a bumpy start! {glyphcomm + action}

[seeingyou]

You wake up to the sound of alarms and a distinct sensation of quaking, and you're quite obviously not where you're supposed to be. This room is strangely shaped, nothing you recognize, and you definitely don't remember how you got here. The room is bathed in soft red light, which might look pretty, except it's blinking in a way that you can probably guess signals danger.

There's a symbol on the back of your hand that you don't remember acquiring, either, but that's probably less important at the moment than the sound of the alarms shrieking and the prerecorded voice speaking over the intercom. It's one of those bland, agender voices, entirely too calm in tone for the message it's relaying:

WARNING
WARNING
IMPACT THREAT DETECTED
EVASIVE ACTION REQUIRED

There’s a loud crash and another violent shaking, as that impact threat collides with the ship’s hull. The warning message continues to repeat on a loop amidst the blaring of the alarm. All passengers should be conscious now, with the noise at such a high volume. Opening your cabin door reveals a nondescript hallway, with five cabin doors on each side for a total of ten on each floor; the doors to the empty cabins are unlocked and inside the cabins hold the same plain, basic furnishings as your own. Halfway into the hallway, there is a lift on one side and a set of stairs on the other.

Comments

{post-crash}

[tdls]

Once the ship has completed its extremely bumpy landing, the sirens go quiet and the red light stops blinking to provide a gentle, steady glow instead. You’ve all survived!

The quiet only lasts for a moment, however - one of the screens flashes to life to reveal the face of a young adult human male. The face is framed with shaggy black hair and wearing an expression creased with deep concern.

“Navi, are you OK? Your vitals are off the charts, and I - ”

He stops, having noticed the group of passengers, blue eyes lighting up with surprise. “Ah, OK, that explains it.” He offers the crowd a friendly smile and a wave. “Hi, everyone. Welcome to space? I’m Tim, and I’m guessing you all have questions.”

[shahrrehth]

There is definitely something familiar about that face. It reminds her of-

Of Tina, honestly. She hasn't seen her in the last few weeks (things had just been hectic lately) but there's definitely a... a Tina-ness that she can't shake. It's an odd kind of deja vu to add to the rest of the weirdness going on right now.

But none of it is a reason not to talk back, so she's going to step towards the console, offering a friendly little wave.

"Hi, Tim," she offers easily enough, a smile coming to her lips. It's all warmth and reassurance; it's a Superwoman smile and whether it's for Tim or her or the people here or all of the above, she's honestly not sure.

"And you're not wrong about that. But we did just crash land so... I don't suppose you know if there's anything else we need to be doing right now first?"

[tdls]

Tim's eyes widen in concern. "You crashed? Is everyone there OK?" He scans the passengers, looking for signs of injury, and relaxes when he sees a lack of anything dire.

"Navi should be fine. They're self-repairing, it just takes time. Right, Navi?" The Navigator nods their head slowly.

Yes, my essential systems are still functional. It will take quite some time to repair the damage I took, however. Luckily, the planet where we landed is compatible with all life forms currently on board, and the local population is friendly and hospitable. We should be safe here, for now.

[shahrrehth]

She nods.

"We're all right. Nothing too nasty." She hasn't smelled any blood or heard anything grinding in a way that makes her teeth itch. Then again, she hasn't done a comprehensive scan.

She's not sure of anything and doing anything too obvious seems like a bad idea.

"So since you didn't know about the crash, I'm assuming you're somewhere else. Are you safe?"

[tdls]

“That’s a relief. If anyone does turn up hurt, there’s an infirmary on the third floor. If nobody there has any first aid training, I do, and I can talk them through what to do.”

And if anyone is in super bad shape, there’s always the Neogenesis Chamber. Tim elects not to offer that piece of information at the moment. This situation is weird and stressful enough as it is.

“Me?” His eyebrows raise slightly, surprised at the concern. He’s not the one who just crashed, after all. “Yeah, I’m fine - as fine as you can be while caught in the middle of intergalactic civil rights conflict.” He chuckles quietly, and elaborates: “My partner and I are training a small group of Navigators hiding on an outer planet in a different system - it’s pretty far from where you’ve landed. But I modified some tech I had with me so we could keep in touch with Navi while they’re searching for more of their people.”

