Mini-Event

[mnemosynecrew]

EVENT

It happens in the dead of night - so sudden, so absolute, that for a moment, it feels like the ship itself has ceased to exist. The familiar hum of the Mnemosyne's systems vanishes, replaced by an unnatural, suffocating silence. A heartbeat later, the darkness takes hold. Total blackout.

Then, as if the ship itself is gasping for breath, emergency lights flare to life, flooding the halls in deep red. A shrill hiss follows as every interior door slide open in unison.

The system has gone dark. Terminals are dead. CL-10's have no access. Anything reliant on the ship's core network is unresponsive. Even elevators between decks are frozen in place, leaving only the cold, metal emergency ladders as a means of traversal. Synthesizers refuse to function.

And most critically -

L3TH3 is gone.

Not silent. Not unresponsive. Offline.


Yet, despite the eerie stillness, some things persist. Life support remains operational, oxygen still cycles, temperature remains stable. Airlocks are firmly shut. The engines continue their course, thrumming faintly beneath the floors. Even power still technically exists, but there is no intelligence behind it any more. The Mnemosyne is still moving - but without a pilot, without a shield and without defense.

To some, the fact that the ship's quarantine protocols also remain intact is a reassuring sign of system redundancy. To others, it is an opportunity lost. After all, a coup - or mercy killing - requires more than emergency rations and dim red lights.

---

Welcome to this month's mini-event! The system being offline will continue for a week, until the 17th. As the mod will also be unavailable at a computer during this time, direct any questions to mnemonsynecrew@gmail.com for a quicker reply.

As noted in the event, CL-10s won't be able to access the system for anything (work, ship data, etc.) during this time, but it can still be used to communicate between crew and used for personal data.

Comments

[plantussy]

...yeah. I'm tired of being helpless.

[ They have no real agency in all of this, and it's terrifying. No captain, no officers, barely any access. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[You and them both, Vash. They're - getting to that. The mod in their head is making it hard, though.]

Can the ship manage on this power output? Are we going to lose vital functions if this continues?

[plantussy]

[ Mods in heads tend to do that!

Vash looks over at the power generator window again and rubs the back of his head. ]

She should be okay with the life support stuff for quite a while. There's still power there, it just isn't accessed.

[ He sighs again. ]

It might be how the ship was run before we woke up.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Corpses don't need life support.

[Rin for fuck's sake.

They stare past Vash towards the thin line of the power beam, expression set and tense. The longer this goes on without rebooting, the more they're thinking about trying something drastic, which shows in the mounting stiffness of their posture.]

... If something goes wrong with the power how likely is it that we can fix it without terminal access.

[plantussy]

[ Vash noticeably cringes at that, but Rin kind of has a point. ]

I can handle some things manually if there's an issue, but if there's a system one and I don't have access, it'll be tricky.

[ He presses a few buttons on his CL-10. ]

Absolute worst case scenario, we can grab UR-A9A and make our way to the cryo bay. Either we freeze ourselves... or if we somehow make it into the settler bay, it has independent life support and power. We could activate M0USA1 and have them work on the issue.

[ Nevermind that the settler bay is sealed. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Oh... the settler AI. Right - they'd completely forgotten about that, from the way they jolt just a touch.]

If L3TH3's fucked up that bad, we might be able to copy over functionality. The ship systems are tied into that functionality but an AI would be better suited to adapt with some patches than just rewriting all the command code systems from scratch.

[Of course getting to the settlers and their AI is part of the problem, too...]

We can't draw on power there to activate additional systems?

[plantussy]

I don't know... everything is separate over there, so it can detach in case of an emergency. It has it's own system, it's own power, it's own engine, an extra shield... I don't know if it has weapons, but probably.

[ Sigh. ]

...but it's all sealed off. It only activates if L3TH3 finds a good place to put settlers.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[So much for that thought... Though Rin pauses.]

There might be a failsafe to activate if L3TH3 goes down. If it can't get into the other ship systems, we might be able to manually shift control. [They consider the power systems.] Can you leave those?

