Day 7: Evening

Aftern-Evening: 3pm - Midnight

[ IRL Timeframe: January 22 - January 29, 2020. ]

After all of Seven's fights, ending in Luka taking Ten's hand as the other heroes arrive. The knights will be treated to the sight of something entirely unexplainable: Seven is wounded, laying on the asphalt with a bright white crossbow bolt sticking out of their body. They're still pouring black goop off of their body, but they appear to be wrapped in some kind of cloth tarp. Five is kneeling over them, dressed in a skin-covering assassin outfit that only reveals her five eyes peering out. In her hand is a phone, and that's really all that can be seen before she and Seven disappear into a portal in the ground.

Luka, meanwhile, is standing with Ten's hand in his and his crossbow laid on the ground and not in his hand. No matter what the arriving heroes cry out in order to get his attention, it's too late to stop him. Abruptly, the portal opens and both the Princess and Ten disappear into the ground.

Naturally, the hashtag #princessnapped is forged.

That doesn't prove to be the only hashtag to get some heavy use this evening. The #wizardfound and #robotwizard hashtags find a sudden, new reason to actively discuss what's going on.

The remaining heroes: Garrot, Gyre, Haizea, Matilda, Olivia, (and... where's Terrence?) will find that the events from earlier in the day have caught up to them. There's a crack like thunder as both the Wizard and the Protector flicker into existence and both land in the superhero pose in the center of the intersection that Luka just disappeared from.

The Protector, if possible, is looking even worse than before. He's sporting a black eye and numerous cuts on his forehead, cheeks, and arms. It looks like he's been lit on fire at least once, but even so he's holding his rapier out in anticipation of the next strike.

The Wizard, meanwhile, is finally openly visible to everyone after her absence. She looks rough. It's as if the areas where she'd been harmed have been replaced or repaired with robotics. The left side of her face is no longer bandaged, instead revealing that she now has a robotic eye with a glowing yellow ring. The cables that were visible in the video before are very clearly plugged in just behind her ear, trailing down over her shoulder and down her back beneath the robes.

And of course she's still wearing pajamas. But they look like they've seen better days, charred and ripped and shredded at every edge. In her hand, though, is a massive axe. One side of its head is a giant half-circle axe head while the other side is a heavy weight like a hammer. The entire weapon is jet black, but it has a glossy shine.

What's the worst that could happen?

The Weather
Cloudy, breezy.
48°F / 9°C
Brrr.

Prompts:

3:00pm The Garden, Unknown Location: When Luka falls through the portal with Ten, he'll become immediately aware that the monster has slipped himself closer and snuck his feet beneath Luka's to stabilize him. Despite the falling, he seems surprisingly stable in the air.

And then there's the soft crunch of grass beneath his feet and he shifts slightly, waiting for Luka to step back on his own. Wherever they are, the air is filled with the scents of wildflowers and scents that are both beautiful and entrancing in their complexity. It's clear that there are dozens, if not hundreds of flowers and plants in the immediate vicinity. There's the gentle warmth of sunlight on Luka's skin, clearly advertising that they're outside (or in a very clever indoor garden). But most calming is the gentle sounds of moving water. If Luka focuses, he'll be able to pick out that there's a small waterfall, several waterways, and multiple water features with water tumbling down over rocks. And, of course, a pool or a pond with fish gently swimming about beneath the surface.

But he'll be interrupted twice before he can lose himself. The first is Ten.

"We're here." He says, but if Luka's not shaken enough he'll realize that he doesn't hear Seven and his Seven sense isn't going wild. But the second distraction happens as Luka's phone bloops from an unknown sender with a text:

"Welcome to the Garden, Princess." The text reads... with no explanation of who or how they sent him the text. That's totally normal!

3:00pm Street Intersection, Bamborough: With the arrival of the Wizard and the Protector, it's very clear that shit is about to go down. But that absolutely isn't what the Wizard has in mind for this situation. She's the one running this game, and she isn't about to get five heroes wrapped up in her duel with the Protector. Before anyone can take an opportunity to make any attacks, and especially not the Protector, she snaps the fingers of her free hand five times.

