trans_9 | Welcome to Orongo

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Welcome to Orongo

Once those who decided to go along on the mission were gathered on the Obs Deck and had time to go over the mission briefing, the detachment procedures began.

As with the missions before, the doors to the Obs Deck closed before it detached itself from Stacy, tethered by a massive umbilical cord. Those who had been on missions before would find the experience familiar if still somewhat unpleasant, but for those of whom this was their first mission, the sudden lack of gravity and lurching feeling as they entered the atmosphere would come as a surprise.

Thankfully though, the ride was quickly over as they landed safely on the planet below, the gravitational dampeners of the Obs Deck gently dropping the crew members back on their feet. One of the walls opened up, forming a ramp to the ground below. There was a sudden, slight gust of air as the door opened as the thick air rushed in. Even so, the air felt quite warm and refreshing.

Looking outside, the crew would see the bright yellow sun looming overhead, quite close in comparison to the sun on most planets. A handful of small, silver clouds dotted the blueish purple sky.

Ahead of them stood a rather impressive looking plateau, surrounded by a tall, ornate stone wall which was covered in tribal markings. Directly ahead was a large gate through the wall, with several small stone buildings in front of it. Beyond the gates, a larger settlement could be seen. Surrounding the plateau and covering the surrounding region were numerous strange, blue and purplish trees and plants.

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Zouichi nodded. "If you'd be willing to show me, I'd be curious to see how it works. There were a few people with unusual powers back on Earth, but I've never come across someone who can eat emotions."

"They induct children into these experiments? What do they do, kidnap them off the street?" He couldn't imagine they'd have permission from their parents to fiddle around giving them psychic powers.

Alex shook his head, "N-no, they u-used a l-lot of orphaned ch-children, since they're wards of the s-state. A-at the beginning, s-some w-well meaning p-people were t-tricked t-too. Th-then there's p-people like my f-father, who j-just wanted the money offered f-for putting their ch-child in the program. Theoretically, i-it was supposed ta g-go to me, b-but they never policed that." His father did a lot of using him just for the money he could get out of it.

Taking a breath Alex drew on the twisted feeling of pity and disgust he felt over his father's actions, and used it to reach out towards Zouichi. When he connected, Zouichi could see the shadows the same way Alex could, as well as the fine line of shadow that connected the pair of them.

Around Alex hovered a dark, thick shadow that just seemed to consume him, yet somehow, even though the shadow ought to have obscured him, the details were still there, as if they were both separate images seen at once.

Alex waited quietly, letting Zouichi get used to the change in the way of seeing the world.

Well, this was unexpected. Zouichi half-expected the shadow over Alex to simply fold in and... what, eat him? His systems were, for once, giving him little to no information on what he was seeing; they kept trying to identify the shadow as a target. But it didn't actually exist in any way that he could interact with, did it?

"You eat these?" he asked, looking disbelievingly at the thing.

Alex could feel his heart beating a little faster nervously. He was still uncertain about using his powers again, but he was trying to get used to it. Trying to trust that he won't lose control.

He nodded before looking around, and found a woman who had a small shadow around her. Compared to his own it was like a swarm of gnats. "Y-yeah, it's not the m-most pleasant thing."

He walked a little closer to the woman and paused, like he was trying to find where he was. The shadow was drawn towards him and away from the woman until it was completely gone, though Alex looked even more uneasy for another moment. The woman on the other hand, let out a sigh, as if she was finally able to relax.

He turned back to Zouichi and forced a bit of an awkward smile, not exactly sure what to say.

Zouichi watched as Alex took the woman's shadow with some interest, raising his eyebrow when it was all over.

"You know, I think I was expecting more theatrics. Like your shadow laughing theatrically and menacing other shadows before messily devouring them. But she almost seemed relieved that you ate hers."

Alex walked back to him and shook his head, "N-nah, m-my shadow h-has almost n-nothing ta do w-with it all, unless I u-use it for one of those m-more c-complicated power things I m-mentioned, and e-even then, the only effect it has on the other p-person is relief. I e-essentially e-eat pain." He sighed a bit heavily, looking entirely unhappy about this."

He frowned. "Does it... hurt to eat other people's pain?" He'd met people with psychic abilities before, but they'd never really seemed to suffer the ill effects they inflicted on other people. Or perhaps what was bothering Alex was that he required the suffering of other people in order to survive.

Alex was actually bothered by both things, though he voiced the second part less often. Normally people didn't ask such in-depth questions, and if they didn't, he didn't usually volunteer that.

"I c-can feel wh-whatever e-emotion I eat. It c-can give me a s-sense of what was b-bothering the p-person, as if it had b-been bothering me, s-sorta like h-how you c-can taste if s-something's been hickory-smoked, or c-cooked over charc-coals... b-but, w-well, r-really different."

"I see. Then it must be a very unpleasant ability to have to live with." As if realizing for the first time that he was asking Alex an awful lot of questions, he shook his head. "I'm sorry if I seem overcurious; it's just that your abilities seem very different from the ones I've encountered so far. Feel free to ask me anything you want, by the way; it's only fair."

Alex shook his head, "I-it's something I've b-been trying ta find a w-way around, b-but at least I c-can help others with it. I d-don't mind the questions either, I-I've g-gotten used ta it. I-it's not exactly u-usual- my powers- apparently."

