⇨ POLARIS 2.0

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Days 110 - 114
Where: Polaris
What: After a mysterious explosion shakes the station, the staff of Polaris struggle to maintain order while the test subjects fight for freedom with the aid of hidden allies. Productivity info is here.
Warnings: More graphic experimentation.

THEORY & CONCLUSION↴ At the midnight between Day 109 and Day 110, something happens. For most people, it won't be clear what - yet, they are shaken by it just the same. Violent tremors appear out of nowhere, rattling the entirety of the Polar station, violent enough to throw sleeping test subjects off their bunks. The source is unclear, but there is a sudden flurry of activity from staff as power flickers and is lost in various parts of the facility. Subjects, for the most part, will be left to their cells while they try to sort things out. The next morning, the staff are late picking people up. It's more like 6:30AM than the usual 6AM when they arrive to take people to the farm, which is a bit of tardiness that is entirely without precedent. Any questions about the incident the previous night will be waved off with the explanation of 'technical difficulties' that have been 'resolved.' ► DELTA: The three new Deltas will be left in their cells for even longer, waiting to be picked up, instructed that they would be escorted elsewhere instead of to the farm. Around 6:45AM some unfamiliar technicians will arrive and tell them that they are here to begin their processing into Delta. They are led into a previously untouched section of the station, where they are invited into a somewhat more intimate medical room to be asked some cursory questions and given a check up. Then, their suits will be removed, and they will be provided with their new uniforms, which they can apply like normal clothes. Delta life begins there. There will be a top level for the initial parts of their processing to be played out. Ultimately, however, they will end up being given a tour of the new Delta facilities, which amounts to a waterfront area that borders the new apartments they'll be staying in, as well a small supply shop where they can pick up an allotted amount of 'amenities' per day, based on their level of productivity and other achievements. This includes luxury items like food, pleasant smelling soaps, or other hygiene related tools. There are even small things like decorations or pictures of other places available, though they are fairly expensive. The first day will mostly involve the processing, a tour, and some basic training regarding the new tools they will be using, such as the mandatory visors and basic computer access. The next day, observation shifts in the farm will start, as will participation in trials. ► FARMING: The Farm will continue as normal, though it seems like there are fewer staff observing it at the moment. The ones that are there seem a little bit more tense than usual. Power is still down in some places, but the Farm is thankfully still active. Sometimes the productivity turn-in scanners might be a bit glitchy, so try not to panic if it measures fewer points than you're due. ► TRIALS: Trials are continuing as projected, though with the most broad of experiments already under way, they may be more selective. If you have an idea for a trial you can be sure to share it with the staff, and they will take it under advisement! Any information you want to provide is encouraged, they will say, especially if it involves notable traits about you or your fellow test subjects - or perhaps behavioral patterns you've noticed. You might even be rewarded!

Comments

[hippocarnival]

Yuya doesn't know. If that's true, would they really kill them for dropping to Theta? Maybe it's just the illusion of choice, and you're stuck in experiments without the break off farm work. Like constant manual labor somehow is a break.

Yuya presses his hands to his eyes, trying to wipe the tears away before they come to far. He hadn't expected to be so shaken by it, for them to use her poison against him. Don't they have any choice except to suffer?

Yuya takes a deep breath. "Something happened last night, and... then I felt something from Ignatius."

That's a blatant subject change, but Yuya doesn't want to agree to more trials.

Day 110, Closed to Strange

[amphibiopathic]

So as with anyone with eyes can pretty easily see, Eruka's not great at farming. She's mostly even given up on it, now, considering how many more self-motivated people there are out there that are a little too scary for her to consider competing with.

Planting seeds, though, is relatively easy. So she's not hard to find in a field already tilled by some other industrial carnie, dutifully scattering seeds over the ground. She's kind of haphazard about it -- mathematical ability to calculate precise coordinates in no way translates to physical coordination -- but the harder she throws, the better, right?

So when Strange finally comes across Eruka, he'll mostly find her chucking seed as hard as she can. If he's not careful about startling her, he might well catch a faceful of fake polaris corn too.

[ringleaders]

With some time, she can probably hook it up to work like that, by the power of gadgeteer bullshit.

It looks like a feed showing the inside of the cell. Most likely, the device holds a local recording of the lat day or so while also sending off a transmission to the main computer.

[ringleaders]

They will accept his suggestion and tell him that they had been intending on checking up on his new limbs, after they have had sometime to settle in. He will be hearing from them shortly.

[soft_focus]

"Ah-!"

Oh! Welp. She sure is. So she'll stop yanking then. "...Um...that's good, I guess."

...

Sssssoooooooo. "...why were you on the ground though..."

