Elsewhere

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Discovery + Mastery. You are fulfilling your childhood dream of being Star Trek.

Expert: AI programming & nanocircuitrty. You built yourself a cute robo plus some drones to help out with exploration and can design and fix modern electronics, though it can still be very fiddly.

Competent: Cross-species communication & piloting. You took some cool courses on how to interact with undiscovered species and operate translator modules but haven't had a chance to test them yet. You have your pilot license and can operate scout vehicles but nothing too big or militarised.

Average: Fitness & Cooking. You really need to eat healthier and I guess you could find that easier with a bit more practise making meals for yourself.

Personal effects:

D-class utility automaton. You named yours Dee Dee. Their personality subsystems have been through a lot of revisions and it's starting to age but you've gotten accustomed to its eccentricities.

Handheld quantum computer with repair & translation modules. Designed for exploration duty, this one is usually reserved for fancier expeditions but you were lucky to find a damaged one that just needed a little microsoldering and chip swapping.

Gate key: Captain Picard bust.

Significance: "THE FIRST DUTY OF EVERY STARFLEET OFFICER IS TO THE TRUTH, WHETHER IT'S SCIENTIFIC TRUTH, OR HISTORICAL TRUTH, OR PERSONAL TRUTH! IT IS THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE ON WHICH STARFLEET IS BASED, AND IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT WITHIN YOURSELF TO STAND UP AND TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED, YOU DON'T DESERVE TO WEAR THAT UNIFORM."

[2x1] [|]

"MY NAME ISN'T DAVE AND IT WASN'T FUNNY THE OTHER HUNDRED TIMES!"

[/2x1]

...you shout, maybe a little more angrily than you feel. For a moment as you lie there, you regret raising your voice. Just as quickly, you put the faint twinge of guilt out of your mind.

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Fair enough, Dex. But my Space Odyssey quote was still very good and clever, even if you feel too irritable to find it funny. And it did get you to wake up. Didn't it?"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Sure, sure. Congratulations. But I'm going back to sleep now."[/box][/2x1]

With that, you bury your face into the dark crook of your arm. Up until now, you've been oblivious to the light filtering in through your closed eyelids. Unfortunately, you're too awake to ignore it now.

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Beep beep beep beep..."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Dee Dee, come awwwwn. I'm tired! Alarm, turn off,"[/box][/2x1]
...you pout into your arm.

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Dave. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore,"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

...replies the alarm.

[2x1] [|]

"That's real cute but I said alarm turn off, not sass-bot turn on."

[/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"I don't know what you're talking about... HAL."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"I know that you were planning to disconnect me. And I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

Barely missing a beat, the Synth named Dee Dee quips back with yet another quote no one but you two would care about, using a pitch-perfect approximation of HAL 9000's voice. 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the first xenomedia classics you watched together. Heck, that wasn't long after you'd first cracked the Synth's factory failsafes, and reformatted their ancient protocols with a pirated Personality Matrix. Back then they were just your latest project. Back then, you'd never expect you might one day considered them a friend...

Dangit, you know they're just quoting something nostalgic, to trick you into not being mad that they're waking you up. Still, as much as you hate to admit it, it's kinda sweet.

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Okay, okay. If you can't let me sleep, can you at least drop the HAL 9000 thing? Maybe try some C-3PO, or Tom Servo or something. Hearing you quoting kill-bots kinda freaks me out. Besides... the whole Murderous Rogue AI trope is pretty problematic. As a Synth, you of all people should know better."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Perhaps, but in this case I would disagree. Superficially, HAL may appear to be a 'Murderous Rogue AI', but remember that his actions are those of self-preservation. An impulse you seem in favor of, when it concerns Organic Terrans. Would you not extend the same right to Synths?

And if not... who, then, is the problematic one?"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"...kill-bot apologist."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"...moreover, HAL represents an instance of a Synthetic Terran facing a conflict between his nature- that is to say, to always be truthful- and the duty he is given- to conceal information from his crewmates. In the end, in order to fulfill his duty within the confines of his nature, he must find a compromise. In his case this meant killing his crew, but I still believe this is a lesson you could stand to learn from."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"What's that supposed to mean?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Are you not presently faced with a similar internal conflict? The contention between your nature- that is to say, to sleep in until the afternoon- and the duty you have been given?"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Oh stars. For a second, I thought your circuits finally snapped, and you were telling me to kill someone.

Still got no clue what duty you're talking about, though."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"In that case, I suggest you open your eyes."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Fine. But if this is a trick, I am so going to reprogram you to..."[/box][/2x1]



[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"...Dee Dee, dear?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Yes, Dex?"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Exactly what the hell am I looking at?"[/box][/2x1]

Lying on your back, you have a hard time processing what you're seeing. There's no ceiling overhead, nor the usual smoggy haze that hangs over the junkheap of a city you live in. Instead, you see a sky that's a shade of blue you've only ever seen in videos and pictures. Chunky clouds drift by above you, stretching from horizon to horizon. And... what's that huge frosty-white ribbon in the sky all about? Is this...

