Welcome to the Program

[airlockedmods]

Good Morning, Champions. In the interest of maintaining healthy sleep patterns, a day/night cycle is in effect. Your presence is expected in the cafeteria in exactly one hour.

[The voice comes through not a large speaker, but through the device that's attached to each Champion's arm. Further investigation of the features of the device will reveal a list of profiles, a mini-map, and a list of rules. The hallways are shiny white and silver, with running lights along the floor and lights on the ceiling, and at the junction of the hallways is a sign with a knife and fork icon and an arrow pointing down the hall.

Welcome to the Excellence Program, Champions. Time to get to know your teammates.]

Comments

[immaculacies]

No good?

[Manaka speaks from the next table over, looking up from where she had been sitting quietly with downcast eyes. She's still convinced that the device attached to her arm is what's limiting her... But if there are safeguards in place to stop her from removing it, she isn't sure what there is to do about that for now.]

[playthedamncard]

...You could say. [No, no, he had a lovely time getting shocked, it's fine, give it a try.] We may be stuck with these for a time.

[immaculacies]

That seems likely. But... I'm not surprised. If it's supposed to monitor the state of your body, it only makes sense that it would be so well-attached.

[Which is worrisome on its own, when you think about.]

[playthedamncard]

You can still detach a heart monitor. Many medical items used to keep track of your health aren't so permanent.

[immaculacies]

Of course. But who says it's only for our hearts? It's probably monitoring our blood, our brain functions... Anything tangible that you can think of.

Of course, I don't think it's perfectly benign, either. It just doesn't surprise me that we would be blocked from taking them off. The real question is whether that's for our benefit, or someone else's.

[playthedamncard]

We've been kidnapped to an arguably false reality of space, with so far little explanation, rhyme, or reason. I don't see the benefit of any of this to us. [And if whoever is going to show up that they were supposed to be in the cafeteria and hour after waking soon to explain some shit...]

[immaculacies]

I'm referring only to the superficial benefit of our health. It could be that someone wants to ensure we remain healthy, so that we can kill one another without complications. Or, someone could be collecting the information for another purpose that benefits them more directly. It would help to know which it is, wouldn't it?

[playthedamncard]

There's no reason to think it couldn't be both.

[immaculacies]

That's true, too. In any case, that question is what concerns me.

[playthedamncard]

[To be fair, what doesn't concern him right now? But he doesn't say that. Instead:] Yes, but the set of rules is also concerning. Number seven specifically, although eight as well.

[immaculacies]

Yes, of course. I think eight is probably the most troublesome; at least the seventh is honest about its intent. [Even if she still wonders what the purpose behind it is, at least it says clearly what it means for them.] Wouldn't you say so?

[playthedamncard]

The idea that someone can just arbitrarily change the rules on a whim, forcing us to check them all the time, that isn't going to work out well for anyone. It makes the game unbalanced. That someone will tip everything in their favor.

[immaculacies]

I don't think the point of this game is to be balanced in the first place. It's designed so that its master, these Overseers, have all the power from the first step. The eighth rule just makes it so they can wield it over us however they like, without any limits on themselves.

I just wonder if someone is going to tell us what the goal of all this is.

[playthedamncard]

We're meant to meet here when the hour's up. I can only assume we'll meet someone. Be given some tasks to perform, perhaps, or at least be told something that may not even be true.

[immaculacies]

Mm.

I'm worried we won't be offered a real explanation at all.

[Though, yes, it would be extremely easy to lie to them all about their true intentions. What other source of information do that have, after all?]

[playthedamncard]

It sounds like communal living with a side of an escape room, which...if I'm honest, sounds really moronic. Not the best basis for a game if you ask me.

[immaculacies]

I don't see the point, either. [It'd be like if she were expected to live together with other Masters—something she'd politely describe as foolish.] But maybe it's different if you don't plan to participate yourself, and only orchestrate events.

[Still, what goal could that possibly satisfy?]

[playthedamncard]

There must be some kind of data collection going on. A stress test of the system, perhaps. It may not need to be overly complicated or even make sense, so long as a computer understands it.

[immaculacies]

Ah, that's a good idea. Technology isn't something I have to think about much, so something like that wouldn't have occurred to me.

[She had assumed the devices on their arms served the experiment, not the other way around. But... What he says is just as plausible, if not more so.]

[playthedamncard]

[He raises an eyebrow under his bangs.] I doubt it would have, but with technology so increasingly integral to everyday life, you might have to think about it more often.

[immaculacies]

Mm. Perhaps.

[...Except probably not, but, you know, she's not supposed to just explain why her family is a bunch of weirdos who don't even own a television, even if she doesn't suppose it really matters what people know in these circumstances.]