trans_9 | (no subject)

Planet Designation: Agrestic Status: Terrestrial, Q-class. Non-sentient life: Extensive agricultural flora and livestock. Natural habitats have been entirely eliminated Semi-Sentient Life: None. Sentient Life: Population 18 billion. Variety of races due to history of heavy immigration from neighboring universes. Dominant race Kanil, although representatives claim no species-based discrimination exists on planet. Water: 80% of the planet's surface. Climate: Varied. Current location is warm and moderately humid, average temperature 60 degrees Farenheit. Regular rain seasons. Landscape: Mountains, plains and oceans. No deserts. All terrain has been terraformed for maximum productivity. Air: Type I (breathable) Sky: Red. Warnings: Daligig not permitted within Agrestican territory. Mission: Shore leave and refueling.

As Stacy's shuttles bring the crew down, they're treated to the sights of massive mountains to dwarf even the mightiest Earth mountain range and golden, green and purple grain fields that take up more space than some entire civilizations have managed to colonize. The shuttles finally settle at the primary port city, Rura, which is ideally situated near and equidistant to a sprawling ocean, the base of a mountain range and a swath of farmland.

The people of Agrestic, including humans, Helians, Kanil, and plenty of other races, are for the most part hard at work and rushing from place to place. Very few pay much attention to Stacy's shuttles, as travelers stopping at this city and incredibly commonplace. Those that aren't working are relaxing, unencumbered by technological gadgets - while the technology here is very advanced, it seems primarily used to aid workers in their duties, and not for leisure. Fresh produce brought into the market is scanned by tiny mechanical beetles that inspect each piece for defects, but the children are more likely to be playing with sticks and rocks than anything else.

The crew exits the shuttles to find themselves at a large air-port like building, which opens up to a farmer's market and a strip of restaurants. As they exit the shuttles, some of the human port workers apologize for any inconvenience.

"We're sorry you couldn't bring the whole ship down, but the Truce specifically forbids Daligig to enter our airspace. You're lucky we managed to get clearance for shuttles of Daligig make to come in!" they say, before rushing off to help the next arrivals.

To return to the ship, a crew member may enter a shuttle and the autopilot will zip them back up to Stacy's underbelly. The crew may make as many trips back and forth as they like.

[OOC: This post itself will be for interactions with NPCs. Please do not set up subthreads in this post unless you are an NPCer. If you would like to create a new location on Agrestic, or do an open/closed log on the shore leave, please set up your own log. This will make it easier for our NPCers to know where they're needed.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"May I help you find a seat, miss?" Basil holds out a tray of raviolis in tiny cups, filled with cheeses and shrimps. "You may have some free of charge, as a gift of the kitchen. Perhaps help you find a book?"

"That'd be great," said Elisa with a smile, helping herself to one of the raviolis that Basil offered. "And so are these. Thank you."

She glanced back over at the bookcases.

"What book would you recommend?"

Basil's tail snakes around like a giant fluffy letter S.

"That depends on what sort of literature you're interested in. I built this restaurant from the ground up after my planet was destroyed - I know every book on these shelves. Would you like fiction? History? Adventure? Perhaps a newspaper with local events?"

"I'm sorry." Elisa's response to the news about his planet was soft and sincere. Like the rest of Stacy's crew, she'd lost the same thing - in fact, if the ship was to believed, she'd lost her entire world - and had a good idea of the helpless grief that never really faded.

"A newspaper, please. I like to learn about the places I visit."

Basil fluffs up the hair around his ruff, seeming to shake it off. "It was many decades ago."

He brings a newspaper over to her. On the front page is an announcement of a Daligig ship, the Transmigration 9, in orbit, and a reminder that the citizens should not worry because the Daligig themselves were not to be on the planet "for the usual reasons". There's also an announcement that Agrestic is having the highest output ever, reports on international stocks, and an article about the plunging birth rate.

"The usual reasons?" questioned Elisa, looking up from the headlines to Basil before he had a chance to depart again. It might have been well known to the people of Agrestic, but it wasn't familiar to the crew of Transmigration 9 itself.

"They aren't allowed on our planet after a few incidences of sending our troops to die on their behalf. We also don't approve of kidnapping or genetic tampering."

"Neither do we," said Elisa darkly, "But we don't have much of a choice at the moment."

They knew all about their Daligig's penchant for kidnapping. They'd been snatched from their homeworlds against their will to fight in this war in the first place.

"What do you mean by genetic tampering?"

She couldn't help but be reminded of Xanatos, Sevarius and Derek when she heard that. She'd seen more than enough genetic engineering back in New York.

"They cheat." Basil sniffs a bit at that. "All of this splicing their own genes to make themselves better. Heaven forfend they just do a little hard work or anything."

"And experimenting on other people."

It was a guess, but it was an educated one. People who were so desperate to survive and to remain in charge wouldn't experiment on themselves. They'd test their genetic techniques on other people first.

Just like Xanatos. He wanted to live forever, but he didn't want to risk living with the consequences of any failed experiments.