thisavrou_log | ( august intro log )

Entry tags:

( august intro log )

Who: Everyone
When: August 1st and on
Where: The Moira
What: New “guests” join the crew on their journey and implement some changes.
Warnings: None for now. Please label your content!

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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?

( ooc; For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So they actually have a prison up here?

[ hold. or some form of punishment. the equivalent in andyr's head would be 'ISO', but it's good to know there's somewhere they put them if they fuck up. and apparently this guy's been there. that's filed away somewhere in his mind, under 'chatty, fast guy'.

there isn't any real concern about peter following him around, and if andyr were truly annoyed by it, he'd say so, so when he plops down at the table with him, andyr's only lifting his eyes to look him over while he rambles. ]

Me neither. Someone here's gotta know, though. Staff aside.

[ maybe alva? he'll ask later. ]

They have cells, but I wouldn't call it prison. Like there's not yard or showers or temperature control, and I think most prisons are supposed to be humane like that. And I'm pretty sure a normal jail keeps people more than a few days for murder and doesn't lock you up for self defense. The system here used to be a total joke.

[If he sounds like someone who has a lot of opinions on the system, it's because he is. There may be months between what happened with Rinzler and now, but he doesn't think enough time will ever pass for him to stay calm about the decisions made that week.]

I know the old cook. But I don't know if he'd make anything for me. Or anyone else.

So punishment for murder is go to time out and you don't get to shower for a few days? [ Andyr's brows raise, and he gives a sharp laugh. You have to be shitting him. On the one side, that's kind of great for him, as he tends to murder a lot, but on the other, the people he tends to murder aren't here. So there isn't much reason. ] When'd it change to just dumping people on the closest planet?

[ because that's the rule now, isn't it? So far as he's been told, at least. As for the cook - ]

Who is it?

[He has the good grace to look a little sheepish. He's pretty sure the mess he created with Rinzler had a lot to do with things getting changed.]

A few months ago. Like, two? Three? I was stuck in cryo a while, keeping up with dates has been a pain. [He shakes his head.] But yeah. Used to be just a slap on the wrist. Murder was just whatever man. Just because there's a change people can come back. But believe me, sometimes they don't. And even if they do, they don't come back okay.

[He mutters the last words darkly.]

His name's Loki.

Are the people running this ship fucking insane?

[ he understands himself getting away with literal murder back in hapsburg, but that was because he was corporate blueprints, they needed him. but these crew are just random ass people. if he'd have been just any clone causing all that mayhem, he'd have been put down years ago. ]

You don't sound like you like Loki.

Yes.

[He actually likes one of the old captains as a person, but he can't pretend they had run anything in a way he could agree with. 'Like' was up for question anyway, after what he'd learned out their conflict with the invaders. But insane? He tought that applied any day.]

No. That's not it. He'd fine, I like him fine. Not sure if the other way around is true, you know? Honestly I don't know him too well.

[What he did know was the guy was dating Peter's nephew and Peter couldn't decide what he really thought of that relationship.]

What else have they been doing? No one seems to have any faith in them.

[ he'd like to have a history of what the disapprovals are stemming from. this kid seems to be a font of information, and for the time being, andyr's more interested in getting as much as he can from him. ]

Yeah? Good to know, I guess. [ that he's one of those hard to get people. ] Who here's a problem, though? For the crew or the captains or whatever.

[ find the outliers, stalk them from the vents maybe, decide whether or not they're worth approaching, or keeping a wary eye on. ]

There's been a lot of things. But recently? The shit with Caducus Secondary. We destroyed one of their planets, they came seeking revenge and after months of the captains shoving non-violence down our throats, they tell us to kill them all. We murder a bunch of grieving people on their orders when trying to take out a murderer on this ship would get you booted.

[He shrugs, the movement jerky with tension.]

And then they lost control over their machine right after that. Got a ton of the crew stuck on a slaver's post. You can guess what kind of sick shit happened to the people around here. So yeah, people don't have much faith in anyone in charge.

[Peter's tempted to say Rinzler, put the program right at the top of the list. He finds himself hesitating.]

I don't really trust any of the robot types around here. Some of them got some really screwed up ideas about who has what rights or who's lives matter more.

[ As Peter’s recounting it all to him, Andyr listens idly, munching at his rations as he takes it in, seeming mostly blank, but interested, in the information given. Not particularly surprised by any of it, however. ]

So we’re supposed to be soldiers. [ That’s what he gets from that bit about being ordered to kill. Soldiers, slaves, whatever. Same difference.

Thankfully, he’d already heard about the slaver post from Nick, and the violation that was part of it, and all too familiar of a thing to Andyr and the world he came from, and already had his episode over it. So Peter won’t have to stop him from stalking down the old captains with a shank in hand. But there’s a clear way his head twists to the side, eyes closing, and knuckles going a bit white around the fork he holds. It’s not a nice topic. Let’s move on. ]

I can guess. [ he says, a bit darkly, and gets to the robots right after. Though that subject of “who’s lives matter and who has what rights” is hardly any easier of a topic for him. ]

The freakin’ robots are the ones deciding some people don’t have rights? That’s fucking rich.

I didn't think we were.

