TDM 02

[mnemosynecrew]

TDM 02

WAKING UP
WARNING
WARNING

cryo bay malfunction
cryo bed error

loading



emergency override accepted
It's nothing like it was in training, waking up from cryo sleep. The sterile, cold quiet you were conditioned to expect is shattered. Alarms blare violently, ricocheting off the walls of your pod as if they're trying to crawl into your skull. Red lights pulse like a failing heartbeat, and for a moment, your entire body refuses to obey you - can't breathe, can't move, can't think.

...and then, with an almost violent shudder, force rips through your diaphragm. A brutal jolt, like being kicked from the inside out. You cough, heaving for air as the cryo pod's systems drag you unwillingly out of torpor. There is no slow, gentle awakening - this is an emergency.

Your vision is blurred and swimming in the red strobes. Emergency. The word itself seems lodged in the air, floating around your fractured mind like some distorted mantra. Something's wrong. Very wrong.

When you stumble out of the pod, your muscles heavy with the dull ache of cryo-stasis. It takes more effort than it should to move; even in the low gravity of the massive cryo bay, it's like you're fighting against the weight of your own body. Your hands tremble as you grab the tether, using it to pull yourself forward, toward the revival room. Everything feels too slow. Every movement, every thought, is tangled in webs of lethargy and confusion. Your brain is... wrong. It feels like it's leaking memories - images flickering and fading, like you’re seeing through a sieve full of holes.

This is not the start of your 5-year shift. No, this is something far, far worse.

A voice comes through from a speaker, disturbingly calm, cutting through the chaos around you.

hello, [crew member]
there is an issue
please join your crewmates
L3TH3 sounds unbothered by the alarms that blare around you. The AI has likely been running diagnostics for hours, while your body and mind were frozen in time.

The doors to the revival room slide open with a soft hiss, revealing dim, sterile lighting and the harsh stench of disinfectant. What awaits you are not only crew members as confused and groggy as you are, but others also arrive at the room from outside, ready to greet you. Do you ask them what’s going on, if they feel the same gnawing wrongness clawing at their brains? Or do you just grab your gear and get ready to go, trusting the training that suddenly feels so irrelevant in the face of whatever's happening here?

One thing is clear - something's definitely off about this wakeup call.

A BIT OF TURBULENCE
Thanks to the combined efforts of the crew, the engine is back on! L3TH3 is quick to continue in the direction the navigators had planned - before they were sanitized. The Mnemosyne moves through space easily, barely a sound as the purple nebula and distant stars light up the unknown galaxy the ship has ended up in. It's eerie but beautiful, the cosmic canvas shifting and swirling with colors that seem almost alive.

The tranquility shatters on the day after the new crew wakes up - the ship enters an asteroid field. The shields power up with a pronounced whir as the hard-light protection activates, creating a shimmering barrier to block the floating space rocks. While it's strong enough to protect the hull from taking damage, there's now a lot of turbulence. Each collision of small asteroids against the shield sends vibrations rattling through the ship, making it feel as though the very bones of the Mnemosyne are protesting against the chaos outside.

Quickly, furniture is magnetized to not fly around and a notice flashes on the CL-10, urging everyone to secure any smaller loose objects. As the asteroid field closes in, the crew can see the rocks tumbling in the void, some as large as small moons, spinning through the dark with an unsettling grace. The ship lurches to the side, casting shadows that dance like specters against the walls.

Outside, the view is still breathtaking - asteroids whizzing by, some glittering with minerals, others shrouded in dust and shadow. In the midst of the chaos, the beauty of the galaxy remains.

FLOATING AWAY
As the Mnemosyne continues to brave the asteroid field, L3TH3 suggests that the crew move to the holodecks for their safety. The AI reasons that it'll minimize the risk of injury, and the gravity will be turned off in there to stop the turbulence from shaking people around. It will allow the crew to float weightlessly for a while, free from the jolts that have become their new unwelcome companions.

If the crew make their way to the holodecks, the air is different inside, tinged with the scent of fresh grass and ocean salt as holographic projections spring to life around them.

In one holodeck, the program flickers to life, revealing a stunning landscape of lush green meadows dotted with vibrant wildflowers. The sun hangs low in a blue sky, casting a warm glow across the scenery. Gentle breezes rustle through the tall grass, creating a soft, soothing sound that is a stark contrast to the metallic whir of the ship. When the gravity turns off, it's like flying over the beautiful summer setting.

In the adjacent holodeck, another program unfolds - a breathtaking underwater scene. The crew members can see themselves swimming through the crystal-clear water, surrounded by colorful coral reefs teeming with life. Schools of fish dart between the corals, their scales shimmering in shades of blue, orange, and yellow. The tranquility of the ocean envelops everything, each breath a reminder of the freedom you can have within this artificial paradise.

