ximiliugh | FINAL TDM.

Entry tags:

! test drive

FINAL TDM.

● ● ● T D M . 10

UP & AT EM • SPACE STAYTION • KNOCK KNOCK • FYI

// PART I. up & at em  

… What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?

The words ring in your ears as in the darkness of your dream, a copper glow pulses, slowly enveloping you. It is not a feeling of comfort that surrounds you, though — as a distorted voice whispers in your ear, you feel it: cold dread, and a sudden certainty that everything is about to be irrevocably changed.

It is to this daunting realization that you wake, and as your heart slows into something resembling a normal tempo, you notice something you should have noticed immediately: you are not in your bed.

1.0 White walls, clinical yet clean, sparsely-furnished rooms. You may wake in one of three rooms: a room with only one bed, a room with two beds, or a room with four beds. Those waking up in rooms with more than one bed notice that they are very much not alone. Perhaps the other occupants of the room are still sleeping, dreaming the same dream as you just did, or a regular one after returning to the station just a few days ago … or perhaps you wake to the other person in the room watching you.

What you do is entirely up to you: yell in surprise when you wake to someone staring at you? Or maybe you’ll try to sneak away before anyone notices you...

2.0 Those with life-threatening injuries find themselves awakening in the infirmary, in a regular hospital bed. Most of their injuries have been treated, and any lingering illnesses or conditions will have designated medicine bottles on the table next to the bed.

White curtains surround the bed on both sides, giving an illusion of privacy. But is that a rustling sound you hear? Some footsteps? Perhaps you’re not the only one in need of some medical attention... or you've attracted the attention of those with experience in medical aid, and they rush to your bedside, surprised about this sudden new patient.

It is not just for your injuries that you may want some company, but also for leaving the infirmary — you can’t stay there forever, after all, and will have to make your way through the hallways of the station to the living quarters, and claim a room and a bed there.

Once you’re up, you may notice there’s something in your ear: an earpiece that, when you become aware of it, quickly runs you through the instructions for how to use the network, a recorded message by a female voice that explains exactly why you’re here… and leaves you with a map of the station.

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// PART II. space staytion  

So what else is there to do but to explore? Best get to know what is now your new home.

3.0 When trying to decide where yo go, you may find your way to the armory, where you can try to work the machine there to make yourself a weapon — perhaps to replace one that didn’t come with you to the station… or maybe you want to be prepared for the future. The recently-returned team members will surely recommend having a functional weapon with you.

4.0 After you’ve exhausted yourself training, it’s time to grab a bite. For that, you should head to the kitchen, which is equipped with all the basic appliances you might need, and ingredients for most regular dishes.

5.0 A welcome reprieve to the cold, dark space that surrounds the characters can be found in the sunlight room. A skillful illusion surrounds anyone who steps inside the room: you can hear the trilling of birds, feel a light breeze caress your skin as you walk through a grass field. The illusion has been programmed to reflect the seasons — the leaves in the trees are currently bright with all the colours of autumn: orange and red and yellow; and the air is crisp and clean. If you follow the path, you'll be led to a bridge rising over a sparkling, babbling brook, a few fallen leaves floating on the water and falling around you like very bright raindrops.

With an illusion so authentic it may leave you longing for a nice glass of ice-cold lemonade, it is easy to forget you are in space at all. Perhaps that gives you comfort, or just makes you miss the real nature all the more.

6.0 If you’d rather choose tinkering over nature, the lab is guaranteed to provide you with some entertainment. Glass vials and jars of chemicals sit on shelves in a surprisingly beautiful display of colour on one side of the room, while the other side of the room contains stacks of boxes containing assorted equipment: cords, bolts, panels, buttons, gears, gadgets, gizmos, and thingamabobs. The downside is that the parts available seem to have no apparent method to their sorting. So get digging, and you may just find exactly what you need to make what you’ve always wanted to make!

7.0 As you wander back towards the common areas, you may notice a room off to the side. The room takes up a chunk of the common area, and on its unassuming door is a little plaque that reads, 'The Ximusic room'. Should you enter, you will find a sound-proofed practice room that contains — yes, you guessed it, band equipment that even the most musically inclined should be satisfied with. So pick up an instrument, saunter up to the microphone to belt out your favourite tunes, or take a seat at the side of the room and enjoy others' playing.