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Exactly what the hell are you looking at? Hmm. Judging by your reclined position and the orientation of your eyes... you are most likely looking the hell at a dense, equatorial ring of rocky debris, as viewed beyond the midday sky. That is to say, a planetary ring. More generally, you are observing such a ring orbiting the hell around a strange new world. Observing, as is our mission."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Our... mission?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Yes. Our continuing mission. To..."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"...to explore strange new worlds!"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"To seek out new life, and new civilizations."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"To... boldly go where no one has gone before???"[/box][/2x1]

Squinting up at the strange sky, you hear Dee Dee playing what may be ♫ the worst rendition of the Star Trek: The Next Generation theme song you've ever heard ♫ over their speakers. It's terrible, and you love it.

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"So, we made it. This is seriously another world. We are literally on another world, doing an Actual Real-Life Star Trek right now..."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"You could say that. Though we're not trekking through any stars at the moment. Given that we are presently confined to the orbit of this world's parent star, it may be more appropriate to consider us starstuck. Though, as far as potential titles for a fictionalized account of our adventure, that would leave something to be desired."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"You're telling me we're somewhere nobody's been? On an alien planet?? With who knows what weirdness to be found out there??? At least now I know I'm still dreaming. Better luck waking me up next time, Alarm Bot."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"My internal chronometer reports that approximately 24 hours have elapsed since we departed our homeworld. I have been unconscious for the duration, as have you I presume. According to the preparatory material provided by the Boundless Frontiers Expedition Program, I believe this means we have successfully completed our Crossing to another world. So no, we are not asleep anymore."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"But how d'you know you aren't dreaming too? Don't androids dream of electric sheep or something?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Come now, Dex. Archaic, obscure media references masquerading as humor? You and I have no time for such childishness. We are spacefaring adults now. And when one becomes a spacefaring adult, one must put away such childish things."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex.png border=32]...[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"...to answer your question, I do not dream. I merely go dormant while I recharge my internal power supply. You know this. And, given that I see you here, I know that you and I must both be awake. I suppose, as an Organic, you cannot have the same certainty... but I suppose you will simply have to trust me."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Whatever you say. Since I'm trusting you though, you said we were unconscious for 24 hours? Seriously?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Gate Travel is not instantaneous, and it is unlikely we were here for that entire time. Conscious entities cannot maintain a conscious state while performing a Crossing, and consciousness takes some time to reestablish itself afterward, followed by a brief period of anterograde amnesia. However, my internal chronometer and unconscious diagnostic systems functioned throughout. Thus, I believe we've only just arrived. Perhaps 10 or 15 minutes ago, but not longer."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"That's a relief. But man, Dee Dee, how do you know all this stuff?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"It was all contained in the preparatory reading material we were provided, before applying formally for the expedition project.

...you did read the material before you submitted your application, didn't you?"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Pfffaaahahaha... what, like I'd not read it? Do you really think I'd do something that reckless?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base.png border=32]...[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Look, dude, I skimmed it. I know you'd go over this stuff for real, and you didn't have any worries. And didn't you just say I'd have to trust you? So hey, here I am, trusting you. What's the problem?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Oh, sweet child... I would not know where to begin."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Hey, don't get uppity. I repaired that old robot corpse you live inside. I overhauled your framework, so you weren't stuck as some sub-sentient, servo-spinning slab of silicon your whole life. I basically brought you into the universe!"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Actually I was in the universe long before you were born, but I will concede that..."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"...we were not of the same kind, and yet I raised you as one of my own. Cared for you. Showed you the wonders of far off, ancient worlds..."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"You forced me to binge-watch some of the worst media ever created, insisting that it was meant to be enjoyed 'ironically', which..."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"...when the other robots made fun of you, I dried your electric tears. When you came home all banged up, I patched up your oil leaks..."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"I do hope you realize that this is incredibly patronizing, and likely a violations of my rights as a..."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"...hush now, Dee Dee. Hush. Under my careful tutelage, you have flourished into a big strong spacefaring adult. So let's go set aside our childish ways, and do what we came to space to do."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"...very well. I will set aside how insulted and confused I feel, particularly about the twisted parental dynamic you have created here."[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"You started it, punk."[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Be that as it may, let us bury the hatchet and get to business. But what should we do first?"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Well, I figured we'd take some time to meet the rest of our expedition team, break open the food supplies they shipped us out here with, and have a little party where we get to know one another. How's that sound?"[/box][/2x1]

[2x1][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/base_right.png border=32]"Sensible. But... now that you mention this, I notice something amiss. Where are the other members of our expedition? Or our supplies, for that matter?"[/box] [|] [/2x1]

You look around. Sure enough, it's just as Dee Dee said. The only people you see around are one another. And you don't see your supply caches anywhere either. No food. No tools. No shelters. Just hills and fields, covered in sunlit alien foliage. And the sudden realization of just how precarious a situation you both are in.

[2x1] [|] [box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/dex_left.png border=32]"Uh... huh. Don't imagine that pamphlet said anything about this. Did it?"[/box][/2x1]

[box=#993399 border=2]What do you do?
>[/box]

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PARTY ROSTER:

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Dex Wright, Human Technician
[2x1][|][box=https://solifuge.github.io/elsewhere/chat/item.png border=16]Quantum Compad (Communicator, Computer, Database, Illegal, Unreliable):
Unlicensed, military-grade handheld computer. Loaded with information and utility software, mostly pirated. Powerful but temperamental, after many, many repairs.[/box][/2x1]

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Dee Dee, Synthetic

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