voidtreckernet | Day Twenty One: Engine Room to All Carriages

No. You did not actively volunteer.

[And here Siebren had thought he was going to spend his afternoon learning to play Duel Monsters. Evidently plans have changed. Seto ducks away for a moment, and Siebren takes his place at the ICP.]

Then how exactly did we come to leave our worlds and arrive on the platform? A detailed explanation of the process, please, if you can.

You were tethered to this voidcraft and brought into the void. Usually this would happen in a designated void travel entry centre. However your entry was more abrupt than usual. The tether latched onto your essential essence or energy, depending on which scientific theory you read and pulled you up into the void, to a liminal space between your reality and the void. That is the platform you speak of.

So we were simply pulled aboard.

[He pauses. Takes stock of the situation. Thinks over the complicated, as yet unbalanced equation that is the Voidtrecker Express. Turns away from the ICP and looks at Seto.]

Do we have any information as to how passengers are chosen?

[ There's a faint flush to Seto's cheeks, as someone just leaned over to kiss Yugi real quick. But he quickly re-adopts his professional expression. ]

...I don't know. Halo mentioned something about a processing center, a gold building? That's where the original void volunteers would've gone. So we're not missing as many memories as I assumed, it was really that abrupt.

I wonder if the train can't gather volunteers as usual due to its rogue status.

[Stress relief is stress relief, and Siebren is not about to judge. (In fact, Seto ought to partake in more of it, when they're not in the middle of a rare opportunity to speak directly with the train.) For now, he considers Seto's answer.]

That is a possibility. I wonder about its decision-making process - why did it choose us over anyone else from our worlds? Do we know?

I don't know. Do you think we should ask for its criteria? Or what specifically it was looking for, how it found us?

I think so.

[They have four questions left between the two of them; this seems worth the investment.]

In as much detail as you are able to provide, what, specifically, are your criteria for choosing passengers?

They have the skills and drive necessary to be come heroes for the Voidtrecker Express and you were able to be tethered to the Voidtrecker Express. Specifically that they have the skills that meet the parameters of missions be that scientific knowledge, espionage or combat. Every passenger has the potential to become a void hero of note.

"Potential..."

Seto's not a traditional hero. He knows that. Yet he's here. They're here...even the kids. That bothers him, definitely.

He presses on.

"We received a message indicating we were on the run from the Ministry, and Captain Halo of the Voidcraft said the same thing. I'm assuming that's why you weren't able to recruit volunteers traditionally. But what will happen to us if they catch us?"

You would be arrested and the Voidtrecker Express confiscated. Unknown what the result of such a trial would be but it would not be in your interests.

This would not be a desirable outcome.

Siebren has removed the notebook and pen he keeps on his person from his pockets and is writing down both questions and answers, as close to verbatim as he can, when that answer arrives on the screen. For a brief moment, he stills. Arrested- to be locked up again-

It is a hypothetical. It has not come to pass. He takes a breath, and lets it out slowly, and the moment passes. "Quite the penchant for understatement," he comments wryly, as though absolutely nothing is wrong.

He finishes writing and looks over the page. "Two questions left," he says, looking at Seto. "What are our most urgent information gaps?" History, mechanics, science - Siebren has his preference, but he trusts Seto's judgment in this matter.

Seto is still reeling from that. There's a number of directions they could go in, but...what is the most important here?

"Well...we essentially know most of how the train got into this position. Should we ask about Halo's theory that a void storm caused this history erasure? Or...no, something that's more immediately useful to us. Anything we can get the train that would allow it to help us more? I think...it wants to..."

They are all viable directions; at the moment, it may be best to pick one and invest their final two questions in it.

"Perhaps asking if it knew of Halo and the Voidflash at all, or if it knows of any other...exceptions...might be the way to go."

It's more of a big picture approach, but perhaps that may be the best approach here.

"All right. That's what we'll do, then."

Seto pauses to think for a moment.

"On Nion, we met Captain Halo of the Voidflash. She said she was from your planet, Enrara...and that she was considered rogue, like us, because Enrara disappeared. Do you know of any other survivors from that erasing event?"

No. This is unknown. Statistically unlikely.

Thank you for your questions, passenger Seto Kaiba.

A dead end. It is a disappointing outcome, but a known possibility nonetheless. Siebren records the answer and thinks.

"One question left," he says slowly, "and any number of directions we could take, with no followup." Which means that broad strokes is likely no longer the best strategy. "Is there anything we are missing? Any questions that would only require a simple answer."

"Maybe..."

Seto closes his eyes, trying to concentrate. If only he could group with everyone for reminders during this!

"What about...what happens when people are called up to the front? Sometimes they reappear in luggage, but usually they disembark at the next platform."

Siebren raises both eyebrows. While he'd heard about the phenomenon, he'd never witnessed or experienced it himself. "A good choice."

He turns and enables the ICP. "What exactly occurs when a passenger is called to the front? In as much detail as possible, please."

That is a new phenomenon and much about it is unknown. Their tether is disrupted and they are not able to remain on the Voidtrecker Express. If their tether can be secured they are able to return.

Thank you for your questions, passenger Siebren de Kuiper.

Edited 2020-12-20 07:22 (UTC)

Well. That is not a reassuring answer. Siebren writes the question and response down anyway, gives the ICP a long look, then looks back at Seto.

"I have...concerns."

"Agreed," Seto echoed. He just sounded...tired, rubbing at his temples. There was a lot to worry about.

"If that tether is what's keeping us alive, then...the people who left."

"They depart at the platforms, do they not?" Liminal spaces, in which departing passengers do not respond to outside stimulus and simply leave.

Surely they return to their home dimensions. Surely. The alternatives range from unsettling to unthinkable, and with no further questions available, there is no way to clarify.

"No one has simply...disappeared. Correct?"

Day Twenty One: Engine Room to All Carriages

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