week 3

[airlockedmods]

Week 3

[Come week 3 of the Champion Excellence Program the high-flying feelings that came with the dodgeball game last week has dissipated, especially after the...everything that was that trial. Satan Mask sure was a thing that happened.

Just like last week, right on the dot at 7 am, the mechanical woman's voice chimes to awaken the remaining champions on Sunday morning. After the initial wake-up call though there's a new message tacked on:]

Congratulations, Champions! By surviving your second trial, you have unlocked the third floor of the ship. A new mini map has been added to your P.I.P.! To access the second floor please stand on the teleporter and select the floor you wish to be teleported to.

[And again the Champions are awakened they have regained one new memory from the ones they've lost. Starting again on Sunday, as well, Jamie and Bolton will be back to their usual office hours in their usual locations.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday


[ooc: welcome to week 3, everyone! Check-in has begun and don't forget to submit your memory regains!]

Comments

[ratherdoweddings]

Even far-off planets in the future have curry rice? I guess some things never change about people! It's a little hopeful when you think of it that way.

[misplacedxsheath]

You didn't think we ate the paltry excuses for food stored in that kitchen on a regular basis, did you? Food may evolve, but certain elements will remain so long as the resources for them exist.

[ratherdoweddings]

You make a valid point, but on the other hand, for all I knew, moulded salads had come back into style.

[misplacedxsheath]

Oh, I'm sure there's somewhere something like that is popular. Even with the UMN, each planet has developed its own distinct traits. I've had little to do with most of them personally, given the pervasiveness of the Federation's influence and my high profile position as the Commander-in-Chief of their most dangerous and persistent enemy.

[ratherdoweddings]

That's true, too! Trends are different from town to town, much less countries or colonies or even planets. Who are the Federation, anyway?

[misplacedxsheath]

The Federation is an overarching government body that controls most of the inhabited universe. It was formed well before my people, the descendants of the first humans to leave Lost Jerusalem in an effort to halt the cataclysm that engulfed it, were re-discovered by the descendants of those who fled later. It's a coalition fuelled by greed and fear, absorbing all that exists outside of it even as it succumbs to constant infighting. They've coveted the Zohar, a relic we have been the caretakers of since our initial exodus roughly four-thousand seven-hundred years ago, ever since they discovered our planet Abraxas. They've insisted in meddling in our affairs ever since, even having the gall to rename our ancestral planet when they forced membership upon it.

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika contemplates this, looking over the pot of curry.]

So you were a lost colony, and when they found you again, they started acting like you should all act like them?

[misplacedxsheath]

And as if our possessions belonged to them. They had no claim to the Zohar, particularly since we of the Immigrant Fleet have developed, over the course of countless generations of proximity, the innate ability to control the Zohar to some extent. Before the fall of Miltia and the loss of the Original, it was an ancient tradition for a newly ascended Ormus Patriarch to display his affinity by activating the Zohar through will alone.

The Federation fools have no such ability, yet they still pretend they have as much right to its control as we do.

[ratherdoweddings]

A religious war... It all sounds depressing, but any conflict is like that, no matter what the reason is.

[misplacedxsheath]

It's a simple fact of what happens when those easily tempted with power find themselves with just enough of it to desire more...and to fear losing what they already have. To them, our control over the Zohar is a threat, and so we must be deprived of it. It's the same thing driving the hatred if Life Recycling Variants.

[ratherdoweddings]

What are those? Please don't say zombies.

[misplacedxsheath]

Use that term, and I can guarantee you every cyborg within earshot will take offense. Though the majority of them are biologically dead, and they would qualify as victims of the Life Recycling Law if they weren't categorized as government property, it's still considered a slur.

Life Recycling Variants are people who fall into a broad category of people who, under the Life Recycling Law, were modified either genetically or through cybernetic implants to, by default, have abilities beyond the scope of human norms. The most widely known forms of that are resurrected cyborgs and human bioweapons.

[ratherdoweddings]

Wow, really? They brought people back to life with special abilities? But I guess if they're "property," they're supposed to do whatever they say, right?

[misplacedxsheath]

Not all Life Recycling Variants are cyborgs, and those that aren't legally have human rights, but that's correct. Those revived as cyborgs have no choice but to obey the orders they are given, and many of them even have failsafes in their mechanical parts that prevent them from acting against their orders.

[ratherdoweddings]

And I thought the IFS had a downside...

[misplacedxsheath]

There's a reason cybernetics fell out of favor long before the Species Preservation Act made reviving the dead illegal. Once people began realizing the broad scope of situations where a cybernetics company could lay claim to their remains, they began avoiding those conditions as much as possible.

[ratherdoweddings]

Still, most people can't really control how and when they'd die.

[misplacedxsheath]

They can, however, control the rights granted to others regarding their remains. The law was worded in such a way that bodies donated to science or medicine were eligible for resurrection.

[ratherdoweddings]

That doesn't sound like a good idea for anyone. Oh, Margulis-san, how is the curry?

[misplacedxsheath]

It wasn't.

[But he has plenty of Opinions on how the Life Recycling Act was handled. He's pleased for the change in subject.]

The curry turned out well enough, to my tastes anyway.

[ratherdoweddings]

Could I try some? I think we're all a little tired of the space food, and I want to have a better idea of what life is like on your planet!

[misplacedxsheath]

Go right ahead. I've made more than enough for myself.

[And don't mind the fact that he's hiding a faint smirk behind his hand.]

[ratherdoweddings]

Thank you very much! Okay, here goes!

[Yurika takes a little and tries the tiniest spoonful. Immediately, she drops the spoon into the bowl, wheezes, gasps for air, and collapses onto the table, clawing for nothing in particular.]

It's death in a crock pot...

[misplacedxsheath]

[And he...laughs. Before serving himself a bowl.]

Few people aside from myself and Uzuki can tolerate this level of heat. I'd suggest paying a visit to the espresso bar for some cream, dairy is your best bet for mitigating the spice.

[ratherdoweddings]

I don't want to die from burning taste buds...