A New Platform [Intro Post February]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Three days after the Voidtreckers return to the void after their adventures on the biosphere world, they are awoken by a familiar announcement.

"Good morning passengers, it is day Sixteen of the month of Jelly. Points have been updated on the system."

They have indeed, and everyone can spend the morning shopping. Those who have been on the train for a while will also be expecting the second announcement that comes a few hours later.

"Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." A lurch and a jolt and the windows fill with the fog that means they are at a platform. The fog seems thicker than usual and as they step out onto the platform they will find it is cold, very cold. Icy fog sticks to their clothing, makes it hard to see very far; the atmosphere is dark and gloomy.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers: Alexis Rhodes, Elfnein, Itsuki Myoudouin, Ken Ichijouji, MT, Neku Sakuraba, Nike Lemercier, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Rainbow Dash, Rei Saotome, Taichi Yagami, Tsubomi Hanasaki, Yuri Tsukikage and Zechs Merquise all pass through the platform, not looking back before they disappear through the barriers and into the fog beyond.

But on the platform itself there are new faces. Wearing hoodies in all four colours, in various states of confusion.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see is steam, billowing around them as they come to their senses. As their eyes adjust, they will see they are on a platform, glass and dark stone rising in sturdy arches around them. Behind them is a set of barriers, and in front of them is a single track extending both ways into thick fog.

They are standing, in clothes that are not their own and a style they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on their back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze; then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not large with sixteen figures scattered around, all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. To both the left and right, tracks disappear into the mist. Then there is a roaring sound and out of the fog arrives a train. Jet black with gold writing on the side. The Voidtrecker Express. There is a hiss as the doors slide open and out step a strange assortment of people. Some are human, some are less so. Most are wearing the same hoodie in one of the four colours, red, orange, blue and purple, though some are sporting different clothes in a variety of styles.

The Train

After a short time, the doors hiss open again. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there's anywhere else to go and even if there was, you feel a pull. A need to board, a feeling that staying on the platform would lead to something terrible. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people on the platform now, to encourage them onto the train.

Each ICP shows the same message and next to the screens there are stacks of leaflets written by those on the train, with further information (see
'Publications'). The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, including several crates of avocados, the ingredient of the month of Jelly, as well as all sundries.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags.

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

Room is tight but there are storage cubbies at the head of each bed, beds fold up and the bottom bunks double as benches for the small table. There is storage under those benches full of spare blankets and pillows.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers braving the freezing fog, and the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, but they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view again as it picks up speed.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express." A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. "Please take the time to read the passenger information displayed on the Information and Communication points and familiarise yourself with the layout and emergency exits."

The train begins to tilt, leaving the ground and rising up into the fog-filled sky.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated. Entry into Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

A shudder, a jolt, a lurch to the left. A flash of light, colourful and blinding. As quick as it happens it is done. The train seems to steady itself. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colours.

Welcome to the Void!

Comments

[adropofsunlight]

"I've been fine. Been doing the usual thing about the train." Which mostly meant painting and the like, doing chores and just generally doing stuff to make the time move faster.

But she watched the last person leave with her still waving, but once they had gone she lowered her arm. "I guess it's like a habit or something. You are used to doing it over and over and so it becomes important."

[so_dark_a_road]

"I'm glad you're fine. And it's good to keep busy, isn't it?" Curufin used the same strategy to get through the days and nights. "Say, how's your painting coming along? Any interesting projects in the works?"

The last person departed through the turnstyle, and Curufin felt a kind of emptiness. "Maybe so, though it was important to me the first time I did it. I can't stop anybody from leaving, and I don't know why they're going. But I can say goodbye. I don't know whether they can hear me or not, but if they can, it might be a comfort to them, to know that they will be missed."

He shakes his head. "Anyway, that's better than the alternative, which is that they aren't in any sense here at all, that the train simply provides us with images of the people who have already left. Holograms, or some such thing."

[adropofsunlight]

"Yeah. But keeping busy was always something I was good at. I'm like an expert." Which was admittedly a little say to say out loud, but it did make things easier with that experience when it came to keeping busy in one place.

"As for projects, I don't have anything super important at the moment, but I am considering if others want to do one giant art piece as a way to have a part of themselves still be here if for whatever reason they end up leaving." She knew they had something to remember people by, but her thought was at least this way others can leave something behind that can't vanish.

The smile she usually had on was soon replaced with a frown. "I don't understand holograms and the like, so I don't think that's the case. I think they were physically here, but I get what you mean at least."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin smiled. "Keeping busy is one of your talents, then."

"I like the idea of the giant art piece. I'd certainly contribute! Do you have an idea of where you'd want it to be?"

Rapunzel's smile was so distinctive and so usual for her that it was a little disconcerting when a frown replaced it. But he couldn't blame her for frowning. "I've been trying to figure out an explanation for their lack of response. It's like this every month. It's almost as if they don't hear or see anything except their way to the departure turnstyle. But if they can perceive the exit from the platform, then why can't they see the people standing around saying goodbye to them, or those who are just watching them go? It seems so unlike their normal selves that I have to wonder if they are even real? But you think they are actually physically present?"

[adropofsunlight]

"Unfortunately, it is. I mean it's a good thing to have but the story behind it... Not that great." But she at least accepted that it happened and that she has come out better for it.

