thisavrou_log | ( march intro log )

Entry tags:

( march intro log )

Who: Everyone
When: March 1st and on
Where: The Moira + Ceta
What: The crew finds themselves on the planet of Ceta
Warnings: Potential sci-fi creature death. Please label your content!

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by the inquest
"Arguments on their nature are refuted by those who return to shore, wide-eyed with tales of their savagery."

All Moirans are woken to the sounds of the ship coming to a rather grating halt some time in the early morning cycle. It’s no faster or slower than any other stop, but it is unexpected as the captains didn’t mention an upcoming disembarkment. Shortly after, a message is sent to every MID:
Navigation has informed us that we’re approaching bad traveling conditions: an overactive star. Instead of stopping on Liant El, we’ll be docking here on Ceta. Please exercise caution while gathering supplies and during excursions. Follow their safety guidelines. If the chance allows, we’ll also be signing new crew on the planet. Please greet them first and show them to the ship. Thank you.
The Ingress has pulled you in. Your body experiences several sensations at once: being pushed forward as if a hand is resting on your back, momentary and startling blindness, a gentle ringing in your head. You have difficulty discerning whether it is hot or cold, but where you have been prodded is noticeably warmer than the rest of you. Some may suffer from dizziness while others are perfectly fine. Once equilibrium has been reestablished, you will notice you are standing on a long platform and that the room is filled with a soft cerulean light. It's slightly humid and dark despite the glow around you, and nothing is familiar.

For those few who come through Ceta's Ingress, there will be crew of the Moira there to greet you. They tell you of the Ingress, how it is broken, even on this planet, and that the ship is headed back to the origin of this technology. This planet’s Ingress is set precariously atop a floating rock formation, the only way from one area to the next is on small air-propelled boats. Crew members will guide everyone back to the Moira and take them to the Medbay; contracts will be signed posthaste.

WELCOME TO CETA

At first glance, Ceta seems mostly inhabitable, and that's because it is. The atmosphere around the planet is surprisingly thick in most places, sometimes thin in others, and without some way to filter the air, it is mostly unbreathable; it's a giant gas planet, its core made of various molten metals and the atmosphere a mix of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrous. Ceta's gravity is also uneven, meaning that some areas will have stronger focal points than others. The terrain, when it is visible, appears rather rocky—hardly the best conditions for life and stable living. What's more unusual, however, is that despite this fact, there is, indeed, a small populace "living" among the mist and clouds, but it's clear they do not live here year-round. It's hunting season, and they are there for the bounty.

These visitors have built small platforms that are hooked together by ropes and swinging bridges, which they call "temporaries". Unstable buildings are rare, dangerous, and spread out over these temporaries to prevent damage or accidents. The temporaries float along, swaying and shifting with the planet’s atmosphere, and posted at every point of entry and all open surfaces are a particular set of rules that everyone must abide by. They are written in dark ink and large block letters so that all passing by will stop and read them:
NO FIRE. Flammables, ignition sources, matches, lighters, and anything that creates a spark is prohibited. The atmosphere has higher levels of hydrogen, and the smallest spark will create a problem.
AIR BREATHABILITY. Monitor your vitals. Wear masks or re-breathers if needed.
WATCH THE EDGE. All walkways are the only thing from you and falling. Be cautious and watch your step.
These signs should be given their due attention. The edge is just that: the end of where it is safe to walk. If a wooden plank gives way beneath your feet, you will plummet through hundred of miles of atmosphere before hitting the planet’s thin surface. The captains reiterate that crew should be careful and stick to the main temporaries, gather supplies, visit at their leisure, and then go back to the ship.

☄ IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE!

The organisms that have evolved on this planet are unintelligent—a fact that is told to you by the other visitors. As there is no solid materials or ways for them to interact with their environments, these giants float along within the atmosphere, though it appears that they are flying when they are merely navigating through. They travel in groups of three or more and sometimes come close to the outskirts of the temporaries. Because there is an invisible filtration dome around the temporaries, this allows the creatures to pass through without harm and return again into the mist as they please. They are difficult to see at night and are rather skittish in the presence of sudden light.

