0001: A New Beginning

[crux_mods]

Whatever your activities before, they're interrupted by a sudden lurching feeling, like someone's put a hook into the pit of your very being and yanked. There's a brief burst, a brilliantly twisting tunnel? And then silence. Stars fill your vision, along with bodies, machines, and not much else before everything mercifully goes black. The shock of it, more than the lack of air.

And then, there's sound. There's not much at first. Beeping. Lots of beeping. Some of it is irritatingly loud, and apparently it's the cause of a lot of excitement. When vision returns, the first thing to note would be alien writing blinking in your field of vision, displayed on a monitor or a clear bubble somewhere. Alien, but familiar enough for you to read "Awakening". Whatever that means, you're apparently not alone, as people in black and white uniforms are rushing through the large room you're in, the room filled with people hooked up to all kinds of machines. Of course, some of them don't look entirely like people.

All of a sudden, a haggered face fills your field of vision. "Great Shades of Elvis! Another one! Look, please remain calm." The poor nurse turns and starts to fiddle with some of the machines surrounding you. "There's been an accident, but you're okay. Try to stay quiet and don't disturb the other patients. Someone will be with you in a moment." They turn away to shout across the room, as if that wouldn't disturb anyone. "Hoi, Oglaf! Mark this one as alive so Security can take them for the briefing!" He gestures at some official looking people in red and black uniforms assisting other patients into wheelchairs. "Just flag one of them down, they'll take you to the briefing. We'll explain everything. Just don't panic, you're in good hands." He grins and pats your shin. "Welcome to the Fleet, eh? 'scume, someone else is starting to budge and I gotta make sure it's not some poor sot swallowed his tongue again." With that, he leaves you alone with your thoughts and the bright lights.

[Medical Arrival | Hangar Arrival | Briefing | Post-Briefing 1 | Post-Briefing 2]

Comments

countdown to. . .

[reassembling]

Eve is on a mission. She's familiarizing herself with the ship, sure, but she also has a secondary objective (or maybe it's primary objective, in this case?).

Namely, finding her doppelganger and hoping it doesn't actually turn out to be a rogue Q-Proto_00, especially with no Apple around to restrain the combat model. Not that she doubts that she could handle it, really, but Apple was the one who knew the most about the ancient prototype, having been responsible for her development in the first place, so it's logical enough to conclude that the princess would've been the best prepared for the task.

So, with how much she's focusing on these objectives, she nearly misses the sight of herself in a mirror, such a familiar sight it is. It takes her point-seven-two-five seconds to notice her oversight.

That was Moby and Remy. Her Moby and Remy. ...But the drones beside her were Moby and Remy too. ...Oh no.

Still, she's the Queen of Nasod, so she's confident she can handle whatever is going on here. If with a fair amount of caution, but.

So with that, she levitates over to a few meters away from the other Nasod (well, it's not Q-Proto, at least) and addresses her calmly but firmly: "There has been a mistake in the distribution of our possessions. You have been given Eve's belongings. Eve suspects that it is the same in reverse. Please relinquish anything you might have been given so that we may swiftly resolve this matter."

ONE INCREDIBLY LONG COUNTDOWN LATER

[spearsurfing]

She was almost satisfied with her appearance... almost. There are only so many ways to adjust a dress, after all, and she's been standing there for nearly thirty-two minutes now. Had she left a minute earlier, perhaps she wouldn't have been addressed, glanced to her side, and seen... herself.

Her voice. Her dress. Her name.

Ah, and Moby and Remy as well. She frowns, staring at this... 'Eve' for a long moment, quickly going over her data collected thus far.

"... These belongings were marked as 'property of Eve'. The accompanying data correctly described Eve's identifying information," Eve replies, equally calm, as she turns to face her doppelganger proper. "However, this unit is also 'Eve'. The data provided matched Eve's own. Even if she did not recognize the belongings identified as Eve's, she calculated that the possibility of there being more than one with Eve's identifying information was unlikely, and came to the conclusion that Eve must have suffered minor damage to her short-term memory concerning the unexpected items."

She folds her arms, looking the 'other Eve' over once more. "As unlikely as it is... it appears that Eve's calculations were incorrect."

Which meant that, for whatever reason, someone made a second 'Eve'. Her thoughts immediately go to King Nasod—perhaps he was repaired and constructed a false queen to replace her? She could think of no other motive for someone to duplicate Eve this closely. Add was a possibility, but his technology was a far cry from something this refined... Or, perhaps there is some other motive she hasn't considered yet. Whatever it is, she can't trust someone designed so closely after herself. This matter would have to be handled with great caution.

"Eve's database does not have any records of another Nasod identified as 'Eve'. She also does not have any records of authorizing the creation of a second 'Eve'. She demands that you explain yourself."