ONBOARDING.

[peregrinatus]

[Upon arrival, all passengers will wake in their assigned cabins, and upon regaining consciousness, will be greeted by a voice in their heads. It's a warm voice, kind and gentle, mellifluous, impossible to distinguish gender from the sound of it.]

Welcome aboard, passenger. Please don't be alarmed - I am the Navigator, and I'm here to assist you. I'm afraid you're probably a long way from your home - all of those currently on board aren't where they're supposed to be, and I'm not entirely sure as to how you all came to be on board. But I'm doing what I can to locate the home planets of my current passengers, and I'd like to ask for your help, too.

What will aid me the most in finding the way to your home planets is if you'll work together with the other passengers. My people thrive on the emotional bonds created between ourselves and our passengers, and between the passengers themselves. The emotional bonds forged through partnership are the strongest and most beneficial - harmony, compassion, trust. It's not a requirement, of course, but it's to everyone's benefit to work together, both with me and with each other.

I imagine you'll have questions. I'll do my best to answer them, if I can.

[New passengers will note a glyph symbol marked on the back of their dominant hand, and they have been implanted with a universal speech translation modification, which is impossible to locate and cannot be removed.

Newly accepted characters can use this post to ask the standard introductory questions of the Navigator, but comments in this post will not be counted for activity purposes.]

Comments

[unshape]

You don't know what movies are?

( that bit was said out loud, shifting the gylph around until it's under the collar of his shirt. covered but still there. and then it's time to get up, take a glance back to his room, and open the door leading out of it. )

Where is this? Where's Billy?

[peregrinatus]

I'm afraid not. I don't know what Billy is, either.

[And Navi does sound genuinely sorry about that.]

Where this is ... it's me. You're on a ship. I could give you our exact coordinates, but I doubt they would mean anything to you.

[unshape]

Billy is my boyfriend. I was with him just before I woke up here.

( a living space ship. fishy. still not the weirdest thing he's ever found himself on, although usually it's with the company of friends and not by himself. )

This isn't my first intergalactic journey.

[peregrinatus]

[Ah. OK, another person. That makes a little more sense.]

I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by that. What is a boyfriend?

[unshape]

A significant other. You know those bonds you were talking about? Harmony, compassion, trust? Someone you have all of those with.

( it's cool. if this ship doesn't know, it doesn't mean they're not here. )

Where are the other passengers?

[peregrinatus]

I've never heard that terminology used before. But this person is important to you - I'm sorry that I don't know where they are.

[Genuinely sorry. The Navigator may not have the same kind of relationship with another, but they've been separated from the rest of their people for quite some time, and the loneliness hasn't gotten any easier to bear.]

There are eighteen passengers on board, including yourself. Two are in stasis, and the rest are in various locations on the ship - their cabins and the common rooms.

[unshape]

( for a voice inside of his head, it sure does sound. . remorseful. probably not best to blame the ship, then. he doubts it had much to do with deciding to throw him on board, especially given the way they're responding to him. )

Stasis?

[peregrinatus]

A status of cryogenic sleep.

[unshape]

Is there a reason they're asleep?

[peregrinatus]

I assume so, but I don’t know the specifics. Placing a passenger in stasis is an automatic process, handled when necessary by the drones.

[unshape]

But they're your drones, aren't they?

[peregrinatus]

They are an automatic part of my systems. I don’t have direct control over them.

[unshape]

So. . like your immune system.

( right, that makes sense. )

Anything I should be on the lookout for?

[peregrinatus]

Some of the other passengers are less pleasant to deal with, but no one has been killed by another passenger yet.

[unshape]

Oh, thanks. The lack of murder really helps me feel more comfortable.

[peregrinatus]

If you do happen to be killed on the ship, as long as all my systems are functional, you'll be revived in the Neogenesis Chamber.

[unshape]

I had a long list of concerns about being kidnapped into space, sure, but for the record? Getting killed wasn't on it until it came up.

[peregrinatus]

You haven't been kidnapped. You're not here by intentional design.

[unshape]

You didn't intentionally kidnap me. I wasn't blaming you. Doesn't mean the universe didn't intentionally do the kidnapping.

[peregrinatus]

Do you believe the universe to be sentient? Capable of choosing what happens and to whom?

[unshape]

Not really. I just prefer blaming it. Makes it a little easier to deal with being displaced in the multiverse.

[peregrinatus]

I’m truly sorry. Please believe that if I had any control over this, I wouldn’t choose to tear any of you from your home dimensions.

[unshape]

I know. I believe you. We'll find our way back, I'm sure.

[peregrinatus]

I'm trying - I've been using all available resources, there just aren't many available.