agogelogs | THE AMAZING BASE.

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THE AMAZING BASE.

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Welcome home, nerds.
WHEN? Outside time and space, in the aether between dimensions.
ANYTHING ELSE? There is also a fish. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

MYSTERY FISH;

question the mystery fish

DEPARTING GALLIPOLI

The order comes the day after the Marie Antoinette sets sail:

PACK UP AND GET READY TO MOVE OUT. WE'VE DONE ALL WE CAN HERE.

DEPLOYMENT: BASE.

WE NEED TO RESTOCK. BE PREPARED FOR MORE TRANSFERS ON ARRIVAL.

STAY SAFE. TIME-STEP EXPECTED TO BEGIN WITHIN THE HOUR.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NEW TO COST: FIND A SECLUDED SPOT AND TRY NOT TO EAT ANYTHING BEFORE THE JUMP.

The Time-Step

The transfer begins like a vibrating heat on the collar bone, just a hum of sensation.

But the vibration spreads. Veteran COST soldiers often refer to this phenomenon as "the buzz". The feeling builds, not unlike standing near a great engine or the wind-rattled branches of a massive tree. There is a long moment of motion sickness and you can't be sure if the world is shaking you from the inside out or the outside in. It may be better to close your eyes against the growing nausea, as the world blurs out of focus.

A star shines in the distance. You may hear the faint rustling of leaves. Some swear they hear voices in this moment, indistinct words echoing off nothingness. Others say they feel a touch of the divine, that the eyes of the eternal look down upon you. Ancient bones rattle just out of earshot, cold and brittle and nothing more than the suggestion of sound. Or maybe it's only an illusion, brought on by the powerful technology grafted into your skin.

One thing is for sure: One moment you are here and the next you are not.

The shift takes you from whatever solitude you could find aboard the Marie Antoinette to the temperature-regulated hallway of what looks like a very poorly put together space station. Droids rush up and down the long hallway, fixing broken bits of machinery or just chattering with each other. A few crows sit on high ledges, looking down and watching. Someone mutters something about a centaur around the corner.

And you might just notice, provided you were in Gallipoli long enough to acquire stowaways, that the parasites lurking on your skin are mercifully gone.

For new arrivals who didn't experience Gallipoli: You, too, will appear in this long hallway, filled with droids and crows and humans (still filthy and clad in ANZAC uniforms, carrying battered equipment from the first World War). And you'll be wearing the minimal COST-issued athletic underwear and holding whatever one item you were allowed to bring. Surprise!

READ THE BASE INFOPAGE.

home away from home

Those who have been to BASE before may find a strangeness to it all: BASE seems...still. The windows show a verdant world instead of the usual aether (though with the typical paranoia), and the halls are bereft of all but a few crows. A man stands at the end of the long hallway you arrived in, waiting for you to get your bearings before he speaks.

Except, you know, he's not a man. He's a centaur.

"It's been barely a week since you left, by my reckoning. But for you, I'm sure, it's been much longer. Still, much has changed. You may have noticed we are...becalmed. This is due, it seems, to an error in our ways. We kept something that does not belong to us, several wild creatures that are meant to be free. They seem to have psychically called out to their home, and their home responded; we are now somewhat stranded.

"But let me explain—the Aether is the nexus between worlds and times, but it is not a dead thing. Creatures live in it. We have crashed onto the back of one such creature, a mighty beast, as large as a small country and entirely undiscovered. We have found why the creature has intercepted us: we have accidentally taken captive some of its children. Shapers, the wild creatures I mentioned, it seems they form a symbiotic bond with the creature, and live happily within its stomach."

He frowns, considering this.

"Shapers, I should mention, are creatures that briefly infested our fair BASE. The issue was dealt with, though we kept some for experimentation. The coelacanth took issue with this, it seems. It can speak, of course; we are stranded very near its head, and if you wish to ask it a question, I implore you to do so. The creature is older than creation—older than me—and only speaks once to any creature it encounters. It's said its wisdom brings kings to their knees."

His eyes crinkle in humor.

"My name is Chiron and I am the caretaker of this place, for those of you whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting. More importantly, I am a trainer and a teacher of some experience; if you wish training or schooling of any sort, do summon me. I will be happy to assist."

He's easy to contact, often found in the library, the training area, his capsule, or elsewhere in the station, attempting to fix what he understands and arguing with crows.

