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

[somuchshipping]

Oh no, this place is the real world, all right! I should know. I was taken from my computer game. And since we're not in it, I can't do this...!

[Hermes lifts one of his clawfeet into the air and just slashes it downward. It creates a rip in space to a few feet away. Once Hermes notices this, which is nigh-instantly, he does a double take, just staring at it, baffled.]

[heeroics]

[ Wow.

This is a lot of information to take in at once, and not very much of it is helping to convince Heero that this place aligns with the traditional concept of reality, as he knows it. First of all: video game, what?

Heero, too, stares at the... rip. ]

What did you do?

[ Does this mean they're in a video game! Heero did not train for that. ]

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes glances at Heero briefly before turning his attention back to the hole in space, swiftly sealing it back up. He then looks above Heero's head and- huh? That works, too!? Huh...]

Huh... I was kind of under the impression that since my game runs on code and the real world doesn't, none of my abilities would work. You know, since they've all been programmed to work within Fortuna. That- that's my computer game.

And that's just from one of my traits, [Space Ripper].

[heeroics]

[ Of course Heero follows the screen's electronic gaze and looks up too - he has no idea what to expect from a video game. He's never so much as seen one played, let alone played one himself.

Better remain vigilant. ]

Reality can be simulated with enough processing power...

[somuchshipping]

[It was more looking a little directly up over Heero than at the ceiling above him. Heero sees nothing whilst Hermes saw a countdown. Don't worry about it. Heero has PLENTY of time. =] ]

Okay, but I don't actually believe we're in a computer anymore. SUPERBIA said the real world, so this is the real world. We just have to find a way out of here to see the rest of it.

[heeroics]

[ Seeing nothing is far more discomfiting than seeing something, somehow. ]

Do you have reason to trust SUPERBIA?

[ SUPERBIA, after all, is the entity that dumped them in this treacherous place. This leads Heero to believe the AI is concerned solely with the fate of Fortuna, not them. There are any number of mortals who would volunteer their very souls for the opportunity to find such a legend, an endless supply of Privateers. If shoving all of their minds into a simulation of the universe is the most efficient way to find Fortuna, Heero has no doubt that SUPERBIA would do it.

But then... Occam's razor demands some amount of restraint. Heero can't explain why a video game robot character is talking to him right now and can also rip space, but the practical thing to do is assume that this all is real and they should do exactly as Hermes has said. ]

Hm... you're right.

[ Heero doesn't specify about what. He just starts walking in any ol' direction. ]

[somuchshipping]

Think of it this way: If we're in a simulation, wouldn't my code be incompatible with their code? I wouldn't think SUPERBIA is coded using C++.

[Hermes will follow Heero. The AI isn't much one to lead.]

[heeroics]

[ Following Heero is maybe not the best option, but right now for poor Hermes it's Heero or nothing. Of course Heero's got no idea where he's going, but if they can get to one of the far walls, perhaps there will be some way to interface with the... whatever this is.

This place SUPERBIA has brought them to may be completely alien to him, but he can recognize some of the bits and pieces of circuitry that make up the innards of a computer, and that gives Heero some confidence.

If only this metal landscape weren't so hot. Heero wipes the sweat from his brow. ]

No. If the AI wanted us to be fooled, we would be fooled. An intelligence capable of simulating reality in realtime could easily make that reality appear to run on C++.

[somuchshipping]

Hmmm...

[Well... considering that SUPERBIA managed to have a 3D model in the game...]

Well... SUPERBIA did manage to hack itself into Fortuna... But if this is a simulation, wouldn't it already know where the not-game Fortuna is?

[heeroics]

Fortuna, your game?

[ Best to clarify, given the legendary-prize-is-also-called-Fortuna situation. Beyond that, Heero elects to take this robot-TV-thing's claims at face value. He believes that Hermes believes he is really from a video game, and that's enough.

If it's true, then Heero finds it interesting to note that perhaps Privateers don't have to be real to be recruited by SUPERBIA. ]

Not necessarily. If SUPERBIA has recreated its universe to great enough detail, then the location of the treasure is just a matter of solving a statistical equation. It's the... human element that's impossible to predict.

[ Strange thing to say to a robot, but. Metaphorically speaking. ]

We're the missing factor. That's true whether this universe is real or not.

[somuchshipping]

Yes, my game.

[It's okay to call Hermes not a real person. He believes it to be true, too.]

I've actually never seen a human before. It's a forbidden species in the game. Not entirely sure, but I think it's because Prometheus gave Notails the ability to "trap" us AI into shells and Prometheus's shell was designed after humans. But I don't see it as a bad thing, I ship Prometheus x Humans! It's really cute.

[heeroics]

Ship?

[ Oh no, Heero. Don't open that can of worms... ]

[somuchshipping]

[Can of worms: Opened. You bought this on yourself, Heero.]

Yeah! Ships! It's always fun watching and predicting romances that could happen! It'sEvenBetter WhenTheShipsYouMake ActuallyComeTrue! SometimesIt'sLikeDestiny AndYourShipsAre ReallyWholesomeAndCute AndSometimesThey're FilledWithThrillingDrama!

[heeroics]

Predicting romances.

[ He repeats, flatly. Heero isn't trying to be condescending. He's just literally never fathomed such a thing.

But here, this 7 ft tall tv robot who can tear through space is doing that? Why? Humanity is so mysterious; Heero wasn't prepared for mechanical beings to be even more so.

At last, they come across one of those sheer metallic cliff faces on their journey to The Other Side of the megastructure. Hermes may not make any sense, but that height might be useful. ]

Can you get down there?

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes looks down. That's... quite a drop. Not so much a fatal one, but still.]

Well, yeah.

[Hermes doesn't move from his position.]

[heeroics]

[ A beat of silence passes where Heero simply looks up at sentient monitor face. When it becomes apparent that Hermes isn't going to move, Heero looks back down the steel cliff's edge. ]

Good.

[ ...well? He isn't accustomed to asking for favors. People either do things to help him, or they don't. The fact that he even had the thought at all is a symbol of two years' worth of personal growth!

Heero crouches to lower himself over the edge, sliding down the burning hot metal until he can get a foothold into a crevice between panels. ]

[somuchshipping]

[Oh. Well, then.]

You asked if I can, and I can. You didn't ask if I would!

[Nonetheless, Hermes keeps vigilant watch, as if to make entirely sure that Heero didn't slip and fall. When the human reaches the bottom, Hermes will back away from the cliff edge a great deal, then bolting for it at a high speed, easily jumping over the chasm and onto the other side. Now would be the perfect time to ask, or order, Hermes to find a rope or something of some kind, wouldn't it?]