But soon she was shaking her head slightly. "no, but I know we would need something big enough and that people could come to and see. Like I know the gym carriages would not be a good idea at least." So she narrowed it down a tiny bit at least.

But she crossed her arms quietly for a moment, pondering over what he just said. "Do you think like a part of themselves left before they leave or something. But overall maybe something that isn't pleasant?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"Maybe the story behind any of us developing a talent for action is not that great." But like Rapunzel, Curufin could appreciate the effects on his life now.

"I agree, not the gym carriages. Maybe it would be a good idea to tour the train and check out the wall space in each car."

He sighed and folded his own arms. "I wonder about that. It sounds rather sinister, that idea that some part of each of us might remain when in fact we have left. Or that when a person's name turns gold in the passenger roster, the train has transformed the person into a mere image. I don't like any of these thoughts. I'd rather believe that the train has taken a moving snapshot of us, a hologram, and that it displays those images or movie clips on the platform just to make it clear to the rest of us that those people are gone."

[adropofsunlight]

"I think all of my talents people agree the why behind why I have them is not at all great."

But she nodded. She had toured the walls of the carriages so much, but she was still very much unsure of how big she actually wanted it to make the obvious choice possible.

"I've toured it plenty at this point, but I guess I'll do it again to be sure." Which she tended to do on a daily basis unless she had something else to keep her busy.

But soon she was quiet for quite a bit before speaking again. "That does sound awful and I think no matter the answer if there is one... it still would be bad even the nicer ones."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin chuckled. "Even if the cause for some of your talents is not so great, I still think that you are great, Rapunzel!"

He nodded, too. "I guess it would pay to take some time to make that decision, which car's walls should be the canvas for that large painting."

He waited for her to speak again. The topic of the departing passengers and the explanation for their silence and obliviousness. . . that was an uncomfortable topic. "I agree. I don't like it that people just vanish, no chance to say goodbye, and none of those speculations really comforts me."

He folded his arms thoughtfully. "Since I have Elvish foresight, I've wondered if I might have an intimation or a dream or a vision ahead of time, if I was going to leave the train. If that ever happens, I'll get on the network and tell everyone that I think I might be leaving, and thank everybody for all the good companionship and the joint projects and the missions, all the positive things I've experienced on the Voidtrecker. I just hope that doesn't happen. I'd like to be with the train until it completes its goals, whatever exactly those are."

[adropofsunlight]

"I mean, I'm not that great, I'm just me." She was at least trying to be modest to the best of her ability while also being slightly awkward at the same time.

But afterward it was back to the less happy topic anyway as she went quiet. She didn't understand the whole foresight thing and what it meant, but she did recall people talking about dreams, so that is probably it.

But it was enough to give her a moment to think. "Question. Do you know how many people have such a thing that might be similar and have any ever left the train?"

[so_dark_a_road]

He smiled. "Maybe being you is great, at least from the viewpoint of your friends." He knew she was modest, he just wanted to be encouraging and to let her know she was valued.

Indeed, he had been on the network repeatedly, talking about pre-mission visions. Most of which actually came true.

His face grew thoughtful as well. "My parents, Fëanor and Nerdanel, and my two elder brothers Maedhros and Maglor, and my cousin Fingon are all foresighted. And they are all gone from the train. But I don't know if they had any visionary intimations that they might be leaving. If they did, they didn't tell me about it."

[adropofsunlight]

"So it's not like we have any way of actually knowing if that is the case. I mean for those who have such things I could see it being both a good thing because you could get things in order but at the same time... it would be kinda said in knowing that it's going to happen."

Knowing but knowing you can't do anything about it. To her that was really sad.

[so_dark_a_road]

He nodded. "True, we don't have any way of knowing -- unless I meet my family elsewhere and they remember the Voidtrecker Express. Then, I could ask them if they had any foreknowledge that they were leaving the train."

Sad, yes. "Myself, I'd rather know ahead of time. But you're right, it would be sorrowful knowledge. Still, I'd have time to say goodbye. And I'd have time to spend all my points on my friends. But what about you, Rapunzel? If you were going to vanish from the train, would you rather know or not know?"

[adropofsunlight]

Rapunzel used that moment to pause as she thought about the question. Would she want to know if she was leaving or not. Sure it was bad thing to know because it would be a sad moment to leave, more so for a girl who felt like she didn't have much to go back to except to go see what she wanted to finally and just the tower and isolation again.

"I honestly don't know. I think personally I wouldn't want to know. Mostly because I know that I am going back to my tower where I know if Mother knew I'd left I wouldn't be able to leave again. I mean if I remember things would be different I am sure, but I don't really have much there. So it's more sad."

Want to start wrapping this thread?

[so_dark_a_road]

"I guess it's a personal thing, the choice or the desire to have foreknowledge or not. If you would be going back to being a prisoner in a tower, than maybe you wouldn't want to know. But of course, if you were going to another world that was not your own, you might have a better life."

He smiled and shrugged. "If I leave the train forever, I don't think I'd be going back to my world. At least not to the version of it that existed at the end of my lifetime there. I'd rather go adventuring in the multiverse. But you may feel differently."

[adropofsunlight]

"But thats something we can't be sure happens. That we actually get to go travelling after we leave. Like... I would like to do things back home and the new explore if I was able to, but there is no way of really knowing."

Which gives people a little bit more as to what she would like but what she expects would be vastly different.

"But I think for now, it's something I could think of a bit more. Maybe I should go see who is new and help."