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Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redshiftlogs2019-09-04 09:06 pm

september 2019. welcome to the void.

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Third Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of September 2019
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

a. turrets.

That power surge kicked off some sh... stuff, all right. It took a while for the systems to cycle back on, but two new areas of Anchor are now accessible and usable. One of them is nice and relaxing and safe, and we'll get to that one in a minute. The other one, addressed first, is not very nice and not very relaxing and definitely not safe.

The internal defense systems on the upper levels have come to life, and have targeted anyone within their range as a hostile entity. Get ready to run the gauntlet if you want to turn them off - you'll have to dodge lasers, bullets, and aggressive defense bots (that can be rewired and/or rebooted to assist characters instead of trying to murder them). The reward? Getting to the heavily protected (think many many murderbots and lasers) security control room. If you can make it, you'll be able to reboot the internal defenses, turning off the aggressive targeting and having access for the first time to surveillance of almost all of Anchor. Those areas your characters didn't know were there? Revealed. Those dense patches of jungle-like growth in the agricultural center? You've got a spotlight into their heart.

Though, huh, not all the cameras seem to be working. What's with those screens that show up from time to time that are nothing but static?

Oh well, doesn't really matter, does it?

b. hot springs episode.

One of the areas adjacent to the bar and intimacy lounge has been sputtering on and off ever since the power surge. One evening, with a loud crack and a humming sound that slowly dissipates, the lights come on and water starts flowing down the artificial waterfall into the fountain out front. The spa is back online!

The lobby is inviting and zen, with holographic walls that depict scenic locations (some of them very unlike Earth), with fountains splashing delicately on either side of the door. The attendants are slightly malfunctioning bots, but the most harm they'll do is bring you six towels when you ask for one, or a bucket of massage oil to work on those knots in your back with.

There are three areas in the spa, each of them fully-outfitted with towels, robes of all sizes, fuzzy slippers, the works. One has all the amenities of a Turkish bath, right down to the fantastically arched roofs and mosaics of Istanbul. One is designed not unlike a Japanese hot spring, though the spring is heated artificially rather than naturally. The springs are large enough to be communal in some areas and small enough to be private in others, varying in depth from deep enough to swim on one end and shallow enough to sit on the bottom on the other. All hot springs have a stone shelf around the edges where those who don't want to swim can sit. The last area is more Western, with steam rooms, saunas, massage tables, and mud baths for the adventurous.

One thing all of these areas have in common: the settings on virtually everything can be adjusted to taste. Not in the traditional way, either. The steams and waters can be tweaked to be soporific, can serve as muscle relaxants, can ease anxiety, and can even bolster moods. None of these effects are involuntary, and none of them are brought on by drugs - it's more an advanced mix of pheromones and harmless compounds that can affect a single person or a given pool or room. Also, the baths and hot springs have adjustable bubble settings. The water colors can change, some of them even allowing characters to dye their hair the color that's been selected for the tub without staining their skin. Bubbles of all kinds can rise up out of the water, from the foamy comfort of childhood bubble baths to hovering golden bubbles that chime when you pop them. Characters can choose from a variety of bath salts, scents, and oils - the spas were designed not just for relaxation, but for pure and simple fun.


c. joe's dirt.

So you've survived the security malfunction. You've washed off the dirt and anxiety at the spa. But the newly reactivated security stations throughout Anchor have revealed something odd. There's a blip in the power systems in one area of the agricultural level, like something is siphoning off power from the main lines. Tracking down the source in the deep tangle of underbrush won't be easy, and there may be a few mutated, fanged, clawed cattle that maneuver shockingly well between the trees, but eventually you'll come to a breach in Anchor's wall. At first it just looks like a crack, but it's large enough to squeeze through and there's the darkness of an open space behind it. A tunnel, leading down into the earth outside, well below surface level and thus largely safe.
Wires run along the roof and floor, though the tunnel itself is dark. Walk long enough and you'll come to a wider space, open enough for two or three people to move around comfortably at the same time. It's still dark, lit only by screens that show the same security feeds that are available at the stations throughout the city. And others. Angles on the surface that show Anchor from a distance, and other visuals that don't show Anchor at all, trained instead on massive structures or formations or lakes out on the surface somewhere. But there's something more disturbing: there are cameras set to record some people's rooms. And the only rooms that are shown are occupied.

Someone has been here, recently enough to track where new people have moved in.

