Event: Abort! Part Two (day 25, Egret). Luggage carriage

[voidtreckermods]

They are on world world#27462947582 for about five hours, helping, ushering people out of the city, fighting monsters, keeping guard. All seems well in the city itself, peaceful even except for the slight panic of people being told to move south.

Wherever they are, north in the desert, travelling through the countryside to the south or still in the city itself they will notice from their peripheral vision a darkening of the sky. Looking up they will see clouds. Strange clouds, appearing in the blue sky out of nowhere.

Their SCA’s start beeping, rapidly, flashing red. The clouds are too weird to be clouds, dark shapes in the sky. It might be that the Voidtreckers heed the warning and tap their SCA to evacuate to the train. It might be that they do not.

If they don’t then there is a moment, a moment of absolute stillness as those around them notice the shapes. A confused pause. Children stop their chatter, people stop their complaining, even the monsters seem to sense something and pause in their attacks.

The remaining voidtreckers are yanked away, even without pressing their SCA, they glow gold and disappear.

They all appear in the luggage carriage and not even a second later, with no warning the train lurches, flinging everyone off their feet as it enters the void.

It’s not really easy to tell speed in the void, but they will get the sense that they are moving fast. Faster than before, leaving that world and whatever those shapes were behind.

(OOC: Information on this event is here and part one is here)

Comments

[eyeslikeblood]

"I am indeed Sou Boku," he agrees, mildly bewildered by the being speaking with him. "You may call me Gyousou, if you like... and context would be welcome. The last I remember, I was on a space station."

[iamnotgod]

Webmind gathers that this isn't someone used to dealing with robots, let alone artificial intelligence.

"Well, Gyousou, if you'd follow me, we can have this conversation further down - up - the train."

Since the safer direction is towards the engine, for now.

"And it has been less than three weeks since that mission, at my best estimate. My name is Webmind, and I was brought in at the latest platform stop."

[eyeslikeblood]

Webmind gathers correctly; trains were brand new a month ago. Robots aren't something he has even considered - beyond the concepts brought in in the fictional novels he had read as preparation for the mission. He wonders, vaguely, what style of person this Webmind is.

"Webmind, then. Tell me, if you can, was the mission successful?" He asks. And, obligingly, begins to follow.

[iamnotgod]

"From what I have gathered, yes. This one appears to have been the only one to have gone badly."

Master of the understatement, this one.

They'll be walking through the Sleeper cars - if Gyousou desires to stop at his own room, he need only ask - for a little while.

"The Voidtreckers had only been out five hours before they started reappearing in the Luggage carriage; I can only assume this is not standard procedure. I, meanwhile, remained onboard, given my difficulties adjusting in a low-technology environment."

[eyeslikeblood]

He nods, but frowns almost immediately after. Weren't these missions a monthly occurrence? And this one three weeks after the last? Perhaps Webmind was mistaken about the timing, but he didn't get that impression.

"I have only been conscripted for the one mission, so I could not say. What manner of world was it, from the briefing?"

When they reach 4-D, he will stop briefly to check inside, indicating for Webmind to continue when he finds it empty.

[iamnotgod]

"A low-technology world - the briefing should still be available on our devices, I shall check - the place we were sent to check on was the Kingdom of Biq, known to have beasts roaming to its North."

Webmind shrugs helplessly. "They did not turn out to be the source of the danger. People have brought some of those beasts back on the train as a source of meat, however."

He'll wait for Gyousou to perform his survey, then continue bringing them away from the crowd.

[eyeslikeblood]

"I saw," he agrees. In fact, the beast corpses had been something he had wanted to investigate, but by the time he was done with Taiki they had been spirited away. He presumes to the kitchen - he makes a mental note to see if he can locate them. And then checks his watch at Webmind's earlier comment.

There's a pause as he reads through the text that appears above his wrist, brow furrowed.

"Not very detailed..."

[iamnotgod]

And once the beasts are cut up they'll likely be put into Stores as well.

But that's for the future.

"I am not familiar with how the train normally describes mission objectives," Webmind admits - if he could, he'd sound sheepish.

"But if these were vaguer than usual, then was what just happened part of why? Will we find out on our own later, or will we be informed?"

[eyeslikeblood]

"Or perhaps the mission was a trap - an ambush for the being behind the train," he muses, still scrolling up and down through the information. "If it is obliged to answer any distress call by its sense of duty, then inventing a danger would guarantee our presence."

[iamnotgod]

"That... is both plausible and disturbing, if true."

What could try to trap a train? If they were pursuing it under legal pretenses, wouldn't the beings responsible use a more direct method?

"Would that have meant merely inventing a danger on a world, with the expectation of the Voidtrecker Express finding it eventually, or would the train's method of gathering information have to be compromised first?"

Would this be a recurring problem, in other words. Or... was it already one?

[eyeslikeblood]

"Hard to say at this point. Do they have scouts, on likely planets? Do they simply listen for signs of distress? We cannot determine if the lines of communication have been compromised without knowing how they communicate."

[iamnotgod]

"Both of which would require more openness from the train."

Which didn't appear forthcoming. Webmind, of course, would continue hoping for and encouraging the train to talk, but...

"Assuming it is capable of it. Or just thinks it is."

Someone convinced of their limits would flounder at having to act outside of them; Webmind knew this well.