hyperlinks | test:drive

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!testdrive

test:drive_01.

TESTDRIVE_01
THE ARRIVAL. You wake up, wet and bruised, in the water. You don't recall falling, but you recall a flash of bright light, and the next thing you know you're washing up on the shoreline. You can see two moons and a planet in the sky. Directly abovehead is a slash of oscillating lights that flash painfully bright with every passing second - and you witness a handful of silhouettes getting spit out of the lights, falling into the water with a loud splash. It's a surprising sight; just as surprising is the fact that you're not alone. A stranger you didn't notice approaching hauls you up onto your feet, checks you for injuries, and then you're lifted into a shuttle, where you're healed by the med techs on board. There are others like you who were pulled from the water and the sand, and they're in various states of healing. You're all soaked in seawater - and by the look of things, you're all equally at a loss about your situation. An automated message keeps repeating over the PA system in English: "You are currently in Caius Allied Territory. Welcome to Alexandrina." Where the hell are you? You're now in Alexandrina, and we hope you enjoy your stay. NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE. It isn't your lucky day. Something, somewhere along the line, goes incredibly wrong. Rather than keeping you at the shores of Alexandrina, the rift pulls you in and spits you out in a place that's a lot less watery and clear. The first thing you come to is the taste of dirt and grime, and the hustle and bustle of a city that doesn't have an off-switch. Overhead, there are high-rises and towers that go up further than your eyes can see. It seems neverending, and natural light struggles to filter through the metal. The shock only starts to fade away when you hear the sounds of a struggle not too far away from where you landed. Investigating will lead you to a group of Caia Maxus harassing a few Terrans on a back alleyway. The Terrans are trying to sidestep their way out of this (they'd rather not get involved in a fight), but the Caia Maxus far outnumber them and all escape routes have been blocked. No one else is stepping in to intervene. If anything, the rest of the onlookers seem to be encouraging the rough treatment. So now you get to decide: OPTION A \| YOU STEP IN LIKE THE HERO YOU ARE. You step between the two parties to try and avoid an escalation. You don't want to start trouble, or maybe you do and this seems like a good reason to fish for a fight. OPTION B \| YOU LOOK THE OTHER WAY. This isn't your problem really, so without saying a word, you head for the other direction. The Terrans weren't asking for help anyway, so maybe they could handle it. Best hope nothing will let you regret your decision. Choose wisely. You'll feel the effects of your choices sooner than you think. Regardless of what you decide though, the Hypatia Rescue Fleet 409 will locate you a few Terran hours later. They'll tell you they have no idea how you ended up in Koriba, that's never really happened before, but they're glad they managed to find you before anything major happened. THE NIGHT OF. It's a lot to take in. You're on an alien moon, looking out to a planet that looks a lot like Earth but isn't. You can see the storms swirling around, the deep blue of its own seas, as you listen to the crash and pull of the waves not far from where you stand. The stars are different here too - there are no constellations that you recognize immediately. Some of the older locals are lingering outdoors with you, and they nod at you as you make your way around the cottages. Are you headed to the beach? You might find a few couples having a moment there. Are you headed back into the cottages? If you peer into some of the windows, you'll find entire families sitting together, or parents tucking their children to bed. If you're headed into the woodsy areas that extend away from the beach, you might hear a rustling sound or two - from something too large to be another person. Careful where you walk tonight. There's a reason for lights out being a thing. WELCOME TO THE 409. It's the morning after your quick orientation into the Alexandrina settlement, and everything looks dewy and homey — until you start hearing loud splashes, followed by shots firing off nearby. