voidtreckermods: (sparkly train)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2021-05-01 07:50 am

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!
labcatte: (alert)

[personal profile] labcatte 2021-06-28 06:12 am (UTC)(link)
"Jesus Christ," they say. "Okay. Shit. I'm not misinterpreting this... you're basically implying you counted the seconds for thousands of years. How are you not insane?"
10billionpercent: (Default)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-06-28 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
"I made it to 117,354,893,870." Senku said with a pleased smile.

"Would you like to know my theory about that?" He asked, but it wasn't really a question, he was going to expand on that anyway.

"The petrification has an interesting side effect that it can reverse injury and illness, as long as it's not congenital, so any mental deficiency I would've had, the act of breaking the petrification is what causes the effect and it effectively healed me of whatever madness I may have technically had."

It was a working theory.
labcatte: (Default)

[personal profile] labcatte 2021-06-28 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Huh," they say, thoughtfully. "If we're positing that all madness is a result of chemical imbalances... or rather that it's expressed that way, no matter the cause... then yeah, okay. I could see that."
10billionpercent: (Sentimental)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-06-28 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Physiologically as far as we knew at the time, that was the case, but the petrification seems to be able to fix just about anything, including fatal injuries. I'm concerned about that, but it's also fascinating." Senku sighed lightly.
labcatte: (Default)

[personal profile] labcatte 2021-06-28 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah," Bacon says. "That is fascinating. How was it counteracted, the petrification? Was there some sort of natural timer to it?"
10billionpercent: (Default)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-06-28 07:20 am (UTC)(link)
"No. For me, because my mind was working and building up energy, trapping it in the stone, some lucky nitric acid was able to set off breaking it." Senku explained.

"For everyone else who's mentally asleep, I had to factor that in and it's a very strong concentration of nital that does the trick." Senku responded after a moment's thought. "Took about a year to develop that."
labcatte: (Default)

[personal profile] labcatte 2021-06-28 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Huh," Bacon says. "That's interesting that your state on consciousness--quite literally--affected things. I wonder what that means. So you developed the nital on your own? Or, ah, I'd ask if anything evolved to replace humanity, but if the computing situation in your world was anything like mine, artificial intelligences weren't quite in position to do so in 2019. 2029, maybe, but." They shrug. "Or that's what Tia Charley would say, probably. It's her field more than mine."
10billionpercent: (Satisfied)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-06-28 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Senku couldn't help it, that was just how he felt. Objectively it was an interesting subject, effects aside.

"I have to develop it, because it's been so long there are no signs of civilization left. We presently have a supply problem, or we could wake people faster." He sighed lightly.

"All the same. And no, nothing really. The world is overgrown and wild like it would've been before people had cities. There are a few descendants, roughly 90 of the six astronauts that were on the ISS at the time of the petrification, and their community and technology was mostly stilted. I've been improving things for them." It seemed like the best way to go about it.

"In exchange, they help with the things I want to make."
labcatte: (Default)

[personal profile] labcatte 2021-06-28 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Jesus," they say, "and I thought Thom and I had it hard. We're just trying to jump up a quasi-medieval society past the industrial revolution and into spaceflight, not work with more or less a second Stone Age. And okay," they admit. "I'm the one who's really pushing for spaceflight."

But they have their reasons for that.

"But yeah, it is fascinating. All of it."
10billionpercent: (This...is exhilarating)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-06-28 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"Right?" Senku grinned at them.

"Although, really, I too want and need spaceflight. Can't go deal with a problem if we can't get to said problem. Working on it."
labcatte: (Default)

[personal profile] labcatte 2021-07-10 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
Bacon grins back. "Exactly. Plus, there's somewhere in the sky I really want to get to." Then they frown, because that's definitely saying too much.
10billionpercent: (Default)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-07-10 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
"All the more reason to do it then." Senku chuckled. He would encourage them, he'd encourage everyone of course.