⇨ 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

[ringleaders]

A while later another arrow will come down:

'PLEASE RESPOND.'

[atouts]

What is even happening... Alright, they can't hear him if he speaks. That leaves a pretty obvious sign to try correspondence with this mystery archer. He just needs a—

"Ah," Childermass looks down at his other hand, now holding a quill pen. That makes about as much sense as the arrow so he doesn't really dwell on it. He'll turn the first note over and write 'WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?'

And what? It's not as though he can hand it to them? He stares down at the note for a bit, then at the arrow.

"But I don't have a bow," he mutters, running into the same ridiculous dilemma as he did previously and not even realizing it. Does he just throw it? Well, yes, he'll do that. He'll chuck the damn thing back the way it came.

[ringleaders]

It's a while later when an arrow finally comes back to him.

'I THOUGHT WE WENT OVER THIS

ALSO THAT MESSAGE BARELY GOT TO ME

WHAT'S GOING ON?'

[atouts]

'Something happened.' Obviously. So this is someone he should know? 'If we've spoken before, I've forgotten.'

This time when he chucks it back, he'll direct it on wind magic instead, shooting it along through a stream of wind rather than just chucking it haphazardly into the dark.

[ringleaders]

The line goes dead for now, because they think he's been COMPROMISED. Which he has been, but not in the way they think.

[atouts]

Childermass waits. He waits for awhile, not sure why there's no further response. Did he offend? Is this even real? It's frustrating as he struggles to remember. This has happened before. This has happened before. It's in a last ditch effort to get a reply that he writes on the second paper he has, left over from the second arrow shot demanding an answer.

'It damaged my soul. I cannot remember what did it, just that it did. For all I know, it was you.'

Good thing he can't impart being angry in his writing beyond the hurried, slanted penmanship the words take. That done, he chucks the last arrow again, same as before.

[npcarnival]

It's a while before there's a response, but they finally give in:

'IT WAS PROBABLY THOSE TECHNICIANS'

[atouts]

And he had just been about to give up and drift off back into dreaming, too.

'Perhaps. They were surprised.'