A call in the dark

[thespaceopera]

[It won't be long before the Marsiva leaves the system. Not once has the fleet's Host Ship gone near the green, mysterious planet, choosing instead to keep it only at the far edges of her reach. All the while, the party deck has remained open and welcoming, tempting passengers to stay and try their luck for last-minute prizes.

And just when it seems like the fleet may leave the Lagan system without incident- a sudden rush of energy flares out across the green planet's surface and beyond, rippling far past its atmosphere until it reaches every ship in the fleet. The energy buffets the hulls and scrambles the instruments for one or two very dramatic minutes - just as it had before, but much more powerful in its reach. The wave is still invisible, save for a confusing warp in the way light describes shapes, but those who are sensitive to various energies--psionic, magical, life-force, or otherwise--will be able to feel an overwhelming force comb through their entire being, before the phenomenon passes over and ends.

However, unlike last time, this wave of energy is not silent. Across both the speakers of every communication device and console, and in the minds of anyone sensitive to the energy, comes the message:]

Yei equoa seh ouat ti unduo ti akun. Yiat deht quoi yiat seh kiskhan. Yiaht seh yesui ti yiat seh enduan, tal yei vissai atuav yei ti esat yiat lehir hanui. Esat yiat lehir evess. Esat yiat lehir illua tal giskat deht. Wes sahat lehir enila yei, wes yei vissai seh nan sahat ista, sahat yayet quoi adaht woru vitsahn. Hanui gisketi ideht yesui ti tokia gisketi ideht uaru, tal adrifa deseht adtah.

[Those who had been investigating the wreckage's systems may notice that this message is the very same as the one coded in the distress signal. Perhaps the Virsua was trying once last time to communicate.]


[OOC: Feel free to use this post as a mingle--either for broadcasts over the network or in-person interactions. The Marsiva is still within range of the planet for another day or two, so any in-person threads can be on the planet's surface, aboard various ships or stations, or in the Marsiva's party room.

For those who had learned a translated word before, now is a great chance to put that knowledge to use!

While the mods continue to sort out the upcoming happenings with the Drift Fleet, we thought a final themed mingle would be fun to play with in the meantime. Enjoy!]

Comments

Voice;

[save_the_souls]

[There's a groan on Allen's end of the line as the wave ripples through, he takes a moment to clutch his head, not at all enjoying the sensation or the weird language playing in his head.]

Wasn't that...the message from the ship..?

[...And it played...in his head. The message from the crashed ship played in his head]

That's creepy.

Voice;

[geonomy]

That was the message from the ship.

[Clay's head is pounding too, but there are more important things to think about here.]

You think it's trying to reach us again?

Re: Voice;

[lightbends]

[Korra is also still clutching her head with one hand, eyes tearing up slightly. It felt like she'd been slammed in the head with information and it was not at all pleasant.]

Did you hear it too? It started to sound like words.

Voice;

[onlyanapple]

I had so missed Paradisa-eqsue creepy bullshit. It's so good of them to bring this back to us.

[That's his way of checking Allen's okay. Such skill. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Voice

[When the wave hits, Natasha is ready for it, bracing for the worst if the instruments don't right themselves, if the impact grows stronger or something gives—that doesn't keep her from paying attention to the message though. Or from recognizing it.

When the comms are back on line, Natasha opens a channel.]

Anyone else feel like someone wants us to pay attention?

[A short pause, half a beat.]

Or like maybe a little bit of that was starting to make sense?

[geonomy]

[Clay recognizes the message, too. He heard it once, weeks ago, has been trying to decipher it ever since with no proper results. But when he hears Natasha, he moves quickly through the ship until he gets to her, comm device in hand, the message ringing through his ears.]

It made sense to you? A little bit?

action

[scanninggaydis]

[Like Clay, Felix is in another part of the ship when the wave impacts the ship, and on his feet soon after it passes, moving towards the bridge.

Unlike Clay, he hasn't heard the message. He either hears Natasha's broadcast or comes into the bridge at the tail end of it.]

