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old but unfamiliar faces
"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once."
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. Shortly after, you are led out and toward the medbay.
Inside this room, you are given a physical scan and offered a contract to sign that states you are now part of the crew of the Moira with a specific job. Any questions you might have would be answered in a straightforward manner as well as an explanation about how the Ingress, the thing that has pulled you onto the Moira, is broken and bringing people here unintentionally. This process also consists of a complete work-up of medical history and current health, and afterwards, you are given your MID, a device that is integrated into your hand or wrist with only the slightest pinch. From there, you are guided out of the medbay and to your living quarters.
At first, this month seems no more unusual than the previous one for those who have been aboard the Moira for any amount of time. The crew who had landed on the slaver outpost were rescued, and with everyone aboard, the ship has pushed forward into the darker parts of the Runoff. Anyone arriving through the Ingress follows the same routine—moving from the Ingress room into the Medbay for their physical and contract before being assisted by seasoned crew members and helped to their assigned decks. But all familiar things must eventually come to an end: two final travelers come through the Ingress. The first, and most noticeable difference between them and all the others, is their clothing. Both are dressed in standard Moira uniforms, though they bear the insignia of one sharing the same rank as Captains Cúrre and Thán. After a moment to take in all the people on the platform ahead of them, one of the two latest arrivals approaches one of the Ingress panels and begins to manipulate the controls. The Ingress completely shuts down. Unlike before, however, there isn’t an imbalance felt across the ship; everything remains normal and stable.
Utilizing the computer systems located in the Ingress room, they send out the following message to the crew via the MID:To all those aboard this vessel: I am Ira Phirun, assigned captain of the Moira. First Mate Egan and I will be commandeering all rights to the ship as soon as word is sent to those currently in charge. Expect a more detailed report as soon as all records and logs in Navigation have been reviewed by myself and the First Mate. All questions will be answered in a timely matter. For now, there will be no interruption of daily routine or reprimand if conduct among ranks is broken. Thanks for your time. Heading to Navigation, the Captain and First Mate, for seemingly unknown reasons, approach Navigator Manasseh and have her show them all records and logs of the Moira. Those working in Navigation when the Captain and First Mate arrive will see Mana greet them in a professional manner. Oddly, the Captain and First Mate act very familiar with the Navigator. They review all documents, but when they come upon news that the Ploiatos is on board, their mostly friendly demeanor shifts quickly. The Captain issues a sharp order, unintelligible to those who are close enough to overhear parts of their conversation, and without any warning at all, Mana loses consciousness and collapses right there on the bridge. Within minutes of this happening, the ship as a whole falls into a low power state with basic functions only. Mana’s MID alerts Medbay, and without hesitation, Captain Cúrre places her in cryo with strict orders to those who work there not to disturb the unit.
As promised, the Captain and First Mate soon address the crew.☄ lights down low The lighting has dimmed in all the rooms and halls, the normally crisp air that is pumped from the vents low, and all machines and tech are running at half-speed. These effects can be found throughout the ship. Water in the showers remain hot for only a few minutes before reverting to cold. Recreational equipment powers off not long after it has been turned on. The sanitation and water filtration systems require an hourly manual reboot, and all unused areas of the ship have no power allotted to them until a crew member steps inside. Even then, most functions are not optimal. It’s as if the Moira has been transformed into a dark house with only a candle flickering on the window sill. ☄ reuse & recycle The Captain and First Mate are quick to establish that this is a new regime and go about making the ship and its crew more efficient in the wake of their change in course and the low power state of the ship itself. This means they will systematically inspect each occupied barracks room and leave notes for what needs to be disposed of or stowed away. Unlike before, this is no longer a pleasure cruise, and each member of the crew is a guest on board; they will not tolerate useless clutter. Anything seen as unnecessary will be either placed into storage in the Cargo Bay or disposed of through the airlock. This new need for efficiency also extends to the need to conserve resources until they reach their destination. The showers are set to an automatic timer to minimize water waste. Those few minutes of hot water are all a crew member is now given. Meals are smaller, bordering on ration sizes, and luxuries are done away with entirely in order to preserve supplies so that the ship can go longer before needing to dock at a planet. ☄ new jobs, same faces The Captain and his First Mate, as expressed in their addressing of the Moira, explain that work efficiency is a priority. Applications for a head of the following departments will be accepted for a short period: Navigation, the Tower, Medbay, Defense, the Hold, Sanitation, Ingress work, and the Galley/Mess Hall. (Here.) After reviewing what they receive, one head of department will be chosen and tasked with helping crew find positions relevant to those departments and their own skillsets. They will be allowed to retain any positions that they held before that aren’t ship-functional jobs, but they will have to be done in leisure time. In two weeks time, they’ll be accepting department position applications which will be approved, and all those that do not apply will be assigned in accordance with their initial work application. They will also choose three individuals to act as guards of Ploiatos to ensure that there is a rotation available at all times. Will you choose to follow this new decision and promote yourself into a position of responsibility? Or will you simply wait for a reassignment?
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thisavrou_log2016-08-01 12:13 am
no subject
She shakes her head once. "Clu wasn't targeting me as far as Rinzler knew, not as any kind of priority. I had a feeling I'd become one if Clu realized how important I was to Rinzler. Even though Rinzler claimed not to remember anything about Encom, including me."
Yori hesitates. She doesn't want to tell Tron's User how Rinzler had looked, how he'd apologized to her for reporting to Clu that she was present at all. How afraid she'd been that if Clu gave an order concerning her, Rinzler would have to follow it. "We were both worried about one another," she summarizes.
