[ One year ago Hotspur had managed to make his final transmission - a warning with no solid threat, an explanation that provided no answers. What had been said outside of that broadcast had been lost to the echoing rumbles of lost noises and untraceable signals that gurgles through the labyrinthine bowels of the Tranquility's innards. But as the old question goes: if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps, and echoes can last for a surprisingly long time.

That's how the feed starts - a distant echo of a broadcast made one year (and one month) ago. A scream so soft it registers as a distant whisper, tinny and unreal. A year is quite a distance to cross but the noise, tiny and determined, refuses to be ignored. Echoes build, shout upon shout, noise layered over noise - and the tiny whisper of a human yell begins to build. It grows, organic and desperate as it bounces its way through the corridors of the ship. The vaulted walls of the Tranquility have fractured the voice, splitting and splintering it in to a dozen different frequencies in a spectrum of harmonics and noise, but the noise swells in strength. The layers of discord pull together, fractured dissonance coalesces in to one strong voice. An echo built up in to a roar that refuses to die - a man's roar, choked and heavy with painfully human anguish as it battles against the unforgivably fixed matter of his own fate.

The horror of death will make mutes out of even the bravest men, and Hotspur's laboured, choking screams of defeat do not lend themselves to words well. But eventually they form, broken and fractured with bursts of great, wracking sobs that break in to patches of white noise. ]

--But it's just the beginning...

[ And that's it. The echo and all its layers reaches its crescendo and still it rises, ringing and building and folding in and on top of itself until the noise becomes unbearably loud. The feed implodes in to a recurring spectrum of noise, a defeaning feedback loop, pitched painfully high and ringing obstinately in the ears of the listener before cutting out in to silence. ]


[ OOC: Takes places directly prior to the jump, lining up exactly with the time of Hotspur's death; no replies will come from the source (which, if tracked will seem to be somehow coming from the ship itself) but IC discussion is fine in the post. ]

Hi. If you're new, read this. If you're not new but you've never read this before, read it. If you're not new and you're the personification of a country who thinks I'm an alien, definitely read this.

You can ask questions if you have them. If you can't read, there's a text to voice button.

HELLO You're probably confused. Take some time to read this over. We do our best to keep it up to date, and it should answer most of your questions. THE RUNDOWN » What happened, where you are, what to do REFERENCE » Basic facts about the ship and solar system A TIMELINE OF EVENTS » This will take time to read thoroughly, but we strongly recommend it. FAQ » Please read this before asking a question on the network HEADCOUNT » Our current numbers SPACE TRAINING » If this is your first time aboard a space ship, please watch these helpful videos COMMUNITY NOTICEBOARD » For all your wants and needs

[ There is white and red and black, bone and blood and rotting flesh, when the camera first blinks on. Some fiddling, dirty fingers tapping at the lens then pulling it back reveals that the rot is not a human passenger but bovine; the cow that has been on board since Strela, effectively smashed by the jump by all appearance, but rotted already -- rotted for months, by the look of it. (For a year, its owner will tell you, and forensic analysis will back up her story.)

More fiddling, those filthy fingers and long strands of dirty golden-blonde hair (falling, from the looks of things, coming out in chunks and joining the cow on the floor of the ship) covering the lens until Jaye can look into the screen properly. Once again, she looks like a mess. It's worse, this time. Worse physically and mentally, and it's easy to tell by how she interacts with the camera, slides her thumb up over the lens and bobs her head like a bird. It's almost like she can't quite remember what she's supposed to do. ]

I heard voices, [ she starts, voice a hoarse, scratchy mess. Unlike last time she doesn't try to save it, pushes on as if she's talking to herself and her dead cow and not anyone who's listening. ] Are you back? It's been so long. I didn't mean to leave -- I couldn't get there. I was so close and just like him, just couldn't get there. The halls just kept going and then the ship screamed and I had to change before I did, too.

[ She shifts onto her haunches, rocking back and forth, not looking at the camera -- looking around instead, taking in how things look with eyes that aren't the compound eyes of an insect. One hand moves up to move some hair behind an ear and the hair simply falls down in strands, leaving a patch of bare scalp behind on her head. ] It was red again. Red and angry, so angry, the whole time. I didn't mean to do it this time, I didn't -- but I figured it out. They're the same, aren't they? Exactly the same. Trickster and hero and villain all at once. "Fear not, I will help you."

[ There's a laugh, then a sob, then both at once. ]

Don't be mad. A year isn't forty. Just-Like-Creator took the flesh and threw it over the land, and there grew the tribes of men.

[ One hand reaches for the skull of the cow, for the rot covering it, and draws. :) ]

((ooc: Explanation over here!))

_{[ There's a bit of fuzziness-- chattering-- like a conversation between two people. One has a high pitched voice and seems to be dropping the F-bomb with indescribable chatter, and the other is entirely too loud. Way, way too loud. There is a bright light, and then, two red eyes belonging to an alien creature peer into the communication device-- and then, the loud voice is heard again-- ]}

Dude! What in the name of Liberty's lingerie do you think you're doing! This is like hardcore stuff, like, super way cool hardcore stuff probably seen right out of the X-Files! Tony, my number one man, don't you drop that! Give me that!

_{[ The device it jerked from the alien creature, who doesn't seem pleased with this at all. We now see a set of blue eyes and glasses with blonde hair--
aaaaaand. He's panicking.
Of course America was going to to jump to the cellular device and post to the network before anyone else are you kidding me-- ]}

Okay! OKAY! Like, I need all of my back up ASAP here pronto! We've been kidnapped-- okay, no, actually, this is like--

_{[ He pants, looking around. There is still a good amount of blue goop on his face and good lord America get dressed you're still in your star and striped underwear. ]}

OKAY YOU KNOW HOW YOU'RE LIKE MINDING YOUR OWN BIZWHACK AND SUDDENLY YOU GET THAT WEIRD SINKING FEELING IN YOUR BODY LIKE DEJA VU LIKE FREAKY WEIRD DEJA-VU, Yeah, man, TOTALLY getting that feeling and it's freakin' me out, man! Holy SHIT, this is bad! I was just jamming to Katy Perry like a boss and then I think I fell asleep on a bunch of like important government papers or something that I was supposed to do-- who gives a crap that's not serious right now-- I--

_{[ A BREATH!!!! Slow down, America! You talk like a thousand miles. And he does slow down, becoming a bit more coherent. ]}

--I-- think I've been here before, but I don't know--! What if somebody erased my brain like outta some sci-fi movie and put weird memories back in and now I'm going to be pregnant with alien children or something mondo-crazy like WHOA-- uhh-- hey! Can anybody even hear me? This isn't like an Apple product or anything I don't think so I hope I'm using it right--

Yo, uhh, France! China! Canadia! Even England-- and I guess Russia-- ANYBODY! What the hell is going on?

_{[ Welcome back, America. Your memories of this place will gradually come to mind-- but here you are-- impulsively reacting without thinking as usual. Here's a permission post for 4th walling. ]}