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thegreatspacerace2022-09-28 07:29 pm
space_aces) wrote in thegreatspacerace2022-09-28 07:29 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME #1
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.
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.
1Overclocked
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.
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.
2Skeletons 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?
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?
3The 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?
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?
4Hot 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.
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.
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.
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.
no subject
“You mean you talked and Trowa sat there and absorbed?” Because he has to say it or he might explode, in all actuality. This is still Duo Maxwell, after all, and snarking is his life blood.
Duo is… reeling if he’s honest. The confirmation that Quatre has been thinking about it, after he’s tossed Heero off and laughed at him about it, throws him for a loop. His mind is racing with the possibilities of why he would agree, of what the hell they would do if anything popped off again.
He’s busy thinking of everything his mind can spiral on, still, when Quatre centers in front of him. He can guess what’s coming, but it doesn’t stop the exasperated sigh anyway. Quatre’s folly is asking him to be rational in this situation, honestly, but he meets the blonde with a begrudging expression anyway.
“For now, apparently.” He’s troubled by all of this, clearly, but only around Quatre would he drop the mask long enough to actually frown and fuss about it.
“I guess right now what’s more important is getting a plan in order. Between all of us.”
no subject
Look, it's not Quatre's fault that he's clearly got special privileges that mean he gets to hoard the majority of zero-three's words for himself.
Oh, Quatre's all too aware of the thin ice he's walking on asking Duo to trust him and be rational at the same time. But he's going to walk on that ice with confidence because he knows Duo and that knowing comes with a certain amount of trust.
Especially since everything Duo's thinking about? All those what ifs and disaster scenarios? Quatre's run through most of them in triplicate. Everything from 'yes this is dumb let's never do this' to 'well we can always just build new ones, we know enough about how they run we can probably manage' and in-between.
"For as long as you need." Quatre promises, cherishing this glimpse of how Duo's actually feeling instead of the pretense he normally shows to the world. It's something he tries very hard not to take advantage of - knowing what's beneath the mask. Figurately and literally in some cases.
"That'll be a start at least. We've got a lot of work to do and I'm not sure how much time we have to do it in."
Not that it's ever stopped them before.
no subject
"Yeah yeah." Duo's eyes roll as if there isn't a particular pilot who tends to speak to him the most out of the other four, too. Leave it to him to make a very dramatic showing out of absolutely (nothing) everything that he can get his gritty little fingers on.
The lack of activity post-war has left Duo itching and in some cases a little paranoid. As annoyed as he got at Howard and Hilde both for pointing it out, his constant need to move and leave is a side effect of never feeling completely safe where he is. Or as though he's waiting for someone to come down on him by sitting still in one place too long. The additional thought of not having a Gundam for back up? Icing on an already pretty cruddy cake of his mind racing in circles for the moment.
Thankfully Quatre knows him well enough to know when to leave a subject to mull instead of pulling a Heero and hammering away at a sore spot anyway, instead spurring a little laugh from the braided pilot.
"Time crunches have never stopped us before." Hell, they practically lived and breathed a time crunch at this rate. Duo isn't going to pretend like he doesn't thrive being (at times literally) under the gun. "Guess I should stop ferreting around here and we can head back to gather the other two, mn?"
no subject
Yes, Quatre does know for a fact that continuing to talk about this subject right now isn't going to end well for either of them. Which is why he's going to let the topic drop. They can talk about it later when things are more secure. Not... this weird new unsecure situation they're currently in at the moment.
"And they won't this time either." He's quick to agree, because it's true. They're so used to time crunches to the point that it might as well be all they know. "I think that'd be for the best, yes. As fun as poking around in the decay has been, I think we've learned all we're going to learn from here."
no subject
“Yeah. There’s not a damn thing left that gives me any idea of what was going on here before.” Of course Duo is nosey enough to want to know that, once he’s stumbled on this place. And beyond that, if they can get a gauge on the people that were there before, or SUPERBIA itself …
Well, no losses there, right?
With those chances lost, though, he’s content to head back in the direction of the others. Will he still be mad to see Heero? Most likely.
But he did throw out all his cigarettes.
“Hopefully Yuy isn’t back in Deathscythe when we get back to the dock.”
no subject
"Though as we travel, maybe we'll find more clues that will help us piece together this puzzle we've found ourselves in." He's certainly going to be keeping his eyes open for any hints of the people who've likely undertaken this search before them.
To be fair, Quatre might have done the same if he'd been in Heero's position. Sorry, friend. It's only because Quatre'd very much like for them all to live nice, long lives despite the constant danger and stupidity they throw themselves into on a regular basis.
"If he is I'm sure you'll find some way to take it out on him later." Quatre soothes, looping an arm around Duo and steering him back the way they came. "Maybe a wrench to throw."
Though the odds of actually hitting Heero Yuy like that.... Quatre doesn't need the zero system to compute those odds. But if it made Duo feel better, that's what counts.