And reality fractures. The way that the cracks in midair begin to fold and reflect the area and people around them, it's like the world is folding up into a trick mirror house. It's... actually exactly that. Reality twists and folds, forming reflections and containers out of the air itself until every single hero is enclosed in one. The hero in the middle of their own box, reflected on two opposite walls. But on the opposite two walls, the Wizard is visible beyond in one of them and the Protector is visible beyond in the other room. Uh. This conversation might get awkward. Worse is that they can't get distracted by their Seven senses, because no one can feel them anymore.

3:15pm To Everyone: In the middle of the earlier events, every hero in Bamborough receives a text from an unknown sender. The only one who's spared this text is Luka, because he got a text earlier. The text reads: "I can give you one teleport to anywhere today. Tell me when and to where. Don't be unreasonable!"

8:00pm Onward, Everywhere: The day is done, the events are finished. How does your character get home? Do they go home alone? Do they seek the company of their fellow heroes? Do they stay alone, or do they get a room together? Either way, it's a rough night for everyone.

Procedure:

Reply to the appropriate toplevel comments for events below. Indicate if a post is a private conversation with "Private" in the subject otherwise all threads should be open to interaction with others. Plan OOCly how you'd like to toss everyone around.

Activity Check: January 2020

[ IRL Timeframe: January 1st - January 31st, 2020 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Okay," Gyre answers immediately. He's happy to hear it, of course, and watching Luka reach around is reassuring, if only in the sense that he knows the princess is nearby and safe. But he is frozen completely in place. He doesn't want to move. He doesn't dare look anywhere that doesn't involve the one other living person with him here in hell.

The only thing that saves him is pure visual habit. As Luka feels around, he follows the movement of his hand. He's a person who's spent his entire life in dark forests, interpreting incredibly dense visual information. It means he's looking for differences without even trying.

It's not so much that he notices the pattern of flattened shapes beneath their 3D counterparts, but that he notices the gap in angles amongst those 3D shapes. His eye catches on that space once, twice. The third time, he finally reaches for it, slowly sliding his hands across the surface. He has to stretch hard near the end, but then his fingers dip into the keyhole and he gasps softly.

"There's a hole here, where my hand is," he says, his voice still obviously shaking.

!

"That must be it!" Luka squints as he tries to make out where Gyre's hand is, but with the proximity it's become more difficult to discern. Instead he reaches his arm out to find Gyre's and moves down the length of it until their hands meet.

"Here?" He asks for clarification though he's already moved to try and feel for the hole himself. When he finds it, he then passes the key to that hand - making sure not to lose his grip - and positions it to enter the keyhole.

If it fits, he'll give it a twist as one would typically when unlocking a door or starting up their car. Hopefully this works!

Hopefully these two boys are ready to find out whatever they came here to find out. When Luka puts the key into the slot and gives it a firm turn, all the white light in the room immediately cuts out and leaves the two of them in darkness.

What follows is the twelve geometric shapes and their corresponding platforms beneath them all lighting up with individual colored glows. The triangular prism lights up in yellow, clear buttons visible on its outer surface. The whole triangle area on the center orb is yellow, too, with multiple messages and readouts of information to look over. All the others do the same. The cube in green, the decahedron in blue. A bunch of different colored and shaped terminals with a lot of information in languages that these two boys won't understand at all.

What they will understand, however, is a single soft-white message window that pops up just above the keyhole. Listed in midair, and voiced by a soft female voice (that sounds oddly like Twelve, but not really) a few moments later, are the words:

"How may I be of assistance."

Gyre is not ready at all. He twitches the second Luka touches his hand, grabbing his and squeezing it tight. He's clinging to him a little, making a soft, yelp of a noise when all the lights go out.

"What--" he starts, only to cut himself off as the lights start coming up. His eyes dart from one shape to the next, and he licks his lips nervously. It takes him a few moments to realize that there's text scrolling across the screens, and he watches it for a long time, trying to read any one line of it.

It's not until the voice speaks up that he realizes he can't read any of this text, and he turns his attention to the new white screen.

"Who are you?" he asks automatically, not even beginning to think that this might just be the Wizard's Google Home.

