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AUGUST TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 3
… What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?
The words, when they die out, leave you in emptiness — despairing, all-consuming, the kind that invites only the worst thoughts. What have you done? What have you agreed to do?
But then, from the emptiness, a golden light shines, and as you reach for it —
you wake up.
1.0 Perhaps it was less the golden light in your dream and more the insistent feeling of something metallic poking your side repeatedly, making beeping noises… wait, beeping noises?
When you look down, you’ll see a small robot staring at you and looking less than happy (maybe it has something to do with your disheveled state, maybe it's still mad about having to clean up after a certain pizza-induced mess). When you get up, it unleashes a series of beeps — and then furiously starts to scrub the floor.
Yes, the floor — instead of waking up in a bed, you find yourself lying on a hallway, white walls and white floor surrounding you. You don’t have long to stare at the minimalistic look of everything around you before the little bot starts poking you again, the word MOVE blinking across its visor.
So better get out of its way! Perhaps you’re on the hallway on your own and leave on your own… or perhaps there’s someone else, sleeping near you. Maybe do them the courtesy of waking them up before this little angry bot does! Or perhaps you’re the poor soul still sleeping and needing a rescue before the beeps make it to you.
2.0 If you need a visit to the infirmary, the situation may be more dire — perhaps there’s blood on the wall that you wake up against, your clothes may be dirty or ragged… whatever it is that has happened to you before waking here and has left you injured, it sure doesn’t create a reassuring sight. Best get to the infirmary as soon as possible.... with some assistance, perhaps.
Once upright, 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.
So what else is there to do but to explore? Best get to know what is now your new home.
3.0 The most pressing question that you might ask yourself is: but where will I stay? The question is answered once you walk through the winding white corridors to the common area. Behind it, there are three types of rooms: those with one bed, two beds and four beds. The rooms are clinical yet clean, and sparsely-furnished — and most importantly, most are occupied. So be prepared to get some roomies!
4.0 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.
And speaking of weapons: to put it to good use, head to the training room, where the entire purpose is to provide you with a space to spar and train to your heart’s content!
5.0 After you’ve exhausted yourself training, it’s time to grab a bite. For that, you should head to the kitchen, which… seems to be filled with a lot of leftovers: takeout boxes with an assorted collection of pizza slices, kung pao chicken, lamb curry... not to mention the entire tray of chocolate brownies. Feel free to eat your fill — or if takeout isn’t your cup of tea, open one of the large fridges to pick fresh ingredients and make your own lunch.
6.0 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. A new addition is a flower garden where there once was a meadow — now, roses, camellias, lilies and dozens of other flowers sway in the wind, all varieties in their own flower beds, with a winding path of stones leading through them. The path leads to where a bridge rises over a sparkling, babbling brook.
Here, 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.
7.0 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!
8.0 If it’s items you’re lacking, though, some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message.
Indeed, the platform near the personal quarters is still whirring with power, and new items form neat piles 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!
(CW: POTENTIAL BODY MODIFICATION)
Whether you’re a quick study and you’ve become settled into life on the station, or you want to get the full lay of the land (in a manner of speaking) first, if you decide to explore the hall past the control room, you’ll eventually come across the simulation room.
Step past the threshold and the doors will slide shut with a quiet woosh. Nothing suspicious; nothing to worry about. But before you can really get a sense of your environment (a grey, large-ish empty room, no furniture, no discernable objects to provide markers), the room goes dark, and then … there’s really no other way to describe it: the room transforms.
You find yourself in a club. The music is upbeat, loud, but not too loud. Down a short flight of steps flanking the bar and seating is the open floor with more tables and booths bathed in a warm, dim glow of light, and at the very end of the room is a stage with its bright spotlight showcasing its performers — though, at the moment, the stage is empty.
9.0 When you take a step forward, you’ll feel a presence gently push at your chest or your shoulder — a tall and jovial man resembling a well-dressed bartender from the top up (the rest of him appears to move along wheels) approaches with a tall flute glass in hand. Its contents are sparkly and blue.
Will you proceed? Please respond ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”
There’s something a little strange about his voice, a cadence that doesn’t sound quite natural even when the simulation is so realistic otherwise. Once you’ve given your consent, the bartender continues.
