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

[fourhope]

Yes, when. Of course. Because the idea that they could fail isn't even a possibility in his mind. Which is good. That confidence has served them well in the past when they were essentially five fighting against entire armies. Which.... probably isn't too different from now actually. Who knows how many people have signed on to look for this Fortuna.

Only Quatre isn't confident in the when. No, he's dealing with if still. If Fortuna is even real. If they can even find Fortuna. If Fortuna is what it's claimed to be. There are a lot of Ifs and Quatre's still trying to process through them all, work out all the angles. A process that's a lot slower when it's just his own processing power trying to work out all the variables. See, this is why he didn't let himself keep Zero, because it'd become far too easy to rely on the system for analytical help. Would make him lazy.

The crack of static perfectly illustrates the tension in the moment. Quatre's all too aware of it, the invisible weight of it pushing down on his shoulders with invisible hands. This is a test, one that he's determined not to fail. Because of course Wufei's first reaction upon seeing a comrade in arms would be something like this. It's Wufei.

Which means being brutally honest. No need to sugar coat his words here, not with someone who knows all too well how he works.

"I haven't fully." He admits quietly even as he shakes his head. Quatre finally allowing himself to voice what he's currently the most concerned about. The chance of it being abused seems far too great. The saying goes that absolute power corrupts absolutely for a reason. So Quatre's not really sure he wants to do anything with the device currently, aside from ensure that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Which potentially means keeping it out of any hands at all. "What they say it is, what it can really do, and if this Fortuna really exists at all. The very idea of it alone is dangerous. If it does exist, I'm not sure that it should."

Which is probably not going to endear him to a lot of the competition, but that's nothing new.

[zerofive]

He's expecting the temporization from Quatre; he had an engineer's tendency not to rule out all possibility until the deed had been done. It runs completely counter to Wufei's own nature, to choose and then to force through the desired outcome if it could not be gotten by ordinary means. But that was what made Wufei an excellent vanguard, and a poor teammate— and a worse leader. Quite the opposite for Quatre.

With both reluctance and real relief, Wufei quietly concedes the truth: he is very glad that Quatre is here.

"I intend to see it destroyed," He replies simply, for his own part, and the future thusly established firmly in his mind, Wufei considers the immediate practicalities, "You won't be able to navigate this maze on your own. Correct?"

[fourhope]

Wufei's admission he plans to destroy Fortuna is somehow both a surprise and not all at the same time. There are likely things Wufei could use Fortuna for, things in his own life that could be improved. Much like how it is for Quatre. But just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. The entire idea of Fortuna seems like it'd fall quite short of the the general virtues that Quatre's fairly certain Wufei strives to live by.

"I could probably manage. Given time." At the question, his mouth quirks up int a small smile. Wufei's really grown since their first meeting. It shows in moments like this, just how far they've come. "I think we'd make better time if we worked together on this. Don't you?"

He's glad to see you too, Wufei.

[zerofive]

Is it worth having that improvement, if you cannot go and get it by yourself? What's the price, Quatre, for such a miracle? Wufei's seen too much death to trust it. He'd rather fight on his own behalf, thank you very much.

"Yes," He agrees, because why answer twice when once is enough. Then he cocks his head meaningfully at the nearest cliff, and turns away. C'mon, he'll give you a boost.

Better time? Yes, and it would be easier. More than that, it's good, to be amongst them again. He had not thought to have the chance, ever again.

[fourhope]

In this, they're fully in agreement. Which might surprise many considering their wildly differing personalities, but makes complete sense to Quatre. When it comes to the truly important things, the five of them are usually in accord more than they are not.

And because Quatre knows that Wufei's not really the sort to chat while they work - he'll save that for Duo, Quatre heads for the cliff accordingly. A boost gets a hand up in return, Quatre being far stronger than most would think. Luckily, the other four aren't likely to underestimate him. Which is nice, being under estimated is quite useful, but sometimes it's good to have people who fully know what you're capable of. To feel seen.

Aw, Wufei. The amount of time he's going to have without at least one hug from Quatre is limited. Especially once he fully realizes some of the feelings coming from the other pilot.