A New Platform [Intro Post March]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Once again passengers are awoken by the morning announcement.

"Good morning passengers, it is day One of the month of Kazoo. 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 is thick, the air is warm and humid and there are rumbles of thunder, the air heavy with the promise of rain.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers: Alfredo Martini, Daia, Enna Alchiba, Lord El-Melloi II, Natsuno Yuuki, Nita Callahan, Saku Gyousou, Sakura, V and Wen Qing

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, and seems smaller with twenty-seven 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.

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'). Those not new to the train will note the addition of an eighth sleeper carriage. The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, it seems the month of Kazoo is defined by the tomato and there are plenty of them.

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 as thunder rumbles further and the storm threatens to break. 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

train

[irrationally]

Platform days always truly are Something.

Mostly since it feels like Alice can't make a cup of tea without being interrupted by something odd. Like - in this case - an unfamiliar person wandering into said kitchen, and then proceeding to just stand there and..

.. smile?

Alice raises an eyebrow.

"Is something so funny?"

Re: train

[averyusefultray]

"Not funny I just... wasn't quite expecting to find this." It's better stocked than most galleys that she's had a chance to spend time in in the past couple years. "Better than ration bars..."

[irrationally]

"Please, if they'd feed us nothing but ration bars, they would have a mutiny on their hands in a day or two."

Not that Alice doesn't know some people aren't mad at the train regardless - and honestly, they'd have all right to be - but she definitely knows some people who wouldn't be very pleased to have their large diet replaced by something like rations.

She shrugs though.

"Then again, who knows." Alice should probably sound a little more concerned about this, yet her tone is relatively casual as she continues. "For how whimsical this train can be, it could decide to just start giving us only that out of the blue one day. I sure would not be surprised."

[averyusefultray]

"The talk of missions and travel sounded like it might be. But it's a relief to know there's more variety." She can live on rations, she's done it, but she's tried to keep her galley better stocked even if she doesn't spend much time on cooking.

"The supplies just appear, then." Strange. But this was a strange day.

[irrationally]

Alice nods.

Honestly, food appearing out of nowhere? That's about the least odd thing to her, especially compared to a lot of other things here.

"It even seems to change up the food. About every month or so it decides to stick a large amount of a certain kind of food. Last month it was avocados." Alice has never eaten that many avocados before in her life..

[averyusefultray]

"I've never heard of avocados, but at least we won't be bored." Anything was better than ration bars but she imagined it would be possible to get bored if they didn't do that. "A lot of this sounds just far enough off what I'm used to to be unnerving."

[irrationally]

"Unnerving," Alice says, repeating the word. As if she's trying it out, seeing if it fits the situation as she knows it.

Maybe it does, to some people, she figures. Alice doesn't really feel unnerved by it, but she figures that's not too strange. She's used to incredibly weird things and worse circumstances than these, after all.

But she's just curious enough to still ask: "What are you used to, then?"

[averyusefultray]

"We're at war." The galaxy has been for most of her life. "Travelling between planets, striking at the Empire. Usually without anything resembling enough supplies."

So an abundance of avocados? THat would be quite welcome.

[irrationally]

At war, and the mention of planets.. That must be some sort of space war, then. It would be something Alice couldn't envision if it wasn't for this place - but she does remember being dragged into a very similar conflict during one of her first missions, so she can form a mental image of it by now.

"I don't think you'll find this situation so different from that. Sure, there is more food present, but we are still traveling between worlds. And whenever the train does stop somewhere, we fight."

That doesn't sound so different from this other person's world.

"I suppose the way of traveling is the main difference, then." With a bit more luxury than she's used to. Even though Alice still wouldn't call the circumstances here very luxurious.

[averyusefultray]

"At least it doesn't sound like we have to worry about fuel." On the other hand, she's also travelling on something she's not flying and doesn't set the course for and she doesn't love that.

[irrationally]

"Don't say that too loudly," Alice quips, sounding pretty flat and deadpan. "The train may just get ideas from that too and decide to stop working in the middle of nowhere."

Because nothing is truly more 'the middle of nowhere' than the very void itself.

[averyusefultray]

"So it's that kind of place then." Hobbie's Law, the pilots had taken to calling it. Anything that can go wrong will. THough mostly that applied specifically to Hobbie.

[irrationally]

"That kind of place?"

Alice repeats. She has an idea of what the other means, sure. The fact that she's catching on to the fact that this train doesn't necessarily have their best interests in mind - but what else could be expected of a vehicle that kidnapped them, that took them here without permission?

"Have you ever encountered anything like it before?"

[averyusefultray]

"Not like this. But my crew has been finding their way into so many strange things the past few years." The Force wanted her life to be strange, it seems. "Usually the others more than me."

[irrationally]

Hey, she can't just say 'so many strange things' and then leave at that! Please, Alice is way too naturally curious to not want to immediately know more about it.

And she's fairly shameless enough to just immediately ask: "What kind of strange things?"

Not like she can hold back her curiosity, after all. It's always been this strong.

[averyusefultray]

"THe strangest one lately was probably... there are creatures out in space that I always knew about. But one of my kids, Ezra, he managed to communicate with them. And then we found out they could travel through hyperspace." That had been an eye opening experience. And if the purrgill could do that... sure, the train could be sentient.

[irrationally]

Alice is quiet for a moment, as if she's thinking.

.. and then she's thinking for another moment.

But then she just gives up, and decides to instead ask, since there's no way she's going to figure it out by herself: ".. What is hyperspace?"

She hardly knows anything about regular space!

[averyusefultray]

"It's how we travel between planets. We wouldn't be able to have a galactic society without it. If you slip out of real space you can go faster than light." She glances at the windows. "A bit like what people have told me about this Void."

She sounds much more confident talking about the very familiar territory.

[irrationally]

So there is a real space. And a.. hyperspace. And they're somehow different from each other.

Maybe Alice just needs to stop trying to think about this before she gives herself a headache. She slowly nods, but actually doesn't understand even a bit of what the other is saying here, really.

"Do you think this train may be travelling in such a way too then? At a speed that is.. faster than light?"

[averyusefultray]

"If we're going between worlds it almost has to be. Or we wouldn't get very far." She knows the worlds don't quite mean planets like she's used to. But they can't be any closer together.

[irrationally]

"It seems like you might understand a lot about this train. Or more than most of us do, anyway."

Not that it means the other will have everything about it figured out in a day - this train is too confusing for that, Alice thinks. But she stands more of a chance than Alice herself, who is way behind on modern technology, let alone something as complicated as space travel.

"Perhaps see if you can find out more about it. Plenty of people would be infinitely grateful to you if you could find out how it works, or how we can get home."

[averyusefultray]

"So most of you aren't spacefarers." It's a strange thought, coming from a place where galactic civilization stretches back millenia.

"How to get home is the real question, isn't it?" She wants to know that just as much as anyone else. She was in the middle of something.

[irrationally]

Alice dips her head.

"I suppose it isn't as urgent of a matter for me as it is for others."

After all, no one will even notice she's gone missing back home. And there's nothing in particular waiting there for her either. But Alice knows that not everyone's circumstances are like that.

"But being stuck on a train isn't what I would call.. ideal. But perhaps that might be since I lack experience with this whole spacefaring matter." Are all spacecrafts this cramped? Alice has no idea.

[averyusefultray]

"I'm sorry to hear that." Everyone should have a home they want to go home to. They deserve it.

"The difference with spacefaring is my crew all chose to be there." Under strange circumstances, of course, but they made their choices. They could leave, if they wanted to.