"We intended to spend this time exploring, for this is a rare opportunity to discover more of an entirely uncharted world. I hasten you to see if anything on the coelacanth can be of use, but be careful. Take only what you need, not what you may want. I intend to learn my lessons well; these creatures are not pets. Takes food, water, and any materials of use to us for our survival and perseverance, but no more. We task you with this: explore the coelacanth, and see what of it can be understood. Bring us back samples, but do try to interrupt the natural habitat as little as possible. We are guests here."

He bows and the action shows a slight limp in one of his back legs.

"I would join you, but I am far too old for such activities. Still, do pepper me with any questions you should encounter. I am always available on the network, or in person, within this hulking mass we call home."

And then he leaves you to find your capsules and rest.

CAPSULE ASSIGNMENTS

Once you've found your room and settled in—perhaps taken a shower, collected clothes, and eaten—a droid will approach you with camping equipment and give you a brief explanation of how to access and use the database. It's time to get your gear and go.

Of course, you can decline. You can stay and tend to the fort, maybe try and clean up this patchwork jumble of metal and machinery. But seeing the sights on the back of a giant fish flying through non-space? Who can say no to that?

the undiscovered country.

BASE's airlocks open into a lush valley, vibrant with color and rustling with life that has thrived on the coelacanth's back for millennia. It's a striking shift from the rot and gunfire of Gallipoli, unmarked by shrapnel, bombshells, and never-fresh air.

No, the air here is clean in a way that can leave you breathless, untouched by pollutants and stirred into a gentle breeze. It's a marked departure for anyone used to a more modern Earth or rough equivalent; letting the air sit on your tongue leaves a crisp, unsullied taste behind. And the whole forest feels alive, in a way that reminds you of how small you really are.

A white crow perches in a tree near BASE's exit, too high up to properly engage but a stark contrast to the bright leaves around her. She merely watches recruits come and go with a shrewd eye, feathers fluffed against the light chill. There are other crows scattered throughout the wilderness, some easier to find than others as they flit through the trees, sit on camping equipment, or hitch rides on the hoverbikes.

Besides those brief flashes of black feathers, however, you're left unsupervised.

Try not to fuck up anything too badly.

EXPLORE:INFOPAGE|DATABASE
talk to a fish | destruction report

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Chiron doesn't startle when he's approached, but he does look a little surprised when he turns around. A new face, and a new voice that he's yet to encounter. The logical conclusion is that the young woman's a new recruit, and so his smile is polite and welcoming.

"Good afternoon, miss."

Chiron's smile gets a full-on proper smile from her. A little bit of friendliness is all of the encouragement that she needs.

"Afternoon. I'm Lena. I'm a new recruit, but you probably figured that out."

"I did, yes. Your accent is distinct from many others around her," Chiron replies. He has no problem with new people, especially when there's an opportunity to actually introduce oneself rather than run into someone in some terrible situation.

He extends a hand. "Chiron. A pleasure to meet you."

Lena smiles. "I get that a lot." Even back home, her accent is pretty unmistakable.

She shakes his hand and smiles a little wryly. "No relation to the other Chiron, I'm guessing?"

Or maybe there is. For all she knows, one of them was named after the other.

"We're versions of each other," he says simply. There's zero sugar coating that simple fact, not when everyone else who's been around for a while is aware of that fact.

"Time travel and alternative universes tend to make for some strange appearances from time to time."

That clearly wasn't the answer the was expecting. She's well-versed in time travel, but alternate universes are the stuff of comic books. Still, it's not impossible. And it's certainly one explanation for the multiple Chirons.

"Didn't think it could get any more interestin' than a time-traveling band of freedom-fighters, but I guess I was wrong. It's kinda interesting to know if you'd get along with yourself, though, isn't it?"

"Well, I'd be quite surprised if we were that at odds," Chiron replies with an easy shrug that suggests he's actually given this a lot of thought.

Or he's had to discuss it a lot.

Either way, he's used to it.

"Our circumstances are the same, and so we went through similar events. To have a dislike would be downright out of character for either of us, I believe. But you've used a term that is unfamiliar to me. Freedom fighters?"

"Some people with strong personalities might have trouble. Sort of like," she affects a (bad) southern accent, "'there's only room for one of us in this town.'"

Lena can think of a few people to whom that would apply.