On the floor in one corner, there's a crumpled photograph of a man some might recognize as Creepy Joe, happy and whole, with a little girl sitting on his shoulder. It looks like it's been stamped into the dirt.

superposition: ((crossed arms))

[personal profile] superposition 2019-09-13 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Haha yeah Qubit has no idea yet just how much Peter has on his plate, and will be Very Concerned when he finds out, but. ]

We called it "Porter radiation." Bit of a misnomer, it's more like a disruption at the quantum level, but it's detectable from all imPorts. The EM signature from the nanites is easier to pick up, but I'm not sure how useful that'll be - though I suppose now I can tamper with them to my heart's content, can't I?

[ Sorry bro, he's thinking faster than he's talking and losing focus a bit. His sleeve's already rolled up, but he looks at the inside of his wrist, under his watch band. The tattoo's pretty much invisible in this light, though. ]

Supposedly those were there to stabilize us, so chances are they're involved as well... [ He shakes his head, annoyed. ] Because of course, more variables. Just what the doctor ordered.
itsnotaonesie: (eating spiders???)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-14 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[WHOOPS]

Wait a minute, are you saying you have nanites inside of you right now? The nanites that are native to this station went all nutty due to radiation interference, I had to run them through a decontamination process to get them functioning right again.
superposition: (And here is mine)

[personal profile] superposition 2019-09-15 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Deadpan: ] Lovely.

[ More things that can go wrong! But yeah, he sure does have a significant nanite population in him. And if they shut down unexpectedly, so do his organs. ]

Well, obviously these aren't native to the station. More like the United States' attempt to put a collar on us - though thankfully, they never quite figured out the leash.
itsnotaonesie: easycompany (you're straight up shittin me)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-16 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
Dude. Wherever you came from is real jacked up.

[JUST SAYIN'.]

But... hm. Okay. Is there any safe way we can uuuuh... I guess extract any of yours? Or would we be able to run a diagnostics test on them while they're still inside of you?
superposition: (But now you know the truth about me)

[personal profile] superposition 2019-09-16 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
Don't I know it.

It's possible to extract them, but they rapidly decompose outside the body. I'm sure they have some kind of self-diagnostics, but not that I've been able to access - and that's me saying that. Figures the one thing their people were any good at was cryptography.

So... I won't say it's impossible, nothing's impossible. [ Except things he doesn't want to believe. ] But in the short term, the detector's more likely to yield any useful data.
itsnotaonesie: (what do they do exactly)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-16 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
They decompose? Because that makes it sound like they're comprised at least partly of organic materials. If that's the case, we could probably slow the decomposition process down if we extract them in a cold enough environment and keep them under refrigeration-- sorry, I'm uh. I'm getting off track.

[He just wants to know what makes you tick QUBIT. Like literally Peter wants to go all mad scientist on your whole situation, bro.]

But um, yeah. Detector sounds good. We'll just focus on that.
superposition: (All men have secrets)

[personal profile] superposition 2019-09-20 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Um excuse you, nobody gets to know what makes him tick! That shit is vacuum sealed for eternal storage! He will take his secrets to his fucking grave! (He probably won't.)

Peter's got some good ideas, but they are getting off track, and Qubit's kind of losing steam anyway. He doesn't say anything for a bit. ]


... How's it feeling? [ Your wound, that is. It's been five to seven minutes, right? ]
itsnotaonesie: (this is fiiiine)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-21 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh man Peter had completely forgotten about his injury. The science talk was a great distraction.]

Huh? Oh, it uh. It still itches, not as bad though. And it's cold. Or maybe I'm just cold. Yeah, I'm-- where's my shirt? Oh, right. Blood. Uh. Never mind.
superposition: (I'm so sick and tired)

[personal profile] superposition 2019-09-24 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ Qubit lets out a long, tired breath. ]

Okay. Why don't you go get a new one. Take a breather, let that heal up. We'll regroup in a few hours and see how we're doing.
itsnotaonesie: movieconnoisseur (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyep)

[personal profile] itsnotaonesie 2019-09-24 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yeaaaah. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.]

That sounds good. I'm gonna go home and like, take a nap or something.

[He gathers up all his stuff and kind of awkwardly shuffles off towards the door.]

I'll just um. Later. Yeah.

[And off he GOOOOOOES, that couldn't have been any more awkward if he'd tried.]
superposition: ((headache))

[personal profile] superposition 2019-09-28 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
Take care, Peter.

[ He offers a casual salute with his ice pack. He may attempt to sleep this off himself, buuut won't end up succeeding. Oh well. ]