I didn't get any of that. You did?

voice;

[uprightness]

Nat -

[ he calls her as soon as he hears the message ]

What do you got so far?

Video;

[cloakand_danger]

[Shortly after the wave passes, Yuan's face pops onto an open broadcast channel. He looks aggrieved and a little dizzy.]

Is that kind of...outburst...normal around here? Maybe you humans can't tell, but that is very uncomfortable. And if it's going to keep happening, I'd really like to have more warning.

[Useful input? none to be found here, this broadcast is purely for complaining.]

Video;

[save_the_souls]

[Allen looks a bit disheveled, like he got hit with a headache of some sort]

No, it's not. It's something odd about the planet.

voice;

[arcanepower]

[He'd been minding his own business on the network when this came. There's definitely something talking in his head and Belthazar is not down for this. His body is thrumming all over. He feels like he's about to vibrate right out of his own skin. He claws at his hair and screams until he runs out of breath, and then there's weak sobbing.

This is so much worse than the first time he was taken apart and pieced back together by the planet. It feels like being judged. It feels like all the parts of him he wants to hide are made visible.]

S-stop... stop... stop!

I don't-- I don't understand. What do you want from me? What do you want?!

voice;

[save_the_souls]

Belthazar!

[Yep, sure am worried about this kid]

It's okay- I think it's just trying to send a message. Are you alright?

[ action ]

[axiomed]

[ The first wave wasn't so bad. Really. You might have felt a bit shaken on the Heron, but nothing too terrible. Really.

Then it got loud, like someone's voice is ringing in your ears, a very distinctive voice telling you to get out, get out, GET OUT. ]

[exothermia]

[Erik didn't feel Charles's second 'wave'. Not at first, anyway. No, the combination of a sudden burst of false electromagnetism, combined with the sensation of energy flooding him in a torrent, was enough to drop Erik in a dead faint. Maybe it was a reflex, borne out of half-remembered terror. As he comes back around after a few moments, it seems more likely the intense dizziness of his magnetic sense being messed around had something to do with it. He can hardly tell up from down.

Erik shakes his head to clear it, rattling screws in the door quieting. But the shouting in his head, that's-- he lets out a sharp groan and staggers to his feet, smacking the door open with a careless hand and going the few steps to Charles's door. He manages not to fall over on the way there.

He doesn't bother knocking, just snaps the lock open and grabbing onto the doorframe.] Charles, stop.

voice;

[noprophecies]

[when the wave passes, and when the pounding in her head subsides enough that she can talk, Tempest switches on the voice feed and grounds out:]

What the hell was that?

voice;

[widow_of_the_crag]

That's never happened before?

There was a voice coming from our devices. Did you recognize the language at all?

voice

[bythewaves]

[ The first time it had happened, there had been no message, but this time Maglor cries out and staggers, hands clapped over his ears.

Don't fall say old instincts. Potential threat.

If it was this bad for him... Finrod. The Arafinweans are so much more sensitive to this sort of thing...

He fumbles with the communicator, and so sorry everyone, but he's too shaken to make this private ]

Finrod! Findarato, please, answer me, are you alright? Is everyone alright?

voice

[faithfulwisdom]

[There is a delay before the answer comes, and when it does, Finrod's voice lacks its usual cheer. Frankly, he sounds distinctly unwell. He speaks slowly, struggling for some sort of coherency in his thoughts- not a simple thing with some foreign message invading his mind.]

I am here, Makalaurë, and I am well- more or less. We all are.

video; action on planet

[mortalcoil]

[Coil is on the surface of the green world when it happens, returning from another trip spent gathering wild materials and soaking up the ambient magic. he's just outside his ship when a wave of invisible something explodes under his feet, raking right through his body and punching a message into his brain. it had been unsettling before, when he'd been in the safety of the ship and it had been quiet, but this is far too much.

his knees hit the ground, hands clamp over his ears, and the cry he tries to catch turns into a growl between teeth instead.

for several minutes, all he can do is curl on the ground and breathe.

and when he finally manages to turn on the communicator, he only stares into it for a while with one wide, searching eye. he has to type out a message if he wants to ask anything, and words just aren't happening yet. his eye is glowing, he's clearly upset, but he doesn't know where to start.]

action

[mistyday]

[Misty has barely left the planet since they landed so she's there too when the wave hits. It's worse, much worse, than before, causing her to fall against the nearest tree for support. The voice, what is that, what's it saying?

