❧ Take A Breath

[luministimods]

[An older man sitting in the bridge of the spacestation appears in a video transmission that shows up only on the CAT devices. He...does not look thrilled to be back, but he does look composed and professional in an environment that is becoming decreasingly anything but.]

I'll be the first to say that I'm not happy to see there are people in this place again, but I haven't decided if I'm more dismayed to see those who were brought in as part of the project or those new to all this... [He frowns, his brow crinkling in concern.]

For those of you who don't know who I am, you may call me Proctor. Now that I have recovered most of my memories of the events after I left this accursed spacestation, I can begin to piece together what's happened. I trust food has been rationed in the town as it has out here, and I've been informed that the passageway to and from the town has been locked once more. I haven't been able to figure out why they've done this as everything here says they are very much unlocked, but we have more pressing concerns at the moment.

From the read-outs here in the command center, the life support systems are failing. [Sorry, but he isn't going to sugarcoat it.] The systems just need to be reset and recalibrated. Since the town wasn't put into stasis when no one was around and the spacestation didn't have anyone to maintain everything, the life support systems have been overworking themselves needlessly. That they haven't shut down completely before now is a damned miracle. But--

[A sudden and loud noise heard and felt throughout all of the spacestation and town, interrupting him. The several terminals in front of him light up, casting flashing red light glares all over his alarmed face. At the same time, all vidscreens in town begin to blink red and similarly, red warning lights drop out of the ceiling in the spacestation. This might seem like deja vu to some.] --Shit! What just happ--?!

[A red holographic warning message appears over the video transmission that reads:]

WARNING, WARNING
Life support systems in sectors A through V are at 85%.
Complete life support failure expected in 72 hours.

[Just then, a pleasant and feminine automated voice starts to speak just as it had before, except this time, the message is greatly different:]

No galactic space authorities have been alerted this time, and there is no exit from the spacestation. Death is inevitable. You have been warned.

[The automated message ceases, but will repeat again in five minute intervals. Meanwhile, Proctor is frantically typing away at the terminal and swearing up a storm, but after the message ends, he grabs his CAT and starts to leave the bridge]

Like hell am I going to die in this place! Nathan, I don't know why you're not answering any of my attempts to contact you, but we really could use your help here. [Bitterly, as he remembers what he read from Ichijou's texts:] But I think someone or something is preventing you from contacting us. [He sighs heavily] I can't wait that long. Everyone listening, I'm going to need your help--and that includes you all in the town construct. Contact me if you're interested in living a little longer.

[And with that, the video transmission turns off.]


Plot Details: Take A Breath **Quick-time Event**

Short explanation this time around! Basically, get in contact with Proctor here in this entry. From there, if your characters want to team up to handle tasks and whatnot, go ahead and do that here or in an entry of your own. Or you can keep talking to Proctor while all this is going on.

But what kind of tasks, you ask?

Well, Proctor knows quite a bit about the town and the lab (as he had helped run it during the previous season) and knows many of its secrets. There are vital system terminals hidden in the town and in the lab that need to be synched up with each other and can also be used to reboot things when things go to pot. But what he doesn't know is that something has set up control panels at each of these points that will require you to make a choice--that is, once you find them. But all choices have consequences, some good and some bad. And some consequences might not be felt until later whereas others will be immediate.

Whatever your choice, there are several terminals to be found for everyone to have a go at helping out. The terminals will turn certain things back on, which will mean no more hoarding and rationing of food! Hot water! Air!

Oh yeah, about that? The air will slowly start to thin as the hours pass, and the air life support systems will be the hardest to get back online. (And for those who need a refresher of vital things in the lab, here is this.) If the air life support systems aren't turned back on three days from right now (so by the end of the 19th), then...well. Bad things. Very, very bad things. I don't think any of you want to see what will happen as the outcome of this will work towards the game's end. Getting the other two systems back up and running are secondary goals, but are goals nonetheless. I'll keep a list updated here as to what systems are back on and are still off:



Goals: Air life support systems: online Food replicators: online Hot water production: online




And that..should be it! If you have any questions or anything, you can still ask here! Just label it OOC and we'll go from there~ And of course, other avenues of contact are still available if you don't want to ask here or use this space to OOCly plot with each other (or feel free to toss something up in the OOC comm!) I'll leave that up to you guys~

Good luck everyone! ♥

EDIT: And by the way, our first Activity Check will be on the 23rd! Look for it in the OOC comm on that day!

