twenty-eighth jump;

[ataraxites]

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: It could just be the standard sensation of air on wet skin, but if you bother to check, you might notice the steam rising from your body, barely there and gone within a minute. By the time you get to the showers, it will be clear that it's not just taking you time to adjust. The room is cold — colder than usual, but no worse than the last jump. While it's nothing dangerous, it's certainly motivation to hurry through the usual routine and get dressed quickly.



It's getting closer.




YOUR EYES ARE OPEN.

KEEP LOOKING.

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

[woodlander]

Not in that manner, no. Though it makes me wonder, in truth, how many parts of this ship are supposed to be withheld from us? What else might we do, that would provoke such a reaction?

It is difficult to be prepared when we do not know for sure.

[needsheadphones]

I'm going to guess anything with a locked door, for one. Engineering, right now, with how hot it is. I was hoping there might be some answers about it on the bridge, but nothing.

[ Sigh. ]

Nothing of anything, really. Except hallucinations, eventually.

[woodlander]

Hallucinations?

[ That's quite disturbing. Tauriel hadn't really been aware of that. Transmissions from the bridge had been difficult to understand, but many of the words had been cut away. ]

Did something on the bridge infect you? I had little understanding of that. Falsely, it seems, I believed the greatest danger to you was your entrapment.

[needsheadphones]

I don't know. I mean, I haven't had any more so far, but... I also haven't been off the bridge very long.

[ Infections? Ew, she hopes not. ]

[woodlander]

Then let us hope it has been put behind you. I would like to think the ordeal is over now - though I am sorry, that you had to see it to begin with.

[needsheadphones]

Well, that part is over, at least. We're still here, though.

[ She shrugs. ]

Thanks. It was my choice, but... well, I guess if I'd been thinking more clearly, I would have known better. I just don't do well without anything to do, and since we can't get into engineering...

[woodlander]

It is not easy to sit still in such circumstances. [ Though, she still thinks it was reckless. ]

This plan did not work. That does not mean that any one of you were wrong to try. I do not blame any of you for that.

[needsheadphones]

Well, at least that's one person in our corner.

[ Rueful grin. She has a feeling she's going to be getting annoyed at a lot of people over this whole thing. ]

[woodlander]

I would hope I am not the only one.

[ Though she does know a lot of people disagreed. With a little smile, she stands back. ]

I should give you your space to change.

[needsheadphones]

I guess we'll see.

[ Rebecca smiles back. ]

Thanks. I'll... see you around, I guess.