He was curious about Zouichi though. "Y-you said y-you were a Synthetic Human... Is there any difference b-besides h-how we're b-born?" He did his best to try to not be insulting, but he had a hard time thinking of another way to phrase it.

"Well, I wouldn't say I was 'born', exactly. My body was constructed in its adult form, and integrated with a series of electronic systems. The company had me hooked up to a simulator until I learned what I needed to know... and then I was released.

"I don't actually even have any human components, since human beings are extremely susceptible to the N5S virus. I'm just designed to strongly resemble one."

It didn't seem to bother Zouichi to explain this, for whatever reason.

"I g-guess that makes sense... S-so... you never had the ch-chance ta just be a k-kid?" His childhood hadn't been the best but it still involved childrens games on occasion, and he felt like he remembered at least one stuffed animal, even though he couldn't quite remember it completely. Plus, he got to be pretty normal while he was at school. He drew pictures and played kickball like any other kid.

"U-unless, the simulator...?"

"I started out as a young child in the simulator and gradually aged, as a human child might. And there were others there with me; they even had the daughter of one of the scientists go in with us, to teach us as we grew up." He smiled. "It probably wasn't as fun as most, but it was probably the most peaceful period of my life."

He still remembered the bluffs where their lessons were held, covered with long, green grasses that rolled in the breeze. "In fact, by the end of it, I just wanted to get out, and finally put to use the things that I'd learned. Although as it turns out, the actual world is vastly different from any virtual space."

Alex nodded. There was no AI that could predict and shape a virtual world the same way that the real world worked. Not even Stacy's could really do it, even though it was the closest he had seen to it. "F-feeling useless... I-it's one of the worst f-feelings, I think."

"I agree. In fact, waking up here, having to deal with a hundred different unknowns... I think it's about the first time I've felt as out of sorts as I did then." He looked at Alex. "So, what do you do to pass the time? I assume you don't just spend all the day coding."

"I s-sleep too," Alex joked. "N-nah, I d-do some video g-game playing, a-and some c-card games. N-not much s-sleeping gets done. I r-really miss the i-internet, but I b-browse the i-info in the m-media library. C-closest thing ta the internet around here, w-without the people, at least. What about you?"

"Well, I've tried familiarizing myself with the ship, and I've run into a few people so far in the Sensoriums and elsewhere. But a good percentage of the time, I'm not actively doing anything, especially when everyone else is asleep.

But someone did suggest I try the library. What do they have there, anyway? Movies?"

"A-and a lot more! B-books from all over, d-digital encyclopaedia, s-some v-video games, m-music, a-all sortsa things."

He looked amused. "Well, do you have any particular recommendations, or shall I start with the A section?"

Alex thought for a moment, "W-well, video g-games are my area, r-really. M-maybe start with ADOM. It's a r-really basic system, b-but it's pretty well c-coded. N-no fancy graphics. I-it's the s-sorta game I made wh-when I g-got on the ship. Th-they might have the L-Legend of Zelda series, which i-is a c-classic, along with the Final F-Fantasy series. T-then there's a-arcade games like F-Frogger, that b-bubble bursting g-game, the b-brick breaker g-game, o-or there's p-probably s-some shooter g-games in there t-too, but I've n-never been a big fan of them. I have p-played Metroid though. Another c-classic series. A-and we c-can't forget the Mario g-games, b-but since Bowser's o-on the ship, I think S-Stacy might've h-hidden those..."

He seemed to realize that he was now ranting and stopped, "Oh- err... S-sorry. I c-could probably r-recommend something b-better if I k-knew what s-sorta games you'd l-like..."

Zouichi listens to him, not really recognizing all of the names, but it's obvious that Alex is pretty knowledgeable (and enthusiastic) about this topic. "I'm afraid I've never really played video games, actually. What is that first one about, ADOM? Would you recommend it for a beginner?"

"And Stacy... hides the video games? Why would she do that?"

"S-so you c-can't find out wh-what would've h-happened t-to you. S-same with m-movies and b-books.

"A-ADOM... I-it's... You'll die a lot. I mean a LOT. I-it's not e-easy, b-but it's c-concept is simple. I-it's easy t-ta learn the c-controls, b-but learning t-ta not die... M-maybe not that one, th-though I d-did make a g-game a b-bit like it, b-but s-simpler, a-and i-it's e-easier ta s-survive. M-made it as a s-sorta intro g-game ta the g-genre..."

"'What would have happened to me'? What do movies and books have to do with that?" Yeah. Zouichi doesn't know he's a manga character, obviously.

"Sounds like a challenge," he said, grinning for the first time. "I pride myself on not dying."

Alex laughed a bit. "ADOM is a g-good challenge f-for not dying. I c-can p-probably get it s-set up on the o-omnicomm, o-or your c-computing device o-of choice.

"A-as for b-books an' m-movies, w-well, apparently our s-stories are k-known across universes, s-so, in s-someone's w-world, s-somewhere, w-we're a part o-of that w-world's 'fiction'."

Zouichi considered this. "Maybe the omnicomm would be best. The only other computing device I have is the bike, and I probably shouldn't play games on it while I'm driving."

"So I'm part of someone else's fiction story?" He looked skeptical. "I guess I can imagine why the ship wouldn't want people to know what would happen to them in the future, but since our worlds were all destroyed, doesn't that mean that that future will never come to pass?"

Actually, if their future would never come to pass, then the story couldn't be written and Zouichi's head was starting to hurt now.

Welcome to Orongo

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