10.0 It seems the bartender wasn’t lying. Once you’ve allowed the drink (tasty, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, effervescent, with light notes of your fondest childhood memory) to settle in your stomach you might experience a myriad of effects on your body, ranging from a change in skin colour (pink? green? blue with spots?), an additional limb or two (or three), a tail or wings, or cybernetic parts such as lie-detecting eyes or a tongue that can uncover truths and lies in others. If you happen to find another Orber within the room and both of you have consumed the offered drink, you might find yourself experiencing a full bodyswap.
None of the changes are painful; if anything, they might not even be noticeable until you look into a mirror, look down at your limb-in-question, or your companion points it out.
11.0 The moment you approach the stage, a performer will appear as if out of thin air and begin to sing, her voice strong and smoky and melodic. Her enthralling performance could put you into a trance, but you have an orb to find and a personal task to accomplish, so it’s time to put your best foot forward and do a little investigating.
Talking to some of the patrons might prove fruitful as some of them are convinced that the stage has never sounded or looked so good, like there’s something giving performers that extra oomph that no one can explain. It might be wise to wait until that last performance before you sneak up there — or maybe you want to do a little snooping around now, you know, while everyone’s distracted. Strategize with your fellow Orbers and uncover the location of this hidden orb.
● ● ●
N O T E: The effects of the drink and the level of changes your character experiences is entirely up to you. Patrons of this fine club won’t bat an eye if you look a little like them.
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 If you’ve been given a particular body change that might aid you in this mission, do not use it to your advantage.
B Team up with a fellow Orber to uncover the hidden location.
C Get up on stage and put on a performance during the simulation. Your song choice will determine the outcome of success in your investigation.
F Y I
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open!
• Apps open August 27.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.
FOR SOME FUN:
Have a listen for some clues about the second mission.
(Hint: there are four clues in total.)
no subject
[The hell of it is, he's sincere about it! Posh, as is every other word that comes out of his mouth, but he truly means this. He really wants to see how someone can print in three dimensions, that would be very cool.
As for computers, he shakes his head.]
Up until I came here, I'd never heard of one—I know of automatons, I have a friend who built one, but they're not operated by computers the way they are here. I've picked a bit up here and there since then, but I don't have the sort of knowledge that you have.
no subject
Still, with the help of her augmentations she gets the vibe that he's into it, so she moves on with her explanation.]
Okay well the thing about computers is that if you get a powerful enough one, you can teach it to do just about anything.
An example of this is that both of my eyes are prosthetic, and they each contain a tiny computer that send messages to my brain directly about the things that I'm seeing. There programs inside my eyes that help me know if someone is lying to me, or help me aim a gun. If I've seen a specific vehicle before, the computers in my eyes will show me a reminder of when and where I've seen it before, which can help me figure out if I'm being followed.
There's really no limit to what computers can do, as long as you have the physical hardware to back it up. The programs I've listed need cameras - a machine that can see - to be able to work, for example.
[All that explanation is to give Percy a context for what she's actually working on: Hacking. She holds up her tablet again.]
This is a computer that lets me get into other computers, so that i can make them do what I want them to do.
For example: If there is a computer in a door that is programmed to only let certain people through, I can get inside it and think that me and my friends are allowed through. If there's a computer system that has a bunch of cameras, I can get inside it and make it show me what the cameras are seeing. That kind of thing.
[She can do a lot more complicated stuff than that, of course, but this poor guy just learned what computers are today. He doesn't need her to get into the nitty gritty of it all.]
Anyway I have a program that helps me do that, and I am trying to figure out how to make that program a little better.
no subject
It makes sense. All the information in the world can't force a thing to change into something else. You'd need something more hands-on for that.
He tries not to wince when she mentions aiming a gun, though. He knows, logically, that the existence of a multiverse means he's not the only person who's invented firearms, means that other people who've done so in their universes have been responsible for spreading the technology. It doesn't make it easier to hear.]
So—machines you can not only program to gather and store information, but to change information to your advantage. [Quick on the uptake, this one. He leans a bit closer to see what's on the tablet.]
Can I see? I won't change anything on it. In turn, [and he pulls the gauntlet back from the side, to show her,] you can take a look at this. I call it Diplomacy.
no subject
[She holds the tablet out for him to look at, but notably doesn't actually hand it to him.
Nothing personal, Percy, but this thing is connected directly to her brain. She isn't in the habit of letting other people hold it.]
What you're seeing on the screen is called 'code'. It's the language that we use to explain to the computer what we want it to do, and how exactly to do it.
[And there is so much code on the screen. It probably isn't the most exciting thing to look at, but it's apparent on Jonesy's face that this is something she really cares about.
