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

jiaoqiu | honkai: star rail (current player)

[flavourtown]

✘ ⸻ waking up

[ Upon hearing the alarm that new crewmembers had awoken, Jiaoqiu had left his research, grabbed just about more supplies than he could carry, and made his way to the cyro-pod chamber. When the first wave of them had been awoken, he'd done his best to help the others as one of the very few Medical personnel aboard, but his own symptoms and fogginess had hindered him.

Today, he's bright and cheery. Medical white bodysuit impeccable, hair accessories on point and tying his braid back, tail so fluffy you want to bury your face in it.

As the newest member stumbles from their pod, Jiaoqiu is there to catch them, and ease them down into a chair he dragged over. ]

There, sit, and don't panic. I know it's all very loud with the alarms and the AI talking, but there's no emergency. [ Not anymore, at least. They'd taken care of it. He presses a bottle of water in their hands. ] Drink. There are snacks to follow, to get your body kickstarted. How are you feeling? Any mental fogginess?

✘ ⸻ floating away

[ As others have no doubt discovered over the past month, Jiaoqiu is something of a workaholic. This is, perhaps, not unusual -- they've all had to be workaholics this past month to get the engine working -- but even after the engine is fixed, and there are no actively injured people onboard to take care of, Jiaoqiu continues to work every metaphorical daylight hour.

So, as he floats over a peaceful meadow, Jiaoqiu looks somewhat disgruntled. ]

I hardly thought turbulence would happen in space.

[ Nonetheless, his tone is pleasant and mild, lightly joking, even as he heaves the sigh of a man who just wants to get back to reading medical research. He indulges a fraction and lets a hand down to trail his fingers over sun-warmed stalks of grass, bumping over a bright flower. ]

Still. If this is the space version of having to buckle our seatbelts, I suppose it isn't too bad.

✘ ⸻ bonus: mealtime!

from: MED_J_0
to: ALL
subject: an invitation 😻

In a twist I am not even remotely surprised by, I am already sick of synthesized meals. So I synthesized myself some ingredients, and plan to indulge in some real cooking. Fortunately, I had specifically requested a room with a kitchen.

If anybody's in the mood for hotpot, feel free to join me in my room. Room 111, C-level.

-- Jiaoqiu

Floating Away

[anesthetic_rage]

I think this is more "Putting the kids in a playpen so I don't have to deal with them" on the part of our darling AI.

[He was considering disconnecting L3TH3 for the ten-thousandth time, but thought better of even trying, for one because he didn't have a clue how to do it. but, as usual, the AI was a little... irritating on the best days.]

Least we're not having to deal with cleanup right now.

[flavourtown]

Hmm. You're probably right, this does smack of getting us out of the way.

[ Jiaoqiu sighs, and twists over to flop on his front. If he grabs handfuls of grass he can pull himself in and almost pretend like he's just laying on the grass, if not for the fact that he's threatening to float away at any time.

He's not entirely sure he likes the feeling of zero-g, if he's being honest. He'd much rather have his feet firmly on the ground. ]

I would rather be cleaning. That seems a lot more entertaining.

[anesthetic_rage]

Eh... think of it as a chance to meet the other new lucky few to have their pods go haywire. If I didn't think we'd get them all killed, I'd suggest making more of them go on the blink.

[He was currently folded arms and allowing the zero-g to just make him float upside down, because why the fuck not? It let him be grumpy upside down.]

...my goddamned kingdom for a second engineer, am I right?

[flavourtown]

[ Jiaoqiu snorts. ]

At this rate I'm starting to think there are no other Engineers. Our luck in that department is terrible.

[ Jiaoqiu turns over again, hands clasped over his stomach as he stares up at the artificial blue sky. He wishes he could feel calmed by it, but knowing it's fake ruins the whole experience for him. Or perhaps he's just too stressed to be coddled by a fake field. ]

I wouldn't want to risk messing with the pods, either. The chance of something going wrong is simply too great.

[ He rolls his head to look at Zaeed, thoughtful. ]

I meant to thank you for helping with the situation on A-level. If you hadn't arrived in time-- I dread to think how ugly it would have gotten.

[anesthetic_rage]

I swear I worked with a couple. But you're not wrong. Luck's shit, and we're down however many we lost in the last shift.

...

I'm not med-tech. I know better. I'd probably just get someone we need killed. We're just going to have to make do. [He grunted.] You're welcome, but I'm still damned pissed at myself. Vash needs the help but if I'd been on patrol, I could have been there sooner. Getting too spread thin.

I'm not even that mad at Wolfwood. I get it. I fucking get it, but it wasn't going to save us. There's no one plan that will. Hopefully the others are handling the stress better. You talked with him since?

waking up - hoyo fox-on-fox action

[vijnanaphala]

[ His head is going to kill him, and not because it's full of ice. It's the sound that's like blades shoved into his skull, those long fennec fox ears far too sensitive for this. At least someone is there to catch him and put him on something that's at least somewhat stable after all of this - Tighnari is still caught in some form of inertia and is honestly doing his best to not be sick.

