eighteenth jump;

[mathematically]

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

[nonsomno]

Observational.

[A beat. Curiously:]

Your-- phone.

[refusing]

Yeah, it's a mobile.

[She just blinks a little as she tries to figure out what the importance of her phone might be, and then shrugs.]

Nothing special, it doesn't even work. All the way out here, it's outta range. Only had that happen once or twice before.

[nonsomno]

I don't know what that is.

[She says that a bit impatiently, annoyed at appearing ignorant.]

[refusing]

[Oh. Well in that case, Rose reaches into her locker to pull out the phone. Smiling a bit, she tosses over the device to be looked over.]

It's...it's a way people where I'm from can talk to each other when they're not right next t'each other. All the way out here, though, it's useless. Still nice to have, reminds me of who I have waiting for me back home.

[nonsomno]

[She studies it for a few seconds, her nose wrinkled, before handing it back.]

Mm. I'm glad to have my weapons for the same reason. I suppose they consider it somewhat kind, giving us our things.

[refusing]

Yeah, kind of 'em to do that. Dump us here with no way out, and give us our stuff so we're reminded of the place we can't get back to.

[This comes out in an amused tone, because she finds it painfully hilarious that this is her current reality. She takes the phone back and shoves it into her back pocket. Her eyes slowly take in all the weapons, and she nods in their general direction.]

Why do you have so many? Weapons, I mean?

[nonsomno]

[She lifts her shoulder once, shrugging.]

Because I often need to defend myself. And I'd rather be caught prepared.

[refusing]

Makes sense. Good of reason as any.

[She bites at her lip, trying not to smile at how to the point that answer was.]

So...are you from Earth?