☄ @ THE MUSEUM

Every evening when work is done, artificial light sources illuminate the streets of the temporaries. There is one bar, if you can actually call it that, but the main attraction is a museum. The support structure appears to be made out of the skeletal system of the giants that "swim" and live on Ceta, and though the outside seems rather unassuming, the inside is not for the faint of heart. As it's considered informative, there are displays of the internal structures and functions of the very creatures that seem harmless and as unintelligent as the visitors claim. There are sections of the museum dedicated to their anatomy and what makes them so valuable: inside their air sacs, which is what gives the illusion to flying through the atmosphere, is a mineral that, when harvested, attunes and sharpens the senses so that brain capacity and function excel over one-hundred percent efficiency. Likewise, aside from these informative areas, there is also a history of how and when the visitors began to hunt them for this valuable, unnamed resource.

☄ HARVEST SEASON

Are you looking for work? Or perhaps you're bored with your duties aboard the Moira and prefer to see just what it is these visitors do during the day? Hunters will often pay for menial labor to help with the killing and retrieval of the giants of Ceta. It is by day, not by hour, and once aboard one of the many ships, you will be put to work handling equipment or being on the lookout for "signs" of the creatures. Once they've been spotted, the real work isn't in capturing them or even trying to subdue them—though they give a good fight. It's in the harvest, done below deck once they have been safely brought into the ship's cargo areas by the tethers, that can get quite gruesome. As a defense mechanism, cutting into the skin creates a rather noxious emission that can cause disorientation, hallucinations, or unconsciousness. Worst case scenarios can often result in death.

☄ WORD LIMITS

As things are beginning to wind up (or down), something seems to have gotten into the MID systems and caused a malfunction. On the morning of 03.13, it suddenly becomes clear that communicating with others who are not from the same universe or similar timelines seems very difficult. Understanding each other becomes rather hopeless as the day continues, and these repercussions can be felt across the entire ship. The Captains send out another MID message that appears as a jumble of unusual letters and symbols. However, there is one word that can be read by everyone and (hopefully) understood: RATCHET. Figuring out this problem shouldn't take long if everyone can leap the language barriers and work together.

( ooc; All New Arrivals: you have the choice of coming through the Moira's Ingress OR Ceta's Ingress. For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With the wave of new arrivals, Bruce isn't all that surprised anymore when a number of people start dropping by the science department. Interest piqued by what kind of work is done there, he figures, or simply a desire to know everything and anything about the ship. Bruce was like that too, after all — he still is, actually, always wanting to learn more and find out everything he possibly can about the Moira, and the universe beyond.

So, when someone steps in through the open door, he's expecting either one of his new colleagues, or just another new face wanting to come by and check out the place. Still, and despite having read the names on the directory list time and again, he's not at all prepared for this new yet familiar face specifically.

He's standing farther into the large area, turned around to face the door, mouth hanging a little open.

"Hi."

Wow. Playing it cool, Banner.

"Need help with anything?"

If he's going to be stuck on someone else's ship-- which is kind of a vexing prospect-- he's damn well going to figure out everything he can about it. Which means exploring, poking around, asking annoying questions. Not all of it is terribly interesting, but even the boring bits and the confusing bits and the unnecessary number of locked doors are worth finding out about.

He's not sure where he's heading right now, what the science department is all about. But he's not quite expecting to be gawked at. Maybe they don't get a lot of visitors?

"I'm kind of just looking around...."

At least it's just a flicker of surprise, then Bruce eases into a little, slipping back into his usual stance. Smiling slightly, he nods, slowly making his way nearer to the door.

"Feel free to, then. And if there's any questions you have..." He'll be glad to answer them, just like he would to anyone else on board. He's always tried to help people on the ship, new arrivals or otherwise, particularly about the science department as of late. Curiosity is something he's not at all unfamiliar with, after all, and there's nothing to hide here anyway, so he has no qualms about having people looking around or asking questions about what kind of work they do here.