[periphrasing]

Interesting. Is there any way at all to tell if she has successfully stopped it from transmitting to the main computer, or is the magical bullshit too far out of her sphere of understanding?

(If it helps, she'll try zapping into it and fuck around with it that way. Fight magic with magic.)

[kingsroads]

Truth be told, Strange kind of wants to do this by himself. However, it does make sense to find someone else who can turn into some liquid or gaseous form just so there's a back-up, someone to flee and tell other people if something went wrong. As Eruka is literally the only person he can think of who can turn into a form like this, he's going to bother her.

Because now, that he feels Ignatius's flame burning in his chest, he knows what to do. After all, Strange has no idea where Ignatius is, if he's alive, and how long this feeling of sheer power will last. He's got to do this and he's got to do this today.

Unfortunately for Eruka, Strange doesn't really bother doing things like 'announcing his arrival.' He stays quiet as he approaches. When he speaks, it's slightly under his breath. "Miss Frog? I need—" whap, there's some of that polaris corn that hits against his eyepatch. Strange pauses for a moment before continuing. "Miss Frog, I need your help."

[chronosynthesis]

"And you really cannot remember anything that has happened here?" Where does someone even start with this? If it were just a repression or mind control by the Technicians, somehow that seems easier to solve.

He glances around, but they're far enough from anyone else he feels safe to continue. "Can you feel anything else different inside you?"

[ringleaders]

Hard to say if it stopped it or not. With her lightning powers, she can at least make sure its no longer broadcasting NOW with some time to figure it out. It's just harder to disable only part of it, rather than just destroying the whole thing like she did before.

The lightning method seems to be easier to handle it with, at the very least.

[ringleaders]

The thing with the Blue Rose is that it's not smart, so trying to appeal to it logically is not always very possible. However, if he seems in favour of going back to the rest of the Rose, it will calm down a bit.

[chronosynthesis]

That's about what he's doing, really, so he'll be relieved pushing that sense of agreeance makes it calm down instead of, like, more rapidly consuming him.

Now that he's worked out being a little less crippled, he's going to test how much magic's returned to him.first he'll just try turning his arm invisible, gauging how much he can move beyond the mental block.

Then he'll try manipulating the growth of a nearby tree to sprout more fruit. Both tests he'll be pointedly using the Blue Rose hand, seeing if agreeing with its desire to find the rest of the Blue Rose does anything else for it.

[ringleaders]

The invisibility test will result in him going transparent like a ghost rather than full invisible, and it takes a fair amount of concentration to upkeep.

He'll be able to inspire some small amount of growth increase in the tree. It will start budding new fruits sooner than it would have otherwise. The Blue Rose hand seems to be in favour of this, it loves growing stuff.

[chronosynthesis]

Well he knows what magic he's probably going to be favoring right now.

The final test: he's going to focus on that warm feeling to his chest (thanks Iggy), assuming it has something to do with the contract, and then test the invisibility again after meditating on it for a minute or two to see if there's any changes in its response.

[ringleaders]

He was probably in the holding cell attached to the same medical lab he was having his surgery. The procedure itself lasted most of Day 109, and has resulted in mostly internal changes, though this tail has been stripped down to a now stone/metallic skeletal structure. His entire back will still be aching, and the techs have advised him to lay down on the very flat cell bed to avoid further injury and give his body some time to adapt. They've said they'll be applying some final tweaks the next day.

He was awake but paralyzed for most of the procedure, though his spine was completely numb at the time, mostly because it was being removed and his nerves were being re-positioned. The technicians, however, were not very talkative while they were working. However, they a bit more loose lipped when they are psychologically off duty, such as when they interact with each other in the medical bay after work hours are done.

There are a pair of them looking at some scans of Lambert's body late on night 109, apparently analyzing some data from the outcome of the procedure and getting ready to fix a few things the next day. They are far from casual in their interactions, but they actually say some things about what they are doing, which is more than most people see.

However, when the entire station abruptly shakes with the explosion, they were clearly caught off guard. They grab hold of the console, trying to avoid falling over. They both pause, like they are viewing something through their visor display.

"A red alert in the core..." one of them says, looking towards the other.

"Of course," the second one days, a touch of bitterness in their tone. "I have been anticipating this." They tap some things into the computer, and start reading some charts and meters that Lambert won't have much luck understanding. There's a bunch of flashing red, though.

"It's the Omicron," the other one confirms, reading the same data. "Gamma and Beta casualties."

"Not our department," the other says, with a dismissive air. "We wait for orders."

