ViewScream: pep!pep!

[idolpro]

The bulkhead seals behind you; there is a brief warning buzzer before THEMiS’s A.I. pleasantly informs you that you have been “quarantined for your protection.”

A specialized room is arrayed before you, and you suddenly find you are aware of not only of the game’s rules, but also of a collection of specialized knowledge suitable to your team’s Role.

---

ROLE: HELM

---

Available solutions:

1. A.I. Subroutine Access Codes
2. Navigation Wave Console
3. Four-Dimensional Arc Plotter v3.1

To your right are a series of lockers containing changes of clothes to more Role-appropriate ones—though they still contain just enough elements to match your unit aesthetic. You may use these if you wish (if so, they will not disappear after the game ends). To your left, there is what appears to be a comms station. It seems you’ll be using this to contact the other units.

It quickly becomes apparent, in fact, that you will very much need their help—

---

Quick Links: How to Play | Rules | Bridge | List of Roles

Comments

PROBLEMS

[idolpro]

Medical
There’s a prickling feeling over your skin, like an itch you can’t quite place, and


It starts with an itch, or a sneeze, or a cough. Whatever it is, it starts small—but it rapidly grows, in size and in seriousness. Itches spread, sneezes become more violent, and coughs become more frequent. Roughly around the time that your ailments pass the threshold into "moderately annoying and somewhat concerning", THEMiS's A.I. speaks in a pleasantly neutral tone:
"Space plague detected in air ventilation. Air quality has been compromised."

Then, completely unbidden, the A.I. continues to describe what this "space plague" is: "Space plague: a common form of airborne infection. The body's immune system is attacked and begins to break down with the introduction of this bacteria. Microorganisms grow at a rapid pace and consume the host, processing flesh into liquid nutrient until the bodypart is completely consumed. Fatality rate: 85%. Antibiotic recommended for continued survival."

The feeling's just getting worse. Hm!

---

Engineering
There’s an alarm klaxon like a tornado siren that extends for about twenty-five seconds than you wish it would have.

Once you can finally uncover your ears, you see the flashing alert:

PROTON CORE IN CRISIS MODE
IMMINENT REPAIR REQUIRED TO PREVENT MELTDOWN

Better find someone who can get you those repairs...

---

Xenobiology
THEMiS's A.I. echoes throughout your quarters, pleasant even in the words she says: "Alert. Barrier integrity compromised. Parasitic lifeforms detected to be beyond this door. Recommended suggestion: exterminate lifeforms with bioweapons."

Something that looks like a slime mold is creeping over the door, visible through the window in the sealed bulkhead. That definitely wasn’t there before. And you can hear scratching sounds—like the mold is clawing at the barrier.

DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

Re: DISCUSSION

[heroicsacrifeyes]

[COUGH COUGH COUGH]

Ugh... This is bad... Does. Does anyone understand these rules?

Re: DISCUSSION

[wonderlandgirl]

N... no...

[Getting that much out is difficult. She's coughing, already, enough thatr it's getting in the way of her ability to talk.]

Just - we need help to fix these things...

Re: DISCUSSION

[heroicsacrifeyes]

We should- [SNEEZES]

Sorry, we should, ask for help then. How are we playing this? I want to- [COUGHING] to help, if we can, but let's not die of space plague.

Re: DISCUSSION

[wonderlandgirl]

I... don't think any of the things we have are any good for any of this, even--

[A sneeze]

Sorry. Even if we wanted to keep them.

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

Guys. I, ah, I got something from LilIS.

Retroviral Pathogen Sequencer.

It might help. I hope. But we have to give them something to pass along. Which?

Re: DISCUSSION

[heroicsacrifeyes]

Do they have a helm problem?

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

I don't know, he just said to name one of our solutions, since linking will make it easier for it to get around.

Re: DISCUSSION

[heroicsacrifeyes]

I think, what we should do, is if we're going for total honesty, list our [COUGH COUGH COUGH] problems and our solutions outright. Then, people can come to ask asking what they need.

