A New Platform [Intro Post April!]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

Two days after they return from their mission they are awoken as usual "Good morning passengers, it is day sixteen of the month of Egret. The shop has been updated and points have been applied to passengers tickets."

Those that go to check the shop terminals will find they have indeed updated, with the option to buy larger items and also animals. The morning goes on until just after noon there is a second announcement.

"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 they are soon surrounded by the fog that means they are at a platform. Though the fog is thick, thicker than usual perhaps, there are patches on sunlight shining through and it is pleasantly warm.

The doors open and the first few to disembark do so with rucksacks on, hoods pulled up, silent and almost blank faced. Cu Chulain, Dio Brando, Disreputable Dog, Heiji Hattori, Loki Maedhros, Maglor, Naruto, Thor, Tobias Fangor.

They walk to the barriers, show their tickets and disappear.

But on the platform itself there are once again new faces. All are stood, waiting for the train.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see is steam. Billowing around them as they come to their senses. They are standing, in clothes that are not their own, styles 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 but then as people begin to shift or call out it will become apparent they are not alone.

The platform is not large and it holds eighteen figures all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. It's warm but foggy making it hard to see much, but there are clearer patches bathed in sunlight found across the platform. Both left and right the 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 into the cold step a selection of people. Some are human, some are less so. They are wearing the same hoodie in one of the four colours, red, orange, blue and purple.

The Train

The doors hiss open. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there is 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 not be a good thing. 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. The store rooms have been restocked with an abundance of onions, in case the passengers weren't bored of them yet.

Passengers who are not brand new will notice that the train has gotten yet longer again with a sixth sleeper cabin for new arrivals.

New passengers will find their tickets allow 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 and you will hopefully find a pillow for your bed if it has not been nabbed by a roommate, there are also spare blankets for if it gets cold.

Departure

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

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view 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. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever changing colours.

Welcome to the Void!

Comments

[sendiintheclown]

Busted. But Trowa didn't mind. This little boy was very smart, but he wanted to make sure he didn't get hurt. "I admit, I am concerned about why you were brought here with your age. I'm sure you get that a lot, though. And clearly you have skills that the train or whoever is running it wants." He'd been able to do a great deal of things at that age, so he was trying not to judge.

[deductiongeek]

"I'm a detective at home. Homicides, mostly." He was aware that that was the part that people here seemed to have the most trouble with.

"But I think that I was brought here by mistake. You see, the name on my ticket and my roster is my cousin's name. He's also a detective, but he's ten years older than me."

That was the best excuse he'd been able to come up with to explain the name issue.

[sendiintheclown]

"I see. You must be quite good at it." If a small child was a detective, what did that say about the quality of the police in this kid's universe? The name issue was quite curious, though. "Interesting. I wouldn't have guessed that such an elementary mistake could be made by whatever intelligence brought us all here."

[deductiongeek]

A shrug. It was a flimsy cover, but it was all he'd been able to manage. "It's difficult to tell how much research they do before they select people. It didn't really seem like a good idea to bring the inspector's attention to the mistake when they were here." Especially since it hadn't been a mistake. Although they had been confused by his age.

"At home I mostly help Uncle as an assistant. He's a famous private detective in Japan." Avoiding the question again.

[sendiintheclown]

"So there is a ticket inspector? Interesting." Trowa wondered when that individual would be back. Resources weren't what he was used to, but in the war he'd had to improvise a lot. It wasn't a new thing to have to do.

"You must be quite a prodigy."

[deductiongeek]

"They were only here once. They locked everyone in their cabins and checked tickets."

It had been a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

"I'm just good at solving puzzles. That's all that mysteries really are, when you get down to it."

[sendiintheclown]

The comment about the puzzles made Trowa smile. "You're right about that. It's still not always the best thing to have to do." His expression grew rueful, before he shook it off. "Sorry, projecting my own past."

[deductiongeek]

"I do come across a lot of murders at home," he says. "But someone needs to solve them, and the police and private detectives don't always see everything."

Conan frowns at Trowa. The way that had ended... That was a little concerning.

"You were a soldier, right?"

[sendiintheclown]

Trowa's eyes widened a fraction before he forced himself to relax. "Yes. For as long as I can remember. I was much younger and smaller than you when I started."

[deductiongeek]

That... was very young to start as a soldier. More than enough to be a little concerning.

"Wow, why did you start that young? Most of the soldiers I've met didn't like kids hanging around while they were working."

[sendiintheclown]

Trowa shrugged. "Well, when I stumbled out of the woods, none of the soldiers had the heart to shoot me. They guessed I was about three or four. They had plans to drop me at the nearest orphanage, but then they got attached." Never attached enough to give him a name, but he hadn't cared.

[deductiongeek]

"I see. I guess that makes sense?"

It didn't really. Not in how his own world worked. But Conan had already had enough encounters to know that other worlds didn't always operate on the same rules.

"Did you learn a lot about being a soldier from them?"

[sendiintheclown]

"I did. I learned a lot about how to survive. And how to work on mobile suits." It was sadly nostalgic for Trowa to talk about the soldiers who had raised him, but if it meant earning the trust of the child next to him, he was willing to talk about it.

[deductiongeek]

"What is a mobile suit? I don't think they exist in my world."

[sendiintheclown]

"Four story tall robots operated from a cockpit set in the center of the thing. They have some civilian functions, like underwater wreckage recovery, meteor mining, general construction. But mostly they were used for war."

[deductiongeek]

He processes that.

"I don't think I like the sound of your world very much. It sounds like there's a lot of war there."

[sendiintheclown]

Trowa chuckled at that. "Yes, there was. But it's in the past now. We've truly had the War to End All Wars, no one has any taste for it at all now."