And then one word: stop, stop, stop.

She stumbles back out onto the mesa, only to be met with the sight of Coil, curled up tightly on the ground. Hss own aura is... off putting on its own, but he's clearly in pain so she puts that aside for now, coming to kneel beside him.]

Hey... you okay?

text;

[benames]

[ guess who is done with this shit? if you guessed the vibe, have a cookie. ]

I AM SO DONE WITH THIS PLANET.

this is like the space version of the Shining

what the actual hell ain't nobody has time for space paranormal activity

text;

[mortalcoil]

[hey, a text broadcast--excellent. those are easiest for Coil to answer, so he hits it back as soon as it pops up onto his screen.]

you heard it too ?

voice + action.

[uprightness]

[ this is getting very, very old. steve rubs at his eyes and addresses the network with only one request. ]

If anyone knows even one of those words, I have a feeling with might need some team work here.

[ he'll be found pacing around on the starstruck, evidently not excited about the thoughts of going back. he'll be focusing his attention his trusty little notepad where he wrote down every word he managed to catch exactly as he heard it.

only one of them makes sense, frustratingly enough. . ]

voice;

[geonomy]

That's what I've been thinking.

I got "yesui," which means "sleeping," or "asleep." Did you get anything?

action + video

[hot4engines]

Golden

[Once the wave passed over, Kaylee reeled for a few moments from the message, but her make sure the ship is okay instincts soon overrode that. She didn't yet know the Golden like she did Serenity, but she nonetheless was sure she could tell if something was wrong.

So, any shipmates about might get bowled into as she rushes from bridge to engines, making sure everything seems fuctional after the outage.]

Video

[Satisfied that the Golden isn't going to drop out of the sky soon, a shaky-looking Kaylee addresses everyone else-]

Have any of our ships sustained damage? Everything lookin' functional and all?

action

[widow_of_the_crag]

[Jeyne had barely stepped out of her room when Kaylee went racing by, nearly knocking into her. The strange happenings had seemed to set everyone on edge, leaving nothing but confusion and apprehension in its wake.

Uncertain of what to do with herself, Jeyne followed after Kaylee, concerned for her friend and hoping to be set to some task.]

What was that?

Action/Video;

[geonomy]

[Vanquish]

[Clay doesn't immediately go on the comms yet, because he's busy going through the ship and making sure his crewmates are okay. That was loud over the speakers, and if him talking with Allen tells him anything, then those with magic and powers probably heard it in their heads.]

Everyone, report in! Is everybody okay?

[Broadcast, video]

[Next, Clay's seated at the kitchen table, pencil between his teeth and his thumb pressing to the center of his forehead as he frowns down at a paper. When he speaks, his voice is just a bit slurred thanks to the pencil there:]

Hey everyone. You're probably all wondering what just happened. Me too, to be honest. I heard that message a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to figure it out ever since. I think it might be coming from the wrecked ship we found, or maybe even from the planet itself.

Did any of you understand any of that message? I have a few words already, but it still doesn't make any sense. And I think it's of astronomical importance to figure this out.

text - reference

[monolike]

My purpose seh plant ti dig ti cull. Yiat deht quoi yiat seh butcher. Yiaht seh sleeping/asleep ti yiat seh blind, tal yei vissai caught me/my ti esat yiat lehir wake/awake. Esat yiat lehir speak. Esat yiat lehir free tal giskat deht. If you lehir enila me, if me/my vissai seh nan you ista, you yayet quoi "some of"/[conceptual measurement] our vitsahn. Wake/awake those/the ones ideht sleeping/asleep ti protect those/the ones ideht whole, tal the cycles will never adtah.