For a moment, the crew can forget the peril of the asteroid field and the unpredictability of space travel. Here, in this floaty sanctuary, everyone can find a bit of solace.

Welcome to our TDM! Please direct any questions about the game to our FAQ and check out our AU WORKSHOP. If you have questions about the prompts, you can ask below.

PLAYLIST

THIS TDM IS A GAME-CANON EVENT, SO CURRENT CREW CAN TOPLEVEL AS WELL.
ANY CHARACTERS THAT DO NOT END UP IN THE GAME HAVE GONE BACK TO CRYO SLEEP.

RESERVES OPEN THE 1ST.
APPLICATIONS OPEN THE 3RD.

Comments

Rin (Murderbot) | The Murderbot Diaries

[itdoesntlikeyou]

i. A Bit of Turbulence

[What's magnetizable has been magnetized, what can be locked down has - for the most part. In the active life of a ship, there are just some times when it's always going to be a bad time for things to jolt.

Like, for example, when you're heading to the Medical bay because of Reasons - maybe something to do with the ring of yellowed bruises around their eye, and a scab peeking up from the collar of their bodysuit, the remnants of a blow that's already seen healing attention from one of the medical kits but still needs a few days to clear up. The jolt hits when they're in the midst of an intersection of corridors, striding quickly across.

So of course their ankle rolls under them, sending them pitching towards the far wall. They're quick to catch themself with a hand against the wall, the sharp smack of their partially metal forearm colliding with the plastisteel wall echoing down the corridor. And to top it off, when they raise their head to glare down the corridor -

Yeah, figures there'd be a person there to catch the full brunt of that murderous look.]


ii. A Bit of Turbulence pt. 2

FROM: SCI_R_0
TO: ALL
RE: Ship Instability Precautions

While shields are active ship safety regulations recommend the following steps:
1. While moving through rooms and corridors, keep one hand braced on the nearby wall. Use hovercarts, trolleys, or automated transports with handbar locks to carry items where possible.
2. Keep a flashlight or fully charged CL10 on your person at all times in the event of power fluctuation due to high energy load on the shields.
3. Avoid usage of recreational sport and physical training facilities at this time.


iii. Floating Away

[The holodecks certainly are meant to be relaxing, a break from the destabilizing reality of walking around on the ship - certainly in the literal sense of the jolts they're dealing with, but maybe more existentially, too. An escape from the nightmarish realization of their precarious situation, the murder of the previous crew and the still-living Captain. The twenty-year gap. The new danger to the ship and shields. Isn't it mice, to just drift around in nature, the likes of which they may never see again?

Right, yeah, not really. In the underwater wonderland holodeck - chosen out of the studied estimation that most of the crewmembers will feel uncomfortable interacting for extended periods of time with an environment that looks and feels like one where they should have limited ability to breathe. This is compounded by the spot Rin has chosen to float - in the curling branches of a simulated coral, well out of the way of the holodeck's entrance, their attention focused on the screen of their tablet where there's a lot of fake blood flying around. And the faint echo of screams to accompany it.]

SEC_Z_Massani

[anesthetic_rage]

Do we have any reports of hull breaches? Just because the engines are working again, I don't trust the shields to be at full power until they prove otherwise.

ENG_V_Saverem

[plantussy]

Don't doubt my skills, Massani! Engines might not be my specialty, but the power is 100%!

Re: ENG_V_Saverem

[anesthetic_rage]

I don't doubt your skills.
I just don't trust our luck right now, hah.

[plantussy]

You know what that's perfectly fair.

[anesthetic_rage]

If we're lucky, the worst we deal with is some dings to the hull and a scratched paint job.

Let's hope that either way.

[plantussy]

That would be the worst, yeah. If the shields hold as they should, not even that.
We need a win right now, honestly.

[anesthetic_rage]

I will settle for "Not a loss." It's an asteroid field. Just not dying sounds like a win, being brutally honest.

[plantussy]

Yeah. Unfortunately.

[anesthetic_rage]

One of these days we're going to have a problem that this blasted ship actually needs us to solve, besides repairing damage. Here's hoping it gives us access to the tools then.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Rin isn't here to defend Vash's honor as a power systems engineer, so instead:]

ALARM021536727.wav

In the event of a hull breach, this is the ship alarm that will sound. Loudly. Unless yuo are in the section that has currently suffered a hull breach.

[anesthetic_rage]

Right, because if I'm in the breach, I either already have my helmet in place and barely survive, or I'm already dead. And at that point what's the old saying?

In space, nobody can hear you scream? Probably works for alarms too.

[He's a peach.]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Medical alert bracelets are more easily scanned for.

