THE AMAZING BASE.

[agogemod]

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

Comments

[reillumination]

[ Ryo is a wary teenager with enough taste for danger that you'd call him the kind of boy you wouldn't take home to your mother. Ryo, however, doesn't have to worry about parents. He can barely remember his mother and his father made more than sure he wasn't coming back before everything careened off any logical edge.

Ryo fills the quiet with sound because that's all he's accustomed to now. Late nights spent out hunting made certain of that. ]

That sort of music isn't supposed to be quiet.

[ It isn't full of teeth. Ryo states it as 76 states it: like fact. Music like that has a lot of weight in it — it's the only thing he can trust to remain as is.

But, Ryo is a quick learner. While he's not familiar with alien technology, he does know a thing or two about what's under standard hoods and what is in standard motorcycles. He's making some good approximations here and there. Some of it looks familiar enough for him to chance at. The worst that could happen, after all, is that he can't get it to run the way he wants. Putting it back together isn't the problem for him. ]

It's fortunate they even started at all, [ he says, glancing back into the engine. ] Needing a good cleaning isn't the problem, it's the rust and wear. [ If he cared to bring up his BCE, there'd be a good collection of notes just on that. ] The connections are almost worn through in some areas.

[mylawn]

[76 offers a shrug, one that very clearly says well, that's why you were bothered, but otherwise drops the subject. It's not exactly the hill he wants to die on, and he's content enough to move on from here. The bikes are what's of interest, anyway. He's got to make sure they aren't going to fall apart underneath him the minute he takes them out.]

Most of COST's equipment is like that.

[Salvaged or otherwise scavenged, in need of a little TLC. 76 invites himself to squat, getting a better look at some of the inner workings.]

It's not really my forte, but I'm good at holding tools.

[An implicit offer.]

[reillumination]

[ Ryo had been stubborn for as long as he could remember. He'd always picked peculiar hills to die on to those from the outside, striking up a sole and singular connection which he protected with all of his might. People would comment occasionally that there was nothing particularly unique or special about them, but they learned soon to never comment on it again.

But, they're not here and Ryo's passions are still passions, but the rebellion in him can be passed off as a typical, teenage anger — something inherent in many his age and something permanent in those like him, built into his coding despite it being aberrant, despised. It would call to question why it was even there at all, but Ryo couldn't tell something he'd yet to know, yet to rediscover.

And so, it's only a small frown that gathers at the corners of his mouth, nothing more as the conversation thread is left to drop and 76 opts instead to join him. Despite all of Ryo's tougher talk, he seems much more a startled animal up close. His gaze checks where only where 76 moves, where he idles beside him. Where the tension in the lines of his body was notable before, it now gathers up in his shoulders — painful and tight. Yet, it seems like 76 really isn't much the cause of it. More, it seems like it a compound of complex issues he hasn't put forth like the inner workings of the bike, sprawled in a neat array about him. ]

I would be more surprised if it wasn't, [ he says after a moment, voice just the same as before despite his manner. He knows his own wars, his own battles. He was one half of a ragtag team set out to save the world, set out to save each other from the Hell his father's inheritance had unfurled to them. But, still, Ryo's pale eyes flit to 76's, brief and wary as he sets back to work again inside the bike. The tools are only what he has available here on BASE, accessible to all. Despite his lack of knowledge, he works steadily and with a focused precision. His hands are thankfully long and slender enough to have no issue manipulating small wires and parts. ]

There's only a handful of tools, [ he says, almost suddenly as he takes his hands from the guts of the engine with a screwdriver and a piece that looks a bit like a carburetor — or close enough to one that Ryo seems to be able to work out that it operates similarly. He pauses, his hands now coated in something akin to grime and oil, and hesitates before he picks up a few implements laid at his other side. The way he holds them out to 76 — a wrench, pliers, and another screwdriver — is like a quiet acceptance all on its own. ] Not that these will be enough to fix it. [ He glances away, thoughtful. ] The lines need to be replaced too.

[mylawn]

[Everything about COST is in rough shape, but 76 has been the underdog before. He'd won a war they weren't expected to survive, but then again he only had one world to worry about. The scope of this operation is almost beyond what he can conceive.

76 tries not to think about that, instead giving Ryo a quick once-over when it seems he won't be asked to leave. He opens his palm for the tools, knowing that Ryo is relenting by handing them over. He won't be that much of a bother--something he immediately resolves.]

Can you make do with what we've got?

[He can hunt down parts, if that's what he needs.]