8.0 If it’s items you’re lacking, though, some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message.

// VIVECA

Hello, everyone. I hope you've had time to rest, and those new here have got used to being here. Those who’ve been here for longer know the deal, but to the new arrivals: we've got a drop of new supplies. I hope all of you find useful things among them. Anything specifically requested will come with a name tag. We're working on locating the next orb, but in the meantime... I hope those who have just returned get some rest, and those who have just arrived read up on what is expected of you during missions.

As you make your way to the platform, you'll see there is nothing amiss in the neat piles of items on it. There’s clothes, shoes, dishware, skincare, books… even a couple of CDs, and a few cute stuffed animals. So sort through what there is and grab what you want, before someone else does!

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// PART III. knock knock  

Maybe you have taken the warning to be ready seriously, or maybe you’ve heard someone mention the simulation room and want to see what the fuss is all about — whatever the reason for your walking into the room, the first few moments don’t seem too exciting. It isn’t until there’s another person in the room with you that the door suddenly slides shut, and the scenery starts to change.

7.0 Simulation on the Fritz: However, what it changes to is not one of the simulated missions. Instead, the room draws on its occupants. A little flash of memory here, a familiar scene there — the room molds itself after what one (or both) of the people in it know, perhaps a place they’re familiar with: the university library you used to spend hours and hours in studying, or the castle you’ve been trying all your life to conquer.

Or perhaps the room is torn between which person’s memories to draw on, and it ends up producing a strange mix of both: a busy street surrounded by lush forest instead of buildings, or a spaceship sailing on open sea.

As there is no simulated mission, there is no completing it to get out… so look for the little things that are not quite right in the simulation: a shimmer in the air, a grey brick in a red wall — a token of sorts. Finding it will make the simulation die down around you as the room goes dark again.

8.0 Mission — An Open Door: As the simulation starts, the scene that unfolds around you is a gilded hallway. It stretches on and on behind you and in front of you; along its sides, there are countless doors. Some are lavishly decorated, some made of pure gold, some of wood; some are decayed, looking like they might fall apart by mere touch; after a heavily reinforced door comes a door made of frosted glass… and so on.

But the longer you stand in place, the more you start to feel a sense of urgency: you must keep moving… you must find it. The orb. It’s there, behind one of the doors. All you have to do is choose which one to open.

Oh, you can open as many as you want, but be careful: you never know what is lurking behind them. It may be that you open one and step into a room that is nothing but air; it may be you unleash a horde of hungry monsters. Or perhaps you luck out and get a room that is just a room, with lavish couches and plush pillows, and maybe some grapes and apples set in a bowl in the middle of a gold-decorated table.

It’s not just the orb that you need to find, though... because just like in real missions, you receive a message that tells you your task — one that you have to complete, if you want the orb to help you in your quest to undo your regret.

● ● ●

N O T E: Additionally, there are three personal tasks provided to each character as they enter the simulation. In-game, each character will be given one task. For the purposes of the test drive, we’re leaving it to players to pick a task for their character and run with it.

A Tell someone what you are most ashamed of.

B Let a teammate get injured during the mission.

C Steal something from one of the rooms.

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F Y I

• TDM threads can be considered game canon so long as all parties involved agree to it.
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are now open!
• Apps open September 26.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.

TOP

FOR SOME FUN:
Have a clue about the upcoming mission—

▶ NAV

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[This person is easily the most augmented human that Murderbot has ever seen; the cost to save someone so badly damaged would be astronomical, such that very, very few could afford it. And they are unlikely to be damaged in the first place.]

Yes.

[In the feed, Murderbot sends a ping to Victor, the equivalent of a greeting and introduction, though it gives a feed address (a string of numbers and code) as its name, rather than anything a human would recognize.]

I arrived here without drones. The technology isn't what I'm used to.

[It likely wouldn't have admitted as much to a full human, but heavily augmented humans are a little easier to deal with.

Not including Gurathin. He's just an asshole.]

[ He's never been greeted this way before, not by someone who seemed... as humanly intelligent. Or that's just discriminatory, limited by the scope of an old life. ]

[ He answers the ping with one of his own, as similar to it as he can manage. ]

Nor am I, [ friendly. It helps to be a little lost together, doesn't it? ] May I assist?

[The relief that Murderbot feels is palpable. There's something here similar to the feed, what humans use those earpieces for, and it's... passable for communication, but lacks the complexity that Murderbot is used to.]

Yes.

[Murderbot sends schematics for the drones that it typically uses directly to Victor's brain, assuming that he'll be able to view the file.]