Hesitating for a moment, he finally reaches a hand out when he's close enough. "I'm Bruce Banner, by the way. Chief Science Officer."

Theoretically, they're all on the same side, right? (Only theoretically. These days he's a little better about his capability to trust, but that doesn't mean he's ready to throw in his lot with all these strangers.)

"Han Solo." Taking the man's hand, he nods. "They've got me flying a transport, I guess." After a moment he glances around the room. Most of the Moira is notably unfamiliar, but he doesn't have any sense of what the science department here entails.

"What do you do here?"

They may as well all be on the same side, but trust is a whole other thing. There's only a handful of people Bruce genuinely trusts on board the Moira, and even then it's already a pretty high number for a man who's spent years not trusting a single person— not even himself. Especially himself.

He nods at the name, which serves to him more as a confirmation than anything else. "That's pretty neat," and unsurprising. He promptly goes on to answer the question, looking around briefly.

"Generally speaking, data gathering, monitoring energy and radiation readings and fluctuations, keeping a look out for anything out of the ordinary. If anything strange pops up, we think of possible explanations, run a few tests and simulations as needed, and try to come up with solutions for any issues." Turning around just so, he gestures at the holographic table, where he's currently building a projection of Ceta. "I'm working on a tridimensional holographic map right now. Starting with this planet, but I'm hoping to add other places we might visit, or places we've been to already. A map of our journey, essentially."

Though he's mechanically inclined and knows as much about navigation as any pilot (more than many, probably,) Han doesn't exactly have a scientific mind. What he tends to deal with are the practicalities of phenomena, not the theories or causes or the more subtle effects; energy and radiation are important in an immediate sense, but he gets the idea that this guy is looking at the long view. Some of it-- mostly the anything strange-- is a little beyond his depth. But he gets the general idea.

And then Bruce says the word map and if you wanted to pique his interest, that'd be the place to start.

"Just this planet so far?"

Bruce tries to keep explanations about the work that's done here in simpler terms, unless he knows he's talking to a fellow scientist with the knowledge to understand the intricacies and more complex details. It's only normal that people want to know what kind of things are being done on board the ship, especially when those things can affect them all, so he does his best to make sure everyone gets access to the information in ways that make sense to them.

"Well, I've only started working on it a few days ago, so yes. I did build a projection of my home world but just out of personal interest. We haven't actually been there." Bruce doubts they will, too. So far everything indicates they're in an entirely different universe as it is. "I've added some of the stars and sectors we've crossed so far, but Ceta's the most detailed part of it so far."

He pauses, then offers. "I can show you, if you want to."

For the most part, heavy science wouldn't interest him, unless the practical applications seemed worthwhile. It's good to know what they're up to here, because even a big ship isn't that big, but for the most part he'll be happy to dismiss it as not his business.

But maps? That, he's interested in. It's a bit of a disappointment that there isn't much to it yet, but it's better than nothing... And a whole lot of nothing is what he's had so far.

Nodding, he tries to sound slightly more casual than he actually feels about the prospect.

"If you don't mind."

Bruce is all about sounding casual even when he isn't. He's spent years building defenses around a myriad of emotions, though usually he focuses more on the bad ones, or the really intense ones. Excitement isn't exactly something he minds expressing, especially when it's about something in one of his fields of interest.

As is the case now. It's subtle, but his expression opens up just so, he moves a little more energetically as he makes his way over to the table and pulls up the holographic image he's working on. A projection of the planet below, the background of the picture from their current point of view showing the stars and other space objects he's been slowly adding. He reaches out and touches the projection, making the planet turn this way and that, then with both hands he zooms in closer.

"You can move it around just about any way you want to. I have the topography down for most of it, but only some areas have a more defined image." There's only so much ground he can cover in such a short period of time, even with Superman helping him do it.

Holographic imagery doesn't necessarily wow him, but this is high quality stuff, and the controls are kind of impressive, he can't deny that. Han doesn't reach out to it, at least not yet; he stalks a few paces around it, first.

"Have you stopped in a lot of systems?"