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a bunch of eldritch horrors falling from the rift abovehead. They stand at roughly ten meters tall each, lumbering out from the water with angry screeching and flailing limbs. They're already kicking up a mess at the shorelines, and upending some of the makeshift outposts lining the beach. The locals are shooting at them to keep them away from the settlement borders. Most of them are adults, but some of the shooters are as young as fifteen or sixteen, and clearly used to the kickback of the firearms they're carrying. One of these shooters pushes you forward, tells you to get moving. Another hands you keys to a vehicle and points you in the direction of the fleet — every able adult needs to help in manning the patrol lines, they say. The keys fit into a hoverbike, which in turn is armed with blast guns up front. "Get up in the air and help the guys out," the stranger urges you. "We don't have as many men as we used, to. Get going, get going!" ...Maybe those bikes come with a how-to manual? On the bright side, at least you're not alone in trying to figure these bikes out. NOTHING WASTED, NOTHING THROWN. The beach is saved! You're drenched in monster blood, there's sand in places you didn't realize you even had, and your bike is in some form of damage after those first few crucial minutes of getting the hang of riding them. Now comes the cleanup, and your character is armed with large chainsaws and buckets. The creatures need to be chopped down to smaller sizes before they can be properly incinerated, and everyone's kindly asked to suit up and get to chopping! There are small stalls and tents lined up along the beach for various purposes to help with the process. There are refreshment tents for when the sun heat gets to be too much; there are portable incinerator ovens, which burn the creatures' parts down into fertilizer (no point letting it go to waste, hey!), there are shower tents for when you're done with the hacking and sawing, and at the far end of the beach, away from the gore and the carnage, is a beach barbeque bonanza. From the way people act, this is a normal day in the 409. So why not grab a saw, chop up some monster flesh, and have yourself a nice beef-flavored something? You've earned it today. HYPENET. C̪͇̜̞͇̲a̮̠̝͍̩̦n̪̣ a̦͖n̕y̯̪̪o̟̭͞n҉̩e͢ ̱̜̠͎̖̤h̘̝͔͓̳̪̠e̻̲̦̯ͅa̵r͈̜͙̣̜ ̧m̩͇ḙ͓͡?̩͈̲ͅͅ H̷͖͇͈̮e̲͖❚❚͓͈̥̤̺͔ͅ—͍ N͎̦̫̯͔̯o͖̖͎̠̣̮ ̹̝o̬̦̠̫̮ͅ❚̱͈̺̝̥͞❚͏ ̳❚͉͎͜ş ̨͚̲͓͚̣̫s̙̥❚̮͚̻͠f̟̪̲̳̕e̥̞̲̝̝͟—͈̖ Whoa. What was that? This is the first thing you hear as soon as you try connecting to the network. Something tells you this isn't something that happens often, but asking anyone who knows more about this place than you do isn't netting you any answers. The more people start looking at you like you're crazy, the more you're tempted to brush it off... Connecting to the network again will trigger its original default message: Welcome to HypeNet, DefaultUsername[xxxx]! You are now accessing the Hypatia Mass Network. You may input your personalized username and start chatting now! Time to get some answers. Maybe someone else must have heard it too, right? OOC NOTES. Welcome to the first TDM of HYPERJUMP! We're trying something different with the Koriba prompt, so please bear with us. Cast your vote here! Both options have their own sets of consequences that will affect the first intro log of the game, so choose your actions carefully! Additionally, the interactions in this test drive can be game canon if the parties involved agree to it. Everyone is also encouraged to use test drive threads for samples in your application. We are super excited to have you here, and we hope you like what you see. ♥