[shahrrehth]

"I've got some, actually," she says easily enough, both because it's the truth and it will make things easier for everyone. She's hoping it won't be necessary. "But it's good to know. It's not like I'll always be available, after all."

She listens to the rest of what he has to say, including the surprise; yes, of course she's concerned about him. She doesn't know where he is or what he's up to or if he's safe. And it sounds like he's in hiding which is a temporary kind of safe. That isn't the focus of the conversation, though.

"So Navi is looking for others? Are they- I guess it'd be a bad idea for you to tell me how many there are. But is there anything we can do to help Navi look for their people? The missing ones?"

[tdls]

"Well, hopefully you won't have too many stab-happy types on board," Tim says, with a light chuckle. (This wasn't the case for Tim's crew. Thanks, Jason!) "But if anything serious happens, Navi has a way to speed up healing severe injuries. I was in pretty bad shape when I showed up, and I was fixed up good as new in no time. It's just a pretty big drain on Navi's energy sources, so I'd say it's best to avoid needing to use it if you can."

Ah yes, the other Navigators. Tim's been on the case for two years, and he still doesn't know exactly how many refugees are left to be found.

"There aren't many," he answers, apologetic. "Very low hundreds, by a generous estimate. And we don't know for sure how many the Zerentians have been able to capture after the population escaped, how many have been killed or lobotomized. And once they're far enough away from the collective, Navigators lose their psychic link with each other, so it's difficult to guess how many are still scattered out there, without any idea that we're looking for them."

Tim hopes they're close to finding the last of Navi's people. There's just no way to be completely sure about it. Deaths, captures, even births could have all changed the numbers over the past couple of years.

"The thing that helps Navi the most is cooperation and teamwork with the rest of the passengers. They get a boost from that - like an energy drink. The better the teamwork, the bigger the energy boost."

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"More than a few, yes."

The idea of being in space is not, perhaps, as much of a surprise as it could be, given the general level of technology current available on the Source or any of the thirteen shards. But even with that, it's not anywhere he'd wanted to be.

[tdls]

"Yeah, I kind of figured you might. I know I had a bunch when I first got here." Most of Tim's were related to how he could be alive when he remembered dying, but what are the chances anyone else here has a similar situation?

"Lucky for you, I've been here for a while, so I can probably answer them."

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"I presume we're nowhere near the Source?"

Given that he'd like to think himself to be reasonable familiar with at least most of what goes on in and around that world. None of which has involved space to any degree, much less rogue vessels in space. (Rogue vessels in the air or on the sea, yes. But not so space itself.)

[tdls]

Tim offers an apologetic smile. “I’d ask you to elaborate, but I think that answers your question.”

So that would be a no.

“Where are you from?”

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"It's called 'the Source.'  At least by those who are aware of the existence of other worlds."

Which almost certainly doesn't help pin it down, at least in relation to any other worlds, nor does it offer much by way of decent information to locate it by.  But it is still the truth, and there's not much he can do about it.

"But if you were looking for somewhere a little more specific, Garlemald."

[tdls]

Oh, if this guy only knew. It’s fine, Tim’s used to being heavily underestimated.

“I’m pretty well aware of the existence of other worlds and realities, but I can’t say I’ve heard of either of those. It’s a great big wide multiverse out there, after all.”

[albatrossomen]

All parts accounted for, check. No one inconveniently dying, also check. Good. In return to Tim's greeting Murmur offered a slight bow. No sense in not being polite, despite their less than polite circumstances.

"Numerous. Perhaps the most pressing being how, and why, have we been kidnapped?" Not that he really minded an additional kidnapping. Better than wasting away in a mostly empty city bored out of his mind.

[tdls]

Ah, good, a sensible question. It's nice to see people asking and not attacking Navi under an assumption of malice on their part.

"Well, that answer is both easy and not." Tim rubs his hand over his mouth, thinking of the best way to put this. "You haven't really been kidnapped, because there isn't a person or entity responsible for it. There are these rifts in space-time, and as far as we can tell, that's what's responsible for dragging people here. We still don't know why or exactly how - I mean, I've got some ideas for how to run some experiments to find out, but it hasn't been the priority."

Sorry, Murmur, he's a bit of a nerd.

[albatrossomen]

Diplomacy was much more likely to get them answers than wild accusations and open hostility. While he didn't have any evidence Navi wasn't malicious, he also didn't have any evidence they were.

