voidtreckerexpress | A New Platform [Intro Post May]

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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!

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Senku chuckled lightly. "It's a trick really. It's a very unusual combination that makes things taste and smell just like cola. Food science is incredibly fascinating."

She snickered a little. "Don't really know about the science part, but can't argue with the results."

"Science is pretty much what makes up everything in the world and it's fascinating." Senku said with a bit of a smirk.

"I've learned how to make all kinds of things, but ramen remains my favourite."

"That's one way to look at it." She'd argue that there could also be things like magic, but he'd probably say something about magic and science or something.

"Oh yeah? Ramen's pretty good. Though I've only ever really had the instant kind."

Senku may surprise her yet if she did, he'd been around the block a few times on this train by then.

"Ah, nothing wrong with that, but the real thing is much better. I don't know that I have the things I need to make it. It's been awhile since I did. Unless we were going to have bear ramen."

She frowned a bit. "Bear?"

"Ah, awhile ago Inigo hunted a whole bunch of bears, so I have way too many bear bones and I could make a great broth with them." Senku explained. "It's just as good a reason to use them up as anything else."

"I mean, I guess so...I just never really thought about eating bears before."

Then again, she supposed it could be a kind of meat. Not that she'd ever try to get it herself, but.

"My world is incredibly wild, so I'll eat anything we can catch." Senku said with half a shrug. "I probably wouldn't have before that when we had grocery stores and things."

She tilted her head a bit. "Yeah? So is it like a post-apocalyptic setting?"

"That's probably the best way to decribe it, only in most fictional settings, the world has just ended. This is thousands of years after that. Everything mankind made has turned to dust."

"Ah. So it's like, humanity's been able to survive, but nothing's really rebuilt."

"In a way. There were six astronauts on board the ISS, and they returned to Earth and procreated." Senku explained. "The only humans around were their descendants, roughly 90 or so, some 3700 years later. They don't have a scientific society. They were a hunting and gathering society with a small, but religious structure. The evolution away from science is quite fascinating, considering."

"Wow...so that's really all that's left?"

That is...not a lot of people.

"I suppose it'd be hard to science with hardly any equipment to work with." Or at least, she thought so.

"Two hundred, actually." Senku hummed. "That I know of. Gen said we found some people but he's very cagey about telling me the future, so probably top it out around 250."

He chuckled lightly. "No equipment? I made all of mine. Back to basics. I've gone from rediscovering fire to making a drone."

"Ah. Well, I guess that's something."

She gives an impressed whistle. "Wow, that's pretty impressive. How'd you managed that?"

"A lot of time and perseverence and help with manpower." Senku chuckled. "If you mean the drone specifically though, it was from parts of other previously created repurposed. I do that a lot. The few engines we do have tend to be repurposed from stoves we built for winter." Senku hummed. "Although that does mean when winter comes around we have to make the stoves again." He shrugged. "Wasn't a big project."

"So you just have to keep rebuilding things to use them for something else?"

"Well we don't need the stoves in the spring, they can be repurposed for other things we're working on, like the car or the boilers for the ship." Senku explained. "Nothing gets wasted that way, and it helps our projects go a little easier."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Might as well make things as useful as they can be, huh? Is equipment really hard to come by?"

"Depends on your definition of hard to come by. I can make anything I need, it just takes a long time." Senku shook his head. "If I'm making stone tools, I can do that in a couple of hours, but if I want something like iron we're talking days."

"And when you say you can make anything you need, do you mean by hand? Or do you have a special power that lets you create it or something?"

She's just curious.

"I mean by hand. I'm a scientist. Until I came on this trip, I had no magic. It doesn't exist in my world. I've designed and created many many things."

"Oh wow. That's pretty impressive, really."

She was tech-savvy enough to get by, but she didn't have the knowledge to be able to do something like that.

"Thank you, I suppose. I have a lot of help with the practical part of it. The biggest project by far was our ship so we can sail to America." Senku explained. "I let the strong people do the heavy lifting."

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outofyourshadow - 2021-06-24 03:40 (UTC) - Expand

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