TDM 04

[mnemosynecrew]

TDM 04

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 wakeup.

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, is it?

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

hello, [crew member]
there was an issue with your cryo pod
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 also people 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.

TROUBLE WITH TRI... FLOATY THINGIES
Unbeknownst to the crew, a cluster of those bubble-like creatures from the planet had attached themselves to the shuttle's hull, camouflaging their presence by dimming their inner glow. These creatures were remarkably resilient to environmental changes, which allowed them to survive the sterilization process designed to eliminate any potential contaminants. Once aboard the Mnemosyne, the creatures drift free, spreading throughout the ship's maintenance shafts.

Eventually, they begin appearing throughout the ship, floating gently through corridors, the mess hall, and even restricted areas like the engine room. They are harmless but incredibly curious, drawn to light sources, warmth, and movement. They interact with the crew by chirping, glowing in vibrant patterns, and mimicking sounds they hear, including voices and alarms. However, more importantly, the sounds and their presence have a very calming effect on the crew. Crew members who encounter them notice an immediate sense of tranquility, with tension headaches easing, irritability fading, and sleep quality improving. Some crew members even report vivid, pleasant dreams after prolonged exposure to the creatures. If studied, the calming effect is due to a combination of electromagnetic pulses and bioluminescent patterns that subtly synchronize with human brain waves.

However, this means that effort to contain the little aliens are complicated by their calming influence. Crew members tasked with herding or isolating the creatures may find themselves distracted, content to simply watch them float rather than complete their work. Combined with how fast they seem to be breeding, there's a chance that it will get out of control...

THE CORE OF THE PROBLEM
As nice as the creatures are, their lifespan proves to be tragically short. Within a few days, the original stowaways begin to drift gently to the floor, their translucent forms losing their glow and disintegrating into harmless mist. Their offspring and subsequent generations follow suit, leaving behind the glowing inner cores that once sustained their radiance all over the ship. These small, orbs hum faintly with an unidentifiable energy, warm to the touch and pulsing in a mesmerizing rhythm.

While seemingly harmless, these cores soon cause unexpected disruptions across the Mnemosyne. Their energy fields interfere with the ship's electronics, creating a cascade of malfunctions. Doors randomly lock or refuse to open, trapping crew members in or out of key areas. Communication terminals glitch, projecting garbled transmissions or flickering holograms. Environmental systems fluctuate, causing lighting to dim or brighten unpredictably, and climate controls to oscillate between freezing cold and stifling heat. Even the ship's navigation system experiences momentary lapses, throwing off minor course corrections or issuing false proximity alerts.

To make matters worse, the cores seem to be magnetically drawn to high-energy areas, clustering around critical systems like the engines, the power generator and even personal devices carried by the crew. Their accumulation amplifies the disruptions, making diagnostics and repairs increasingly difficult. Attempts to move or contain the cores prove challenging, as they occasionally emit bursts of energy that short out nearby tools or cause mild static shocks to anyone handling them.

Should the crew throw them out an airlock or try to use them as batteries?

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.

Comments

Rin (Murderbot) | The Murderbot Diaries | Current Player

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Tribbles Floaty Things

Specimen outbreak. All crew members report FaunaSpecimen01 sightings and prepare containment if possible. They're as far as B Level. Somehow.

[If deep exasperation isn't easily read into Rin's message to the others, it's almost certainly more visible in the breaks between wrangling attempts, as they send out status updates and make rounds of the ship, occasionally carrying specimen containers.

They're carrying one such container, entirely empty, when they walk out of the entertainment lounge, looking mostly unbothered - until they get about two meters away from the door. Then, they blink, about face, and stare down the door with something like incredulous stare.] Are you fucking joking.


The Core of the Problem

[With the strange creatures dying off, the flood of messages from Rin have also tapered - they're being much more reticent, leaving the crew communications open for more pressing matters, or for the many false alarm flags the current problem is throwing off.

They're certainly not scouring the length of the ship any more. Often enough they can be found in the many Science and Simulation labs, recklessly grabbing at the cores with their hands to pluck them away from whatever equipment they've glommed onto.]

Maybe if we put out a battery to draw them all in.