A bottle of water is pressed into his hands and he automatically takes a drink, blinking up at the person who gave it to him. Another hybrid just like him.

In a medic uniform.

Thank god. ]

You don't happen to have earplugs?

[ The big ones for hybrid ears, that is. ]

[flavourtown]

[ Truth be told, Jiaoqiu isn't exactly sure why the alarms are blaring. There's no emergency this time -- unless one counts some turbulence as an emergency, which Jiaoqiu does not -- so perhaps L3TH3 just wanted the new people to awake to a proper sense of drama? That might be fine for anybody with normal, baseline human ears, but for hybrids with excellent hearing it's like a whole new torture tactic.

Yes. Jiaoqiu does in fact have hybrid-type ear-plugs. He's wearing some of his own, and he produces another pair for the new awakener. ]

I know, it's awful. I tried to ask the AI to tone it down, but it didn't listen to me.

[ Jiaoqiu smiles, a helpless sort of well what can you do. That done, he turns to drag closer the mini crate of snacks he'd brought with him -- perhaps he'd gone overboard at the synthesizers earlier, but he wanted everyone to have options! ]

Here, take your pick. I've got granola bars, cookies, onigiri-- later you can have some soup to really warm you up, I've got a big pot going. How's your head feeling? Any numbness in your extremities?

[vijnanaphala]

[ Tighnari shoves those ear-plugs into his huge ears with a quick thanks, breathing a sigh of relief as soon as they're in. They thankfully take off the loud noises, but he can still hear Jiaoqiu well enough.

He blinks at the offer of snacks and then picks up a granola bar. The fox hybrid isn't quite sure if he can eat it yet without messing up his science greens, so he ends up just holding it as he tries to do some kind of self-check when the worst problem is gone. ]

Pins and needles but no numbness. My head hurts a bit and I'm nauseous. A little... confused, I guess? Things are really foggy.

[ He looks up at the medic. ]

What is going on?

[flavourtown]

You've been awoken early. The AI running the ship made the judgement call to wake a few of us up a month ago, and you're among the second wave been woken. There was an incident with the former shift.

[ An incident. That's putting it lightly. Jiaoqiu crouches down next to his box of snacks and sets down his medkit, finding some medication. When he next speaks, his voice is gentle, trying to take the sting out of the information. ]

The previous shift somehow contracted an unknown infection-- all of them died from it, with the sole exception of Captain Drake. He locked himself in the bridge, and the AI sanitized the rest of the ship. That was twenty years ago. Only now did the AI judge it safe to wake some of us.

[ He offers the other man a couple of pills for the headache and the nausea, the equivalent of a regular ibuprofen. He can see on the man's medical bracelet that he's not in enough misery to warrant stronger medication, but still, even mild symptoms deserve treatment. ]

We've spent the past month cleaning the ship up, and fixing the engine from a mysterious blast. [ Jiaoqiu chuckles. ] Hopefully your awakening will be much calmer.

[vijnanaphala]

[ Tighnari watches the other man closely as he's told... that people died? That there was an infection of some kind? That all feels like a slap in the face, shaking him out of the cryo fugue a little. ]

How did a thing like that even happen? I thought the ship had excellent decontamination routines?

[ He takes the medicine with a nod as thanks, swallowing it with some of the water. Even if he's not overly messed up, telling him these things definitely makes Tighnari want to be as clear-headed as possible. ]

Engine troubles too... I guess waking up after everything was handled is a bit anticlimactic after hearing that.

floating away

[tarakan]

It certainly says something about autopilot of ship that we have turbulence.

[ Hilbert, floating next to Jiaoqiu, is also very annoyed by this situation. He already had a low opinion about the AI, but this? Navigating an asteroid field so poorly that they get jostled around and shoved into the holodeck, out of the way? Bad form, L3TH3. Bad form indeed. ]

[flavourtown]

It must be... a particularly dense, enormous asteroid field, I suppose, if we couldn't simply fly around it.

[ Jiaoqiu doesn't think zero-g agrees with him, if he's being honest. He much prefers solid ground under his feet, so, if he grabs a handful of grass and pulls himself flush with the ground, it's almost like laying down -- except for where it's not like that at all, and he can feel his body constantly wanting to float away. ]

So, have you had the chance to read through all of the previous crew's research about the infection?

[tarakan]

I have, [ Hilbert says, with a little nod. ]

I will admit, virology is not strongest suit. But I do wish we could at least have smallest amount of practical data on amoeba in Science Lab. Or at least tiniest sample of blood from Captain so we can see how symbiosis has changed him. It would be good place to start.

