Event

[mnemosynecrew]

EVENT

As L3Th3 predicted, Mnemosyne reaches the found planet on the 15th. The first view of the planet is both awe-inspiring and perplexing; a world fractured into countless floating landmasses, orbiting a radiant core that pulses like a living heart. The core's golden-red light casts shifting hues across the fragments, where forests cling to jagged cliffs and rivers spill into the void in endless waterfalls. Despite the chaotic appearance, the ship's sensors confirm the presence of a breathable atmosphere, stable temperatures, and signs of life. Strange energy readings does emanate from the core, while metallic signatures suggest ancient remnants of advanced structures scattered across the fragments.

The ship's cameras capture even more details - bioluminescent foliage shimmering under the core's light, clouds of mist swirling between fragments, and glimpses of winged creatures darting through the open air. L3TH3's systems report unstable yet navigable conditions for a shuttle, but urges caution while exploring.


When descending from the Mnemosyne, the landing shuttle's autopilot will navigate the surreal landscape of floating islands. The fragments are larger on the outside, breaking into smaller pieces the closer to the core they are, and reveals alien forests, glowing moss, and grassy plains. Here and there, vines stretch like natural bridges between landmasses, making the navigation a bit rough without an experienced pilot. Weaving through shifting gravitational forces, the shuttle's engines hum as it adjusts to the planet's gravity.

As the shuttle nears the landing zone - a stable plateau near the edge of a larger fragment - the core looms in the distance, its pulsating glow bathing the surface in warm light. The shuttle's landing gear extends with a soft hiss, touching down gently on the alien soil. The engines wind down, leaving only the faint heartbeat of the core and the distant sound of wind rushing through the fragmented terrain. The planet waits, silent and enigmatic, for the first steps of exploration.

Welcome to AG-001!

---

In the spirit of world-building... here is one! Characters are welcome to create and build this planet within the frame of the setting. Creatures, flora, anything non-sapient. In the end, it will not be a good planet to create a settlement on, but markers to survey it will be added.

On the 22nd, the Mnemosyne will continue the journey.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[mnemosynecrew]

WORLDBUILDING

[mnemosynecrew]

FAUNA

[mnemosynecrew]

[mnemosynecrew]

'Bubbles', head-sized roundish creatures floating through the air. They look similar to colored soap bubbles surrounding a glowing core, with some sprouts that almost resembles bunny ears sticking out from the 'top'. They're very, very friendly and make very cute noises. They come in yellow, blue, green, pink, purple and a rarer, shimmery white.

'Rays', manta ray-like creatures. They're transparent, similar to glass frogs with the way their internal organs show through, and are swimming between the islands. They're huge, about the size of the shuttle, and skittish.

[lastdecember]

The leaf litter is full of little pincerbug-type insects, the biggest no longer than a thumb. Like ants, they swarm in the millions and like (some) ants, they eat anything they can get their grabbers on -- rotting plant matter, sugar-filled fruits and flowers, dead animals... live animals that don't run fast enough...

FLORA

[mnemosynecrew]

[lastdecember]

Ferns! A lot of the foliage is ferny, although the colors lean more torward blues than Tellus's chlorophyll greens. And they get big, too -- 3, 4 meters in height.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

So many spores and pollen. Hope no one is allergic.

(With land masses so separated wind dispersal is the best method of travel, so practically every plant and fungus has to do some form of airborne propagation if it's widespread.)

OTHER

[mnemosynecrew]

Water

[lastdecember]

The floating landmasses make me think there was a lot of volcanic activity on this planet ages past, and so I think that a lot of the water on this planet would be pretty acidic -- not bad enough to burn anyone's skin off, but enough that it's not drinkable without treatment. You could swim in it, but it'd be like swimming in lemon juice.

The Disease

[mnemosynecrew]

L3TH3's scans from the shuttle do not pick up any signs of the amoeba with the 65 mile range, but due to the pollen and spores she suggests wearing TR-PSI-C0R3 masks (A Type) with the Extended Shield, or the UR-A9A helmet.

Up in the Mnemosyne

[plantussy]

[ Vash is absolutely dying to go down there and explore, but as the only engineer it's safer for everyone if he stays up in the ship.

Don't mind the pouting. He's pressing his nose against the window instead, looking out over the shattered planet. It looks so pretty, in a broken-up way. Pieces of land cracked apart but still flourishing.