He rose an eyebrow, interest piqued at that explanation. "I see," He murmured quietly to himself, folding one arm across his chest to prop his elbow upon, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose given the circumstances that is a more logical explanation. It did not seem prudent to pick up strays in the middle of a conflict." Mouths to feed, lives to worry about. Unnecessary complications to compound an already tenuous situation.

Granted, Tim could be lying, and with a screen between them it was much more difficult to discern for certain whether or not he was. However, given their situation, he was willing to grant him the benefit of the doubt for the time being. And, if he was telling the truth, what could be more indicative of an act of God than spontaneous space-time instability?

Either way they were stuck, and it might be with purpose. "So, we have simply found ourselves the unwitting victims of an act of nature. I would be interested to know how one would go about testing such a hypothesis. And, with that, I expect any questions in regards to whether or not we shall be returned from whence we came are moot until such experiments can be put underway?"

Oh, never apologize. Murmur is the biggest of nerds. He absolutely appreciates a fellow nerd.

[tdls]

“Well, the first step would be establishing whether there’s a pattern to where these rifts are located and when people get caught up in them and dropped over on this side, and how they behave. It’s not exactly like we have neon signs pointing them out.”

They’d be easier to avoid, if that were the case.

“Once we’ve established a pattern, we can predict when and where they’ll open, and we should be able to collect more data if we know the times and places to look. I’ve been doing what I can to record data from Navi’s travels, but finding Navi’s people has been the priority. In fact, you’re the first people we’re aware of coming through a rift in a couple of years. I’d started to think that the group I was with was a fluke.”

Tim’s starting to ramble now, caught up in thoughts about future projects, but he manages to pull himself back to the here and now to answer Murmur’s question - one sure to be at the top of most minds.

“Not at all - Navi’s people have a device that can send everyone back where they’re supposed to be, but it’s kept on the move. All you need to do is help Navi find their people, and you’ll be back to your home worlds in no time.”

Assuming, of course, that this new crew wishes to return. Which wasn’t the case for Tim, clearly.

[albatrossomen]

"By that fact alone they seem to be somewhat unpredictable," Even more evidence toward his own hypothesis: This is by intent. Very well, Father, he gets the message loud and clear. "Perhaps another method of tracking. Do they emit a specific energy signature when they manifest. Radio interference perhaps, or radiation?" If that were the case, they could then possibly zero in on their specific signature. If there was one to be tracked.

That aside, however. "How is it we've come to conveniently reside here on Navi, rather than floating in the void of space?" Or were they and Navi happened to kindly scoop them up?

Oh! Well, that does simplify things. Mission objective received. "Convenient. We assist Navi, Navi assists us. Simple enough," With their course clear that just leaves the particulars. "So, with that in mind, what is the quarrel with the Zerentians, and why do they pursue this "rogue vessel" so?" He does find it passing strange the vessel is alive, but they can touch on that later.

[eyediot]

Jon wasn't exactly handling this at all well. He'd fallen asleep on his flight and woke up to sirens and now this.

Once things seem to settle, lights and alarm done, he watches that screen light up.

"Um. Yes? One question.

Space?"

[tdls]

"Yeah, space." Tim nods and laughs quietly. "I know, it sounds pretty weird, but you're probably not even in a part of space where you're originally from, either. None of us were, at least. Navi hadn't even heard of Earth."

[eyediot]

Good to see this is a laughing matter, apparently.

"And with that I can safely assume putting us back where we belong is likely out of the question."

Oh wow! He hates this!

[fuckregularpeople]

"Fucking thank you," Jane murmurs under her breath.

She also hates this! At least one of her fellow captives isn't stupidly accepting.

[eyediot]

"Oh, not just me. Good."

So far, everyone he's seen has been just going along with this like there wasn't any other option. The fact is they hadn't heard any other option.

[tdls]

Hey, living Tim's life means your sense of humor gets a little skewed, what are ya gonna do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"Oh, no! Not at all. Navi's happy to send you back home, it's just a matter of actually doing it. Navi's people have a machine that can transport you all where you're supposed to be, but it's kept on the move. You'll just need to help Navi get back to their people."

[eyediot]

"So we'll just be doing what in the meantime?"

He sounds so thrilled.