[It's not any better on the occasions they do return to the other parts of the ship. The lifts being the only way to get between Levels as they are, Rin is scowling down at their CL-10 in one, studiously ignoring the door as it opens and their fellow crew member walks in - they make for the exit in turn, side-stepping for a moment to prevent any accidental brushes with the lift's new occupant -

perfectly in time for one of those disabling pulses from a core that's attached itself to the control panel.

The door snaps shut. The lights flicker. Rin stumbles, slamming a fist up against the lift wall as they nearly slam face-first into the closed door.]

Fuck!

Floaty Things

[anesthetic_rage]

Specimen Outbreak he says.
Master of understatement, buddy.

There's like twenty of the buggers in the room with me, and I just feel great. Send them all to me. Haven't felt this relaxed in a while.

[...yeah, maybe don't. They're harmless-ish, but he didn't need to be more relaxed.]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Space octopus.

[Remember that, Zaeed? Remember that? Do they really need to say anything else to explain why that was a bad time?]

core of the problem

[thehandsomejack]

[Jack's made his way to the Science and Simulation labs to see if there's been any movement on some sort of containment effort. He wasn't about it before, but now that they're actively causing problems with the systems, he's irritated as all fuck by the cores. Definitely a case of face-eating leopards eating his face given all of Rin's warnings on the network about them before.

Finding Rin pulling the cores away in what seems to be a rather amusing and futile battle, Jack pauses to watch the show before announcing his presence. Schadenfreude always improves his day.]

That one behind you is getting sucked back in. Look at the little guy go! Hehe, they're like shitty magnets, huh.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

You're a shitty magnet.

[Good going, great retort, Rin. Fuck. They tighten their grip around the core currently in their grasp, turning away from the big, theoretically delicate, potentially dangerous piece of scientific equipment they're attempting to rescue from an inglorious death at the hand of electric-bunny corpse to glare at a point approximately two inches to the left of Jack's actual face.

A response takes an extra moment as they process the new presence, the uniform, and the lack of movement anywhere closer to the cores.]

Are you just going to watch?

Vash the Stampede | Trigun Stampede | Current Player

[plantussy]

Trouble With Tri... Floaty Thingies

[ It's an absolute mess, having a sudden infestation like this. It's also really, really good for Vash's stress. Sure, he's doing his part, rounding them up like everyone else, but he's also spending time with them. And they're... soothing, in a way he didn't realize he needed.

The weight on his shoulders, the constant churn of worry that never really leaves him, starts to ease. Just a little. The critters don't care about the impossible expectations he carries. They're just sweet soap-bubble things filling the silence with their purring or those soft, peculiar 'mamaou' noises.

As that weight lifts - just for a little while - things start to come back to him. Sleeping. Eating. Small, simple things he tends to ignore for too long. It's like they've nudged him out of the fog he's been living in, and for the first time in what feels like forever, he's working with clarity.

The power systems office has become a makeshift sanctuary for them, a handful of the little creatures floating around as Vash works. The soft sounds they make, the way they occasionally bump into things - it's grounding in a way he can't quite explain. Honestly, they should just keep these guys around, the oncoming explosion of people's shredded nerves might be stalled a bit longer if they do.

So when someone eventually comes to collect the critters, Vash is quick to get to his feet, a sudden fear rising in him. ]

Could I just keep one? [ His voice steady but soft, almost pleading. ] Just for a little while longer?

[ He's not sure what answer he's expecting, but he knows what he feels. The thought of them all being taken away, of that strange, calming presence vanishing completely, makes his chest tighten. Just one, he thinks. Just one more moment of peace. ]

The Core Of The Problem

[ That begging sure came to bite him in the ass, because after the creatures die off - and he didn't cry that much, thank you - the glowing cores they leave behind seem to have developed a magnetic fascination with everything around him. It's like he's wearing some kind of invisible beacon in the power generator office, because every time he turns around, there's another one clinging to his surroundings. They sure love the window to the power generator itself, a sealed and thankfully inaccessible area, where they cluster like moths to a flame.

The real problem, however, is when they decide to latch onto him directly. A few times, he's discovered one stuck to his arm, and the results have been... less than ideal. The core's pulse override his prosthetic's delicate controls, causing his arm to clench and unclench at the worst possible moments - like when he's holding a much-needed cup of sugary coffee in the mess hall, only to watch helplessly as it spills all over the floor.