EDIT 2 OOC plotting post is here!

EDIT 3 ALL TERMINALS HAVE BEEN FOUND! \o/ You guys rock!!!

Comments

[grandbellknight]

[Croix smiles a bit. He was thinking of a few of those places already, and it's always nice to have confirmation.]

I'll let everyone else know about those places. Since it's you and me, I think we should try the Mayor's office and Miss Osculia's office, since they're in the same building.

[wind_of_reason]

Sounds good! It's like two birds with one stone!

[And she'll start off at a brisk walk towards town hall. (No sense in overly exerting herself by running when they know how much time they have.)]

[grandbellknight]

Exactly.

[And he walks with her, keeping pace. As much as he wants to do this quickly, running just takes more oxygen. That would be a waste. Besides, it shouldn't be too far until they reach the building.]

[wind_of_reason]

[Fuu has been this way many times, trying to petition Miss Osculia to let her see the Mayor.
Entering the town hall she goes up the stairs and to the last door on the right. On the threshold to the office she pauses briefly, looking inside before entering.]

The Proctor will tell us what to look for? I hope he knows what the switches look like and how they work better than he remembers where they are.

[luministimods]

[Even if Proctor did know what the system terminals look like--which he does--they will not be the same.

Luckily, Fuu has been right about Osculia's office so far. Unfortunately, the terminal itself is not going to sit out in plain sight. If that were the case, anyone coming by and searching the office previously would have found them. But something is out of place in the room. It's subtle, but it's there.]

[grandbellknight]

I hope so too. His lack of memories is definitely unfortunate, but it can't really be helped.

[He steps inside Miss Osculia's office, and takes a very careful look around for anything that seems out of the ordinary. Maybe the desk...? He'll start there.]

[wind_of_reason]

[Fuu cautiously starts looking around. Miss Osculia was (is?) a very neat-and-tidy kind of person. Something obviously out of place would be easy, but nothing is easy in Luministi. It's been a long time since she's been here, but she tries to bring up her memory of it as best she can.

She goes around behind the desk, rolling out the chair. If she were a life-and-death switch in a neat-and-tidy person's office, where would she be?]

Have you been up to these offices before, Mister Croix?

[luministimods]

[There is nothing out of place on the desk itself. The desk is immaculate with nothing out of place or knocked askew. (That is, until the two of them start poking around at things on it, but that's besides the point.)

But once Fuu moves the chair, and perhaps if the light in the room catches it just right, she might notice that there's a corner of carpet beneath the desk that sticks up just a bit--and is rather solid.]

[grandbellknight]

[Croix can't catch the oddity in the floor from his angle - he's still in front of the desk, looking over the surface of it as well as the sides. :/

And at Fuu's question, he nods.]

Yeah, actually. [A pause... and then a bit of a smirk.] Remember that mandatory curfew last year? Well... I didn't listen, and I came here.

[wind_of_reason]

Ohh! They didn't find you?

[Fuu crouches down to look under the desk. That's where secret buttons are usually put in movies - but of course, this is not a movie.
As she shuffles back out from under there, head down and careful to not hit it on the desk on the way, she sees the corner of carpet that sticks up.

Curious, she pokes it down, then gives it a little tug.

Even if it was kinda out of the way, wouldn't something like that bother Miss Osculia?]

[luministimods]

[She would have kept her foot down upon it before, but! That is not the point.

What is important is the fact that they have found a terminal! It's about a foot wide and can be removed from its holding area. But it doesn't wait to be removed as it turns on immediately the moment Fuu tugs on the stiff portion of carpet. When she pulls it aside, she'll see that the screen shows a field of stars, but soon turns black with simple white letters that read:]

To access this terminal, your choice is a simple one: A or B.