"But it's good that you get along with yourself! Makes things easier, means you always have a friend, yeah?"

She hums thoughtfully. How to explain it... "A group of people fightin' for freedom from oppression. Usually kinda rag-tag, a little disorganized, but persistent."

Lena hasn't been here too long, but it does feel a little rag-tag so far.

The bad southern accent gets a good laugh - not because it's bad, but because it takes Chiron by surprise. It's gruff in strange places, but he can absolutely follow the sentiment.

"I don't doubt that you're right in some cases with one clashing against oneself. But beyond having a friend, it's...remarkably easy to put trust in oneself."

It gave him a weird perspective on the matter of COST, that much Chiron knew. Who else would conclude "well, if I myself am in this fight and on this particular side, then it's a good fight?" No one, most likely.

"Ah, then yes, COST fits every single descriptor you've outlined. Perhaps a little too accurately."

Lena grins when he laughs. She's now officially been encouraged to be equally silly in the future. (Poor Chiron.)

"Yeah, we're really the underdogs here. But I'd rather be part of a rag-tag group fightin' for freedom over a well-funded group of oppressors."

She's still tentatively taking COST at face value, though her inability to recall joining does make her uneasy.

A little silliness is needed, if only to kill tension. Gods knew that the last mission required it, given how dire every aspect of it happened to be.

"I will admit, the...stakes here are very different from wars in my day in age," Chiron says. Not that he quite lived in any of the Greek states proper. Such was the advantage of being up on one's own mountain. "At least in terms of a small group versus a large one. Most conflicts were at a state level."

"We've had a few global wars, but it was all confined to Earth. I can't imagine a war that spans all of space and time. So, I try not to think about it too much."

Even if it's still hard to believe, Lena can at least understand how massive this undertaking is.

"In your day and age? You make it sound like you're ancient."

"I only recently experienced the first World War," Chiron says in a tone that makes it clear that that was more than enough, thanks. Everything about that mission was terrible.

But as for Lena's ancient comment, Chiron simply nods assent. "I am. The Greeks were my people."

Lena's never experienced a war on that scale, not until Gallipoli. Scars from the Crisis linger all over the world, but she wasn't alive for it.

She nods, in complete agreement that it was not something she wants to repeat. But when he says the Greeks are his people, she raises an eyebrow.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you mean the ancient Greeks."

"You can come back down from the limb. You're entirely correct."

Chiron's always assumed that it's the past tense that gives others clues into exactly how old he is (was, whatever, time shenanigans), more than how he carries himself or any sort of aura he exudes.

She's still wrapping her mind around the fact that centaurs exist, but the time disparity doesn't faze her nearly as much. Adding a few extra centuries to a centaur isn't nearly as difficult as actually accepting that he's real in the first place.

Ancient history isn't her strongest suit, but it's still good to have some frame of reference.

"Blimey. You know, I'm regretting that I didn't take any ancient history courses."

"In fairness, most of what I experienced is now considered mythology rather than historical fact."

Chiron's tone is perfectly warm and understanding. He's quite unphased by any reactions to what he is and when he's from.

"Not my strongest suit either. I suppose it's not all bad, though. I'm sure the myths got a lot wrong, yeah?"

At least she's less likely to make incorrect assumptions based on warped myths... probably.

Chiron makes the so-so gesture with a wave of his hand, and there's a little smile that goes with it.

"Well they're myths, not history. Right or wrong isn't as important as the overall gist of it, and that much has been correct."

"I remember a bit, but not nearly enough to carry on about it. Hopefully there won't be a pop quiz on this later-- most of my education is in maths and sciences."

Perhaps it's a disadvantage here not to have a lot of working knowledge about mythological or "mythological" beings.

"Unless we're chucked into a pantheon? I'd be amazed if there's any kind of demand for that information. I'd hardly worry about it."

Chiron's of the opinion that if the information does have to be learned, it can be done on the fly with very little harm at all. He'd be amazed if there was a demand for it anyway.

"You never know where we'll end up next."

But she says it in a good-spirited way. There's no doubt that it's incredibly unlikely.

"Strangely, a lot of the times, the places is Earth based. I'm unsure why, but it's been noteworthy."

Lena's spirits are some of the most cheerful that Chiron has encountered in COST, and he quite appreciates them. He smiles at her tone.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

THE AMAZING BASE.

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