here they talked of revolution, here it was they lit the flame

[initiates]

Date: October 1st
Location: The Observatory.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Observatory for the show of the year. Initial briefings are very brief this time around, and that Greeter just won't stop crying.
Warnings: new confused people and old sad people??

Your arrival here has been very unceremonious. One second you were somewhere else, and now, very suddenly, your feet hit the glowing white of the Transporter pad, and you're here. You aren't alone, either. There's a crowd of others around you, each seeming just as bewildered, angry, or confused as you might feel. At the head of the group is a woman in purple robes, with eyes red as if she'd just finished crying. She hurries over a quick overview of your intended purpose here, and gives direct answers when asked for them, but to most things she simply shows you how to access the tablet you've just been given. There, you can find the history of this place and a record of what your new cohorts have experienced — although it won't have Network access for another 8 hours. Someone stands on hand to give you a weapon, and though the armory is now greatly reduced, you should be able to find something to suit you.

You're shepherded down a walkway tunnel and into the Observatory, where you will find screens mounted on three sides of the wide room. The only lighting comes from dull red emergency lights, and the scenes of a dreary, rainy city from various cameras up on the screens; the largest of the screens opens up to a view of Earth from a good distance away -- this one isn't a screen at all, you might realize, but a window. As you watch, all screens in the room fill with light, impossibly bright. It consumes the buildings, the people, everything. There is no sound played, perhaps mercifully, only that white light -- and then nothing.

Through the large window, there's a pinprick of light over one of the landmasses on the blue planet. It grows to a tiny blossom and then dies away, but a cloud begins to mushroom outward in the same spot. It pushes the natural clouds out of the way, claiming that small portion of the world and wrapping it in a uniform gray.

Strings of numbers begin to fill the blanked out screens as the base's AI begins collecting data and calculations, but the show seems to be over. You're free to explore the base, visit and use any of the VR rooms, or discover your new room and roommates, but try not to step out of any airlocks if oxygen is a requirement for your system.

Welcome to the moon base, with front row seats to the grave of Exsilium.

[[ooc; reminder! The Network will be down for 8 hours after the wave of new Transports.]]

Comments

[vimdicare]

I was curious what it does. I haven't had the chance to look at it. If you need somewhere quiet to think, though, that's going to be scarce for a while.

[She doesn't usually recommend things but since she understands, well.]

Do you have sound-canceling headphones?

[rematching]

No. [As unfortunate as it is.] I think I'll be fine on the thinking, anyway. I'll just do it... wherever I've been assigned.

[She hasn't checked it out yet, but as long as it has a bed and she has some privacy she doesn't care.]

I wouldn't mind seeing how this room works anyhow, if you want to go ahead and try it.

[vimdicare]

[She supposes she'll discover the cramped spaces soon enough and walks over to the monitor.]

Technology isn't my strong suit yet but let's see. This is supposed to recreate anything and allow you to immerse yourself in the experience as long as we give it enough data to work with.

[She turns back.] Do you have anywhere in mind? Maybe somewhere you've always found quiet?

[rematching]

[Paris springs to mind, and she sorts through the locations she's visited. The Louvre was too busy, Montemarte too full of artists clamoring for caricatures, Champs-Élysées too full of wonder...]

Notre-Dame is quiet in the mornings, before the tourists have gotten to her doors. [A slight pause; she can't imagine anyone not knowing where one of the most famous churches in the world is (was), but she'll supply the information anyway.] It's a cathedral in Paris, France. Have you heard of it?

[vimdicare]

I have, yes. I'm from 1986 Japan. As you can imagine, people are scattered, time and place.

[Erika quietly inputs the data though and steps back. Just like she asked, the room transforms around them to an early morning in the cathedral. Since she asked for an immersive experience, even the air and scents have changed.

She didn't expect it to be so interesting.] ...Wow, it works much better than I expected.

[rematching]

[Oh, wow. It's almost like being at home -- if she hadn't had the girl from 1986 Japan with her, Charlie would've thought she'd been transported right back to her Paris.

...And if she hadn't just seen the entire room change, she supposes.]

Incredible. [She's not a private eye right now; she is fifteen and in awe of technology.] Everything's the same -- although, [she'll concede,] I suppose that's the point of it.