And now, to start it all over again, with Clu having the advantage of familiarity with the area? "I can try to stay clear," she says with a strong sense of doubt. More urgent, "Is Rinzler okay? And the other Tron?"
no subject
“Sounds like he did remember you, even if he said otherwise,” Alan says quietly. Rinzler had remembered him too, though Alan’s sure Clu would have preferred he didn’t. And he’d seen with his own eyes how ineffective Clu’s memory partitions had become, the code crumbling to the point of obsoletion.
“Rinzler’s kept his disk away from Clu for a few weeks now, so at least his code is safe. He won’t tell me the details, but… whatever he’s doing seems to have worked so far.” And yet, the worry in Alan’s voice reveals his own uncertainty towards the situation. There’s no question Clu wants access to Rinzler’s disk -- the only question is how far he’ll go to get it. Frustrating, that the only thing any of them seem to be able to do is to wait and see.
“Tron took some damage during an attack on the ship, but he’s still functioning.” Tron had downplayed the injuries’ seriousness when Alan had asked, but the glass scars gouged into his face and chest had certainly looked painful. “Clu knows he’s here too, but as far as I know, nothing’s come of it yet.” Hopefully it stays that way.
no subject
Kept his disk away from his admin? Yori shivers with a chill on more than Rinzler's behalf. Outright defiance never went well for programs under the MCP. Even Tron had been imprisoned when she couldn't keep him calm anymore. Clu can't be more forgiving; she hopes he has fewer resources here.
"That's more independence than Rinzler seemed capable of yet in the other place," she remarks, with a vivid memory of the way Clu had taken Rinzler's phone from him while they were all too human for disks. Has Rinzler learned from that, or are circumstances just different? "He must want to protect people here very much." Her eyes flick upward. With Tron's User right here, that goes without saying, but Yori wants to be sure Alan-one appreciates the fact.
Denying Clu access to Rinzler's disk is not remotely safe for Rinzler. Yori can guess at least one of Rinzler's motivations. If Clu manages to wipe him and send him to get rid of threats to his admin, Alan-one has to be way up on that list. All the more reason for Yori to stay clear of Clu. The last thing she wants is to give the admin a hostage Rinzler might care about who can't defend herself.
And Tron. Tron not charging to defeat Clu? That doesn't sound like her stubborn Security program. "If Rinzler is from 2010 and I'm from 1982, when is Tron from?" she asks.
no subject
His smile disappears at Yori’s next question. “As far as I know, Tron’s from 2010 as well. After Clu rewrote him into Rinzler.” He can still remember Clu’s voice over the network, quiet and too earnest. ‘I hurt Tron. I shattered him.’
“He was Rinzler, but… somehow, he reverted. I don't know much more than that myself.” Alan still remembers his conversation with Bel, their account of Rinzler's fight with Tron and how, for a moment, both of his programs had circuitry lit red. "It... seems to be an uncomfortable subject. For both of them."
no subject
Not quite her Tron, then, any more than Rinzler is. Yori tries not to feel disappointed. She'd known already how unlikely it is that she'd meet anyone from her own system. Asking for more than two versions of Tron is selfish.
No wonder Tron doesn't want to talk about it, and no wonder he's not in a hurry to restart the battle. From what she's seen of Rinzler, breaking loose of Clu's restrictive code would be traumatic, and the circumstances can only make that worse.
If Tron reverted from Rinzler, it's a good sign that Rinzler's memories are also at least partly intact, if only Clu would let him remember or leave him alone. She can't bring herself to hope that Rinzler might revert the same way. Surely there's a way to free him without hurting him even more. But the memories...Rinzler has as much right to those as Tron does.
"Thank you for telling me," she says quietly at last. Too much to process, too many new questions. "I can see I need to talk to both of them. Along with avoiding Clu." Who was probably looking for both disobedient programs and anyone else in his way. "Any advice about avoiding him? You've been here a while."
no subject
“To be honest, I’ve seen so little of him, sometimes it seems more like he’s avoiding me instead of the other way around." In fact, he hasn’t seen Clu in-person at all since he arrived, only through the video messages the program had posted to the network. But he can at least guess what would attract Clu’s immediate attention.
“If Clu's looking for Rinzler’s disk, then he’s more than likely keeping a close eye on anyone he sees speaking with him. Given that, it’s probably safer to contact Rinzler through his MID. And even then, be careful. Make sure whatever you send is set to private.”
“Other than that… He’ll have a lot more reason to be interested in you if he knows you’re a program. If you can make him think you’re just another user, you’ll have a much easier time avoiding his attention.” Assuming Clu doesn’t recognize her from the school, Yori might already have a headstart in that regard. Alan certainly hadn’t been able to tell she was a program at first glance -- though given the familiarity of her face, it would be difficult for him to see her and not associate her with her user instead. It still is difficult, to a degree.
no subject
Yori finds some encouragement that Alan-one thinks marking a message private might keep it private; that really hasn't been her experience in the past. "You don't think he can access Rinzler's MID?" she asks to verify.
Whether Clu remembers her or not, he's likely to be much too interested in anyone who chooses to spend time with both Tron and Rinzler. There's only so much she can do to hide that. She's not willing to avoid either of them in the name of her own safety, even if they'd both approve such a plan. "I'll try not to make it obvious who I am," she agrees, with some doubt.
If she can hide her own disk for the time being, she won't be such an easy target. It will have to do.