Groaning in frustration, Vash wrestles with one particularly stubborn core, trying to pry it off while enduring a series of tiny, static-like zaps. The core makes his arm jerk unpredictably, fingers twitching and grabbing at thin air like they've developed a mind of their own - and if a crewmember happens to wander too close during one of these episodes? Well, let's just say he's apologizing profusely. ]

I swear, it's not me! It's this thing! [ Vash pleads, batting at the glowing orb like it’s an unruly insect. His dignity might be in tatters, but at least the cores do not otherwise seem harmful. Just annoying. ]

floaty things!

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[It's Rin standing in the doorway this time, their expression scrunched up with something like a grimace.

It's not like they don't get it! Every time one of those stupid floaty fuckers has decided to hang out on them in the past few days the inside of their head has shut up. Despite all the work they've been doing to contain these things they're still looking less worn down than the past few weeks have had them, like they've actually taken a break or two.

But also...]

This could turn out like the space octopus.

[They aren't stepping into the room just yet, but they're also not backing away, either, staring at the profusion of little floating forms to avoid looking directly at Vash and his forlorn expression. It's not going to work on them. It's not. They're immune to this.]

They need to be quarantined.

[plantussy]

Rin, I...

[ Vash sighs, gently pushing one of the floaty guys away. He knows that it's dangerous, that it might affect them weirdly days and days after this, but he's never felt so normal in his entire life. Like an actually functioning adult not dragged down by guilt, pain and the horrors™.

...yet part of him thinks that he doesn't deserve this peace and Rin should just take all of the critters and go. It soon becomes an extra loud voice inside his skull as the silence is drawn out the office. It sounds like his brother. ]

I'm sleeping.

[ Vash finally says softly, but there's a bit of a tremor in his voice. ]

I'm sleeping, and I'm eating, and nothing hurts.

[ He didn't even know there was a world without this pain. ]

apple core

[lastdecember]

[ The cores are damned annoying! At least most of them are. Wolfwood watches with (some) sympathy and (more) humor as Vash crushes the life out of that poor cup of coffee, leaving a sticky mess all over the floor. ]

What, are you static charged or somethin'?

[ It's the second core he's seen make a floaty beeline for Vash's arm, just in the time they've been here in the mess hall. Wolfwood's been pulling the damn things out of vents and off equiment for the last day, so he understands how annoying they are... and how much it sucks to get shocked by them. It's really not funny that Vash's arm has a mind of its own right now... but he's still laughing, sorry. ]

Think they like you!

[ From the far side of the mess hall comes a maintenance droid, beeping and whirring quietly to itself as it heads for the spilled coffee. There's an odd glow in one of the seams of the casing of the droid, but surely it's fine. ]

[plantussy]

[ Vash abandons his attempts to get the core off and instead picks coffee cup shards out of the closed fist of his prosthetic with a long-suffering sigh. The only thing that makes the loss of his coffee bearable is the fact that Wolfwood is laughing.

It's such a good laugh, even at his expense. Vash has to hide behind some fake pouts and sighs. ]

They're everywhere! The power systems office is a mess!

[ He liked them a lot better when they were alive and made everything soft and good. Now it felt like he was attacked by their corpses! ]

I was looking forward to that coffee, too...

[ Vash moves his long legs so that the cleaning bot that comes over to clean up his spilled coffee has some room. Sorry, little guy. More work to do. ]

Alexander Hilbert | Wolf 359 | current player

[tarakan]

floaty things
[ Initially, Hilbert's goal was to find one of these things and dissect them. Generating that calming effect...well, the bioluminescent patterns obviously have something to do with it. Perhaps the creatures emit something akin to light therapy? But how do they generate that light in the first place, considering how small they are? He has a lot of questions and very few answers.

He has even fewer answers when he goes to try and catch one and absolutely gets mindwhammied by the creatures. Why would he wan tot dissect one in the first place? These things are nice. Calming.