[ Because Hilbert's not an idiot. If someone says 'oh, the infection has been contained solely to the bridge' that means the infection is going to absolutely spread out from the bridge sooner rather than later. ]

[flavourtown]

An alien, amoeba-like lifeform.

[ Jiaoqiu repeats the phrase from the report, thoughtful. ]

It did say that there's a sample of the lifeform in the Science Lab, but only command has access.

[ Rin did, however, recently hack their way from D-level to A-level by way of the elevators. Could they hack into a locked specimen case? ]

Samples would make everything easier, yes. But I'm left wondering about this lifeform. It's been in containment for the last twenty years; either they froze it, or it's been alive this whole time without having to consume anything. The vaccine must have at least partially worked on the Captain, but not enough to cure him completely.

[tarakan]

Only command has access and there is no current structure of command. I asked AI what would happen if Captain were to be killed. Chain of command is currently broken in L3TH3's systems—entirely possible command access would be sealed off entirely.

[ Unless they hacked the system, of course. Which Hilbert is perfectly fine with, he has a middling opinion of AI at best. But he knows other people might have problems with things like 'poking around and messing with the systems that are keeping them alive.'

Cowards. ]

You are right about lifeform, though. If we knew how it was stored, could find a way to examine it without breaching containment.

OPE_N_Wolfwood (in response to the hot pot offer)

[lastdecember]

[ To be honest, Wolfwood's more than a little surprised that he's been left with access to shipwide communications. After what he did -- what he tried to do, anyway -- he's shocked to wake in a cell unrestrained, his injuries tended to, and even his tablet is still here... albeit set to read-only.

He honestly expected to get thrown out the airlock for what he did. Maybe that part's still coming. ]

I didn't hurt you, did I? I didn't mean to, if I did.

[flavourtown]

If glares could cause bruising, I'd be black and blue. But no, Wolfwood. You didn't even touch me. I'm not hurt.

[ Jiaoqiu will admit to being mildly surprised that Wolfwood has comm access in the brig, but, maybe that's protocol to avoid prisoner boredom? Who even knows.

What he does know is that while he thinks murder is abhorrent, Wolfwood did what he did because he was trying to help everyone. He didn't want to murder the Captain for murder's sake. He thought he was saving lives. That doesn't excuse it, in Jiaoqiu's eyes, but it does mean he doesn't bear a personal grudge. ]

Are they feeding you? I'd be happy to bring you a meal if you're peckish.

[lastdecember]

[ Good. That's good. He didn't think he'd put hands on Jiaoqui, but to be honest, the last day or so is mostly a blur. He remembers trying to strangle Jin, and from all the bruises he's pretty sure that that Massani asshole shot him, but who knows what else he could have done? ]

I think I deserve to be peckish for awhile don't you?

[ He was surprised as hell to wake up and find that he still had his CL10! But all the functionality has been disabled, other than comms and read-only access to the ship's library. When he'd first turned it on, there'd been an alert in the middle of the screen for a series of Behavioral Engineering video courses, on a whole range of topics -- the one he clicked on was knitting, of all things. It's a kinder, gentler future, after all! ]

I could have killed you. I could have killed Rin.

[flavourtown]

[ Ah, interesting. Self-flagellation. Jiaoqiu hadn't expected that, considering how determined Wolfwood had been that he was right. He'd been a man possessed, willing to eliminate anything in his way.

Now, he's obviously feeling regret. Jiaoqiu frowns down at his tablet. Possible temporary psychosis? Or just a man coming to an ugly realization about his own behaviour? ]

Perhaps. You didn't set out to kill us, though, and I believe you only fought Rin out of determination to carry through your self-imposed mission. Does that make it any better? That's a question for smarter philosopher than I, I think.

How is your cell set out? Can visitors give things to you? Are there gaps between the bars?

[lastdecember]

There's a slot. Security has the only access to the main door though, I think.

[ There's no bars -- the cell has a hard light window at the front so the whole cell (minus the tiny space in the back with the shower and toilet) is visible at all times. It's very similar to other spaceship brigs, except that there's a small opening in the wall for passing meals through. ]

It's nicer than a lot of the places I've lived, I'll say that for it.

SCI_R_0 (mealtime!)

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Does the dining hall not have cooking areas.

[Spoken like someone who has avoided spending more time in any of the facilities than it takes for the synthesizer to finish making their food.]

[flavourtown]

Not out in the open, and I didn't feel like poking behind closed doors to see if there kitchens hidden away behind them. As far as I'm aware, most if not all food onboard is synthesized. The horror.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Oh no.

[Hopefully Jiaoqiu has learned enough about them by now to read the deep sarcasm as intended.]

Seems easier than trying to cram the whole crew into a three meter square shoebox.

[flavourtown]

Hmm, you may have a point. Perhaps I'll ask L3TH3 if there's any kitchens tucked away that I can use-- at least that way if I decide to host a fancy dinner, everyone can attend in the mess hall!