[plantussy]

No failsafe has activated so far, at least. It seems a bit of an oversight to put L3TH3 as the sole program of the ship.

[Sigh. Hindsight and all that. She was supposed to be the pinnacle of AIs, but 20 years alone is 20 years. Who knows what's going on with her now. ]

Leave what?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Unsinkable ships, right?

Rin, meanwhile, gestures impatiently to the power supplies - they're already moving towards the door.]

Independent power on the other vessel means terminal access. Worth a shot.

[plantussy]

[ History is doomed to repeat itself. ]

You think so?

[ He's already following, though. Maybe Rin is right. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Maybe.

[Oh good, they don't have to explain! Or explicitly invite Vash along on this expedition, other than their incredibly contextless question.

They move briskly away from the power station, despite the dimmed lights and the shut-down systems. It's an eerie refrain of the first time they all woke up on this ship, though this time, at least, there's no body - or there's one body, but it's the ship, lying dead and quiet around them.

Rin pulls out their Cl-10, to send their periodic ping towards L3TH3, frowning as they get no response.]

[plantussy]

[ He's not quite sure what Rin is even thinking about, but he trusts them enough to give whatever it is a try. There are a lot of things that would be a lot better with a new AI that isn't compromised by years of neglect.

It all depends on the systems, though... and that damn access. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[By the time they reach the section of the ship that leads into the colonists' closed systems, Rin pauses, looking towards the nearest terminal, then walking up to tap it, gesturing Vash over closer - apparently the personal space requirements can be flexed in an emergency.]

I want to check before we try opening the door.

[plantussy]

[ Vash follows along, keeping an eye on things around them. If L3TH3 rebooted now and found them sneaking around here, what would she do?

He's hoping it's not something drastic. ]

Opening a bulkhead like this isn't easy, and I'm pretty sure there are several of them since it can break free from the rest of the ship. Be careful, Rin.

[ He knows they are, but still. ]

...if she wakes up again, don't leave any traces.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

I know.

[If they're annoyed by the warnings, they don't show it, stepping up to poke at the terminal.]

I'll have to convince the life support systems that the Mnemosyne is defunct but there's still environment on the other side. Which is true.

[But also not supposed to happen, so...]

[plantussy]

Do you think that will help? It might detach the whole front and set off if it thinks the rest of the Mnemosyne is dangerous.

[ Which he's... not happy about. His parents are in there, after all. ]

Please be careful, Rin. It's not worth risking a hundred thousand lives.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Rin goes still, glaring at the panel - because they don't want to glare at Vash, even if they're frustrated about - well, everything.]

If we don't get our systems working here, they'll probably die anyway.

[plantussy]

[ Vash pauses at that, glancing at them with uncertainty. The settlers should be fine with their own systems, but who knows what chain reaction this could cause.

Either way, 300 lives or 100.000, they're all people. It seems weird to involve people that aren't even awake in the experiment.

There's a sigh, and he pushes his mop of blonde hair back. ]

Can you stop it, in case things go wrong?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Hm.]

If I leave the pressure and oxygen sensors active they'll trigger an automatic close of the door.

[... Probably.]

[plantussy]

...okay. I'll trust your judgement.

[ If something does happen... he'll stop it. His whole being says he has to. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[If something does go catastrophically wrong they're in the perfect place to get sucked out into space and die of it first! So there's that.

But Rin doesn't say so, just nods and gets to work. Is this technically against the rules? ... Probably. But L3TH3 and the rules aren't online, so this is justified action in an emergency situation, right?

They'll find out from the headache they get sooner or later.]

[plantussy]

[ Vash doesn't believe in suicide, but he'd rather have them sucked out into space than kill a whole bunch of innocent people. There's a reason he's covered in scars, and it's all that willingness to suffer in the place of others.

In the end it's all a rather moot point, though, as Rin's attempt does not seem to trigger anything. The blonde frowns and leans over to look at the panel. ]

...do you think M0USA1 can't activate? That would make it kind of useless in emergencies.