Anyone who comes into the medical bay will find all sorts of horrifying medical equipment set out, ready for dissection (why do you have so many scalpels). And they'll also find Hilbert watching one of those floaty things just float in the air. Most horrifying of all: he's smiling. ]

Are you actively bleeding? [ he asks, not taking his eyes off of that floaty thing. ] Then problem can wait a moment. Sit down. Very little time to rest on ship.

core of the problem
[ It pains Alexander Hilbert, noted hater of AI to admit this, but one thing is clear: this isn't the AI's fault. Sure, L3TH3 sucks. And is useless. And seems to prioritize it's own wants over the crew's well-being. But this latest round of nonsense can't be attributed to the AI, despite the fact that Hilbert would be really happy if it could be so.

So, he takes precautions. He carries a snack and a bottle of water with him at all times. He keeps a notebook on hand, so he can personally log things instead of grappling with his communicator. And he tries to go places in pairs.

...which really comes in handy when the temperature of the room he's in starts to drop. ]

Ah. Wonderful. Creatures have gotten attached to climate control.

[ This is not wonderful in the slightest. ]

Core

[anesthetic_rage]

Hmmmmph. Damned things seem to be localized, so hopefully it's not the entire ship's climate control.

[They might have a rather large problem if that was the case...]

Maybe I can use my rifle like a magnet, get the one to pop out of this room and onto it. Not like I can shoot the damned things right now...

[tarakan]

This is not comment on your security skills, but would prefer any attempt at escape to not involve rifle, [ Hilbert dryly responds. ] These things could be attracted to rifle, yes. But I wonder if in their manipulation, rifle would discharge.

[ And frankly, he doesn't want to be around any guns going off in a spaceship. Hilbert shivers slightly, crossing his arms over his chest so he can press his hands to his chest with his upper arms, but shows little sign of the cold otherwise. ]

core!

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Rin is not a fan of the buddy system, by any means, but considering they're also a walking buffet for the energy cores and their tendency to latch onto the closest electronic anything, particularly any number of mods that are vital to keeping them alive, any case they make against Hilbert's accompaniment is both stupid and easily dismissed by logical arguments.

They'd been doing their best to ignore him, focusing instead on their CL-10 screen, though. Ignorant of (or feigning ignorance of) the drop in temperature, until Hilbert calls their attention to it. They start scanning for the room's thermostat, their attention catching on the display there.]

Local system isn't compensating.

[To say the least.]

Re: core!

[tarakan]

What an acute observation.

[ Those are Hilbert's words, but the tone is pure 'no shit.' He walks over to a keypad, punches in a few codes...and nothing happens. He lets out a low little growl, tries a different code...same response. ]

This ship cannot go one week without some form of nonsense happening.

floating away

[lastdecember]

[ Under regular circumstances, Wolfwood wouldn't set foot in the med bay for love or money. But there's a lot of these love bugs floating around the ship, and it's his job as Operations to clear them away. It reminds him of hunting fireflies as a kid -- he holds out a hand until one of the creatures alights, then very gently cups his other hand over it and places it in the covered bucket at his feet.

They're so pretty, and they hum, and every time he lifts the lid to add another to the collection he's hit with a wave of good vibes. He's never smiled so much in his life, and everything is nice and he's finally, finally starting to relax.

So when the bug he's following leads him into Medical, Wolfwood doesn't hesitate. Hilbert says to sit and Wolfwood promptly sits, even though that means the little blue light he's been following bobs out of his reach. That's okay, though. Look at it go! ]

I can't rest.

[ ...says the man slumped comfortably in that chair. Any more relaxed and he'd be asleep. ]

There's too much to do.

[tarakan]

There is plenty to do, [ Hilbert shrugs, as he continues to watch the little light, floating in the air. He'll give Wolfwood a cursory little nod before going back to look at the thing, absolutely entranced. ]

But none of it is urgent. No one is bleeding. Ship is not falling apart. [ Well, ship is not falling apart yet. Still counts. ] Whatever we need to do can wait for moment. After all, time to rest is occasionally required. Doctor's orders.

core

[thehandsomejack]

[Jack's had lingering nausea from his rude awakening from cryosleep and came to the med bay in search of a solution. This whole being ignored for a floaty bubble alien thing is Not Cool. He will take up the offer of plopping his happy ass down in a chair though.]

No, but if you don't help me soon I might spew all over your perfectly clean med bay.

[despite his threat, he's not actively sick right now. actually, he feels better when he looks at the floaty thing, but it's the principle of the thing.]

