EVENT: Into the Unknown

[voidtreckermods]

"Good morning Voidtreckers and passengers of the voidtrecker Express. Today is day twenty two of the month of Symphony. As you are aware we have some guests on board and our next task is to deliver them safely to the void hub. The tethering kits can only keep them tethered to this craft for a short space of time. We will be arriving at the void hub tomorrow."

Until now the scientists have kept themselves to themselves, remaining in their room and rarely exiting out. However after this announcement they emerge more and more, interested in asking about the void hub, the ministry workers and what they might expect from the situaion.

The next morning, just before lunch, the train makes another announcement.

"Approaching Voidbase now. Prepare for docking."

There is no shaking, not leaving the void: instead those who risk looking out of the windows will see a large structure ahead of them. The void turns to metal around them as they enter the structure, and for a moment, there is nothing outside the train but darkness.

"Welcome Voidtreckers." A voice speaks over the ICPs. Not the voice of the train, this is a male voice, sentient. "The filtration process takes a few moments, so please be patient. Meanwhile, I am sending some information about our void base over to your SCA's."

They will receive a small pamphlet on their SCA's explaining about the void base, this is the same pamphlet as last time but will be useful reading for those who are new, or those who didn't pay attention the last month. It explains that the base was set up as a research base and has been expanded to provide living quarters for some of those rescued from system #78961112094711. It explains that they had made the decision to invite the voidtreckers there to further unravel the mystery surrounding them. They would be quartered in ministry sleeping areas, and have free access to the ministry part of the base. Anyone who wished to visit the citizens of system #78961112094711 could do with good reason.

It's not too long before the filtration process is completed, and the doors of the Voidtrecker Express open. This time they are greeted just by the scientists who welcome them back.

---

AT THE VOID BASE

---

---

~ VOIDBASE INFO ~ OOC INFO

SETTLING IN

They are shown to their sleeping quarters first. They are in small suites, which match their room assignments on the train. They will be given time to unpack and rest, and told that their SCA's have been programmed to allow them access to the general ministry parts of the base.

Their time here is their own, And though the ministry hopes that they will help out with the various experiments and research programs they have going on, they do not need to. If they wish to take the time to rest and enjoy the amenities, they can.

---

1. MULTIMEDIA. There are a few types of lounging rooms, chairs and cushions, tables for sitting at. Slim televisions sitting on walls, a few tables - that can be lowered or raised - joined with screens that can be more privately watched. Shows and movies are available in some rooms, gaming equipment in others. There is also a more quiet room for lounging in, with access to e-books and screen readers for them, audio options also available.

Relax, or get into a multiplayer game -- games that break friendships are available in the void.

---

2. FITNESS AND SWIM. For those looking for more activity in their 'rest', there's the fitness gym and swimming pool. In separate rooms but nearby, the fitness gym is larger than the train's gym, and more well-equipped. Muscle training, speed; there will be a Ministry worker to show how to use the variety of equipment, so that nobody has an accident.

The same will be for the swimming pool, with a shallow and deep end. Balls, floating pads and more can be grabbed. It's a swimming pool - what's not to love?

---

3. TRAINING. Beside the pool and fitness gym is the combat gym, where they will find small groups already exercising in a variety of fighting styles. Voidtreckers will be left alone to train if they wish, but any who take interest in partners will be allowed to join in with the ministry training. Magic, energy, weaponry; some of them use special batons, Ministry-issued, and the Ministry workers will show how to use them. If a Voidtrecker becomes well-trained in how to use one by the end of their stay, they can be given one to use on void missions.

The Ministry fighters will also introduce them to a special training tool, the hard- and holographic courses and 'dummies'. Quite a few fighting styles can be set to a holographic opponent, or even one made to mimic a voidtrecker after fighting them - they're surprisingly quick to adapt. The hard-light partner can listen and read sign-language, and will change on command. Want them to move faster, focus on attack, dodging? Now they will.

