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the outer gate
"Open up, and let them in."
The Moira is no more.
With the damage done to the ship due to the timeslip, all that remains is a burning wreckage and parts to be taken—if the crew can find anything in the pieces. Recovery and headcounts are the main objective for the first several hours of being planetside, and once things have settled just enough, Captain Ira calls for a meeting and addresses those who are able in person to explain the situation. He draws a rough map of the area and explains where he believes they are - according to the terrain - and where they must go. For anyone who’s listening, he describes things like an “Outer Gate”, an “Inner Gate” and “gate sectors”. Believing this to be the best course of action, all crew are asked to explore and gather what they think they’ll need to make the long journey towards the central point of the Hub. Because the MIDs are no longer working due to the lack of a network, the Captains distribute a newer tech called the TAB. It serves the same functions as the MID but is lighter, slimmer, and has the ability to stick to any surface.
WELCOME TO THE MIDWAY HUB
Now that the smoke from the crash has cleared, and injured crew have been tended to, the Captains get everyone ready for departure by explaining what they know of the Hub. Almost stone-like, the creators built a domed workspace in the largest solid space on the planet they could find. Gates are the only way inside, and anyone who catches a glimpse of the compound will see that parts of the dome are cracked. Yet, everything still appears to be relatively intact. The Midway Hub’s terrain is very rocky and difficult to walk on at times. Below the surface is a honeycomb of intermittently dense and brittle stone that makes travel difficult due to the unpredictable nature of what lies beneath the crew’s feet. Those who can develop the tech from what’s left of the debris might be able to create something to determine which route is the safest. Ships and small crafts can be used to fly, but landing is a problem—rocks jut up in sharp peaks and the clearer spots can't handle their weight. Vegetation is sparse, consisting of twisted dark gray thistles that have sprung up from cracks in the rock and burn when in direct contact with skin, and what could be considered small animals here can be seen scurrying away the closer crew get to them.
☄ WEEK ONE
Crew are asked to hook cryo beds together and to use any appropriate vehicles that can be made or fashioned to fit the terrain to carry injured crew on the journey to the center of the Hub. Supplies are gathered, and the Captains, as well as any crew who want to, give the Moira a proper sendoff, heads bowed as they say goodbye to what’s been their home. Traveling starts out slowly, a line of a hundred-plus crew members making their way slowly forward. Stops are frequent, but camping for rest only occurs at night. Crew are assigned watch shifts, fires are built, injured tended to, and those who are able are asked to explore nearby caves and hunt for food.
Something akin to deer, though striped and only to be found in pairs, can be stumbled across at night. Throngs of dark purple mammels begin to follow the Moirans on their trip as well. They are friendly, curious, and eat the thistle. Meet the intelligent, watchful predators that aren’t easily scared away and follow the crew from a distance as if waiting to pounce. The thistle can be eaten, but only if cooked first, and those who sample the chewy plant raw will experience a burning sensation in their throat that doesn’t go away until the cooked version is consumed. During the first week, water can’t be found.
Anyone who does hunt, gather, or explore should make sure to that their TABS are on and it’s suggested that nobody goes alone.
Nearing the end of the first week, an Ingress can be spotted close by that crew can explore. If anyone dares to go inside, they will find the texture of the ground and surrounding walls to be rather soft. If inspected closely, crew will discover that what they originally thought to be rock is actually a living organism that’s fed off the energy of the Ingress it’s attached itself to. It’s not harmful and squishy to the touch. If pressed hard enough, it secretes a turquoise liquid with the consistency of water that might make a good substitute for that very thing. ☄ WEEK TWO
When crew finally pass through the sector gates, a strange sensation encompasses them, and a depowering of sorts goes into effect. The creators put in security measures meant to put all visitors on equal footing as well as to protect themselves from harm. All crew will essentially have the strength and abilities of the average human. An unforeseen issue, this causes Captain Thán to slip into a coma as he is no longer able to continue to recover at a steady pace, and with the loss of the former Captain’s abilities, crew can no longer be brought back if they die. For the first time, all Moirans are subject to permanent death.