[tarakan]

[ Hilbert frowns for a moment as he looks at Jack. It's obvious he's debating if this guy really needs any help or if he can go back to what he's doing. But as a whole, vomiting is easy enough symptom to deal with. Besides, if he gets this out of the way, he can go back to ignoring everybody and staring at the floaty alien thing!

So with a sigh like he's the most oppressed person in the world, Hilbert turns to Jack. ]

You have recently come out of cryostasis, yes? Any other symptoms?

[ Hilbert's tone is grumpy, his voice is remarkably deep, and his accent is fake Russian Uralian. ]

handsome jack // borderlands // new player

[thehandsomejack]

↳ waking up
[Jack did not expect cryosleep to take that much out of him. Quite frankly, he expected it to feel like a hangover, not like a goddamn super flu. His always perfect hair isn't so perfect and he feels green around the gills. He rubs his hand over his face as the doors hiss open, the sound making his head feel twice its size. His feet don’t listen to his brain's commands quite right and he stumbles over the threshold only for his stomach to lurch.

Jack's head turns on a swivel until he locates the nearest trashcan and dashes toward it. Then, he unceremoniously empties his stomach contents – nothing but bile – directly into it.

This sucks way more than he thought it could.

Jack wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and forces himself up with a groan. He mutters to himself:]

I hate space travel. It should be instant, not this 'put us in a freezer' crap. "An issue with your cryo pod," my ass.

[then, turning to the nearest person:]

Hey, you. What the hell is going on? And where's the freaking coffee?

↳ trouble with floaties
CL-10 Voice Memo: Kinda Cool????
Hey, I – well, I don't know about you guys, but these floatie little guys? The bubble… rabbit looking ones? They're kinda neat. Like living night lights. Look, I know the official order is we need to round them up and expel 'em, but I like having this little baby around.

[slightly away from the mic and in a saccharine voice:] You're a cute alien monster, aren't you? Aren't you? [chirping noise] Yeah, you are! Gimme five! …Okay, see, we're gonna have to work on that.

[back to the mic:] I tried searching the network for alien pet training tips, but came up with squat. So hit me up if you know the secret to teaching this guy how to give killer high fives.

[plantussy]

[ Well, that was not what Vash expected when going to check on the cryo pods. It was so rare these days that more crew woke up that he's momentarily stunned when he sees Jack. ]

Oh! Oh, you're awake! Hello!

[ Very intelligent-sounding there, buddy. A real spokesperson of the blues he's wearing. ]

I mean, are you okay? Things are kind of messy out here. [ Pause. ] You can get some coffee in the mess hall. Maybe... maybe that's a good idea for the rest of the chaos to be explained, too.

[thehandsomejack]

Oh yeah, I'm doing great, kiddo. Look at me, the picture of health.

[sarcasm is very helpful, isn't it. Attacking the stupid question gave him time to process the rest of what the kid was saying though. Jack combs his hand through his hair and stands up straighter.]

Messy, huh? Eugh... Not a fan of hearing that right when I wake up, but with the override on the pod... [he stretches, then sighs and eyes Vash. The nausea's passed for now, but thinking still feels slow and the lights are still too bright. Still, it sounds like he was woken up for a reason.] Well, lead the way and start talking.

OPE_N_Wolfwood

[lastdecember]

[ Hold up hold up stop everything. Jack will see a message request pop up on his screen just seconds after sending out his own message, and if he answers it, then there's a very loud man with a rural kind of accent shouting at him. ]

Who the fuck is this? Did you just wake up? What's your department? Who are you!?

i am so sorry wolfwood...

[thehandsomejack]

[you bet your britches he's answering that! Attention is his favorite thing!! That intense opening is met with peals of laughter though. Why are you so serious dude, everything is cool with these floaty buddies around.]

Who shit in your cereal, bud? If anyone should be pissed it's me, I've been awake for like, three hours. Name's Jack Price, in Operations. Sup?

MED_B_0

[heartofhealing]

They're quite lovely, aren't they? I'm afraid I don't know of any alien animal training tips, and I've only ever had snakes as pets.

[ The voice that comes out is soft and airy, if a little on the overly well-educated side. Like if a snob had a baby with the most grandma of grandmas. ]

I am Dr. Baizhu. I was also woken from the cryo bay recently. Have you been for a checkup yet?