( open ) i'll fly you to the moon and back

[initiates]

Date & Time: September 21st - September 30th, 11:59 PM
Location: The Hold, the Moon Base
Characters: Any/all.
Summary: The Transports are evacuating to the Moon Base. Those on the Moon Base try to settle in and figure out their next move. Setting info can be found here.
Warnings: Talk of nuclear warheads and reference to immense loss of life. Please contact the mods should any individual thread get graphically violent or anything else of the sort.
Note: Use date and location tags in your subject headlines! Such as "On the moon, 23rd onward" or "On the spaceship, 25th" or "down at the Hold, 29th."

The Hold is a flurry of activity, grim faced members of the Initiative group directing supplies and people with the subdued air of people facing their own doom, and wondering at how to process the knowledge. None of the Initiative appears unaware of what will happen; their eyes linger on the Transports, expressions pleading, hopeful, doubtful, or immeasurably sad in turn.

Every eight hours, the space ship is sent back up with a load of people and supplies. The pilots are worked until they can't; the AI stolen ages ago by the Initiative greets and corrals people and supplies at both ends, and in the middle step between.

The network continues to broadcast on narrow channels between the Moon Base and Exsilium, up until the time that all connections are lost, with the carrier located en route to Exsilium. The first airship will pass by without dropping anything, but it's too early to celebrate. At a six hour delay from behind, the second airship arrives, and with it, the dark promise of the Black Code's nuclear weaponry.

The six hour window allows for time for those left behind, either by choice or circumstance, to be pulled to the Moon Base with the successful activation of the Transport Pad. New characters will ultimately arrive with the remainder of those not yet on the Moon Base, all in time to witness the explosive contact of the nuclear warhead with the ground of Exsilium live on satellite.

But until then, there's only the hurry, the silence, and the potential for full out rioting should the Transports spread word to the Exiles inevitably left behind to face this fate.

Comments

b)

[candystar]

[Ally is... anywhere and everywhere. Wandering around is enough distraction to not think about what's going to happen on the planet below, what might already be happening - it's all too big for her to take in, and to try has led nowhere except loneliness. She misses her friends. Asher or Jack would know what to do, what to say - they always did.

But they aren't here, so it's wandering, watching people, anything that's new or a distraction. She actually watches Billy work silently for a few minutes before finally speaking up]

You know, you're not gonna get very far like that.

b)

[oncearanger]

Like that? Could you elaborate? I'm afraid I might be doing everything wrong with the way things are going for us right now.

[Billy knows he's not getting far. He can feel the block in his mind that's keeping him from his usual inventing prowess. But it's also keeping him from understanding exactly how to work past it.

So he simply looks up at the newcomer he doesn't recognize, hoping for part of his answer.]

Re: b)

[candystar]

[Ally at least has the sense - right now anyway - to tell when someone is taking things not her fault out on her, and doesn't get indignant over it.]

I think you need to get those two gears aligned there and there. [She points at what looks like the problem on the watch]

[oncearanger]

These gears?

[Billy glances down at them, blinks, and slowly nods. He pushes them lightly into alignment. When he does, he shakes his head mournfully.]

Thanks. No wonder they kicked me out of the lab. I'm not even thinking clearly enough to manage that.

[candystar]

Sometimes you just gotta take a break from a project. Usually I'd go play video games for a while, but those are kinda lacking around here, unfortunately.

[oncearanger]

Are you sure about that?

[Billy taps his knee as he thinks.]

I know someone who's planning to program video games into a simulation room.

[candystar]

[She most decidedly perks up at that]

Oh man, really? That'd be almost as good as playing on the Matrix!

[oncearanger]

The Matrix?

[candystar]

[Man she is still not used to this whole 'different worlds' thing] Um, it's sort of like the network. Only waaaaaay bigger and more advanced, and with VR.

[oncearanger]

People are all connected to it, interacting in a virtual environment?

I think I can visualize something like that. It sounds like it takes a lot of power to sustain, though, so I'm not sure how this is operating here.

[candystar]

Well, it's not running here - I think I'm the only person with a VR-capable device, and it's from home. [Well, okay, Jaime has the processing power but - that's supposed to be a secret] They made a lot of advancements to processors and to energy storage, so it's not that bad.

[oncearanger]

That device sounds amazing. I'd love to learn from it, if it's possible?

[candystar]

[She grins brightly]

Sure! Though I hope you don't mind if I hang around while you do it - can't exactly get a replacement if I brick this one.

[oncearanger]

I don't mind. There are definitely things I feel the same way about, and I don't want to break something special to you.

I'd just like to share that experience...maybe the virtual reality could assist us by creating a duplicate?

[candystar]

Yeah, maybe! I'm not sure how good the scanning tech is, but I probably have at least one schematic file I saved locally - if not for this commlink, then one I was repairing for someone or something.

[oncearanger]

I'd love to see it.

And of course I'd show something to you in return. I had grand plans, but I haven't had the means to carry them out yet.

[candystar]

Oooh, what sort of grand plans? Maybe I can help!

[oncearanger]

I want to build a functional teleportation system on a small scale someday. Not something massive like the Transport pad, but something that individuals can use to warp from place to place.

I helped to create one once, but the main issue is powering it.

[candystar]

[Her brow furrows in thought] I don't think we have tech like that in my world - though I think mages can do things like that, maybe. But I could see about helping with a power source!

[oncearanger]

That would be great. But before that, this base needs any extra power that it can get right now. So we'd have to support the base first, then build a separate system.

[candystar]

Ugh, I know. I went to take a shower earlier and it was ice-cold.

[oncearanger]

There's certainly no joy in that kind of shock.

But after some of the things I've seen, having real water to wash with is still a gift. Even if it's cold.