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

NOT IN KANSAS (option A)

[Here is the thing about being deposited quite suddenly on another world, when you have never left home in several very, very literal ways—it's wildly exciting, to suddenly experience firsthand the bustle and crowds of a big city, things that up until this point have only been tantalizing glimpses of the outside, simulations spun up in virtual space—

So Poe is having the time of his life, in the way that a puppy at a dog park for the first time might be having the time of its life; a little overwhelmed, a little giddy, all walking face-first into trouble without meaning to at all. He sees the Caia Maxus, of course, sees and registers that they are dangerous and the Terrans are in need, and while his programming does not demand defensive action, he himself is inclined toward it when he can. When the odds are, quite frankly, terrible.

It is such an inclination that has him putting himself precisely where he shouldn't, in harm's way, and greeting the Caia Maxus with a chipper and very, well, passive-aggressive:]

Good sirs, if you would be so kind as to vacate the premises, the fine people here with brains larger than the contents of an egg cup would like to go about their business undisturbed.

[At which point he is, frankly, cuffed around the head, and with a sputter he draws himself up to his (not very tall) full height, and-- oh. Oh, yes. He's just one body, now, oops.]

I—am unable to provide adequate protection without proper compensation and, as seems to be the case, a gun... Well, this has become slightly awkward, hasn't it?

[Help him before they smear his digibrain on the pavement.]

HYPENET (KIND OF)

[Being, himself, an AI, Poe is drawn inexorably to the network. He can't seem to download himself into it or anything from it the way he's used to, but that's alright— he's managing! It's still some kind of access, some connection, and so he is... satisfied. Content, for the time being, to be but one mind unable to reach out toward any other.

Mostly.

The other thing about being an AI is this: when he hears the first voice through the network, glitched thoroughly and barely audible and untraceable by his now limited options, he can't help but wonder if that is another AI as well. You'll find him tapping the ear cuff repeatedly, turning the access off and on, trying in vain to hear that voice again—]

I am terribly fearful that someone is in there, bound, unable to reach out by any traditional means—

[Given that he is dressed like he walked out of the mid-1800s, this comment might not seem to mean what he intends it to. Hmm.

OR, actually on the network:]

theraven: Greetings and salutations, fine fellow residents of the... moon camp. Tell me, how would you rate the amenities you have been provided thus far in your stay?

[he has to SCOPE the COMPETITION]

WILDCARD

[hmu @ jojoveller or pm if you want to talk specifics, otherwise have at]

RK800: The amenities here seem sufficient for the most basic needs, though it would seem that not all things have been accommodated for. That would become a possible problem given time.

Edited 2018-08-03 07:53 (UTC)

Then you would say there is something lacking in the presentation. Do tell. Is it some comfort, some predilection towards the more exotic? Though I daresay this moon is more exotic than most.

Now, if you would be so kind.

The presentation has little impact if the accommodation is enough. I have noticed there are some here who do not come from the same place, even though we all arrived in the same manner. There is only so much the same style accommodation can do for a large variety of beings.

Presentation and accommodation are inexorably linked, my friend. They are two sides of the same coin, you cannot possibly have one without the other. Never shall they be wrest in twain, and so on, and so forth.

But never mind. You speak of the trials and tribulations of others; are you not, yourself, disturbed and disrupted by all of this?

They may be linked, but the fact remains that the presentation can be inadequate yet the accommodation still works.

( Hank's house looks like crap but he still lives there just fine.)

I can admit to being disturbed by finding myself in a strange place though disrupted is more apt. Adapting is something I am used to and it would be best for all to find out as much about this place as possible; including those who are residing in it.

If you enjoy living in a cheap hovel instead of luxury, yes. Sadly there is no accounting for taste.

You want to have a meet and greet. [That's not-- exactly-- no, nobody said that, and yet.] I would love to.

At some point luxury becomes more of a waste and less of a benefit.

A meet and greet? I didn't say that, but the idea isn't a terrible one. I am uncertain as to if people would attend it having come through a turbulent experience to get here. They would be naturally inclined to be suspicious of such things.

Decadence is a matter of taste, and I am happy to deal in all kinds of it. But no matter.

Let's you and I meet and greet, and then we shall see just how well it will go from there.

You make it sound like your job.

And just who is it I am supposed to be meeting?

It is my job. I am an AI responsible for the care and upkeep of Bay City's finest hotel, which includes the whims and wiles of my guests.

Please, call me Poe.

( An AI and not an android? As Kamski would say, this is fascinating.)

