Space-Mad (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. II)

Diluss · Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 10:29 pm

Coop drifted closer to the shield wall. Unimpeded by any obstacles, he arrived after a few moments of radio silence, and grabbed on to the edge of the massive metal ring which, dotted with giant shield generators, surrounded the top end of the enormous oblong bubble that was Mad Space.

He stared at the giant, fizzling, electronic membrane.

"Hm," he said.

He contemplated it for a while longer, and then pressed his hand against it. It flapped and crackled in protest.

"Hmmmn," he said, and forced his arm in up to the shoulder. As his arm entered the environment of Mad Space and became subject to the force of gravity, it began to fall, pulling him in after it.

"—nnnnaaaargh!"

Coop flipped over, rolled off the edge of the metal ring, and dangled inside the shielded area. The tether—now looped over the inside of the ring with an eagle on the end—was pulled tight, forming a sort of rope bridge which connected the shuttle to the Mad Space area.

After a moment of free swinging in the giant orange space suit, Coop snorted, exhibiting possibly the first trace of a mood besides surliness since the mission had begun.

"Hah," he said, "whoa. That was wild."

"Look out when you come through this thing," he added, "it's like hugging a car battery."

Perhaps not quite that bad, but the effect of passing through the shield as each person came through would be a tense, sour prickling, not entirely unlike licking a 9-volt battery with their whole body.

The ring provided a narrow ledge on which to stand for anyone coming through. Below, there was a huge expanse of empty, yet breathable space, filled with unlikely looking planetoids and bizarre structures. Directly across, its outer walls some 100 feet away, was a tremendous satellite structure—a free-floating control tower, hovering in space, which provided power and air to—and managed the systems of—the huge, bubble-like microcosm.

Rachel · Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 1:20 pm

She drifted weightlessly from the ship, running a hand along arc, staring up at the station while the others hurried across to get access to mad space. She seemed less concerned about what they where doing then she should. honestly she couldn't hack and subtly wasn't on her resume, so she let the suspicious monkeys and friends do that while she enjoyed the experiences of weightlessness. Her armor was likely heavy and the ability to stretch out in it without the consequence was a first though space might not of been. After a few moments she notices Coop swinging his way in. small panels on her suit's shoulders and leg guards vented exhaust in bursts to flip her around until her feet where on Arc, with a mighty push she flew towards the group and the bubbling mess they'd made of the mad space shielding.

Something however caught her attention as she drifted down, so much so she started to slow her descent just as she reached the group, flipping herself around, with a short burn from her jump pack she was stationary again, staring out into the void. she floated about 15 feet away from the others just staring for a moment, then she glanced back, placing herself in front of the weakened shield as she lowered her cannon over her shouldered and started to target the bit of space rock heading towards them.

Tracer couldn't resist the urge to shoot at things, so her CE cannon roared. Well, inside her suit it made noise, everyone else may enjoy some pretty light but its fantastic noise was lost on all but Tracer. At the same time she fired the beam of energy she was thrown back into the dampened shields and through it with little to no ill effect.

Except the whole gravity thing.

The purple llama immediately started to fall, she reached for the ledge of the ring but there wasn't much chance of that happening. Her thruster fired up with a brilliant blaze as it resisted gravity and pushed the llama back towards the ring, she managed to get a hand on it before her thruster petered out and left her hanging. Never could get that flying thing to work with gravity. So she pulled herself back up onto the lip, she had ended up distancing herself from the others as she now stood on the narrow ledge. She considered the value of magnet shoes while waiting for the others.

Greens · Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 12:19 am

As swell as things seemed to be going sans any servals on the scene, Ace's baggy-dressed form descended on the cast all the same, however delayed he might have been. He'd assumed he wasn't missed, and he wasn't about to explain how the contents of his backpack had spewed out on the ship without prompt.

So, down he dropped with lingering cries of "Crap, crap, crap crap crap", no familiar-looking tether line of his own gripping at the back of his space-trousers. He seemed to follow the same train of thought Rock or Jam may have had-- ever the daredevil. And however strong nightmare-fuel getting spaced may have been, there was of course, a jet-powered robot that would surely come to his aid at a moment's notice.

That said, it wasn't the most graceful of landings on his knee and his palms (rather, almost slamming against the ring), but he saved face tilting his head up, finding himself miraculously unharmed, and "heh"ing to himself with renewed confidence. When he stood himself up again, of course the first thing he did was look down. An action he'd live to regret.

"Aooohh kay," he blurted, easing himself away from the proverbial 'edge'. "So, whatever we're looking for is... somewhere in this little, space... bubble. Right? Damn, man, whaddya even need me for."

psikeout · Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 6:18 pm

Ace's muttered rhetorical question was well timed; no sooner than it escaped his mouth did Tracer explode something in deep space and go sailing off into the (aptly-named) Mad Space.

"... In case something goes wrong," replied Rock flatly.

With nothing more to say, the primate leaned toward the shield and peered as best he could inside toward where he intended to launch himself. He was astute enough to get a reasonable handle on the strength of the artificial gravity inside simply by watching Tracer fall. Reassured by what looked like nothing worse than 0.5G, he planted his feet, dug in, and pushed off, deactivating his boots with just the timing necessary to give him a good launch through the shield.