The light from the core is also quite mesmerizing. Like a second sun, the heart of the place holding it all together. ]

Take a lot of pictures for me!

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Is Rin anywhere nearby? Probably. They don't make their presence known, though - instead, Vash gets a ping to his CL-10 with a photo that's the inside of a shuttle. Not even the creepy alien one, just the normal-ass shuttle with a terrible view of the hangar, having not yet departed.]

[plantussy]

[ Yet a picture of the normal-ass shuttle in the hangar still has Vash excited! ]

Thank you! Good luck down there!

Re: Up in the Mnemosyne

[anesthetic_rage]

We'll bring you up something good. But if we're here just long enough and things get stable... you should make landfall at least once. Stretch your legs.

[He didn't think anyone should skip this. He'd include the Captain, but... ya know.]

[plantussy]

[ Not everyone's made to go on planets - especially not the only people making the power go in a giant ship. Not that Vash didn't seriously consider it for a long time and almost snuck on board, but he's got responsibilities.

...doesn't mean he'll like it, though. ]

Thanks, Zaeed. If it's all stable, I really want to go down.

[ If it's all safe, then it has to be okay. Right? ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[On the other hand... Rin absolutely doesn't want to be down there on the planet. They don't prove it in direct statements but mostly in stalling tactics involving forwarding safety protocols to everyone, double- and triple-checking suit filters and air supplies, insisting on a formatting check of the shuttle's systems...

Generally making a rule-based nuisance of themself in non-usual ways, in other words. But this is, as Captain Drake has noted, the mission - and so eventually, things get underway, mostly due to Rin having run out of things to safety-check.

From the moment they leave Rin dives into their CL-10, monitoring not the shuttle's piloting (they don't have a license for any kind of shuttle flying) but all of the other markers on the planet. They're not staring out through the shuttle windows at the floating islands or the faint creatures or any of it, they're diving into the datafeeds of all of them as they pick a chair on the shuttle and don't move from it until they've finally settled onto a solid surface.

Even then, they linger at the shuttle lock and stare from behind their filter-mask at the plateau that extends before them. The first step onto alien soil, should any be eager for it, is there for the taking.]

... Recommend leaving helmet cameras on at all times during exploration.

[lastdecember]

[ Wolfwood does not want to be going down to this planet. He managed to avoid exploring the salvaged alien ship, and he was hoping that he could avoid having to head out onto this whole alien world, too, but there's just too much work that needs to be done. He can't sit back and let the rest of the crew take on all the risk -- nobody called him a coward to his face, but over the last few days he's been calling himself that, and worse.

Besides. He has to get off the ship, at least for a little while. He has to see a sky, be somewhere with no walls, even if he can only see it all from the other side of a helmet.

Rin's been staring at their tablet the whole flight down (and how they can read through this turbulence Wolfwood doesn't even know), but Wolfwood's glued to the windscreen, watching the world beneath them come into focus. And it's a beautiful world! Greens and blues not unlike Tellus, clouds and water and, in the initial reports at least, the promise of living things. A natural world. A paradise, maybe.

They land eventually, on one of the larger floating islands, and Wolfwood's initial fears are washed clean away. Rin might be lingering in the doorway but Wolfwood wants to be outside, now, wants to feel the crunch of soil beneath his boots and the wind in his hair.

He'll settle for the crunching part, though, at least for now. ]

Look at it!

[ Cameras on at all times, yeah yeah, his is running and uploading via link in realtime. Enjoy the show, Saverem -- Wolfwood's going to look at everything. The spot they landed in is mostly clear, aside from some low-lying tufty kind of moss, but not far off are things like trees, or maybe giant grasses? Either way they're swaying gracefully in the breeze, and whenever a bigger gust comes along there's a spray of reddish-gold pollen that catches the light.

He's never getting back in the shuttle. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Rin finally looks up, attention dragged onto the landscape by Wolfwood's voice and demand. Their attention drifting over the plant life, shying across the moss and the spikes of giant leaves. The spray of pollen has them lifting a hand to make sure their Psi-core mask is in place and the filters are working.]

I see it. It's green.

[It's possible to sound more unenthusiastic about all this, but Rin isn't putting effort into emoting. They step down onto the surface of the ground, rocks and earth grinding beneath their boots as they walk up next to Wolfwood. They take another second or two to watch the surroundings, before turning back towards the ship to retrieve a bag full of sampling equipment.

