crux_fleet | 0001: A New Beginning

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]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"The Nasods? Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard of them... but I'm glad you have a way to make sure no one gets left behind!" Her tentacle wiggled its body from side to side, clearly tickled by the prospect of meeting a Queen (even if she didn't really understand who or what Eve was queen of).

"Heheh, thank you -- I'm meeting all kinds of interesting people today! I'm sure if everyone back home knew, they'd hardly believe it." She glanced over at the robots. "By the way, what is it that you were doing? Sending some messages, maybe?"

She sighs. "Eve had not expected that you would've, truly." But she doesn't elaborate further on that, instead moving on to the other subject that Tsumugi had brought up. "Eve was running system diagnostics and, if need be, performing general maintenance on her servants. Although dimensional travel is not unheard of in Eve's world, and her servants are built to withstand regular travel between spaces, the phenomenon that brought us all here is on a different scale entirely. As such, it is better to be cautious..."

She shakes her head and instead voices the question she's been wanting to ask for a bit. "Ah, pardon Eve, but... Eve has never met anyone of your species before. May she inquire as to what it is?"

(In the background, Oberon, having judged that the strange pink tentacle doesn't seem to present any immediate threat to his queen, slowly attempts to try to sneak away. Unfortunately for him, Ferdinand quickly puts a stop to that and bars his path further.

The black drone who'd waved earlier darts forward a little to inspect the tentacle more closely. Its white-coloured twin seems content to tilt its head... err, entire body curiously.)

"I see!" said Tsumugi. Her tentacle reached out one of its feelers to touch the black drone. "So you were looking after them! That's wonderful; I'm sure they must be happy to work for someone who takes such careful care of them!"

"And as for me, I'm a chimera. I know I may not look it, but I actually have human and gauna DNA combined!" The tentacle put one of its feelers to its 'chin', looking thoughtful. "But I guess you wouldn't really know about the gauna... um, they're a type of hostile alien life. They mostly live in space, and they derive energy from Higgs Boson particles."

Suddenly, the tentacle waved its feelers agitatedly. "Oh, but that doesn't mean I'm hostile! I'd never hurt anyone from the Cydonia!"

The drone chitters rapidly upon being prodded and pokes right back. Meanwhile, as Tsumugi explains, Eve pulls up a single holoscreen and taps attentively away on it. Tsumugi. Chimera. An experiment to combine a human and guana. Gauna. A type of alien life. Hostile to humans. Native to space, perhaps due to the presence of Higgs Boson particles used for energy. It crosses her mind to add another entry for said particles, but she figures she can cover that in a later scan of the databases here, since they clearly had to exist here if Tsumugi didn't seem to be suffering from any ill effects that she could tell.

...or hmm. Perhaps that plan wouldn't work if this place used a different term for it. Ah, well. It could be brought up on a later date if it proved relevant. But she vanishes the interface as soon as she's done editing her databases and tries to look reassuring.

"Eve understands. Just because a larger group is considered hostile does not mean that all individuals comprising it are.

"You have so far displayed no hostile behavior or intention during this meeting; based on that, Eve will trust you. Those who make a hasty judgment before properly gathering and evaluating the data are shortsighted." She pauses in her tirade. "Ah... this Cydonia. Is this the world that you come from?"

Tsumugi's tentacle tilted its face, watching as Eve entered data on her screen. How peculiar. Was it for later reference? Surely a recording would be more efficient... and yet Tsumugi would feel a little uncomfortable being recorded.

"Oh no, humans come from Earth. The Cydonia is a ship -- the ship I was born on. Say, Ms. Eve, you talk a lot like some of the people from Kunato Industries... could it be that you're also a scientist?"

She tilts her head very slightly at the inquiry, arms folded over her chest. "Eve was merely pointing out the logical and rational course of action. A scientist is someone whose primary goal is knowledge, and Eve's is not." Still, at the mention of humans, Eve brings a hand to her chin in thought.

"From Earth? Ah, but there are humans from Elrios too..." Though, perhaps they know different species by the same name, depending on what Tsumugi's humans were like... "The Cydonia was a craft like this one, then? At the least, it must have been well-equipped if they could support your birth. How many people lived upon it?"

Hmm. So she wasn't a scientist? Maybe she just had a strict upbringing? "In that case, what is your primary goal, Ms. Eve?"

The tentacle put a feeler to its face as if in thought. "Well, it's kind of like the Teuberg, but it's also very different. I'd say there are about 500,000 people on it, but there aren't really any aliens or anything. Just humans!"

"Just humans," Eve repeats, blinking twice. "I see. That is quite the amount of people for one vessel.

"Now, you inquired about my goals," she states, nodding offhandedly at Ophelia- who returns an affirmative gesture of her own before vanishing in a flash of light. "Eve's primary goal... would be the prosperity of her kingdom and people. That is her responsibility as queen, after all."

"I guess so," said Tsumugi, "But sometimes it doesn't feel like very many. Space is dangerous, after all, so many lives have been lost over the years."

Tsumugi's tentacle reared back a little in surprise as Ophelia disappeared. "Whoa! Oh, that's a wonderful goal. Is your kingdom very prosperous, then?"

0001: A New Beginning

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apologies for the delay!

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