TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[space_aces]

WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD

Your journey only happened because of your benefactor, so it begets that it starts at your benefactor as well. SUPERBIA, which is as much of a location as it is an entity, is where everyone's search for Fortuna begins.

There's not much of a welcome party: shortly after their fateful encounter with SUPERBIA, in which they swore to join the quest to find Fortuna, the new Privateers will find themselves afflicted by a sudden change in perspective. See, teleportation is a tricky process, so from SUPERBIA's point of view, why not make the target destination none other than itself? One highly disconcerting moment later, and the Privateers find themselves inside the belly of the beast.

The vast mega-structure is shockingly lonely, void of anyone other than the Privateers. Those who look off the metal satellite and to The Network for intelligence (or take a skim at the Space Wikipedia article) will find out that the surrounding space is clear for lightyears; rumors have it that the place is cursed. It won't take long to understand why.

1

Overclocked

The innards of SUPERBIA are that of an impossibly scaled up computer, and the Privateers start right in the middle of it. You are the spider living in the dusty PS4. Literal rivers of coolant, transistors the size of mountains, landscapes made entirely of circuitry. The sky, bounded by a distant metal ceiling, is constantly alight with coursing electricity that cracks the sky with lightning storms. It can be assumed that the Privateers are the first living things to set foot here, because such a place is not ever meant to be traversed by delicate, organic, mortals that worry about things such as "temperature" or "voltage". SUPERBIA needs not lifeforms to continue its operations; why design for them? Traversal itself is difficult: unscalable walls and perilous drops are common to encounter. The only company the Privateers will find are oddly adorable maintenance robots, which sadly seem too occupied by their directives of maintaining the massive machine to offer any assistance (or even acknowledgement of their new guests).

It is immediately clear that the most urgent priority is to get the hell out of here. Before your adventure ends at the starting line.

2

Skeletons In The Closet

If one stays inside SUPERBIA, either by getting horribly lost or losing all common sense, one will notice a peculiar pattern emerge as one gets deeper into the bowels of the mega-structure. Passages shrink and become more level, and the incredible hostility and danger of the surroundings fade away, until one comes across areas which were definitely intended for humanoid organisms to use at one point.

The construction of these areas is cramped, unfurnished, and dreary; they are reminiscent of artificial environments meant to handle harsh external conditions like a submarine or bunker, but they are entirely livable. One can eventually find distinct rooms, but everything in them has crumbled to dust and their original purpose is nigh impossible to discern. Deeper investigation may reveal the few items that have stood the test of time. While it is more plausible for life to have existed here, that doesn't seem to be the case now. What happened here?

3

The Shipyard

In the opposite direction, when one finally reaches the outer edges of SUPERBIA, they will be rewarded with the place to pick up a spaceship and a stunningly beautiful view of outer space. The outside of SUPERBIA has no atmosphere to get between you and the stars, and they shine brightly, like a beacon calling one out into the first steps of adventure.

The shipyard is already filled with countless space ships of every size, form, and function, all autonomously constructed by SUPERBIA's factories over the countless years. What's the harm in taking one or twenty out for a spin? Even if one has no intentions of permanent ownership of the vehicle, it's not like SUPERBIA will miss it. For a Privateer with a more specific vision, however, there are kiosks around the yard which will allow one to design their very own space ship down to their exact specifications. When the process is done SUPERBIA's matter printers will have it out and space-ready right before your very eyes.

If a Privateer has a ship, vehicle, or large item that they intended to bring with them, they will also find them here, neatly parked in the Shipyard. Why didn't SUPERBIA extend this courtesy to the pilot's themselves? The answer is revealed as soon as the owner makes a closer inspection: the inner contents have been rearranged, like a whirlwind was unleashed inside and assorted loose items thrown around. Now aren't you glad your transportation was given special attention, and the same didn't happen to your innards?

4

Hot Crewmates in Your Area

But how will a single Privateer man an entire space ship? No worries: when one steps into a ship, the strangely endearing maintenance robots will suddenly take acute interest. The robots will follow inside and immediately start assuming the duties of a spacefarer, eliminating the need for extra hands on deck.

Even still, there's just no eliminating the want for a human touch, though. Thankfully even that dilemma has a contingency plotted by SUPERBIA.

Communication devices are easily available on every space ship. They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from huge stationary consoles to portable smartphone-like screens. But whenever a Privateer attempts to access the Network, a pop-up will appear, obscuring the whole screen.

Tell me a little about yourself. Are you a LEADER or a FOLLOWER? What is your best feature?
The device will be rendered unusable until one relents to the pop-up's demands and provides answers to its questions. What will these be used for? The mystery will be solved when a social media app mysteriously installs itself on the same device, with profiles preemptively made for every Privateer. Each Privateer's profile consists of their given answers, paired with embarrassingly candid photographs. SUPERBIA has eyes in many places it seems.

Comments

The Doctor | Doctor Who

[funnylittleclown]

1 - Overclocked

Happy under the breath little snickers proceeded the Doctor's appearance around the coil of a transistor.

