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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. ♥

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( vanessa doesn't answer immediately, not quite feeling foolish though given that he seems to be determined that it is true-- she almost doesn't want to be wrong but this is what she knows and vanessa isn't certain that she could believe anything else. it just isn't possible )

They have a limited purpose. And they do not look as you do.

( machines were built for a job. what job would one have to look like a human did? and how would it be made, be able to think? )

You're not wrong, androids do have certain responsibilities. Some are gardeners, some look after children, others were created with the purpose of military work. It's not quite that way now, but you aren't off the mark in thinking that way.

( connor briefly thinks to all the androids he's known and spoken to in the few months of his life. some seem to be fine with branching out and finding new purpose whilst some felt lost, directionless in a larger world.

so, this human vanessa ives has never met an android it seems. vanessa can't be forgiven for thinking he's human, the only thing that really gives it away is the flickering LED at his right temple.)

We were created to look as human as possible. Does it bother you?

I don't know.

( though if vanessa did think on it she would probably find that it did bother her. it seemed unnatural, a web of lies for something to be possible. and she didn't understand it )

Does it matter? Will it help to free us?

( an honest answer from vanessa. connor will give an honest one back as he folds his arms again, his own actions more casual and thoughtful than anything.)

If we were back home I would say instantly that yes, it would help free us. Everything here is new so it may take a little bit longer for me to compile the information needed to get us all out of here.

( he's definitely going to have to start spending a lot of time just info gathering, but that's fine with him, perks of being an android is not needing to rest a lot.)

Where are you from?

( the statement sounds very confident and perhaps, with vanessa knowing so little, a little overly self-assured. though hadn't he said that his role was to investigate-- something? she didn't remember what )

London.

( she lifts her head just enough to dare to look at him, almost study him, though she's careful to avoid his gaze where she can, never meeting his eyes )

( if connor doesn't investigate, then what else is he going to do? he may not be stressed at the idea of other things, but it's still a very foreign concept. at least this way he can work on something that will help others. hopefully.)

London, England? I have heard that it's a nice place over there. It's far away from the north east of America where Detroit is.

( vanessa is welcome to stare as much as she wants. connor is too busy staring at the stars again, trying to see if he can at least begin separating them into stars and planetary bodies. )

Did you wake up on the beach here too?

Yes.

( vanessa hadn't asked anything of anyone, only so far having answered the questions that others had posed to her. she hadn't wanted to think or even accept this as reality. she still didn't but now that her senses were dying down somewhat, the world around her not feeling quite as terrifying, what she should do was ticking in her head a little more even if all that meant for the moment was a meaningless conversation )

It is nice. ( the words come after a pause where it almost may have seemed that vanessa was going to say no more. her eyes close momentarily, trying to focus on the thought of london. she'd been in the streets just before waking on the beach, surrounded by the crowd but nothing had been out of the ordinary. though, at that moment in time, she isn't certain that she would have been able to pick anything out ) Though London can feel rather crowded.

It wouldn't be a crowded place if it was considered to be horrible.

( after all, no-one would visit it if it had a bad reputation. then again they don't know what this place is like and still wound up here. a lot of things seem to be challenging to a linear way of thinking it would appear.

cyberlife's job at making androids look more human was done almost too well, the concern in connor's system reflected on his face. if they can't recognise the stars then the implications of distance are immense and voicing them out loud have a chance of not being conductive to anything right now.

getting back home is going to be a feat.)

What do you do back home, Vanessa? I know I've mentioned that I work with law enforcement. Are there any areas that you work in back in London?

( there's another pause before she speaks. it had been a while since vanessa had 'worked' if you could call it that. it wasn't a job in the strictest sense but occasionally people sought her services out, paying her. though she hadn't seen anyone in months, perhaps longer. vanessa didn't quite know how much time had passed )

I'm a spiritualist.

( it wasn't the best word but in this instance, it fit. ethan had first assumed she was a fortune reader, seeing her tarot cards out, but she could do far more )

I don't know how it will help.