Luka gasps softly when the room suddenly goes from piercing brightness to absolute dark, and he's glad for Gyre's hand in his when he loses that silhouette in the darkness.

His eyes catch on the shapes as they begin to glow, but the rest of the displayed information is lost on him - not that it would not be had he been sighted, as the text was all in unrecognizable languages.

And then the voice speaks up. Luka (correctly?) assumes it must be some kind of AI assistant installed in the ship, based on its phrasing and source. But he's momentarily overwhelmed by all of this, and finds his mind blank on what to ask of it.

"Uh, do you have directions to the Wizard's home planet?" It's an awkward question as it comes out, and Luka hopes this AI was advanced enough to understand it.

"Inquiry 1 logged: "About system". I am AESSIS: Autonomous Explorative Soul System, Investigative Series. Last update unknown. Location known: DC-I-13."

As the voice makes its announcements, it vocalizes the dashes in the location but displays it on the floating screen.

"Inquiry 2 logged: "Origin location". Location known: HH-I-01. No other origin locations registered. Navigation enabled, engines disabled. Unable to chart accurate course. Engines require immediate attention."

After the second answer, a small blinking "Awaiting inquiry" with a blinking _ cursor remains flickering at the bottom.

What the hell... These are a lot of very big words that he does not understand, and he blinks around at the bright lights around them. There's just text scrolling, and this woman talking and talking.

"What's that?" he asks in response to the machine's title. Autonomous Explorative Soul System. How does one explore with souls? What are they investigating?

Then she's talking about engines, and he at least understands that word. He's never been much for electronics, but at least he's seen an engine before.

"What's wrong with the engine?"

"Mm. I wonder why it can't chart a course. Maybe it's really gone, like the Wizard said." Luka says quietly, as if he doesn't want the system to overhear.

"There's another ship just like this one on this same... um, location." He speaks up again. "Can you tell us anything about that? Do you know it's status?"

It was a long shot, but he figured he might try and see if it knows anything about its companion ship.

"Inquiry 3 Logged: "About System: More details". Please clarify what additional details are requested."

"Inquiry 4 Logged: "Engine Details". Last known status was logged as "fuel critical". Current fuel percentage unknown. Monitoring systems offline."

"Inquiry 5 Logged: "Ship: Other". Confirmed "AESSTAS" ship registered for simultaneous departure."

"Inquiry 6 Logged: "AESSTAS Status". No current logs. Last known log recovered on descent to DC-I-13: "Fuel critical"."

Gyre is quiet again for a beat, listening to all these answers and watching Luka. He's trying to figure out if the princess is just as confused as he is with all this. He forces himself to scooch a little closer along this weirdly shaped core so he can actually hear what the princess is murmuring, settling a little closer beside him.

"It sounds like it's broken. Maybe that's why it can't uh, chart anything?" he proposes softly, chewing his lip for a moment.

"Um, I guess, can you explain what you are? As if... as if I was someone who'd never heard of uh, a Soul System before?"

"They're... out of fuel?" Luka says, a hint of despair bubbling within him. The weight of just how little time they had left felt as if it had doubled down on his shoulders just then. His stomach twists and his hand involuntarily clenches tight on Gyre's.

"What kind of fuel do these ships run on? Where can it be found?" Luka rallies enough to probe the voice for more information. Maybe they could find fuel for them. Maybe they could still get off this planet in time.

"Inquiry 7 Logged: "AESS Details". I am one of the involved AESS:AI ships that are a part of the Autonomous Explorative Soul System program. The AESS program is an experimental space exploration attempt at establishing control over nearby planetary bodies in the immediate vicinity of HH-I-01. Minimum essential mission staff included one QS staff, one TA unit, and two AESS:AI ships."

"Inquiry 8 Logged: "Ship: Fuel Type". AESSIS and AESSTAS ships do not require refueling. Fuel is created and maintained by internal systems. Fuel system status unknown."

Gyre... blinks! "Establishing control" is a particular set of words that puts him immediately on edge. He squeezes Luka's hand back, shifting a step closer to him so he can link arms with him before taking his hand again.