Nothing looks familiar, but that doesn't guarantee anything. The galaxy-- his galaxy-- is huge, and well-traveled as he is, Han knows he hasn't been everywhere, never could go everywhere. So far everything is unfamiliar, and there are enough people who seem obviously foreign to the place he's from that it seems like they're telling the truth about this being somewhere else, but he wants as much evidence as he can muster before he accepts it.

Bruce is no stranger to holography himself, but this is no less impressive to him, and no less exciting to work with either. He's been having a little too much fun with this map especially, which is likely in part because he doesn't want to risk going down to the planet, in part because it's a way for him to unload frustrations and focusing his energy on something productive. But also because sometimes, when it comes to science, Bruce is kind of like a kid given candy on Halloween.

"Some, we... there's been four planets so far," he speaks as he taps at the controls on a smaller holographic panel, pulling up the images of four planets next to each other. The first is of a deep red color, and by far the image with least definition and quality, the second is bright and almost glass-like, the third splits between green areas of land and blue ones of water, and the fourth and last is the one of Ceta, which is also the only tridimensional image.

"Ceta, where we are now," he points at the last, then the rest of them from last to first, saying the names as he does. "Emiri, Caducus Primary, and... the first one didn't have a name, or I couldn't find it. Whoever was on board at the time seems to call it the Exuo planet. I wasn't here yet then— I came on board just after they left that planet. I have a rough estimate of the distances between them, based on what I could access of the navigation logs, but that's about it for now."

And it's colorful, too? Okay, now and then he has to admit things here work pretty well.

None of the names mean anything to him, which isn't exactly a surprise. He's not expecting to find out they're wrong and this is just some uncharted cluster out on one of the more distant arms of their own galaxy. But it would be nice, okay.

"Were the others inhabited?"

The people on Ceta haven't been forthcoming about anything other than offering work. Not what he'd call helpful when he's looking mainly for intergalactic directions.

Colorful and highly realistic. Bruce might mind a lot of things about being stuck here, but the technology is definitely not one of them.

"Yes," he nods, pointing at Emiri and Caducus Primary. "These two had big, thriving cities, with generally good quality of life from what I could tell."

He doesn't point out that the former was run by a matchmaking company that used and experimented on children for their abilities, nor that of the latter there was nothing left to tell the tale. He gestures to the Exuo planet instead.

"I can't tell you much about that one. From what I've read, it had very few natives, and they mostly kept to themselves. It was more common to find other travellers around, setting up shop in some kind of marketplace? So the planet was more like a trading post, I think."

Considering he should have had an awful bout of hibernation sickness, Han can't complain about the tech at all. Except insofar as their portal thing only works one way.

"Was it like this stop? Looking for work?"

Hardly a glamorous lifestyle, but if they haven't got much choice, it'd be good to have some idea of what to look forward to. Han wants nothing more than to get home, but right now that goal is entirely out of reach.

"Hopefully something nicer than slaughtering whatever-you-call-those."

His objection isn't moral, it just seems messy and not worth the pay.

"No, not really. At least the planets I was in, we were more like... tourists? We were free to look around and enjoy the cities as we pleased."

Until, of course, things inevitably went sour. But that's a whole other thing entirely.

"But they were nothing like this planet. Aside from watching the creatures, there isn't a lot of sightseeing or tourist entertainment down there, it doesn't look like it. And not everyone has to go down there to look for work. It's not like we have a need for currency on board the ship, anyway."

Bruce is glad about that, for one. He's not going to interfere with how things are done in other planets, especially when getting involved might end in disaster, but that doesn't mean he'd want to participate in the slaughtering of these animals in any way.

"So why stop at all?"

That question isn't entirely for Bruce; he's just thinking aloud, trying to get a handle on what they're doing, here. Looking for salvage on that junk moon made sense, at least; things are always breaking on a ship. Han knows that better than most. Stopping for shore leave... makes sense too, but there's still something missing.

It might almost work if their stated aims are true and they're just looking for a way to fix that broken portal of theirs, but the idea doesn't sit right with Han. But, then, he's kind of inclined to be suspicious, especially of anything that seems simple.