( oh but it could. she could see the past, perhaps get a sense of what had happened to draw them here. perhaps get a sense of what could happen )

( spiritualist? it's not something that connor is overly familiar with, only knowing a very vague and basic definition in a sense. even then it's nowhere near the mark and he tilts his head, trying to connect the job title and the person next to him.)

I'm sorry, I can't say I know the term very well. What does it entail?

( back home most don't delve into spiritualism and the few connor even has visibility of are the kinds who believe that the spirit is the true state of being. not exactly useful to androids. one day if connor sees it in action he would understand better that it is something that's immensely useful. for others that is; connor is only technically a few months old.)

( it's a question that vanessa has never been asked before, besides people that have never visited a psychic before but even then they have a vague idea of what to expect just not what she precisely will do )

People ask for their future to be read. ( she prefers the term over fortune. often there is no fortune there, warnings to be given even if there are good things ahead ) Or-- to speak with someone that they have lost.

( though more often she read tarot. she was a skilled medium but it was a less pleasant experience )

( reading futures? speaking with lost people? it defies logic in a sense and connor tries to turn it over in his mind, try to figure it out from a different angle. telling the future wasn't exactly a logical or scientific thing to be hearing about. one thing connor can tell, though, is the truth.)

I don't believe we have that back in Detroit. Things can be worked out through reconstructing events or recognising patterns in things that have happened and working out the possibilities, but it's still a work in progress.

( from the way vanessa is explaining it, it sounds as if this is more something a person does for another person instead of investigating a crime or such.) It sounds like something that would bring someone some level of comfort.

( she understands his meaning, assuming that that is what the police do when they investigate crimes, though she's never spoken to one to ask )

It can.

( or bring enjoyment. séances at parties were all the rage )

Though it is also unsettling. Speaking to someone that is dead is unnatural.

The dead? You mean to say you are communicating with the deceased?

( Sorry Vanessa, Connor is an android. Ideas of the afterlife and such is such a foreign concept he just can't bring himself to believe it's a possibility. Even if he had to consider it for himself, there is no afterlife, just nothing.)

That isn't possible.

( One day Connor will also learn when not to be too blunt with the truth. Today is not that day.)

( it's far from the first time that she's had her abilities or beliefs doubted. considering that society at large doesn't really believe in it, that some only want to when it serves them matters little. she's accepted it -- she possibly would have been the same had she not been gifted )

Yet people wish it to be.

( she doesn't push. vanessa never does, not to a stranger. pushing her beliefs as truth only makes her seem crazy and that isn't something she ever wishes to revisit )

( If Connor was human he might have felt bad for outright telling someone that their job choice was impossible. But he's not human and in Connor's mind something either exists or doesn't. Communicating with the dead just didn't exist back home and contemplating it's existence without evidence was a fool's errand.

The comfort side of it — and people wishing for — does make sense. Even Hank had said himself he would have words with his creator. He would probably have words for those he'd lost too given the chance. It's something Connor can only look into from an outside perspective and he files it away for later consideration, instead giving Vanessa a side-wards glance as his led flickers yellow again.)

Do you wish it to be?

Does it matter?

( in the larger scheme of things it didn't seem to, though perhaps that was because vanessa knew more than most. her gifts allowed her to be able to do such impossible things -- her opinion could hardly be unbiased.

but then they were here, and in such an unknown situation did it matter whether or not she believed that people could contact the dead? whether she wished to be able to? she didn't think so )

No, I don't suppose it does.

( maybe it was too personal a question. it isn't important in the grand scheme of things, just a small piece of information that may give more insight to the whole thing. connor moves on from the topic, not at all bothered or concerned that he didn't get an answer for that one.

had vanessa been a suspect in something? you can bet he would have pursued it until his last moments.)

What are your thoughts on this place?

I don't have any.

( her response is a little agitated. she'd already felt trapped, that feeling only abating slightly with the distraction of the conversation. but it's a long conversation and she hasn't spoken to anyone in months.

it's a little trapping on its own, a feeling of frustration rising through her particularly when vanessa doesn't know something-- she doesn't know anything about this place )

It's all unknown.

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