voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post May]

On the Train

Like clockwork, the Voidtreckers are awoken by a familiar message this morning.

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day one of the month of Llama. Points have been updated on the system."

With points updated, everyone can spend the morning shopping. Most people will 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 air is sticky and warm, the windows almost immediately dewing over with the humidity outside.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing, walking silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Azula, Prisoner, Amery Vallet, Dyme Graydon, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Yoite, Piccolo, Bulla Brief, Xie Lian, Kurosaki Ichigo, Hua Cheng, Renee Corbin, and Ran Mouri; 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 find themselves on a platform, rich wood and pale stone forming a natural, tree-like structure overhead. Behind them is a set of barriers, and in front of them is a single set of tracks extending both ways into thick fog. The air is rainforest-hot, and the sound of frogsong can be faintly heard over the drip of the artificial canopy.

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 fog begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform isn't large, and seems smaller with twenty-eight figures scattered around, all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. 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 pours a strange assortment of people, over a hundred at least. 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.

Behind them, the doors close, and the train is cloaked in the same fog that hides the world beyond the platform.

The Train

After a short time, the fog clears and 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 nori, the ingredient of the month of Llama, as well as all sundries.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags. For each member of Purple Team, a small silver box with their name on it contains a glittery cupcake.

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, but at least they won't be alone in their confusion - since the sleeper carriages are now double-decker, and experience isn't going to avail the passengers in finding their rooms.

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.

The new double carriage's transfer ICP is active, allowing people to move to a double room should they meet the requirements with another person, though they'll have to move their belongings themselves.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers taking advantage of the fresh air, 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Leia selected one of the chocolate chip cookies, then gently petted the little ghost with her free hand. "You too, hmm?", she said. "What was the first place you were whisked off to?"

"Little town called Beacon. On a dead world with no light except these." They tap the old, slightly-battered lantern on the counter next to where they're working, with one metal finger. "We were supposed to bring the light back."

The ghost seems satisfied, and drifts back over to the cookie platter, standing guard, or staring wistfully at what they can't have. It's hard to tell, when the plastic expression doesn't change at all.

"You were somewhere else first, too?" Soldat is slightly less inscrutable, glancing over with clear curiosity.

"Interesting," Leia said. "Were you successful at all?" She hoped they were, at least to some degree.

"And yes, I was in a place called Nautilus. It generally had a normal amount of light, but aside from that, there wasn't much else about it that could be considered normal. It was also called the City of Change, and it tended to live up to the name. Living there was almost never boring, for better or worse."

Well, lots of things can be boring. Beacon had occasionally been boring, despite the danger and the darkness. Soldat tilts their head thoughtfully, but nods at the description. "There's a handful of us who got kidnapped twice. Somewhere else, then here. Pretty weird, right?" That of all the people in the multiverse, the same people might get zapped somewhere new more than once.

They shake their head a little. "I don't know if we were successful, in Beacon. The train snatched me right in the middle of the fight with the World Eater."

"Definitely weird," Leia said. "Especially that being brought here while still remembering Nautilus seems to violate certain rules about how people there are able to interact with other worlds. Though I'm admittedly not certain those rules are still in effect; there were some rather big changes to Nautilus before I arrived here."

She looked a bit more thoughtful, but nodded. "Well, let's hope that any and all worlds remain uneaten, then. One threat to all of reality is quite enough for a lifetime."

Only one, she says. Jesus. "The train is apparently on the run from something that eats worlds," Soldat says after a pause, during which they debate whether to say anything at all. Soldat rarely errs on the side of too little intel shared, though. "So. I'm hoping it's the same threat and that there's not two kinds out there."

"Let's hope so, yes," Leia said. "As long as it doesn't turn them all into glass first, it's safe to say that it's not the one I encountered, though she was so thoroughly put down I'd be extremely surprised if we saw anything of her again." Being Unmade is extremely permanent, after all, and they'd gone to great trouble to root out Isis' shards from the various realities where they'd taken hold.

"No, I don't think so. They're dark, and they fly? I didn't see them." That was before Soldat's time here. They almost want the train to run into them again, just so they can compare to the World Eaters... but that seems like a dangerous wish.

They shake their head, focus on their work, and change the subject off of world-destroying horrors. "Where did you come from, before your first kidnapping?"

"Definitely not the same one then," Leia said. It was indeed a dangerous wish, and one she wasn't about to make either. Partly because she felt that it would likely come true at some point whether they wished it or not.

As to where she'd come from originally... "Do you mean in general, or specifically? The where I'm from, interplanetary travel is a regular thing, so our civilization spans a good chunk of the known galaxy. But there is one world in particular where I grew up and a few others where I've spent far more time on than others."

A New Platform [Intro Post May]

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