It is good to meet you Poe, you can call me Connor. I am an RK800 advanced prototype unit designed to assist the Detroit City Police Department, specifically with any criminal cases involving androids.

Have they given you somewhere to anchor here?

[!!! An android and not an AI? As Poe himself would say, this is very exciting.]

Yes. Somewhat. Not the accommodations I would prefer, but I suppose when one's body is a multi-storied building, one must be willing to take what one can get from the locals. I've been enjoying the less limited mobility, somewhat.

Would you like to come enjoy some less limited mobility with me, off this dreary interface, in the real? I imagine you and I should have plenty of things to talk about.

If one was a multi-storied building then it explains the earlier questions and requirements. And of course, you must be used to multi, large scale interfaces instead of just the one.

I think I would like that very much. I can't say I have ever spoken with a hotel AI before now and it would be a lie to say it wouldn't be interesting.

( it isn't the network that vanessa responds to but his voice. she sees him in the street, a frown in confusion at his words. words that, whilst are english sound incredibly strange )

Bound where?

( his dress, compared to everyone else's that vanessa has seen, is at least familiar with her coming from the late 1800s. her arms are folded, almost hugging around her as she approaches him. something about him is twinging a slight amount of curiosity in her )

[Oh-- a kindred spirit in old-fashioned dress, or- perhaps not, as it happens, but he'll figure that out as he goes. He taps the ear cuff again, for emphasis, gesturing for her to turn hers on as well.]

In here, my dear, lost in the waves without a rudder to speak of. And the waters are turbulent, from what I was able to hear... I am rather worried.

( though her hand moves as his does vanessa isn't certain what she's supposed to be doing )

In our heads?

( what is a technology. though if he were hearing something-- it could be a concern or something that could provide information )

[He pauses minutely, taking in her appearance for what it actually implies, finally. Ah-- time, then, has no bearing on this world. It makes sense.]

Mine, perhaps, although I do very strongly doubt I could be- if you'll pardon my vulgarity for a moment- hacked so thoroughly without my notice. No, in the data stream. In the network. The worlds-wide-web.

[He looks at her for an extended moment, lips pursed, then,] Am I making sense?

( where normally vanessa might smile as a little mask of her confusion the impulse doesn't quite make it into action and instead she gives a small shake of her head )

I'm afraid not. How could something have-- ( she tries, though the word feels strange in this context ) --hacked your head?

( it looked in one piece )

Somebody call for a gun?

[ don't worry poe, you've got yourself a knight in shining -- well, a young woman wielding a space weapon, at any rate. the confrontation had caught her attention even before poe stepped in, but his attempt at handling it...doesn't inspire any faith in her that he's got it covered. can he even fight? did he provoke them without any ability to fight? is this her first few months traveling with johnny all over again?

anyway. she points her gun towards the caia maxus, an eyebrow hitched up in challenge. then, she adds to the aliens, ]

Still like your odds, or do you feel like playing bully somewhere else?

[If he had a gun or five, he could do well enough, but all by his lonesome-- well, no, he's a bit useless. So he stands there and looks vaguely perturbed, perking up at the sight of his savior.

Ah—]

Gentlemen- I presume- I do believe she knows precisely how to cause a great deal of discomfort with that, so if I were in your suddenly less than advantageous position...

[He is about to get decked again, for sure.]

4N631: Hello, is this a survey?

[ Maybe she should look into developing some anti-spam measures? But she'll answer this one anyways, just in case there's a free cruise. ]

I would go as far as saying that the current accommodation are a world above what I am used to, but I may be a special circumstance.

A special circumstance, you say? Do go on. Special circumstances are a specialty of mine, if you'll pardon the wordplay.

Oh, my apologies but you misunderstand. When I say "special" I don't mean it in the positive sense of the word. Unless you count things like torture and isolation an enjoyable experience.

[ ....Which she knows some people do but uuuuuh let's not go there. ]

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test:drive_01.

poe | altered carbon

hypenet

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hypenet ( kind of )

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kansas

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