VOLUNTARY TRIAL SUBMISSION: DAY 110

[ringleaders]

VOLUNTARY TRIAL : TEST GROUP 700

REQUIREMENTS

» 3 SUBJECTS

» NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY

TRIAL SPECIFICATIONS

Examination of magical bonds and cosmic identity.

[OOC NOTE: This test will involve True Names and all the complications innate to them. Don't apply if you don't want to deal with the potential consequences.]

[whattaprick]

Lambert had used whatever small amount of time he had to himself to prepare for whatever they're about to do to him, but it still doesn't quite stack up to the real thing. The ache, he can deal with -- whatever procedures they run here, at least it doesn't seem to involve the uncontrollable ejection of bodily waste, which is more than can be said for the witcher trials -- but seeing what they've done to his tail and knowing they're not even finished yet makes something cold and hard settle in his chest.

Hopefully, Shima makes the most of his new station, or Lambert's going to take his new tail and strangle him with it.

When it happens, he's in the middle of testing what control he has over his tail, seeing how prehensile it still is, and quickly stopping depending on how much it hurts him to even try to move it. The explosion has him gripping the edge of whatever surface he's laying flat on, ears flicking as he picks up the conversation that follows. He may not understand what they're looking at, but casualties he understands just fine.

Drawing attention to himself at this moment seems a bad idea, although he's deathly curious. He'll keep listening to see if they receive these 'orders' they're waiting on, and keep an eye on the screens in case something he actually has a chance of comprehending comes up. Like, you know, pictures or a map?

[impatientdefense]

[There we go, something "easy" she can sign up for to bypass this farm crap for a few days, hopefully without some of the more physically uncomfortable things people are sporting. Beau has no idea what she could be in for and I am hype for it.]

[ringleaders]

There is an actual picture that shows up as part of the blinking red warning, it's like this but more detailed and less shitty.

The red part in the center is blinking and looking very urgent. The green dot is blinking as well but there's no explanation as to what that means.

The Techs wait for a while, seemingly too distracted by the emergency to get back to work. At least a half hour passes with no orders being given. Finally, one says:

"I'm contacting Beta-27," and leaves the room, leaving the other to squint at computer screens.

[periphrasing]

Without knowing if it has stopped for good, it feels way too risky for her to make use of this thing the way she has in mind without making some serious modifications.

Here's what she's gonna try to do: She's gonna break it. She's gonna break it apart so she can try and use the physical component pieces from it, and combine it with parts from her own video camera to make something small that can record to it's own internal memory.

[verbaltic]

You know what sucks? Nightmares and perpetual hunger sucks. Hanamaru's signing up for this.

[ringleaders]

This will take her a few hours of work, but thankfully everyone seems pretty distracted and no one comes to check on her. Is she rooming with anyone?

She'll end up with something small that records onto the video camera's memory card, and then can be hooked up tot he rest of the device to play what was recorded. It's basically like the memory card with the tiny camera strapped on.

[alphudo]

You think this man knows any better?

Ha.

Syrlya

[chronosynthesis]

Day 110-113

[chronosynthesis]

[110]

Syrlya hadn't been struggling with the labor of the farm until after his trial. The signs are pretty obvious for anyone who got a glimpse of the Blue Rose--the foliage for his hair has become a gradient from deep purple to vibrant blue from root to tip. The previously slightly tealish hue to his pale skin is now blue as well, and around the Blue Rose on the back of his head there's another bloom and a tangle of crystalline vine.

He also seems to be struggling to use one of his arms, which is where the trouble with the farmwork comes in. It moves stiff and sluggish, and where he can he just lets it hang losely.

[110 | Closed to Steven]

A little afternoon, Syrlya's farming path will happen to cross Steven's. He's been doing absolutely terrible, shallow raking of the soil, but he's accepted in his current crippled state this is the best he can manage.

It's worrying, though, still combating the influence. But he sees Steven and remembers someone else has experienced this.

"Steven!" He raises his altered hand a little as he approaches. "Do you have a moment?"

[111+]

By the next day he seems to have mostly figured the arm out, after having been absent from the rest of the carnival members for an hour or two. He came back with fruit, though, and that's an easy excuse.

Actually, fruit picking ends up being the perfect excuse to pesture other workers. He's attentive of the route he follows, and as he comes across others from the carnival he stops a respectful distance. "How are you holding up?"

[starseedling]

Steven is trucking along, enough he's pretty withdrawn and quiet as he does it, like most of his effort is going into concentrating. As soon as Syrlya speaks to him, however, he brightens up a bit.

"Oh, hi! Sort of..." he says, looking down at the rake he is also using. "Just trying to keep busy..." Then, he cuts right past other pleasantries to get to the point.

"Are you okay?" Syrlya's rake technique has been really weird today.