They turn back, and - okay, maybe they can admit that the glint of light and the space to move is nice. That it looks like something out of an adaptation of a sprawling fantasy story, and floating islands are weird, but also pretty cool. They take a few steps forward to nudge at some of the moss with their boot.]

[anesthetic_rage]

I'm going to assume that's standard procedure, and we leave the personal fields up as long as we possibly can, rather than risk any sort of contamination. Least, until we know for sure the site's safe.

[Business as usual, this one. Of course, he was actually a bit like a kid in a candy store. This was exactly what he'd signed up for. visiting strange worlds, shooting strange creatures and the like was part and parcel of the operation.]

Soon as we make landfall, I'll secure a perimeter.

[heartofhealing]

[ Baizhu has his scanner out to check on anything he can see, analyzing the structure and chemicals to single out new elements or combinations. That means that he's crouched down by the vegetation, space helm to protect his frail constitution on and full THAL-1A medical kit at his side... just in case.

The suit's gloves should be adequate protection as he lifts one of the fern leaves, but the jellyfish-like thing that pops out still makes Baizhu fall back on his ass. A blue, translucent being, with a glowing core?

...a very friendly one, of the cooing and curious floating around him is interpreted right. It could just be measuring him out to eat. ]

Ah, a little assistance?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Oh, good - someone who's genuinely interested in this stuff, and not just because they'll look like a shitty scientist if they don't do some exploring and data collection for whatever scientists wake up after them and actually have to make a decision on the colony world and terraforming!

That said, Rin is mostly willing to let Baizhu explore nearby - the white Medical colors make him easy to spot, compared to Rin's Science greens - focusing on their own sampling and letting Baizhu focus on... whatever he's up to. Until the request.

They pick up their pace through the nearby growth, coming to an abrupt halt when they see the doctor on the ground, some... bubble, floating in the air before him.]

Are you hurt, Doctor Baizhu?

[Also, what the hell kind of animal is that, but they're getting there.]

[theomachy]

open

[ erwin is doing his duty of making sure everyone is nice and safe landing on the plateau and that they have everything they need. if someone wants an escort he's also available; he'll be running around assisting with each shift of his where he's not on-board. it's not like, because he's scientifically curious or anything, that would be silly. he's just being a good security officer.

case in point, should you at any point exit the shuttle and decide you need anything: ]

Do you have all required exploration equipment? I'm here to escort if necessary as well.

[ he's not singling anyone out, at least, so it's not like he thinks anyone needs Extra Help. ]

closed dirtdevil

[ there really aren't enough members of security to be spread this thin, but when one of them decides to head out on-planet on their off-duty hours, it's reasonable for two of them to be in the same place. it's erwin. erwin is on-planet on his off-duty hours. you'd think he'd be sick of wearing the filtering respirator mask this long, but he seems fine with it. so fine with it that he's kind of just vibing while looking at plants. ]

Levi.

[ he's crouching by a leafy plant, examining the leaves with gloved hands. he's taking care with it and he's already scanned it to make sure there are no known toxins, but he's also a visual and tactile learner so he's all up in there.

anyway: ]

This plant has a remarkable likeness to Camellia sinensis.

[ you can just say 'a tea plant,' my guy. ]

I wonder if it could also be used to make tea. [ there you go, buddy. ] Maybe I'll ask if we can get some more eyes on it and do some testing.

[dirtdevil]

[ camellia what now? by the time he opens his mouth to ask what in the hell Erwin is talking about, he's already getting the context clues to answer his question.

honestly, he can't even roll his eyes—Erwin's completely unnecessary intellectual flex is charming. he does sigh in fake exasperation, though it's also admittedly nice of Erwin to be thinking about his affinity for tea even on an alien planet. ]

You're out of your mind if you think I'm gonna brew up anything from out here and drink it.

[ so he says, but immediately afterward he's actually giving it some more thought. tea from another planet? isn't that kind of cool?

maybe a little bit. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[At the current moment, Rin is returning to the shuttle with a small collection of samples - a number of small tubes filled with variously labeled air, water, and soil collections. They set aside the selection into one of the many cases brought down on the shuttle for exactly this purpose, checking each before they're put away, then grabbing a new set before making back for the door.

They actually make it two steps outside of the shuttle before they register that Erwin is actually addressing them, and slow to a halt, glancing back over their shoulder towards the Security officer, though with their spacesuit helmet on it's hard to tell where exactly they're looking in the 3-second pause that follows.]

Do you know how to use a sampler?