[He feels so bitter about it now. All the fighting he'd done in the name of his sister had been branded wrong. He'd felt vilified for trying to protect his family and then so again for trying to fix it. Even Than calling him out for an end to the violence. And then the authority had turned right around and told them to fight. To kill.

He looks away at the barest response about the outpost. He's glad he doesn't have to spell it out; Peter's not sure he even could. There's a lot he can't find the will to talk about yet.]

Not just robots, believe it or not. Some humans, aliens, whatever taking their side too.

I was assuming it.

[ Of course, Andyr comes from a place where that’s normal, at least for him. So, the Moira isn’t that different, just tries to hide it where Hapsburg only cared about sugar-coating to the public. It’s almost annoying, in that sense. He’d like to say ‘at least we won’t get dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and tortured for science’, but you never know.

A snort leaves him, eyes sliding back to Peter with a look that isn’t terribly surprised. ]

Humans and aliens makes sense. Robot’s oughta know better. Guess these ones were never slaves.

[He glances up sharply, eyeing Andyr for a long moment.] Yeah?

[It's an invitation to talk, if the man wants it. Peter won't pry, but he can't help but ask when something sounds like a there's a story to it. Besides, he can't pretend to know everything that's going on around here. If Andyr knew something, it was only wise to ask.]

Are they usually, where your from? Slaves, I mean?

They're machines - they're property.

[ Said like it's the most obvious thing in the world. He isn't saying they aren't life in their own right, that's not an argument he's getting into.

But that's the way with the world, isn't it? people don't just engineer a robot just to set it free to happily live it's life, just like no one engineers clones just to release them into the city. they were made to do a job, to meet an ends. ]

Anyone who makes something owns it. No matter how sentient it is. That's just humans.

[He opens and shuts his mouth, unsure what he wants to say. He doesn't want to own any of the robots on board. There was a time he even liked some of them. He just didn't want to see the entire ship backing Rinzler, protecting someone made of metal over flesh.]

I think that depends.[He starts carefully.] I've heard some weird shit since I've been here. I think some people are capable of making something a little more real than just robots.

What, they don’t make actual people where you’re from?

[ asked casually, as he shovels a bit more food into his mouth, because that’s a norm for his world. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said people will decide they own anything they make. Robots are just the simplest version of that. ]

Only the old fashioned way. [He drops his utensils to make a vulgar hand gesture.] It's not like making a robot. We can't just grow someone in a lab.

[Probably. But he didn't think they had the technology to make the giant robots either.]

We do. [ he answers shortly, frank. grow people in labs, he means. that's exactly what it is. sap the DNA out of one person, put it in a dish and mix, let sit, or whatever happens inside those pods the clones are grown in, and viola - human being. ] Someone'll probably figure it out for you eventually.

[ or maybe the KN gene will never crop up for these people, in their futures. andyr's yet to meet anyone as far into the timeline as he is. ]

Whoa, whoa. Hold up. Are you saying people are making other people where you're from? Like out of science?

[It's sounds stupid, implausible to hear it coming out of his own mouth. Or maybe it sounds like something he should have expected, with all the advances he's already seen around the ship. But cats growing on trees was still a far cry from growing a human.]

I don't think anyone is going to figure that out, ever.

It's just cloning. Nobody did it with sheep yet, where you're from?

[ technology seems like it takes different paths in every universe. there's some people he's met from earlier than him that're already farther into space than his Earth is. but animal cloning started ages back, it was just a kick they needed to get it to work with humans. ]

And gene splicing. They only live about five years anyway before organ failure sets in.

No. What? Why would you want to clone a sheep? And, just? That's a big thing. I didn't even think that was possible.

[He'd never heard anyone talk about that, not even the people he knows here from the future. Knowing what had happened to Wanda, to River still made more sense than the idea someone could make a person through science.]

Wait- so they make people. [He has to pause because saying it is so strange.] They clone someone and that person only lives for a few years?

Pretty sure it sums up to - copy genetic code, paste genetic code into organic soup. But fuck, I don't know, I'm not a doctor.

[ that, and, the KN gene gave a boost to it, what little bit extra that was needed to take that step. andyr shrugs, tearing a piece off his bread to toss into his mouth. ]

Basically, yeah. Disposable people.

I feel like I need to be one just to understand that. It just doesn't seem real to me. Or legal.

[He rubs at his face, shaking his head. It was bad enough what Wanda showed him, the genetic experiments she and her brother had been through. Bad enough to see that video from River, to know there were people out there who thought they could mess with life in the name of science. But this was a step beyond.]

That's like having a damn kid just to kill it. It's not right! Do people know that's happening? They can't, no one would just let it go on.

No shit it’s not right. [ but it’s real, and it’s legal, and the world as a whole allows it. ] But there’s benefits that make most people decide to ignore it.

[ or just not care. Acceptable losses. The world as a whole tells themselves KN1s aren’t people, and the clones are even less so, and that makes doing all this okay. ]

The genetics in the templates keep the normal humans alive, make healthy organ transplants available, cure the sick and all that shit. The clones mean no one has to join up in the military and die for stupid ass wars. All the jobs no one wants to do are taken care of by people no one has to pay wages to.

So, no one gives a shit enough about it not being right to try to stop it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( august intro log )

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