He passed through in a tight ball, metal components of his suit visibly crackling with electricity. Gravity soon took over and he plummeted, albeit slowly, toward their predetermined destination lower in the "cylinder" of Mad Space.

***

*K'pang.*

After a pretty long fall, he landed on in a crouch on his feet on the metal rim of some strange capsule-shaped structure floating in midair.

The others were sure to be shortly behind him; before they arrived, he stood and cautiously evaluated his surroundings,. Orange conduits wound all around the structure he landed on, though he was uncertain of their function (or the function of the structure itself as a whole). As he took a couple steps down the side of the giant "capsule," though, he noticed an anomaly. "This field we're in has gravity that pulls everything downward," he observed, his voice quiet and crackly as if he was hesitant to make much noise, "but these individual objects in the field have their own gravity, and aren't pulled down by the main gravity."

As if to demonstrate, he slowly walked farther around the rim until he was standing nearly upside down relative to what had been the direction of gravity just moments before.

"This is gonna make our job... interesting."

Tau · Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 7:15 pm

Tau, despite having completed his requested task, had remained nearby the shuttle while the reconnaissance drone on the other hand darted off towards Rock's general area in order to inspect the newly accessible area ( the drone remained seemingly unaffected by the sudden presence of gravity) , though it still kept to within several seconds or so flying distance of Rock (which, traveling at a rather fast speed, still allowed the drone efficiently inspect a wide area). This would change for a few moments as it shifted its attention to the weapons fire and subsequent detonation of its target before its attention returned to its assigned tasks.

While the drone attended to its scouting assignment, Tau remained stationed near the shuttle for one simple reason: Their employer, and thus, the VIP, was still aboard. Tau would continue to linger within the vicinity of the shuttle until either the VIP made her appearance, or his presence was otherwise requested/required else where. Until such a time, Tau simply made due by utilizing his up-link with the drone to simultaneously observe the others as well as his current location by his own means.

Mie · Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 8:44 pm

Jam followed suit, tucked in a ball not because she was still pretty much in full monkey-see,-monkey-do mode, but because between Coop's reaction (which she admittedly looked a mite too enthusiastic about) and Rock's lack thereof to breaching the field, she really couldn't be certain what to expect. With clenched eyes that cautiously cracked open as she slowly descended, she gradually unfurled into a limply freefalling body; she sounded subtly disappointed when she chimed in over the radio, observing, "I didn't feel a thing..."

When at long last, the green and black-clad primate touched down gently after the blood striped navy- one, she glanced dubiously at their surroundings with her lips between her teeth, boring a long, troubled stare into the ground in particular, which looked conspicuously like grass.

"I think..." Jam responded at last, still leering at the nebulous astro turf. "That multiple gravities are just one of many things that will make our job here 'interesting.'"

psikeout · Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 9:04 pm

Rock glanced back at Jam, then followed her line of sight (or at least where her visor was pointing) to the ground.

"..."

He reached up to scratch his neck but clunked his knuckles against the bottom of his helmet. He considered taking it off, but he wasn't sure he wanted to try the Mysterious Field Air, especially not on top of the Equally Mysterious Space Sod. For all he could tell, it may have been some sort of bizarre green-colored fungal growth or something.

"Let's just... get on with it..."

He shook his head and started jogging along beside one of the huge, winding orange pipelines--or conduits? He couldn't be sure what anything was. Whatever the case, gravity was light, and he took advantage of it with bounding jumps over platforms and pipes as he made his way toward the other end of the floating, capsule-shaped landmass.

What were the chances they'd be able to go far without any interference? Probably not too good. There was a bluish, silvery streak toward the opposite face of their little chunk of space dirt, and a peculiar noise.

"Anybody else just hear somethin'... splash?" asked Rock as he stopped atop a silvery, hexagonal-shaped raised steel platform... next to a hovering wooden crate. (He seemed to be consciously trying to ignore its presence, and the physics being called into question by its gently bobbing, swirling existence, but it didn't take more than two agitated glances before he huffed and backhanded it away from himself. [Yes, you pimphand that crate, Rock. That'll show it who's boss.])

Greens · Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 1:50 pm

"Ya'll gotta be such a party pooper," remarked Ace regarding Rock's haste. Having descended the giant drop to where the others stood, he was clearly brimming with confidence, half mumbling to himself as he bounded along and took in the eerie space-bound sights. "It's like bungee jumping without the chord. In slow motion.

But soon enough, he stopped himself as the paler of monkeys approached the hexagon in question. With a brief pause and a pair of furrowed brows, he scoped about his surroundings as if looking would improve his hearing, but it did not. "No," he answered simply, though not doubting of his simian companion. "Can't hear nothin' in this suit."