During this week of travel, broken ingress machines and parts will be found scattered among the rocks, and new crew will come through. Unfortunately, these Ingresses aren’t in good shape, and anyone coming through will be in varying states of distress—some physical and some mental. New individuals will either have suffered an age slip, growing older or younger than their original body, some form of body transformation (perhaps that shiny thing they were wearing is now part of them somehow), or an extreme weakness they had never been subjected to before arriving on the Midway Hub. The new people will be offered to join their group, once found, and seasoned crew will be asked to explain to them where they are going and what they know.
The rest of the week will be a mix of greeting the new arrivals and continuing to travel to the center of the Hub. The closer they get, the less frequently they’ll see animals, and more caves will begin to pop up. ☄ WEEK THREE
Entering the third week of travel, settlements and houses begin to crop up and are prime areas for exploration and general supplies. Those who go inside may find items that have been left behind and evidence showing that those of varying species and cultures lived in the homes. Some appeared to have been scientists while others were explorers, but all living quarters are deserted. Crew who are less lucky in their search might come away with no fresh supplies, and others might walk into traps or safeguards left behind by previous tenants; these come in many forms, from mild paralysis to temporary unconsciousness. As there are more residences, there are also more caves. The entrances vary in size, and light sources will be needed to explore. Once inside, crew can find purple underwater streams, which can be consumed, and glowing surfaces. When crew drink the water, it temporarily restores powers, a few minutes tops, and then, extreme lethargy settles in for a couple of hours.
Further into the cave systems, crew will come across these lovely creatures that are attracted to sound and track through scent. They are highly dangerous and attack simply to feed. Killing them, though, is surprisingly simple as they are just as vulnerable and weak as everyone else. They are vicious in demeanor but only as strong as an average human.
The closer to the Inner Gate crew get, the less homes, wildlife, and more caves there will be. ☄ WEEK FOUR
The Captains, aware that the crew is exhausted, stop and make camp for the first few days. Someone mentions that it’s the holidays where they’re from, and the Captains do their best to throw a party. Set up at the base of a cave, tents are built and fires roar. Soft music is played in the form of guitar, thank you Ira, and Cúrre brings out some legumes that taste like cherries when roasted. There isn’t much in the way of decorations, but crew are encouraged to dig through their pac-discs and contribute to the festivities.
After a brief respite, crew learn that the entrances to Gate A and Gate B are inside one of the caves but any signs or markings have long since worn away or been destroyed. Groups are split, TABS are synced, and crew explore carefully until an entrance is found. Crew discover Gate A first, and all crew are contacted to gather there. The Captains will remain at the cave entrance until all crew are accounted for, and then, they’ll enter through the gate together.
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hohnkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2016-12-02 06:54 pm
no subject
It wouldn't (couldn't?) matter if he did. Rinzler hesitates, fingers twitching in minute, aborted motions before he abandons the keyboard entirely and reaches for the textbox overhead. A quick gesture sets it scrolling up, and Rinzler pauses the display on a single, short, recycled line.
My function.
Slowly, the enforcer's hand lowers. Rinzler shakes his head again, a small, quick motion that feels far too easy for the weight it holds. He's not a user. He has a place to fill, a purpose to serve—or he did, and he needs that. He has no right existing if he doesn't. And Rinzler knows what he's for. He's spent so long cheating and maneuvering. Breaking, line by fractured line. None of it worked. None of it helped. He's tired.
He can't abandon Clu.]
no subject
Alan wishes he could deny it. Rinzler may not be to blame for what Nihlus had done or what had become of the Moira, but that doesn’t change the outcome; Rinzler had tried to choose a life for himself, and it had all come crashing down around him. There’s nothing Alan can say to change that.
And as much as Alan knows what Rinzler’s fate would be if he returned to the Grid, Rinzler will always, always know it better.
It’s with sudden, painful clarity that Alan realizes that it’s possible he won’t be able to change Rinzler’s mind. If years on the Grid hadn’t been enough to dissuade him, is there anything Alan could say that would be?
