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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
"<Processing Retrovox R0-KV designation... no match found.> Can I ask who manufactured you? My database is a little rusty." Plus, universe-specific.
no subject
By this point, Rocky has pretty much concluded that he's communicating with an inorganic being and, although it doesn't change how he conducts himself, he does feel a bit more at ease.
"What about you? Are you part of the Moira?"
no subject
"Nah. I'm written for facility administration. This was the closest match they could find when the Ingress pulled me through." He doesn't sound too broken up about it. The opposite, honestly-- the mainframe hadn't expected to be kept functioning at all, much less given any kind of system access.
no subject
Rocky's smile fades a bit while he considers this AI's situation. It must be tough being an intelligent, omnipresent entity forced to operate under such strict power limitations. But perhaps it's better than not operating at all.
"What kind of facility did you come from?"
no subject
And with such... unfortunately specific wording. If the AI could sigh, he would. As it is, the robotic monotone that answers back sounds entirely too cheerful.
"<Domesticon recycling and warranty depot #127: keeping your Domesticon products efficient, so you don't have to be.>"
He really hates that tagline. "Recalibration, mostly." The mainframe's own voice expands, tone much more neutral. "It was designed to assess and adress deviant AI and faulty hardware."
no subject
That sounds like the kind of place to stay the hell away from.
After clearing his nonexistent throat, he smiles and starts anew. "How do you feel about this new facility? Is it a welcome change of pace?"
no subject
It's okay, Rocky. Your silence speaks loud and clear. And is, in fact, completely sensible. There's a drawn out silence at the repeated topic change, but pointed acknowledgement or not, the Domesticon AI makes no effort to openly call Rocky out.
"It's... definitely a change. Protocols don't match too well, but I'm not complaining." About either the facility or his protocols. As inconvenient as parts of his coding might be here, the mainframe wasn't going to go asking for repurposing at a place bizarre enough not to force it on their acquisitions.
no subject
"That's for sure. This isn't like any place I've ever been, but I feel like I could be useful here." Perhaps even more so than he was at home on Earth. Being useful is an important thing after all, especially for a robot. "I was built to withstand conditions intolerable to most organic life. And what conditions are more intolerable than space? I bet there's no shortage of things to do around here."
no subject
no subject
"I was programmed primarily for security and defense of my city. I know a lot more about weaponry and combat than I do about water purification." Why he wasn't assigned to the security team is the greatest mystery of all to him and it makes him wonder if job assignments weren't completely randomized.
"I guess maybe they wanted me to learn something new."
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"They've got me arranging work schedules." Which actually matches about... a tenth of his coding. "Speaking of which: Any preferences? I can just plug and play, the algorithms are pretty basic, but if you've got any thoughts..."
no subject
Upon finishing that statement, he realizes he's missing a key piece of data about this AI. "Sorry, but I don't think I got your name."
no subject
"Hey, deep space might not have night or day, but this place is full of humans who are a little more... circadian." A nudge to one spreadsheet, a shift of another, and... there. Rocky's MID will get a ping, and if he opens the attached file, there's a work schedule for his perusal. "I put you in for a few group workdays early on so you can get the hang of things. After that, it's lower-activity shifts as long as you want them."
If Rocky checks the MID call, the source ID is listed only as mainframe AI. Which he'll have a moment to do, since said AI is currently running a quiet loop in surprise. It was weird enough coming from the humans, but their universes seemed... well, different. From everything Rocky's said, his world works much more similarly to the administrator's own.
"Never did settle on that." There's a slightly hopeful note as the AI adds: "Any thoughts?"
no subject
In closing the file, just before the screen collapses in on itself, he catches the sender ID. It denotes nothing about the AI besides its function and it leaves Rocky wondering.
"I guess I'm just surprised that whoever programmed you didn't bother naming you. You'd think humans would have named an AI with whom they regularly interact, you know, to make things easier for themselves. But then again, maybe they didn't want to spend too much time thinking of you as anything other than strings of code. Humans can be... complicated like that."
Complicated and sometimes willfully ignorant.
Rocky looks toward the camera again as if to convey a sense of eye contact. "Have you ever thought about having a personalized name or are you happy not having one?"
no subject