ELEVENTH WAVE

[astrogate]

CHARACTERS: any and all
LOCATION: Gravity Couches and beyond
WARNINGS: maybe some swearing, or even some violence, and more than likely some implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: Another month, another jump, another round of new faces.
NOTES: Keeping up with the tradition and copy pasted like always from the last one


You wake up in darkness.


There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're deposited on the floor of a stark, sterile medical bay.

You are not alone.


There are others who have come before you, others who are awakening beside you. Some may be familiar to you, perhaps even friends. Others have much less amiable plans. Some are merely alien and inexplicable, but there are always those who might mean you harm.

After you catch your breath and your vision returns, you notice a number on the inside of your forearm. Maybe it's a familiar number. Maybe it means something. Maybe it's just a number. But the number—completely unique to you—is a tattoo, and it does not come off.

If you enter the room adjacent to the medbay, you will find a small locker with your number on it, surrounded by rows upon rows of identical lockers. Inside, you will find a few of your personal items, a communications device, and a ship's uniform in your exact size. The comms device is fully powered and connects directly to the ship's network; it's your only means of communication beyond physical conversation. Upon turning the device on, a neutral, automated voice will say, "Please take the blue lift to the passenger quarters." Any other attempts at communicating with the rest of the network are met only with static.

This is your welcome party.

Comments

[ringbearer]

[ he understands that so well. he has no choice but to believe that there will be a return journey, thanks to sam and his own need for there to be one. ]

I know. We must believe there is a way back. A return-journey.

[redhotsummers]

Yeah well...you're right in hoping for one.

[Because Frodo will make it home. Alex--only way is forward. There is most likely no going back.]

[ringbearer]

What do you mean?
[ he regards him curiously at that. frodo begins to feel in his heart that perhaps there is no true going back. no way back to how it was before. but such thoughts are too painful to think when the journey is not finished. ]

[redhotsummers]

[He smiles slightly, shrugging.]

Like I said--things are going to be okay for you, Frodo. I promise.

[He doesn't want to give it away, but he still feels the need to reassure him.]

[ringbearer]

[ he shakes his head in response, a bit rueful. ]

I can't deny it's strange to have so many people familiar with who I am.
[ quietly ]
To hear that things will be alright.

[redhotsummers]

In some places, people read picture books about my life. Trust me, I understand.

[It just isn't strange to him anymore.]

...hard to believe, sometimes.

[ringbearer]

Picture books?
[ he lifts wide eyes to his face then. ]
How strange! I should like to see these picture books..

[ however he does catch that, and he only offers a faint smile. ]
Then we've no other course but to believe that things will turn out for the better.

[redhotsummers]

So would I, actually. Guys talked about them, but never could produce one about me.

[He nods.]

Yeah, I know.