"What do you mean by establish control?" he starts with, frowning at the news that fuel is supposed to be created and yet it's not for some reason. "What about saving planets that are dying? A-and, what are those? QS staff, TA unit? What's that mean?"

Those words ring through Luka's mind and he feels that sense of despair joined by a feeling of deep betrayal.

"They weren't here to save us. They were trying to control us?" The Wizard hadn't mentioned anything about this. He thought she was as truthful as her limitations allowed her to be, but everything Luka has come to understand feels as though its been flipped on its head with only a few simple words.

"If the Protector was telling the truth, these ships should have visited twelve other planets before this one. Is this true? Do you have any information on those previously visited locations?"

Inquiry 9 Logged: "Establish Control". The AESS program's core goals prioritize establishing monitoring, manipulations, and maintenance of nearby planetary stability.

Inquiry 10 Logged: "Dying Planets". The AESS program acknowledges the risk that dying planets pose to nearby healthy planets. Without action, a chain reaction of planet death is possible.

Inquiry 11 Logged: "QS staff". Query Science staff.

Inquiry 12 Logged: "TA unit". Tactical Abatement unit.

Inquiry 13 Logged: "Previous planets". Confirmed logs pertaining to DC-X-01 through DC-I-12. Which planet would you like to request more information on?

Edited 2020-02-27 03:31 (UTC)

Gyre tenses when Luka voices his exact, deepest worry, his expression darkening as he imagines what that would mean. She had lied to him the entire time about her purpose. Was her planet even dead?

So when the computer clarifies what it means with those first two statements, he lets out an audible sigh of relief. It still doesn't sound... great, but it's certainly more in line with what she's been telling him all along. All it would take was an overzealous hand to bring them to this place if they thought Sxicq's birth would take out more planets.

He glances towards Luka as the AI finishes, expecting him to request the planet information, which leaves him to keep asking the 101 stuff.

"What's the difference between the two? The Query uh, Staff and the Tactical A-Abatement unit?" He pauses, his eyes widening suddenly. "Do you know the names of the ones who came with you?"

The news that the two of them were actually attempting to contain and prevent dying planets and not simply seeking to subjugate them was welcome, and Luka too feels his tension lowering.

"Is Sxicq ... contagious? If we follow them to a new planet, will that one die, too?" He whispers quietly to Gyre. The thought made his heart sink - Luka truly wanted them to find a place where they could live peacefully and didn't have to be alone or trapped.

"Uh, how about... DC-X-01, then?" Luka pronounces every dash and letter just as the AI voice had. "To start."

Hopefully these two boys are ready for an earful, because they unlocked the motherlode of just... dense, hard-to-decipher information.

"Inquiry 14 Logged: "QS Staff: More Details". Query Science staff. The AESS mission requires one QS staff at minimum in order to carry out and report on mission status, progress, and results. Mission staff are certified experts of planetary behavior. They are tasked with making and acting on risk assessments of target planets.

"Inquiry 15 Logged: "TA Unit: More Details". Tactical Abatement unit. The AESS mission is inherently dangerous due to the large volume of unknown variables. In order to ensure that the QS staff is not lost to planetary threats or the populations of inhabited worlds, the TA unit is tasked with abating any possible threats to QS staff. The TA unit reports directly to all QS staff on and off mission but is capable of acting autonomously based on the gravity of a given threat. The continuation of the AESS mission is of paramount priority.

"Inquiry 16 Logged: "Mission Staff: Details: Roster". Essential mission staff roster contains two entries. QS Staff "Aldyn Malax Tierra". TA unit "M4-G1-Caster". No other staff logged.

"Inquiry 17 Logged: "Sxicq". Unknown inquiry target. "Sxicq" not found in database.

"Inquiry 18 Logged: "Previous planets: DC-X-01: More Details". Uninhabited. Confirmed geothermal fracture spanning 80% of the planetary surface. Binding attempt failed. Containment attempt failed. Binding attempt incomplete prior to destruction. Planet collapsed.

This is a lot!! It's a whole lot of words in a very monotonous voice. Gyre can feel his brain trying to drown her out the way he used to in classes while teachers lectured.