Let me know if you get more, I'll provide an updated translation.

-Updated [timestamp]

action+ voice;

[stefanged]

[It's the same message as last time.

Stefan's entire body is shaking as that wave passes over him, and with the last bit of strength he has, he checks the Paisley not just for internal damage but also for his crewmates. He doesn't care if he's showing off anymore: his vamp speed's coming in handy, and he's worried as hell.

Later, once he's sure everything's alright, he'll send out a message from his room:]

Well, that was rude. Everything looks alright from here, but I hope the rest of you are okay.

Fleet wide voice

[experiencepoints]

[Nightingale is pouring over the post and its replies when she notices something. She has to check her notes to be certain, but...]

Hey, everyone. I've been trying to decipher any meaning I can in these notes, using Sorey's translation, and I'm worried. That but about cycles... The Atroma date us as "cycle twelve" right? And no matter how long we're here, that doesn't change, so it isn't the year. And there is that other fleet like ours that attacked us... Potentially another cycle.

We don't have enough to say yet, so I might just be full of it, but anyone working on the translation, please keep that in mind. The Atroma brought us here, after all, they might be the ones who made that wreck, too.

voice

[monolike]

I'd bet a hundred thousand gald that last word is 'end.' Or 'stop.'

I think this message is a warning.

text

[airily]

Well, damn, that was annoying.

[ Which is, of course, Zaveid's way of checking out what other people are saying without getting too obvious about his own discontent himself. Frustrated, he settles back with his device to see if he and his augment can figure anything out. ]

They didn't exactly give us the training to decipher codes, you know...

text;

[mortalcoil]

[hey, text messages are easiest for Coil to reply to, especially when he's still reeling in the brain area. so, he answers this one fairly quickly.]

not a code

a language

action - Marsiva party deck

[lord_wizard]

[The first time it had happened had been unpleasant but the addition of the voice moves it straight into unbearable. One moment he'd been sitting on a couch near the food tables enjoying a drink and then next he was on the floor in a heap, clutching his head as wine dribbled down from the table.

And considering he'd ignored the planet as much as humanly possible, the message is utterly blindsiding in addition to disorienting.

He lets out a quiet whine and stops himself from cursing, though just barely]

[onlyanapple]

[Crowley has avoided the planet out of principle. It was creepy, it was weird, and it sounded a little too much like Paradisa for his comfort. He's well used to voices just...dropping into his head, Hell had done it every time they had work for him to do. It was awful then, it's awful now.

He grimaces, like something has made a shrill sound in his ear, before brushing it off. Great. More stupid bollocks. Just what they wanted. He shifts, crouching down by Felix, giving him a gentle prod. Such caring. Such compassion. ]

You dead?

[That's an absolutely acceptable way of asking if someone is okay and Crowley will stand by it thank you very much. ]

video

[wolfehawke]

I've got a word too. Illua means free, apparently.

[Wolfe chews his lip, looking a bit worse for the wear. He'd gotten over the first pulse when they arrived pretty quickly, but this second one was worse somehow for the words in it.]

I've gone through responses to this post, especially Clay and Sorey's, and put this file together.

[The following message is put up in text.]

It's editable by everyone, so if you want to add any words we don't have yet feel free to do that and highlight it so we know how much we have at a glance. I agree that it's important. Something that talks about culling and the like probably isn't good for someone and I for one want to make sure that isn't us.

video

[monolike]

Oooh, that's really useful! Can you show me how to do that later?

video.

[ofkirkwall]

[ Someone looks paler than usual - three guesses who? If you guessed the female half of the Hawkes, then you're right. She does look considerably paler than usual, and like she is about to hurl. The wave, it seems, has knocked her around quite well. Pull the rug out from beneath her feet and leave her winded. ]

I... [ Ugh. Hawke drops her head, a hand coming up to her brow in hopes of steadying herself. ] I understood some of that─ not a pleasant sensation don't recommend.

Evess it means... [ Inhale, exhale. ] It means speak.

voice.

[airily]

Y'know, you look like you should be getting yourself to bed.