"Probably for the minerals in these creatures."

Said simply, almost coldly. He has no illusions about the captains, he genuinely believes they want to get their hands on whatever's valuable on a certain planet— and here, that's the only thing he can think of. There's no fuel that he knows, no supplies, just the rocky soil and the thick atmosphere, and there's nothing of measurable worth there.

Bruce doesn't like it much either, that's probably clear enough. But there's only so much he can do about it, when he has nowhere else to go but this ship, and he can't risk the safety of everyone on the Moira and the very planet below.

Edited 2016-03-13 21:15 (UTC)

Well, that'd make sense. He hums an absent-minded agreement, otherwise quiet a moment, considering it. The harvest on Ceta doesn't surprise him enough to bother him. (Perhaps if he'd been given any inkling that they're more than beasts, he'd be more bothered; as it is it's not so different from herding or hunting for any other reason. Life has always taken life.)

After a moment his gaze falls back on Bruce, almost abruptly.

"Where are you from?"

He's guessing it's nowhere he's ever heard of, but it's nice to know for sure.

To Bruce, it is different. This drug isn't necessary, not like food is, so what's happening on this planet seems like nothing more than needless killing and slaughter just for the sake of people's pleasure and recreation. That sits badly with him, much unlike herding or hunting animals for sustenance does.

But... different worlds, different cultures. He tries not to think too much about it, and go on with his work with a reasonable amount of distance and detachment from what's happening on this planet.

He looks up at the question, a second of silence before he answers.

"Earth. That's the name of my planet."

He taps on the screen again, pulling up a detailed projection of Earth as it looks at his point in time.

Maybe if he wasn't focused on adjusting to his circumstances, Han would be more concerned with what's going on below. But it's just as likely he wouldn't bother about it; after all, he ran spice for the Hutt, he knows how this kind of thing works. If there are people paying there'll be people making a living on it.

When the image changes Han looks it over just as readily. Unfamiliar, but that doesn't come as much of a surprise. Hell, he should be surprised at how many people come from places he does recognize.

"Never heard of it," he says, almost apologetically.

"That's alright," Bruce shakes his head. "You're not the first, and you won't be the last."

Most people on board seem to either come from a version of Earth, or at least have heard of it before, but it's no surprise to Bruce when someone doesn't recognize it. It's even less of a surprise this time around, considering he already knew that Han couldn't have possibly heard of his planet before.

Of course Han has no idea how much Bruce really knows, so with a nod aimed his way, he returns the question. "What about you? Where are you from?"

"Corellia, for whatever that means."

Because there's no reason to expect any reciprocity there, right? Han doesn't even consider the possibility. Strange thought, that, but since they're in the middle of nowhere, some random system in some random galaxy, it's no stranger than anything else.

"But I guess we're all pretty far from home."

It means quite a lot to Bruce, actually. It means that Han's willing to be truthful about at least some things to him, which has its own weight. Han can't know that, of course, and Bruce's expression looks as neutral as ever, a faint nod as he shrugs.

"We are, yes. But at least we're not alone."

Which might not always be a good thing, but so far Bruce is glad for that. Even with the couple of crew members he'd gladly have gone without. Not that he can talk, when he might just be among the most volatile and least desired presences on board the Moira.

"Do you have anyone you know around? People you knew before, that is."

Han figures telling the truth on this is easier to keep track of than lying, and he hasn't come across any good reason to conceal it.

"A couple," he answers with a nod, purposefully vague. It's hard to be entirely accurate, actually, considering there are people from home he doesn't know and people he does who are not quite on the same page.

"Does that happen a lot?"

"Often enough, yes. There are some people that have no one else from their worlds around, but then there are larger groups that come from the same universe, or extremely similar realities."

As is the case with Bruce. There are a lot of people around from his world as it is, even if from different times, to add to that there are also a number of people who are familiar with different versions of him and the people he knows, and have different stories to tell. A variation in timeline creating a parallel reality, he imagines.

"There is also a small number of people who came from different worlds, but were taken to some other universe before this one, met there, and then got brought here afterwards."

( march intro log )

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