Event: Expulsion (Day 24)

[voidtreckermods]

"Good morning passengers, today is the twenty fourth day of the month of Apple." The morning announcement sounds as usual as dark turns to the ever shifting colours of the void outside the train windows. Some passengers may stir. It might be that they are an early riser or bad sleeper and get out of bed the moment the announcement wakes them or perhaps they roll over and go back to sleep.

Either way the morning rolls on for a few hours whatever they might be doing. Until a sudden judder runs through the train, followed quickly by another. Much like bad turbulence. Really bad turbulence. A third follows and there is a crackling sound before an alarm starts going off blaring loudly, the lights begin flashing red, white and red again.

"Warning. Void engines failing. Warning. Void engines failing. Warning Expulsion from void imminent." More shaking, worse each time, enough to knock them over and then a bang, the train plummets into darkness and lurches, sending everyone flying...

… They never crash land. Instead they float, suspended in the air. In the darkness it is hard to orient themselves or even understand what is happening. There’s a roar in their heads as pressure builds, their ears pop. "All systems critical." Breathing is hard, for one terrifying moment there seems to be no air to breathe.

"Oxygen levels stabilising." They can breathe, the pressure in their heads fades, their ears eventually stop ringing. "Pressure levels stabilising." They are still floating, suspended in darkness. "Gravity systems critical".

Emergency lighting flickers on finally, a red glow from either end of each carriage, in the cabins and along floor strips, enabling them to move without bumping into anything. If they can figure out how to move at all that is. Outside the windows is dark. Not the blackness of the void at night but the deep vastness of space. A few moments pass, enough time to just about process that fact before the voice over the speakers is heard once more.

"Passengers of the Voidtrecker express, due to technical issues we are currently experiencing void engine failure. Thank you for your patience as we endeavour to continue our journey as quickly as possible. We ask that all passengers help in securing the train for re-entry into the Void and on behalf of the Voidtrecker Express I apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Then there is silence. Broken only, no doubt, by the passengers on this now stranded train.

(OOC: Event information is here.)

Comments

[pleple]

Gym - Engine Failure

[ Ple Two seemed to perk up a split second before the train even shook - and again, and again. This kind of shaking resembled an unstable atmosphere on Earth more than what she was used to from a space ship colliding with objects or being bombarded, but soon after things got more familiar. Blaring warnings, no gravity, darkness, changes in air pressure - actually that's scary, and she wonders if they'll all just die of the lack of oxygen from a mechanical failure none of them even understand.

But no, there's air a moment later, and she gasps for a shaky breath as emergency lights provide enough to move by. ]

Have you ever moved in low gravity?

[ She asks of whoever's nearby, as she grabs the ball she'd been bouncing off a wall, spins, and tosses it to leverage some momentum towards an easy handhold. ]

Kitchen, a bit later

[ Normally when you prepare food in low gravity, it's in a kitchen meant for it, but here's Ple Two just staring at a floating knife, comfortably drifting while she ponders how to anchor any kind of pot or pan to the stove. ]

We might just have to hold each other in place to even cook... and then eat with our hands?

[ So uh, no over easy eggs today. ]

[knifewithnoname]

"I think it will be being safer to just be eating cold food."

She is trying to be helpful and tidy things away as best as she can. She had made good progress in the store room. It was just difficult when things didn't act the way you expected them to. She's getting more confident in moving, able to chose a place to grab and then glide along to it rather than clinging to ever handhold she could find.

"Do eating even be working when gravity magic do be broken?"

Because food went down and gravity magic was what made things go down...

[pleple]

"Almost certainly." Which was inconvenient, if this was going to last for very long. Ple Two could only do so much without letting others stumble around in zero gravity.

"Fortunately, the muscles of your throat will push the food down regardless." Even easier than swallowing upside down. "There's no need to worry about that, at least."

[knifewithnoname]

"That do be being good." She nodded, it was good to know that eating wasn't broken. That would be a very bad thing indeed, if they all starved on a stupid broken train.

"Do you be knowing a lot about gravity?"

Once again they were in a situation where everyone seemed to understand a lot more than she did about what was going on. But in this case she's seeing it as a good thing, at least some people know what they are doing.

[pleple]

Being unable to swallow food in space would've really put a stop to exploration. "People prefer eating and drinking in gravity when they can, of course."

Ple Two probably had more experience with this than most or all of the others here. "I... guess you could say that I'm from space. Where I'm from, a lot of people are born in space, and that means eventually learning to move without gravity." Even with the artificial gravity of space colonies, it was useful to be able to move around in an emergency.

[knifewithnoname]

"You did be being born in space?" That was pretty impressive, being born floating in space. She had looked out the windows, space was dark and if how things were inside the train were any indication, very cold.

"I did no be knowing people could be being born in space before."

[pleple]

"We live in these great, big environments, far larger than this train." Would she even understand the concept of 'orbit'? Probably not? "They float around, with artificial gravity, each with a massive city within. The Earth was... very crowded, and very damaged."