"Fascinating. That's like a giant circuit board. Oh and there is a cooling fan... shouldn't get to close to that."

Looking one way and then the other like a child let loose and unsupervised in a candy store the Doctor only came to a stop when he reached the edge of a river. This was not just any river of course but a stream filled with coolant.

"Mmm... there seems to be no way to get across that. Unless, yes see, there are some wires down that way. We might be able to use them like a bridge."


2 - Skeletons in the Closet

There was something resembling a bed which the Doctor couldn't resist flopping into, just to test it out. He wasn't lost... even if he was... the journey was more than half the fun!

"There must have been a crew on this ship at some point. Either that or guests. Those maintenance robots wouldn't need a bed like this."

An uncomfortable metal bed with no padding. Well, there must have been some sort of mattress at one point but it like the crew had long since disappeared.
"I wonder if they left anything behind. Spread out and look around?"


3 - The Shipyard

Here too was a myriad of interesting things that the Doctor simply couldn't resist looking into. He would pop into one ship and pop out the back hatchway of another. They were all very interesting and unique, many with designs he had never seen before.

He may have even invited himself into one of the ships brought by one of those on the quest. Who could tell which ships were open for viewing and which belonged to some one else without going inside and having a poke around?

Eventually he found what he had been really searching for. It was small, likely the smallest ship in the hanger on the outside, worn blue, and had a sign that proclaimed it as a Police Public Call Box even when it wasn't.

"Ah, there you are! I knew you had to be around here some where."

He took a moment to fiddle around in his pockets for the key.


4 - Hot Crewmates in your Area

[ The Doctor tried for his best most charming of smiles but in the end it came out a bit goofy and childish... This was fine. ]

Hello, I'm the Doctor.

Asking whether I'm a leader or a follower is a rather subjective thing, I think. I prefer to think of myself as an adventurer. My friends and I often traveled to other worlds and while they are not here with me now I'm looking forward to see what all we might discover out there.

My best feature is... well I suppose I had better just show you.

[ He took a moment to fish into his pockets and pull out a recorder. Anyone still listening to this message was in for a rousing melody of 'Row, Row, Row, your Boat!'. This may not have actually been his best feature... ]

2

[freearcadia]

Harlock glances over when he heard the soft thud of a Time Lord landing on a mattress-less cot. "This looks like the kind of rooms you'd find on a remote mining platform or patrol ships." the man noted, indirectly agreeing with The Doctor's assessment as he gently brush the dust off a table that seem to be made entirely of rust.

"Agree. If I can find my ship, we can use the lab to analyze anything we find here - might tell us who was here." And long this place actually had been left unused.

Re: 2

[funnylittleclown]

"Utilitarian. Meant for practicality rather than comfort."

Yes, he quite agreed with that as he could say from first hand experience that this was the most uncomfortable cot he had ever lain on. Even the TARDIS had ergonomic beds!

"You've a science lab? How nice! Now all we need to do is to find something to analyze."

He clambered to his feet, none too gracefully as that had been a rough lie-down, and set about poking at buttons. More of them did nothing but blink the that one, the final button on the left that was glowing yellow, opened a small compartment near the bed.

"Ah, thought there would be one of these! Even miners need some place to store a change of clothes. Mm, it appears to be empty though. Are you having any luck?"

Re: 2

[freearcadia]

"My friend wanted to make sure The Arcadia had everything in case of any situation, it's been proven to be quite useful in the past." He answers offhandedly - taking a moment to see where that 'click' came from - ah footlockers.

"It looked like something was scratched here, probably by someone bored out of their minds - it's really faint though, and I fear putting too much pressure here would turn the table into dust." Harlock calls back as he peers closer. "I'm not sure if it's a doodle or a Logogram of some kind."

[funnylittleclown]

The footlocker was abandoned in favor of floating across the room to get a look at this symbol. It was difficult to make out. There was a find layer of rust dust over the whole drawing and while blowing that away might well have made the image easier to see it may also end up damaging it.

"If only we had the means to take a photograph of that and blow it up on scanner. It's very interesting though, very interesting. It looks a bit like a daisy from this side."

But more like actual words from the other side of the table.

[freearcadia]

Harlock fumbles for his comms. "Well, I couldn't radio my crew, but perhaps some of its other functions are still intact." He held the palm-sized device in his hand, positioning it, trying to get a good, clear shot of it.

"...Hold on, it looks more like a word from here."

[funnylittleclown]

"Excellent. Now... nobody sneeze."

He cautioned with only a small measure of cheekiness. He didn't expect anyone to!

"What does it look like?"

In the lens of the device it did indeed begin to look like a word... or maybe still a symbol. There was a very distinct looking '8' and the word 'food' appeared some where further down the scrawling's as well.

2 - Skeletons in the Closet

[somuchshipping]

Hermes is basically prancing in place at this point, looking around excitedly.

"Yeah! Maybe we can find some skeletons here and all the juicy details about their deaths!"