I might have to compromise on size, the typical propulsion systems aren't available.

[Which sort of defeats the purpose of them being stealth, but they'll work fine as an adaptive device for Murderbot.]

[ It lacks precision, depth. The nuances of words, a world Victor once understood so effortlessly, pales in comparison to the brilliance of code. He is more capable, more understanding, simply... more, like this. ]

[ (and it still hurts—) ]

[ His eye lights up, receiving the file. It's decoded promptly, and the eye projects a little display of the schematics. Victor makes some modifications, openly, allowing Murderbot to observe. ]

Here are some possibilities.

[The thing about humans is that they're so slow. Even the smart ones, even the augmented ones, they simply can't process at the speed that constructs or bots can.

The fact that Victor comes up with modifications so quickly suggests to Murderbot that he's more than just a very augmented human, which is — curious.

It almost smiles.]

Sacrificing the communication range for size makes sense. This station is tiny.

[So, so derisive.]

[ There's a wry turn to his mouth, understanding the compliment. And, ]

I can't make a meaningful affirmation without understanding what your reference point is.

[ He has seen... precisely... two alien ships in his life, and would very much desire not to see one again in a hurry. (Yet, here he is.) ]

[Oh, that's easy. Murderbot instantly sends over the maps and schematics for the last few stations that it has been on. They're all massive compared to what they're currently on, with hotels and shops and large docking bays for ships.

To be extra helpful, it sends over visual recordings from Preservation Station along with the schematics, mostly of the arrival area, which alone is almost the size of an international airport and far more organized.]

That's where I live.

[So Ximilia definitely isn't very impressive. It's not much larger than the habitat where Murderbot first met the PresAux team and that was meant for a short mission.]

[ ... Holy crap ]

[ Victor's expression lights up in... Almost boyish curiosity, looking at this world unfolding before him. Spaceships! (Other peoples out there, beyond Superman, beyond the ominous being they'd seen on the other side of the portal.) Hotels, and shops, every kind of strange and wonderful food, every kind of person. Comprehensible only because... in the world of ones and zeroes, we bend to your will, my son. ]

[ He sifts through the information in a nanosecond, going through the visual recordings systematically. ]

Wow.

[ Just that. Just. Wow. ]

This must feel like a storage closet to you.

[ This is... probably the biggest place Victor's been in physically, but he remembered when his world had expanded. To go back to there from where he was now... ]

[That comment is actually funny, and Murderbot sends over a recording of a storage cubicle, which is literally just... a fancy box, sort of like an upright coffin. Attached to the image is an amusement signifier, to show that Murderbot thinks this is funny.]

That was where I lived before Preservation bought my contract.

[Storage closet!

This is the sort of thing that ART would find funny, too.]

[ Victor snorts in amusement. ]

[ (How long, since he laughed? How many times, needing to be surprised into it?) ]

For what purpose were you made? If I may ask.

[It's become apparent that Victor has far better processing speed than even most augmented humans, considering how fast he's responded to Murderbot so far; this makes things significantly easier.

Murderbot sends over a packet of information, a combination of contracts, the ones that instruct clients how to manage their SecUnits, and footage from those various contracts, that mostly involve lots of standing around stock still while humans act as if it doesn't exist. There's also a few clips of Murderbot protecting humans. From dangerous fauna, and each other, and sometimes something as simple as the environment (it includes the memory of dragging Ratthi out of the mud pit, just because it is kind of funny, in retrospect, he'd been such a baby about it). It considers including schematics of a SecUnit, but that would be exposing a lot of weaknesses, so it chooses not to.

The final memory features another SecUnit, this one dead on the floor of a ship, its face contorted in pain, as Murderbot explains to a horrified young woman (she can't be older than 21, with dark skin and hair) that this SecUnit was left behind by whoever owned it, and the governor module fried the SecUnit once there was too much distance between it and the owner.

It doesn't like that part, but it's necessary to get a full understand of what a SecUnit is.]

[ Victor accepts the info packet without fanfare, and proceeds to read it. His eye blinks through the fine prints, the model descriptions, the footage (which his mind obligingly layers into a convenient watchable video, given the frames are nearly exact, save for the backgrounds). ]

[ He observes Murderbot pull someone from the mud. And, at the final memory, the blue light at the centre of his forehead turns a bright red, ]

You were owned,

[ He's frowning. He is... angry, he realises. Furious. It's so... strange to interpret that as a real feeling and not the sparks of neurons, in some mimicry. He is genuinely, truly angry. How could they do that to you? That was... something with purpose, something elegant, and now it's ruined because someone was simply careless. ]

[The anger is both surprising and not, as Murderbot is starting to realize it shouldn't apply its own assumptions to Victor. He might look like an augmented human, but he's clearly something different. It's possible that where he's from, he could be treated like constructs are.

