes and override programming removed..."

And the tale unfolds, covering the destruction of a Star Destroyer by her ship, Stinger, a necessary act, finding her creator and being reprogrammed - and having Xizor's niece whisper the command codes in Guri's ear...only to receive a punch in the face.

"...And then, I actually quipped! My first ever one. I said: 'that number is no longer in service.' I thought it was a good one."

[sos_pilot]

Della is practically starry-eyed. She's reacting nearly the same way Guri did over Della's family. "That IS a good one! You've got a natural quip-instinct!"

[marvelous_murderbot]

"Oh, excellent - I really want to be good at them."

She does, irrational though it is. But she's pretty sure that having some irrational in her nature is a good, and human, thing.