---

4. GREEN THUMBS, OPEN AIR. The last room in the relaxation area is a curious one, reading simply 'GARDENS AND SIMULATION' on its front. Opening it will lead to a simple and long corridor, five more doors on each side. Four devoted to gardening, labelled Hydroponics, Hot Houses, Ice Houses, and Land. Entering, each space will be larger than should be possible. But it is, with each an indoor type growing space except for land, which mimics a farming field. There's a sky above, a wind in the air; sometimes, it might be raining when you enter.

It might be a shocking experience for some, the first time round.

The last six rooms simulation rooms are less specific, but with plenty more options. Rooms of prayers, beaches, cities, open valleys; with some time spent learning the menu, people can recreate a realistic area. The rooms can be set to private, but some people may leave the spaces they've created - on purpose, at random, or on accident - free for others to wander into. Sharing is caring, and there's only six of these rooms, you know.

---

EXPERIMENTING

A lot has happened since they were last here and the scientists of the base will be happy to share their news as well as here reports on what the voidtreckers learned in their last mission.

---

PROGRESS They have done a lot of research into time and they think they have managed to replicate the Voidtrecker Expresses' ability to respond to catastrophes, they currently have a test crew on a new voidcraft furthering that experiment. They also believe they have found a way to stabilise the tethers of the Voidtreckers enough to loop them to the void base, this will give them an extra level of protection should anything happen to their craft. They are also very interested in speaking to the scientists found on system ##3721010010.

They will once again take any help in research or experiments and will be very interested in doing health checks on the newer voidtreckers.

---

2. REACHING OUT. At the top of the void base is an area with a clear domed roof, allowing in the light of the void. Here voidtreckers can attempt to reach out, to strengthen their connection with the train and through it try and find those that have left the train.

For those that did this last time they will find it easier now, practice and a lot of atuning make it feel easier to do, easier to reach out towards those specs of light. Those who put in a lot of work feel like they can almost touch them now, just a bit further and they could reach out and pluck them from the vastness.

It is still very hard work. It's easy to get lost in the void, though the room has ministry workers who are highly trained and will be able to help anyone who needs it.

They do say it might be easier to go in pairs, to meditate together and help guide each other, using each others tethers as a touch point. Anything is worth a try.

---

OOC NOTES

~ Questions.
~ This part of the event runs until the 19th August (Day 25)
~ Part Two will go up on the 20th August

Comments

Ple Two | Blue | Open

[pleple]

Multimedia Room

[ Ple Two is going to help sooner or later. Of course. It's just that these chances to relax properly are precious, and she doesn't need to spend all her time working or training. A kid like her doesn't have infinite energy, after all, and she's happy to flip through all sorts of movies and shows, even ones that don't make sense to her...

Or offer to play an endless variety of games, including those she's also unfamiliar with. ]

Have you seen anything like this?

Training

[ There's enough training in their own gym, working with the other passengers, that she's not worried about continuing her own routines - she goes straight for checking in and learning about the specialized equipment. She'll take anything she can handle, and work alongside anyone else trying to learn them.

Or you can catch her working out how to use the more advanced training dummies, seeing how she can instruct them to fight her to practice moves that are less safe to practice at full speed with people.

...some of her moves look pretty deadly. ]

Training

[cureofmanyworlds]

[Nozomi can't help but watch Ple Two as she works out on the dummies, watching her in how she works on her own. What surprises her is how rough she is.

No, not rough. Like they could kill. She was a soldier, right?]

...where did you learn to fight?

[pleple]

[ Well, someone here has to be good at killing people, right?

Maybe? ]

Glemy Toto... wasn't interested in creating anything less than a deadly, obedient super soldier.

[ Too bad he had to wake her up while she was still too young to fistfight a grown adult. See Gundam Unicorn for what a fully grown Ple is capable of. ]

[cureofmanyworlds]

[You can see Nozomi's heart sink hearing that. She knows Pretty Cure are quite young and there were others younger than her who took up the role, but this... someone made to kill? It was heart-breaking.]