That makes it easier to trust him.]

I was.

[Another packet is sent, this one after it met the PresAux team. Mensah and Ratthi, helping carry a very injured Murderbot through the doors of a small shuttle, the same young woman from before attempting to wrestle a weapon away from a human that just shot Murderbot, new contracts with clauses like 'no hugging', Arada and Murderbot in a friendly argument about the plot point of a TV show. Even ART's humans, the way they'd immediately trusted Murderbot once it told them their ship sent it.

Technically speaking, Murderbot is still owned by Mensah, but she's done everything in her power to give it what freedom she can give.]

My humans are different.

[ I was. ]

[ At least there's that. Good. Good. He sorts through the new packet a few times, just to go over it. The humans are different, the contract, what Victor can make of it, is not couched in all the usual bullshit corporate speak. ]

[ He allows the anger to bleed out of his system — to wither down into sparks, and dissipate. ]

[ Softly, ]

Mine are different, too.

[ And he sends a packet of his own: Diana, walking past him in full armour, giving him a quick smile. Barry, talking a mile a minute, jumping between multiple trains of thought. Arthur, gruffly, bumping Victor's shoulder. And of Bruce, a distant voiceover. Flight is in its nature. The pause, then the affirmation, with the certainty of a mountain, Yours, too. ]

[Oh!

Murderbot is mostly good at the sort of expressions associated with negative emotions, but there's something about it that lights up a little as it reviews what Victor has sent over.]

They're superheroes. Are you a superhero?

[Fun fact: superheroes still exist in the far flung future, and Murderbot has a few movies downloaded featuring them. Not its favorite genre, but ART had liked a few that it had shown, and its still kind of cool.]

[ UHM ]

[ Victor's expression becomes a little rueful. ]

I wouldn't... call myself that. [ No, there are several other words, but... ] They are superheroes, though.

[ They are very, very very super, one of them is even called Superman. ]

They're your colleagues and friends.

[This is a full and complete argument: Victor seems to work with these superheroes and seems to be friends with them, which means that clearly he's also a superhero.]

[ S I G H ]

They are my friends.

[ This, he cannot deny, and he does not want to. He's not alone. ]

And we work together,

[ This, also, is true, and actually you know what??? shut up!!! don't make him feel things!!! ]

[Murderbot could attempt to forcibly access Victor's memories and prove its point, but that's the kind of thing ART would do, and Murderbot isn't that much of an asshole.]

Yes.

[But it will simply accept that Vic is agreeing with it, because clearly that's what's happening here.

:) ]

[ LET'S JUST — ]

How do you know about superheroes anyway? I thought you were in the future.

[This is easy to answer.

Please enjoy a download of all the superhero media that Murderbot has access to currently. It probably doesn't look exactly the same as what superhero media looks like in the 21st century, but some of the main beats are the same.

Costumes. Fighting evil. Powers.

They probably fight rogue SecUnits a lot.]

[ Victor would have a lot more fun with this if it hadn't so recently just become a fact of life. ]

[ The costumes, evil, powers, etc... well, comic books are comic books. But of all things he'd thought he'd be talking to someone about... ]

You can tell me your favourite one once we complete some drones. Deal?

[Oh right, the drones.

Usually Murderbot is good at multi-tasking, but Vic is thoroughly distracting, in a nice way.]

Deal.

[It's going to get back to work on the drones, using Vic's revised schematics, but it can multitask easily when it wants to.]

Do you have a name?

[ He smiles. ]

You already have my ID. [ Which they exchanged. It's cleaner than a name, as a signifier, but, ] My name is Victor. You can call me Vic, if you want.

[ A beat. ]

What should I call you?

You're human. Humans like names.

[There's something slightly tentative in Murderbot's voice, not entirely sure that Vic would call himself human, but the fact that he does give a name lends credence to that theory.]

You can call me SecUnit. Or — Rin. [It liked that name well enough.] I have a real name, but it's private.

[Maybe one day it will tell him, but they don't know each other well enough for that yet.]

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reconfiguration - 2023-09-26 02:19 (UTC) - Expand

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