She looks at the glove when he offers it to her, eyeing it carefully.]
What's that on the back of the glove? Some kind of conduit?
no subject
I've traveled quite a bit, and if there's one thing I've learned about languages it's that one language tends to have multiple variations. [Pointing at the tablet, careful not to touch it.] What's this dialect? Do you know if the computers here speak a similar dialect to the one you know?
[Tell Him Everything.
As for Diplomacy, he taps the currently inert core embedded into the back of the glove.]
Yes, pretty much. It's supposed to be charged up by lightning. You hold this up to a lightning bolt, magical or otherwise, and then the core stores up the electricity as a charge. We're lacking in lightning bolts around here and people who can cast lightning spells, but there's quite a lot of electricity, so I'm working on an alternative method of charging it.
Don't @ me if this is wrong, i'm dumb as hell irl
Okay, wow, asking the big questions. So the programming language I tend to use is called Oblong, which is one of the more obnoxious programming languages, but the thing about computers is that at the base of every single language is something called binary.
[Getting into the nitty gritty of computer science now. She should have gone to school to be a teacher or something.]
Binary is a series of ones and zeroes which signal whether a specific part of the computer is receiving an electrical current (represented by a one), or not receiving a current (represented by a zero). And just about every number, whether a one or a zero, triggers a reaction that is itself either a one or a zero - and all of these inputs cause the physical silicon and metal of the computer to respond through an absolute assload of microscopic switches called transistors that respond to electricity.
It is a very simple mechanism that is the basis of all computation, but it needs to be repeated an astronomical number of times to get the computer to complex things. Programming languages are basically shorthand that take binary and make it borderline comprehensible and legible to the sapient eye.
The computers here almost certainly don't use Oblong. They might not even use binary in the way that I'm used to seeing it - but I'd bet almost anything that they do use a binary system at their core. Which means that I'll definitely be able to talk to their computers soon because I'm fucking great at my job.
[And then another deep breath. Does that answer your question, Percy?
Once she's done with that little impromptu lecture she looks back down at Diplomacy.]
Okay, so it's a shock weapon. It sounds like you already have a battery that holds a decent charge - if you want, I could help you rig up an adapter for like a standard phone charger. You'd be able to plug it into the wall and take energy straight from the station.
it's ok i am also an idiot playing a genius
Programming sounds like something right up his alley, frankly.]
I'm honestly impressed you can manage to cram that much onto a tablet and into your eyes. I know you've said these transistors are microscopic, but I'm wondering how it's possible, how many you'd have to make to even have a computer meant to perform a simpler task. [He sounds like someone who is very much putting that on an ever-expanding list of projects to get to.
Anyway. He pauses a moment.]
I have no idea what a phone is. I assume it's something like that tablet of yours? [He feels more than a little out of place here, where everything is so far beyond what even he can make that he's lagging behind. He's not quite comfortable in that position—it makes him feel a lot like he's the Tary of this motley crew.] I'd appreciate the help, though, thank you.
I am thinking about expanding the storage capacity, or at least including less powerful settings. As it stands now, the charge gets used up after one discharge. It's useful in a fight, if someone gets too close to me and I need to get some distance between them and myself, but I didn't create it to be my main weapon. [That's his guns.] A friend of mine enchanted it for me recently, so I could use the charge up for a spell that can silence gunshots. The problem is, once that's gone I'll have to get it charged again, something that will be much more difficult without someone who has a lightning spell to spare.
these are the choices we've made for ourselves
[It's a little jarring to think about how little time has actually been spent with computer technology, honestly. The first digital computer was built in the 1940s - about a hundred and thirty years ago from Jonesy's perspective - and things have come such an impossibly long way since then.
In her world, every aspect of life is computerized. You'd be hard pressed to find an item for sale somewhere that didn't at least have an RFID chip in it; microchips are in pretty much everything and everyone, and just about anything that uses electricity also gives off a wireless signal. It's almost hard to imagine how the world was without all of that.]
Oh, a phone is just another word for a commlink. They're little tablet computers - they also run on electricity, and you have to plug them in every so often in order to keep them working.
[There's also wireless charging but she isn't going to explain how that works and neither am I.]
Well the storage problem is definitely something we can work on. What's the typical output on a single charge? I don't know jack shit about magic, and where I come from it super doesn't combine well with tech, but I'm happy to give as much mundane help as I can.