[funnylittleclown]

"Skeletons, hm."

The Doctor pondered the metal grating of the cot above as he gave that one some thought. It wasn't a cheery one. He preferred to think the crew had just disembarked some where even if that rarely turned out to be the case.

"I'd imagine if there were any that those robots we saw would have seen to them long ago. I was more wondering if the people who once lived here had left behind any paperwork or some sort of nanochip with a bunch of information on it. Mmm, or would those have been cleaned away too? I wonder."

[somuchshipping]

"Ooooh! Finding the black box to listen to is a great idea! If I were to hazard a guess, it would likely be in security. Do you see any navigational directions anywhere? CuzIDon't."

As Hermes speaks, he picks up one of those small robots from off the ground and gives it a good look-over. He's... never really seen this type of unit before. Or this many units on a single ship, though it's understandable given how utterly gigantic this place is.

[funnylittleclown]

The robot squirmed and buzzed in Hermes clutches but finally gave up and contented itself to be held. Rather cute things really.

"Not offhand but..."

In a quick burst of speed the Doctor was up from his cot and standing very near to the little robot still being held.

"Hello there. We are wondering if you've a control or security room some where? Failing that you could direct us to a map?"

It might have been a long shot but maybe, just maybe, the little bot could help them out.

[somuchshipping]

Hermes looked over to the robot he was holding, silent, waiting for it to talk., but the robot didn't offer any sort of vocalizations besides a couple buzzes and beeps. After a few moments, Hermes frowns.

"I guess the unit's got [mute]." Hermes blinks and it takes another small moment for him to remember he's in the real world. "I mean it might be mute, besides the beeps and boops. Too bad there aren't any Aftiks around to translate..."

4

[hattersgonnahat]

[Well, the recording didn't sound bad, but also doesn't fully get it.]

Your best feature is singing?

[funnylittleclown]

You know you are the second person to call this singing.

[ He held up his instrument, a little blue and white striped, recorder. ]

I don't suppose many people play these anymore. That must mean its a talent worthy of being called a best feature!

[ Actually its kind of shrill and annoying but Polly, a dear friend of his, had always liked his playing. To each their own. ]

[hattersgonnahat]

Ohhhh it's like a flute thingy.

I mean, it is still pretty cool.

[funnylittleclown]

Why thank you!

[ They were going to get on like a house on fire if she enjoyed his playing! ]

And your special talent, what did you put down for that?

[hattersgonnahat]

Just my favorite hat.

[Does it count as a talent or even a feature? Probably not, but she did it anyway.]

2

[dumedknight]

Kanan coughs and waves the dust out of his face when the Doctor flops onto a bed (or what was formerly a bed).

Dryly: "If that's true, I hope we get better treatment than the last 'guests.'"

The desolation here sets him on edge a little. Years of experience are the only things keeping him from showing it.

[funnylittleclown]

"You never know, they might have gotten tired of traveling around in space and found a nice planet to settled down on. You don't think they left voluntarily?"

At the moment the Doctor wasn't sure which way it had gone for the people's who used to live in these corridors. There wasn't yet enough to go on to say one way or the other.

[dumedknight]

That's an optimistic outlook and Kanan has never been accused of being an optimist.

"Possible, but unlikely in my experience."

Kanan runs a hand along the wall, looking for any kind of scorch marks or signs of battle. Though it's possible there wasn't one.

"Hard to tell for sure, though."

1.

[crystalmaster]

Radley is having a serious panic attack at his surroundings and can scarcely believe The Doctor's response to it all.

"You're enjoying this?!" he cries. "And what do you mean wires?! We have to walk on wires?!"

[funnylittleclown]

"Why, yes, I am rather. I've worked on hundreds of computers but to actually be inside one! It gives one an entirely different perspective!"

Which to the Doctor was new, amazing and wonderful but... not so, he suspected, for his new acquaintance.

"Don't worry, it won't be hard. Have you ever crossed a log over a stream? This will be just like that."

Only they were crossing a burning river of superheated coolant that would boil them alive if they fell in. Simple!

[crystalmaster]

Radley stares at the scene. "Sure, I've done that, but it wasn't a potential life and death situation!"

He tries to calm himself. Normally he keeps his composure, but ... electricity ... he just can't. But this guy seems to know what he's doing. Hopefully he'll be able to help if something goes wrong.... Radley has to believe that anyway, or he'll snap completely.

He takes a deep breath. "If that's the only way ... let's get to it."

[funnylittleclown]

"There's the spirit."

The Doctor lead the way to the coil of wires, being mindful to pick a pathway away from any open circuits or slippery looking edges. There were several wires, some thin, some thick, the Doctor chose the thickest one to slowly venture out on.

"There see, simple as toast! Now just place a foot there,"

A gesture towards a smaller coil of wire that one could use as a step-up.

"And come up here nearer the bank. We can cross together if you like?"

[crystalmaster]

Radley gingerly stepped on the wires, holding out his arms for balance. "Yeah, crossing together would be great."