...please tell me the train helped change you...

[pleple]

[ Ple Two glances back - then smile at Nozomi. ]

Frankly, my time here has been longer than the short time any concrete memories from home cover. I can kill, still, easily enough that I'm... a disturbing presence, at times, but I'm a lot more than that now.

So many friends, many of them having left long ago, helped ease me into being... a person all my own.

[cureofmanyworlds]

Oh, I'm so glad...!

[She lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding before moving over to Ple to give her a hug.]

I hadn't realized you were like that and seeing you do that...

[pleple]

[ Ple Two sighs, but leans into the hug for a moment. ]

I'm sorry if that worried you. I really am... I'm okay.

[ ...and disengaging from the hug, after another moment. ]

[cureofmanyworlds]

It's okay. Like I said, I hadn't known.

[Once Ple pulls away, Nozomi ponders something.]

Hey, you still have that device I gave you on the last planet? That pink phone?

[pleple]

I... wasn't sure what to do with it.

[ She doesn't have it on her at the moment but... ]

Obviously, I'd be... pretty dangerous... if I was even close to as strong as you.

Multimedia

[sizedoesntmatter]

[Yugi knew when to take the time away from helping out to have a break. He knew at the end of the day over doing things won't help anyone. Today he was taking some time to play a game and then head back.

Had he expected someone to be there as well. Honestly yes.]

I have, is this the first time you've ever tried to play something like that before?

[pleple]

[ You can only push your mind so far without breaking - Ple Two had been close to that line far too many times. Here she was, intact, and relaxing, though. ]

I haven't played much beyond what's in the game room, so far.

[sizedoesntmatter]

Yeah, like the games in the game room are really good though.

[He was so close to finishing his own as well but with everything that was going on his focus to finish it had gone elsewhere really.]

Do you have a favourite genre?

[pleple]

I like the space combat game, because it's familiar to what I'm good at. It keeps my reflexes sharp.

[sizedoesntmatter]

That's something you are use to?

[He knew he didn't know much about everyone on the train and he knew a lot of people had lives where fighting and war were a thing. But it was still a sad thing to really sink in no matter how many times he heard it.]

[pleple]

[ Especially at her age. ]

More or less what I was born for - although I have my own priorities now.

[sizedoesntmatter]

I guess being on the train really changes things doesn't it?

[Yugi was use to being thrown into situations that really he wouldn't have normally been apart of. Maybe it was fate that it kept happening even after it's all sorted. But Yugi also knew that he needed to go home as well.]

[pleple]

For all the imperfections, I'm happy here.

Multimedia

[bruiserprincess]

MOlly is once again avoiding any experiments because she's a mutant and they have feelings about the subject. But the multimedia room? Yeah, she'll take advantage of that.

"Not this exact game, but I bet we can figure it out." Most games are meant for that, after all.

[pleple]

Perhaps more variables could be beneficial - or just an added point that garners uncomfortable attention. Ple Two's own abilities make her situation just a bit more complicated too.

"There are probably instructions laying around, but we're smart enough not to worry about that."

[bruiserprincess]

"Reading instructions is boring. If the game's any good we'll be able to figure it out." There's probably a tutorial. Or it'll be obvious. If the controls are stupid that's the game's problem.

[pleple]

Dying a bunch is fine too. "You make a good point, of course."

[bruiserprincess]

"I taught someone from the 19th century about video games, we can figure this out." She picks the first game that looks like it could be fun and looks the controller over. Moving is obvious, at any rate.

[pleple]

"...yes, I think we're better off than that." Not that she'd been familiar with video games, exactly, when she arrived either.

[bruiserprincess]

The joysticks do indeed make the characters run around on the screen. The next button has her character rolling. "I'm sure that's probably useful at some point..."

There has to be an attack button though.

[pleple]

"Just start pressing buttons?" ...well now she's just button mash flailing and not figuring out much beyond the ability to do... that.