He’s silent for a few moments, replaying his own arguments in his head. ’You’ve acted outside of your function before. What happened wasn’t your fault. You know what will happen if you go back. There are other options.’ What else can he possibly say when none of that seems to matter to Rinzler at all?]
I can’t just let you go back there. [It’s hardly even an argument anymore so much as a pained statement of fact. They can talk about plans now, but once they get to the Hub? Alan can’t imagine just letting Rinzler disappear with Clu, anymore than he could’ve imagined simply walking away when Rinzler fell through the reverse-Ingress, or when the program was wounded and fading out in one of the Moira’s corridors. He’d have to do something, just like he did then.
Rinzler might hate him for it. But that seems a small price to pay if it keeps Rinzler from an eternity at Clu's side.]
I’m sorry, but… [Alan looks down, his own words bringing with them horrible sense of familiarity. ’I don’t know if there was ever a right decision to make.] I wouldn’t be able to just stand aside and let that happen. Not when I know what will happen to you.
no subject
...he's weak.
It wouldn't be impossible.
Alan's program doesn't reach for his communicator. He doesn't flinch back this time, and he doesn't step away. It had done no good at all before. But there's a impossible weight to the stillness, something brittle and broken echoing beneath each beat of sound.
This was supposed to be better.
If Alan looks up, his declaration will meet only the smallest tilt of Rinzler's head. It's not defiance or refusal—he's holding together too carefully for that (he'd shatter if twitched even the slightest fraction more). He doesn't need to. It's just a (hateful) (empty) question.
What is he going to do?]
no subject
And if that weren’t possible… He knows the final option just as well as Rinzler does, however unwilling they both are to say it. He thinks back to the first time he’d almost recoded Rinzler those months before, to all the outraged voices telling him he was wrong to override another sentient being’s free will, no matter the circumstances. He had even believed it himself. And yet…
If he doesn’t edit Rinzler, Clu will. Not just edit him, but destroy every trace of the person he’d become and wipe out all capability of future aberration. It would still be reprehensible to force edits on Rinzler, but if he can’t convince him to leave Clu’s side, it seems like that much would be set in stone; the only thing Alan would have the power to change is who and how.]
I don’t want to force you to do anything. All I’m asking is that you make a different choice. [He’s tired of this ritual, of trying to make a right from a wrong. Create peace through violence, freedom through confinement – choice by taking it away. If Rinzler would choose any of those things for himself, maybe he wouldn’t have to. And yet there’s still the faintest trace of hope in Alan’s voice.] Is that really so impossible?
no subject
Can he? Maybe that's why.]
Not my choice.
[Not where he goes. Not what his programmer—either programmer—does to his code. There's a slumped, despairing curve to Rinzler's shoulders, a fractured twitch that almost rates a tremble in the open hand that lingers at his side. But the enforcer's mask stays up towards his creator, and there's something almost demanding to the fixed, unmoving stare.
Edit him or don't. Let him go back to Clu's defaults, or lock him up to write your own. But don't cage him up, don't remake him, and then tell him that was his own decision.
...
Please.
He doesn't want this either.]
no subject
If he’s so afraid, why doesn’t he stop?
Alan takes a step forward, more on instinct than by any conscious choice.] Please, just think about what you’re doing. You’re talking like he’s already recoded you– [He stops then, stares at the flickering firelight reflected in the black of Rinzler’s mask. His expression is suddenly stricken.] He hasn’t, has he?
no subject
Fault.
Clu remade Tron for following the users. Alan-one will remake him for serving Clu. It's a cheat, a trap—a lie, to call that something he decided. But Alan-one isn't a liar (and what does that make him—?)
Alan-one steps closer, and Rinzler freezes, blue lights guttering back out to red. There's a half-aborted flinch, a twitch that looks like a retreat or cringe, and in the end, the locked, defiant stare does lower to the ground. But he doesn't kneel. He doesn't run.
That, he can choose.
A moment's lag (mismatch) and the dark helmet shakes. Clu hasn't recoded him. Yet. Again.
(What does his user think he is?)]