... Nevertheless shields are rated for impacts at higher force/rate magnitudes than natural debris can account for, despite potential need to change speed and vector to accommodate. Still would be nice if the ship woke up a pilot.

[Hey L3THE you listening? For once Rin would actually like her to be.]

[anesthetic_rage]

What, so they could blast a few of the rocks with some good old fashioned hard light to break them up? Would be nice. Don't think we're that lucky.

Theoretically, though, the shields "should be rated" for this as long as we don't try smacking into something the size of Ceres. I sincerely hope the captain is at least good enough to avoid that, since we're basically on auto pilot.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Chance L3TH3 will let unauthorized crew touch exterior guns: 6%. If it's got enough processing power it can change the maneuvering so the impacts aren't so bad. Do you think the Captain is in any condition to steer?

[Are they judging the ship? ... It's probably not supposed to sound like they think they can do a better job.]

[anesthetic_rage]

You would THINK it would authorize the armaments that can't possibly hit any other structures, but no. You're probably right. Damned near makes spec ops fee redundant, but wait until we get an incursion.

I honestly have no idea what he's in the condition for. It's nice to think one of us is doing the piloting though, even if it's a fiction.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Maybe if you ask her nicely she'll let you shoot something else.

OPE_N_Wolfwood (turbulence!)

[lastdecember]

[ Hi, so, Wolfwood's probably the last person Rin wants to talk to right now, but the ship's shuddering like it's under attack and he's understandably freaking out down in his cell! ]

whats going on!!!

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Okay, so here's the thing: Ignoring Wolfwood is an option. It's a really fucking attractive option, because even before he tried to strangle Rin he made it very clear what he thought of Rin's help. (Belatedly it occurs to them that the severity of the reaction might not have been because of them specifically, but as an effort for Wolfwood to cover his tracks. Pre-cover his tracks? Whatever, the point is it doesn't actually make Rin feel any better).

... But there are probably things that Operations would need to handle locking down and it's a matter of ship safety, which is actually more important than their grudges.

In a back corner of the Science labs Rin indulges in a long, frustrated groan. UGH.

Then they compile the ship's notifications and Engineer Saverem's off the cuff reassurance about the state of the power systems and forward that to Wolfwood along with a very terse:]

Space debris. Additional equipment lock down tasks y/n

[lastdecember]

[ He honestly expects to be ignored. He really honestly expects Rin to tell him off and then to ignore him, and he can't say he doesn't deserve that as a reply.

Secure any small objects. What the hell? Doesn't this ship have dampeners!? Or is it that the asteroids are too big for the dampeners to control for?

He would really like to not be locked up right now! ]

The fuel cells in the hanger, did somebody get them? There's a secondary barrier to lock them down, it's supposed to be automatic.

[ But who knows if any of the automatic systems are working on this ship right now?

What else. What else could be a problem? The food stores will be fine -- they're stable enough even if there's some spillage. Medical supplies he doesn't know, but they're probably fine. Nobody's been rooting through them they way they've been digging through the food, and the...

And the labs. ]

Labs too. Anything loose that got left out is a fire hazard or a spill risk. Did it all get put away?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

I know how to quakeproof a fucking lab.

[Oh there it is. The extremely shallow limits of their professionalism.]

Has the barrier function tested? Or was that not on your to-do list?

[lastdecember]

[ If they decide to just throw him out the airlock, Wolfwood reasons, then he won't have to put up with this asshole for the rest of the trip. ]

sorry i was busy making sure everyone could eat asshole

[ Fuck that last impact was a big one! Can the shields really handle many more blows that that? ]

let me out of here i can help

[itdoesntlikeyou]

No, you weren't.

[That last line they don't even bother with a response. They've still got marks on their neck.

But something about staring down at that reply just makes all the anger burning through them curdle. They stop in the middle of the corridor, halfway down to the fuel cells, and just stand there, a wave of I-don't-care swallowing them.]

[lastdecember]

[ Is that it? Wolfwood stares at the screen, willing another reply to show up, but the seconds tick by and there's nothing. Rin's done with him.

Fuck! ]

you want to come down here and break both my arms for choking you then go ahead but do it after we get the ship secured!

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[They actually leave it a couple hours - more than long enough for Wolfwood to reach that conclusion. First they have to scrape together enough motivation to make sure the fuel cells aren't going to get knocked over and blow the ship to pieces (they aren't). After that, to do... anything. Eventually they just pull up an old favorite on their CL-10 and hide in the holodecks for a while, because it's the next best thing to turning off their brain for a while and maybe their current strategy of leaving dealing with this for later isn't working great.

Not that it'll stop them.

When they finally do come back to it... well. That sure is a 'we' there.]

I'm not going to break your arms.