⇨ 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

[atouts]

What about the egg dimension portal spell?

[npcarnival]

Yes, that will work, but only for those with 30% magical return. Also, nobody will be able to stay inside of the dimension.

[atouts]

Got it. EDIT: but can the people with 30% can retrieve items?

[npcarnival]

Yeah, they just can't hang out inside of the egg dimension for long, so they have to grab the thing and get out. Basically the key factor is you can't hide people in there (which I already suggested people shouldn't, but this is just more of a no-no than before, even.)

[atouts]

OKAY. The night of 110, he'll be sending a little construct — tiny and mouse-like this time — out into the wilds that is their sector in between leaving the farm and lockdown. It can hide in the shadows and wait until he's settled and able to project his senses out to it and begin scouting.

[npcarnival]

So, night 110-111? I got myself confused for a moment.

This will work, he can begin scouting away! Is he looking for anything in particular? Also, can the construct turn into shadow and back while he stays connected? I assume so I just want to be sure in regards to how much mobility it will have.

[atouts]

Yes, 110-111.

He's trying to get the layout figured out. In particular, anything that looks like transport or doorways to places that aren't the farm, their cells, or the labs they've been to.

The construct can turn into shadow (since it is a shadow) and hide in them or squeeze through small, dark spaces. It is also very fragile and unable to really interact with anything physically beyond moving around.

[npcarnival]

Okay. He'll mostly find all the same stuff that Strange and Eruka did, without the inconvenience of being chased by roombas. He'll be able to get into the vents no problem, and since it's dark in there, it's all rather intuitive.

He'll see the same teleporter set up as Strange, and will come to the same determination: the sector is separated from all the other ones, with no connecting vents or anything else. The current sector is about the size of a shopping mall.

The one downside is that there is a lack of foot traffic at night, meaning no one comes through the teleport and gives him access. It can wait basically indefinitely, though, so depending on how long he's ready to linger, he might get an opportunity.

Alternatively, he can look for something else.

[atouts]

He may have to burn some time during the day to come back to that. Instead of waiting, he'll search to see if there are any other cellblocks besides their own (since at least one of them, to his knowledge, has been removed to Theta now).

[npcarnival]

There aren't any cellblocks separate from where the group of them stay. Though, if he pops into some of the examination rooms/surgery rooms, he may notice that there are empty cells attached to them, currently unused.

If he got lucky he might actually run into Lambert that way but I'm not sure if that will fuck things up chronologically.

[atouts]

Lambert was back late 110 and Childermass encountered him then, so it might not? Not sure. Regardless, he'll note the cells and move on. Is there any indication of there being anything else besides the labs, cells, farm, and teleport pad?

[ringleaders]

If you want to have him bump into Lambert, you can. There aren't any techs in there at the moment. Lambert is in a cell connected to the main examination room, divided off by some kind of magic force field.

There is the Delta area, which is where the Deltas hang out, as described in the plot post. He can easily see that area.

[atouts]

Are there more Deltas than just the ones from the 700 group?

[ringleaders]

No, this area seems to mostly be for Staff that are working with the 700 group. Currently there are only four Deltas, the rest are Gammas and Betas. There's probably an Alpha out there somewhere, too.

[atouts]

Well, his f'd up memory means he can't settle on whether bothering any of the Deltas would be worthwhile this time, so he'll return to the teleporter pad and set the construct to idle wherever there's a static shadow (a corner, behind something, under something that doesn't look like it'll be moved).

He'll check on it again in the morning and then again during farm work, trying to see how the teleporter works.

[ringleaders]

Come the morning, in the hour or so before test subjects would be collected, there is a fair amount of foot traffic. Childermass could potentially turn into shadow and whiz along with somebody underfoot. Does he wanna do that?

[atouts]

He has no idea what his limits here are so heck yeah, he'll try. Hello, footshadowbus.

[ringleaders]

The technician will walk him into the air lock, and then onto the teleporter pad on the other side. Nothing seems to detect his presence. The technician seems to interact with the device without hands, and the machine just seems to know where they are intending on going.

"SECTOR C-2," a robot voice will say, as they blip out of existence and reappear somewhere else. Childermass will immediately feel a much greater strain on his ability to keep the shadow construct together - distance seems to be a problem. However, it holds on for now. They are apparently in Sector C-2.

The technician exists the airlock on the way out, and into another sector that looks pretty similar to the one they just left. The major difference is that there is a bunch of equipment sitting in the hallway, as if they are in the middle of a move.

[atouts]

He's going to redouble his efforts to hold the shadow together and hang out in the shadow for now, since that's less trying than making the construct move itself. Are there any other technicians around? Anyone to eavesdrop on?

[ringleaders]

It'll be about fifteen minutes, but a pair of technicians will come through, apparently bickering about something. They start trying to push a piece of machinery around.

"Can't the machines move themselves?" one of them complains. "This sector is nowhere near up to snuff for holding an Omicron class."

"The Mother said she'd take care of it," the other says, as they painstakingly drag the device into a neighbouring lab. "Just stay vigilant."

[atouts]

Omicron class sounds important, so he'll wait until the current technician passes close enough to some of the machinery and make a break for other shadows. If he can manage it, he'll go shadow to shadow as quickly as possible and try to hitch a ride on the one they're moving or one of those two techs.

[ringleaders]

He can do that. The two technicians won't talk much, but they will discuss the 'Omicron' briefly. Apparently they are having to rapidly upgrade/get ready this sector because the Mother decided to move the Omicron there after "A-2" exploded. They seem uneasy, due to the fact that some technicians died in that blast, and while having to work in this sector the fear the same will happen to them.

They eventually manage to get the machines into the lab, and start getting them hooked up. One of the technicians will comment that "at least this assignment is high profile".

The other says that may be so, but working under heavy Mother scrutiny is both a blessing and a curse. They can't afford to fuck up.

[atouts]

That's probably all he needs to know. He'll have to ask around to see if anyone can explain what could have exploded since he isn't aware of an explosion. What are the chances of him parking the shadow construct in the shadow behind the machine for later contact?

[ringleaders]

He won't be able to park it here. Once he stops concentrating it's going to poof, at this distance.

Also g'dangit Childermass you CAUSED the explosion.

[atouts]

IT'S ALL A MYSTERYYYYY.

In that case, he'll hang on a bit longer but does, inevitably, need to get up and go to the farm (or get to work, whichever). Adios, shadow mouse.