"I don't think they're contagious. They're their own person, you know?" he murmurs back to Luka, licking his lips quickly. People aren't contagious. He does not have the capacity to imagine a person as a disease at this time.

"Why do you call one 'staff' and one 'unit'? The uh, unit should be able to act by itself all the time?" he returns to the AI, his mind spinning a little. The closest comparison he has to this is his experience as a soldier, but even then, no one talked about grunts "acting autonomously" in this way. It's rubbing him entirely the wrong way, and he can't help wondering which of those two was subordinate to the other before this. They certainly don't act that way now.

As he's frying his brain with all this scifi genre swapping, he listens to the planet explanation. His chest goes cold suddenly, his thoughts going still. Even if there were no inhabitants, a dead planet feels like such an overwhelming loss. He can't help squeezing Luka's hand, going tense and quiet.

Luka squints, trying to keep up with all the information being unloaded on them right now.

"If the TA Unit were to... 'act autonomously', is there a way to override that?" Luka asks carefully. He is assuming here that the TA Unit is likely the Protector, and if he had any weaknesses Luka wanted to know them.

His next question is one he asks only out of morbid curiosity, knowing that whatever answer this machine has is not going to be an uplifting one.

"How many of the previous planets were inhabited by life? How many of those inhabited by life failed containment?"

"Inquiry 19 Logged: "AESS: Staff Roster: Staff Requirements". AESS Staff are required to be fully autonomous living beings. AESS Units are produced and prepared with a core function to assist Staff. Simulated autonomy is programmed on mission assignment.

"Inquiry 20 Logged: "TA Unit: Override". An AESS Director authorization is necessary to override TA unit autonomy unless that unit has not yet been given a mission assignment.

"Inquiry 21 Logged: "Previous Planets: Statistics". Eight confirmed inhabited planets. DC-I-04, DC-I-05, DC-I-06, DC-I-07, DC-I-09, DC-I-10, DC-I-12, DC-I-13. First seven confirmed listed in records titled "Dead planets".

Gyre glances in Luka's direction when he asks that uhhhh incredibly morbid question?? He doesn't want to know that at all. Or if he does have to know it, he wants to know it in context with the other missions.

The realization of the terrible news they're about to be presented with does nothing to actually prepare him for the list, and then for the news that only one of them is still alive. He falls completely silent, losing track of the first two answers entirely. Sure, he should probably figure out what an AESS Director is, but all he can manage to stutter in this moment is a soft, "What happened to them?"

None of those answers were great! Though Luka had been bracing himself to hear something awful, the idea that every previous planet that had harbored life was lost was still nothing he could brace himself for. His stomach twists and he feels as though he might be sick, tightening his hold on Gyre desperately.

"Were any of those populations able to be saved, even if the planets weren't?" He follows up Gyre's question with another. He wants something hopeful to cling to - something to reassure him that their own people wouldn't be lost.

His mind circles back to the override function. They didn't have access to an AESS Director, obviously, even if any out there are still alive.

"Are you able to send any kind of messages? Can you communicate with your home base or... something?" How does science work? Luka doesn't know.

Inquiry 22 Logged: "Previous Planets: Results". All previously identified "Dead planets" records noted as "destruction due to planetary instability".

Inquiry 23 Logged: "Previous Planets: Plans". Identified planets DC-X-01 through DC-I-13 slated for binding and containment through the AESS program with no loss of life. Unable to evaluate population remnants following mission failures.

Inquiry 24 Logged: "Communication with origin planet". Unable to establish connection to HH-I-01. Connection failure reason unknown. Unable to identify cause of communication failure.

This is too depressing. He doesn't even know what to say to this, snugging closer to Luka as if that will make this knowledge go away. He doesn't want to know about worlds of lost people. He doesn't want to think about what this will cost if they can't evacuate.

But he has to now, turning to press his forehead to Luka's shoulder to steady himself. His mind is blank, but he knows they should ask questions while they can. He sighs roughly, blinking tears out of his eyes as he tries to figure out where to go next.

"What does that mean, binding and containment? Why did... why did it fail on those other planets?" he murmurs eventually, barely speaking loud enough to be heard. Hopefully the computer can still catch him though.

The Weather

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