Answer correctly, and you may proceed.

Answer incorrectly, and you may not live long enough to regret it.

[Then two buttons appear onscreen, one with a bright A on it and a B on the other.]

[grandbellknight]

No, they did. [He shakes his head.] I ended up spending the night in jail.

[But... she seems pretty preoccupied with something, so he moves around behind the desk to look as well. Hey, they found one! But... that's not exactly a pleasant message to read.]

That seems severe for an emergency terminal for a vital system.

[wind_of_reason]

Good point. Perhaps these have been tampered with...

But either way, we need to choose A or B, without any clue.

[She doesn't touch the terminal, but stands and walks back and forth for a bit as she thinks.]

Mister Croix, the Proctor said that we need to activate all six of these at nearly the same time, right? What if it's not so much that we have to choose A or B, but that we all choose the same one?

[grandbellknight]

I wouldn't be surprised if they have.

[While Fuu is thinking, Croix contacts Proctor to ask about the sudden choice of A or B. But since he seems unaware... He considers as well, crossing his arms as he takes a second to think on it.]

It's possible. I guess we'll just have to decide for ourselves. [And speaking of simultaneous activating... he glances at the door. ... And then back to Fuu.] Miss Fuu, I'm going to go look for the other terminal so we can at least activate ours at the same time. [Beat] I just hope it's there... It might be in a similar place.

[wind_of_reason]

[With the sense of time ticking down looming over her, she nods. There might not be enough time to coordinate everyone. Perhaps others have already chosen. She stands by the terminal, an encouraging smile replacing the serious look. She'll be ready when you are.]

I'm sure you'll find it without any trouble if it's there.
I'll keep an eye on this, but let me know if you'd like a hand.

[grandbellknight]

[He meets her smile with one of his own, as well as a nod. He still has confidence in everyone working to fix this mess.]

I will. Hopefully I won't be long.

[And with that, he heads straight for the Mayor's office. Not wanting to waste any time, he enters and looks to the desk for anything similarly out of place.}

[luministimods]

[Unfortunately for Croix, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in the Mayor's office. The Mayor barely spent any time in there...]

[grandbellknight]

[Yeah, you know, that really would have been too easy. He takes one final look around, but seeing nothing, he returns to Miss Osculia's office and back to her desk. He shakes his head.]

I couldn't find anything in there. Everything's in its place, and there definitely wasn't anything in the floor. I guess this is the only one here. I hope the others have better luck.

[He looks down at the terminal again.] ... Which one should we pick - A or B?

[wind_of_reason]

[Fuu looks up in surprise at Croix's empty-handed return.]

I was so sure... [Her confidence shaken, it takes her a moment to reply to his question.]

I'm sorry. My first inclination was for A. But I trust whatever you think is best.

[grandbellknight]

[He frowns, noticing her change in spirits, but shakes his head and gives her an encouraging smile.] It's okay, Miss Fuu. We still have time, there are plenty of people helping. And besides, you were the one who knew the locations to give to the others. Without you, we would all probably still be looking. So, thank you.

[He looks at the terminal again.] ... I was thinking A as well. Let's... go ahead and choose it before we change our minds.

[He reaches to press the "A" button.]

[luministimods]

[The chosen button flashes for a few seconds, then the whole screen goes black as though it were thinking...

It's black for a good minute before another screen appears that reads:]

To reset Life Support systems, press when ready.

[Then a single button appears, waiting to be pressed. It seems the terminal won't say whether the choice was right or wrong. But once the button is ready to be pressed, it will work without fail.]

[ooc: To make things easier, we can assume Fuu and Croix have waited for the others to find their terminals before they press it.]

[wind_of_reason]

[Fuu's eyes were glued to the screen, and it felt like the heart dropped out of her when it went black, and stayed black for so long. (Computers shouldn't do that-!)

She breathes a little easier when the next button finally appears.

Once Croix has coordinated with the others and give the go-ahead, she presses the button on the terminal.]