Re: DISCUSSION

[wonderlandgirl]

Do we know what they need?

[coughing]

Or... is he okay to trade again?

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

I let him know what our solutions were. He'll pass them around and hopefully send some people back to us. [ he's got his fists balled as he tries to keep his own coughing fit in check. ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

I talked to Wild City and we're giving them the AI Codes to help with the Xenobiology.

Re: DISCUSSION

[heroicsacrifeyes]

I talked to Baritones, and they're asking for help. But Hurricane-kun said HSS already got them.

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

Alright. And John told me to hit up SensitIV they have a solution for the... the... y'know, and we can offer them a solution too.

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

[ he's going to find a spot at the center of the room and just sit. not going to look at the door or the stupid mold trying to get in, but instead just focus on the virus liquefying his insides. ] ... [ fuck. ]

W- We tried, and that's what matters...

Re: DISCUSSION

[wonderlandgirl]

Mm... they an't ask any more than that, can they?

[It seems easier to just lie down.]

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

[ he's going to use the last of his strength to try to pull her up against him. if we're going to die we're going to die like this. ]

Re: DISCUSSION

[heroicsacrifeyes]

[Rise freezes as Alcheme puts up this call for help.

Oh no.

Oh no we have a thing from Wild City that they need.

She looks between her teammates and the screen. Can she ask that of them...?]

Re: DISCUSSION

[puzzlers]

Is something wrong, Rise?

Re: DISCUSSION

[heroicsacrifeyes]

...AlcheME doesn't have a xenology defence...

TURN IN

[idolpro]

Re: TURN IN

[heroicsacrifeyes]

A.I. Subroutine Access Codes to Wild City to ensure their AI remembers it's chill out and don't kill your crew protocols.
Navigation Wave Console to Avante en Garde to fix it's sensors and allow it to navigate all station sectors safely through any course.
Four-Dimensional Arc Plotter v3.1 to SensitIV to plot a course through a dimension without any collision courses, no jetisons necessary.

TECH RESULTS

[idolpro]

Your fellow idols/very real space professionals have come to your aid, or at least tried to!

You receive the following Real Space Technology:

Problem type: Medical
Tech received: Retroviral Pathogen Sequencer
Description provided: "Retro" - it, ahhhh, uhmmm, goes back in time, to stop the virus - the pathogens? - from becoming a problem in the first place . . . It goes back in time to work as a vaccine before the disease can set in, in other words - ! It's a debuff cleanse - !
Result:: SUCCESS

Problem type: Engineering
Tech received: Red Matter Inhibitor Coil
Description provided: There is no need for red matter in your system. If nothing else, it is garish and I cannot imagine it helping any of the engineering problems they are having.
Result:: SUCCESS

Problem type: Xenobiology
Tech received: Nanites
Description provided: The nanites arrive in a capsule that, when broken, releases a shimmering cloud of microbots that swarm towards any alien life in the room and...for a long moment, nothing happens. But as the nanites shred their way through genes and DNA codes, the unfortunate target begins to shrivel and shrink, wasting away at an alarming rate.
Result:: SUCCESS

Tech received: Elemental Spore Supply
Description provided: Sending the Elemental Spore Supply to pep!pep! to combat their slime mold or whatever the heck they've got going on. It's an elemental, right? So clearly it can just set that junk on fire? Yeah, that's what's happening. Burn, baby, burn.
Result:: SUCCESS

RESULT: UNHARMED

[idolpro]

However skeptical you may be of your fellow idols’ uh…. space science, the tech arriving to your sector whirs to life in, somehow, exactly the way it was described.

One by one, the threats fade, until a musical chime rings out, followed by the pleasantly neutral voice of the A.I.

“Quarantine concluded. Thank you, THEMiS staff.”

The bulkhead unseals.

You did it. You survived space.