Rachel · Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 4:18 pm

Tracer had nothing to add to the conversation (big surprise there). She followed the group keeping to the rear. She was careful to keep eye out around then and on some of her 'coworkers' as she drifted after the group in a non-too-hurried pace. The sound rock reported was lost on her, she didn't hear it and she was likely too busy thinking about how to dispatch the group if/when it came to it to have noticed anyway.

psikeout · Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 8:25 pm

Rock stood in silence atop the small, jutting structure, visibly tense, like he knew something. His legs bent, hands fanned out at waist level; his steely-helmeted head slowly turned to look off to one side.

NPC · Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 8:26 pm

Pan out, up, above. Look down on Rock and the company around him on that alien rock. Squirming and swarming, sloshing up around the narrow horizons of the capsule-shaped floating island were undulating blue pools that stretched up into vaguely humanoid globs under silver helms. The ARK emblem was stenciled square on the forehead of each. Their bodies, like gel, took no definite shape, but soon formed wiry arms. No fewer than six of the thin, wobbling creatures closed in from all sides, stopped, then let loose the rush: stretching, sharp-pointed arms streaking through the air at whoever dared to stand still, followed by mysterious, destructive beams from their green-glowing eyes that took chunks out of the ground, or whatever stood on it too long.

Tau · Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:41 pm

The drone darted around the area of the others and proceeded to inspect each of the artificial chaos as they made their appearance, all the while rambling both out loud and on the com link to it's owner.

" Whawho-Oooo.. Oh I remember thos.. No.. wait... He remember..or..I rememb..or or.. he .. "

There was a pause paired with an agitated synthetic vocal groan.

" ... ..it's those things! Shouldai do somthin.. No.. Wait.. Why can't I have a weapon too? "

The drone would continue to inspect the new enemies and the others interactions with them, trying it's best to either keep a safe distance or dodge attacks. It wasn't armed, but it was agile enough to keep itself out of harms way.

Tau's voice would follow up on Rock's com (Should it be open to it) the moment the drone became aware the A.C. presents.

"Do you require assistance against, and/or, information as to the weaknesses of these particular enemies? "

Mie · Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 7:44 pm

Not to be counted among the idle or unobservant, Jam was quick to follow Rock's (or, at the very least, his helmet's) line of sight toward the gooey, semi-transparent aliens taking shape nearby. She sunk into a low, wary stance, seemingly just in the nick of time; as the artificial Chaos posse suddenly launched their assault, the pinker of the primates sprung backward in alarm, a touch more forcefully than intended, but out of the way, all the same. This would be interesting.

"They look sorta wet," grunted the monkey over the com. "So I'm'onna guess" she jump roped over a roving set of eye beams, and rolled lithely under a pair of streaking, watery arms. "Their weakness..."

Jam popped up, mere meters from another, and closed the gap at a mad dash igniting into a bright flash and a shower of sparks fractions of a second before her knee collided with what may have been a solar plexus on a fleshier foe. It exploded into a nearly opaque curtain of innumerable beads of water amid a soundless sizzle and accompanying wafts of steam.

"Is me."

She turned toward its remaining allies looking as a lioness looks at a crowded savannah.

Jahkari · Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 8:15 pm

Static flared up briefly, before being replaced by a somewhat familiar voice. "Hello, hello all? Can you hear me over this?" As Astrid, the nicknamed 'science squirrel' struggled with her headset, she approached the exit of the shuttle. Geared up in a rather impressive looking suit, helmet already in place, she glanced outside and shuddered briefly, glad that her employees couldn't see her at the moment. Despite the fact that she had to be there for her experiments, Astrid hated being in open outer space; it was what had held her up, as she had to struggle first with nausea and then with overcoming her plain fear of leaving the shuttle. If she was in the shuttle or on a space station she was fine, but being in outer space itself was a recipe for an existential crisis followed up by paralysis unless she was solidly mentally prepared for it.

Yeah, her crew definitely did not need to know about that.

"Sorry for my lack of communication. Here's what I need you to do. Clear the way into the target area- look for a collection of, well, what looks like debris. That's where we're bound. This includes breaking down that shield, or at least weakening it long enough for everyone to get inside, and eliminating any obstacles... which I think you might be doing right now if these sounds are anything to go off of." She glanced out and saw Tau, grateful that she wasn't left completely behind, and nodded. "Let me know once I'm clear to follow. You're going to have to treat me as a non-combatant, I'm afraid, but that's why I'm paying you all the big bucks."

She shuddered. She wished they were going to the stable ARK instead of the graveyard of experiments and refuge that comprised Mad Space, but unfortunately what she had to do necessitated that area. Just her luck.

Diluss · Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 9:47 pm

Coop dropped down in the middle of the group. He looked around.

“Oh g—“ he began, darkly, “oh, good.”

He looked around at the things.

“Right,” he said, ”first things first.”

He reached two giant banana fingers under the front of his helmet, and pulled down. There was a moment of taut resistance from whatever it was he was grabbing onto, then there was a hiss, and a pair of clamps opened up.

He pulled his helmet off, and deposited it on the ground — still attached to his suit via the hose.

“Ok-ay,” he said. The scowl on his face began to pull out into a thin grin.

He removed a grenade from the bandolier Rock had passed along, and inserted it into the grenade launcher. He clicked the breach closed, and took aim at one of the hideous blob things, and fired.

Space-Mad (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. II)

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