[knifewithnoname]

Huge floating cities with fake gravity magic. She can barely imagine such a thing. It sounds even more strange than Peter's world with cities that have lights so bright they block out the stars.

"Earth did be being broken? It do be being a good job you could all be living in space cities then." How was the Earth broken? Crowded she could understand, lots of people made everywhere crowded.

[pleple]

Human ingenuity is endless. Surely, any world that has them could reach such a point eventually.

"Mm. It was mandatory for many, though, and the elites who remained on Earth lorded it over those who were moved to space." And then wars happened.

[knifewithnoname]

"So the rich people did be having to be living on broken earth and the rest could be being living in cities in space? That do be seeming..."

Strange, backwards. In her world those with lots of money got to live in the fancy houses with fancy food and all the honey cakes they could eat. Probably even tastier food than honey cakes.

It was strange they would stay somewhere that was broken.

[pleple]

"There were still some nice places on Earth. Those who were well off used that rarity as a status symbol. The rest of the planet was still livable, though, due in part to the fact that so many people were removed from it." It's been a while.

[knifewithnoname]

"Oh. I do be understanding." They had kicked everyone off and then had a whole planet to themselves. That sounded more like the rich people she knew.

"So they do be being thinking they do be being better because they do be living on a planet even though space cities do be being much cooler."

[pleple]

"Hm. Whether or not they're 'cooler' it's the exclusivity of it. Trends like that are often just... what can only rich people afford? Even when that's the opposite of what it was fifty years ago." It seems pretty dumb to her.

"Space may be humanity's only hope for a truly lasting future though. Someday."

[knifewithnoname]

"Only hope? What do you be meaning by that?" Hadn't she said things had gotten better once people lived in space?

She's struggling to even imagine half the things Ple Two is telling her, it's so different than anything she understands. But she understands rich people wanting things no one else could afford. That, it seemed, was a constant between worlds.

[pleple]

"Even with the Earth recovering... our numbers only grow. Even after billions dead in a war, the population will recover, and continue growing. Still, we keep fighting and killing one another." Even as a person made for war, it seems inane.

[knifewithnoname]

Billions? She's pretty sure that number is made up. But she understands it means lots. Yet more people are born. She tilted her head, unsure what Ple Two is trying to say. If she thinks so many dying is a good or a bad thing.

"Why do it be growing so much if people do be dying all the time? Surely you will be running out of people eventually."

[pleple]

It is a very large number. It's an absolutely insane death total for a war, even as large as Earth's population is. "Only in short bursts. That war lasted for a year, and then for many years the conflicts have been far less deadly than the birth rate. I fear, though, that... another like it will happen." Forever, perhaps. They may just get worse every time. "Space has room for everyone, if need be."

[knifewithnoname]

So Ple Two didn't like the war? Even though it sounded like things would be easier with less people.

"What did the war be being for? Who did be being fighting?"

There were wars in her world. Huge religious wars or smaller wars between countries. She had seen neither though. Gauig was always at war but it was mostly confined to border struggles.

[pleple]

No one liked it, and yet they were all so ready to repeat its atrocities.

"It was... complicated. Many in Zeon fought for freedom, but they also committed horrible, violent acts. The Earth Federation fought to defend itself, but they motivated Zeon's war in the first place." So the war was over idiocy, perhaps?

[knifewithnoname]

If she had been confused about Ple Two's motivation before this made it clear. Horribly violent acts. Ple Two saw that as bad.

She wasn't surprised. She tried to follow what she was being told.

"So Zeon dis be wanting to be free from this Earth Federation. Did they be being conquered."

It sounded a mess, but most wars were.

[pleple]

Violence is bad, but sometimes you have to be violent now to stop future violence... maybe.

"Zeon lost. The faction I fought for was a successor to Zeon, after the Earth Federation responded with even heavier-handed oppression, but we still resorted to massively violent acts in our fight." Whether or not it was worth it wasn't her job to think about.

[knifewithnoname]

"So you did be being on the loosing side and trying to be getting revenge?"

That sounded interesting at least. She's used to being on the loosing side. As loathe as she is to admit. The light gods were stronger, had more followers, ruled the whole world.

The war was less of an all out one though and one that was fought quietly, weaved through every aspect of life.

[pleple]

"That original war was too long ago for me to participate." She... may or may not have existed? No one told her about the history of the timing on her cloning, after all. "I am a tool for Lord Glemy's revenge, though."

[knifewithnoname]

She just nodded, she didn't know who Lord Glemy was but she wouldn't be expected to, Ple Two's world was very different than her own.

"You do be killing his enemies for him?"

Just checking she has this right, the conversation has been confusing, she doesn't want to assume she understands.

[pleple]

This was a lot to try and compress, but she was doing her best with Buttercup's curiosity. "That was my sole mission." At least this part is easy to understand.