Futuristic The Noise - Main

[DovahBeat]

The entering of New World's atmosphere was rough, needless to say. Almost instantly, you could hear all the thoughts of most of the people in the landing pod with you, and it was likely they heard yours. In some of the pods, it caused a panic, leading to disaster. Many pods crashed into New World, some in fire, and some came out relatively okay.

Riae kicked open the door of her landing pod she had shared with a few others. The door had been jammed shut from the impact of landing, but that was the extent of the damage to this pod. Her Noise was silent for a moment as she took in the scenery of New World. Then her Noise erupted into several overlapping thoughts.

Need to find the others.

Why can we hear each others' thoughts?​

Can they hear mine?​

Probably.

What is going on here?​

I smell smoke.

Daisuke was pretty disoriented from the landing but was for the most part okay. His Noise flitted as gold sparkles around his head, displaying his disorientation for all to see. Quite frankly, he had no clue what was going on, why it seemed like he could hear the thoughts of others or why his own were playing back like an echo to him as soon as he thought anything, or why he could see some of his thoughts around his head. Did he hit his head in the landing? Did he have a concussion? He had to be hallucinating... right?

---

Blaklyte
Veil Walker
Walliver

 

[Veil Walker]

Triss settled back into the landing pod as best she could, and focused on one of the few things that always calmed her mind: mathematics. She was busy calculating their descent speed and length of time until they got to atmosphere when the pod's systems chimed up.
'Atmospheric approach in:'
"Seven point two seconds," Triss muttered, glancing down at the planet through one of the viewports.
'Seven point two seconds.' She allowed herself a grin, before her mathematical attitude made her question the engineering on the landing pod. She wondered why the designers had included such a serious safety design flaw as a viewport, and sighed to herself. Human curiosity seemed to demand something to look out, even on the long distance craft that had brought them there. She had no idea why they had installed windows on a cryoship, but hey, at least the curious monkeys would have something to distract themselves with. Sadly, her thoughts were rudely cut short as there was a bump as their ship entered the atmosphere, and chaos erupted. All she could hear was noise all around her. She wasn't sure what was causing it, but it caused her to slam her hands over her head and pull into herself. It was too much. Panic ensued around her as people's confusion caused them to speak out, and the noise got even louder. She shrieked out to everyone to shut up, before her mind went blank. The next thing she knew she was being helped from what was left of the landing pod. She could steal hear an overwhelming amount of noise, which seemed to get worse the closer to base camp they arrived, but she steeled her mind against it. She began reciting the Fibonacci sequence as a way to drown out the more animalistic noises as she made her way to the med unit. She was not a doctor, but she had a feeling that the medical staff was going to need all the help they could get.

 

[Veil Walker]

Jambo grinned as he prepared himself for planetfall. By luck or perhaps because of reputation, he knew most of the people in his pod, including his parents. He had his legs crossed as best he could in his seat, and was humming an old family lullaby when the ship started its descent. He was ready to get out and stretch his legs. From an early age, he had always liked exploring, and finding new and exciting things. On a ship, however, eventually even the most remote corners had been seen and done. He was excited to get out there and experience the new. Just as he had started going over in his mind his survival checklist to complete at base, the ship hit atmosphere, and all hell broke loose. He could suddenly hear voices, voices from people who weren't even speaking. He felt the panic build as those around him realized the same thing. Thankfully, Jambo wasn't one for panicking. He hadn't panicked when Lucien had pulled that knife on him, and he sure wasn't going to panic now. He popped out of his seat, grabbing shoulders and making his way to the pilot's seat. Unbeknownst to him, his Noise seemed to clang off the walls, harsh and almost alien as it cowed those around him with its ferocity. Grabbing the pilot by the arm, he shook the man hard.
"Frankie, get a grip!" He yelled, making eye contact.
"I did NOT go save your scrawny butt just for you to crash!" Frank's eyes were wide with fear, barely registering the bigger man. Jambo unhooked Frank's straps, shoving him into his seat before taking the controls.
"I REALLY shoulda paid more attention in those sims...." he muttered, wrestling with the controls.
Surprisingly, he managed to land the pod without too much damage, and he worked himself free, herding his passengers towards the base camp's medical area. He turned back to look at the landing pod with a grin on his face. Other than a few struts, it had held together well. A more charitable person would thank the engineers, but Jambo had spent too much time fixing their mess to do something like that.
"Landing like that, they oughtta call me CAPTAIN Jambo," he said. He tilted his head back and let out a whoop, before moving towards the group dedicated to finding a decent water source. Moving past one of the horses that had been brought, he let out a short greeting.
"Mornin' Buttercup," he said rubbing the horse down a little. The horse turned and gave him the horse equivalent of a glare.
'My name is Tobias, two legs,' the horse's Noise announced as it stamped the ground. Jambo shook his head to clear it.
"Thaaaat's... gonna take some gettin used to." Moving away, he secured his pack to his back and got ready to help scout for water.

 

[Blaklyte]

[ Landing Pod 626 ]
Time Launched [REDACTED]
Estimated Time Until Landing: [ERROR]
Status: [CRITICAL]
----
Navigation Controls: ONLINE
Turbine: ONLINE
Battery: ONLINE
Engine: OFFLINE

[ !!! WARNING CRITICAL ENGINE FAILURE. ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL LANDING: 30 SECONDS !!! ]

5...
4...
3..
2..
1.
.

--It hurts---
That was the first thing that crossed his mind when he came to. It hurt. Everything.
It was all he could think about. Every fiber of his body was filled with pain in every form he could imagine. A sharp pain somewhere in his side, a hot throbbing in his head. Ringing in his ears. Every muscle in his body ached. He took short, shallow breaths, the pressure of crumpled metal on his chest made it almost impossible to breathe at all.
--Pain-///--Hurts---
He tried to move, to get away from the thing causing him pain, only for the sharp sting in his abdomen to turn white hot. He let out a high pitched whimper before settling back into place.
He was stuck.
Surrounded by a metal... thing. He wasn't sure what it was. It was impossible to tell from here. Not from inside, surrounded by shrapnel. The only thing visible to him were slivers of light flickering in and out of view through the rubble. He clamped his eyes shut and tried to collect himself. Piece back together his scattered thoughts.
--Whats--///
--hurts-///-I-///--Where-///
--Why cant I--///
Every attempt he made to think only made his head hurt more. He choked back a pained and frustrated sob. He couldn't tell up from down, left from right. Nothing felt real. Was he even a person? He couldn't tell. All he could think was pain. Even as the ringing in his ears subsided, he still struggled to understand the garbled chatter that echoed in the distance. Was it even chatter? It all sounded like noise to him.
The world was in fragments around him, and sounds buzzed in his ears like static. The pain he felt was turning cold, numb but not at the same time.
He was starting to feel tired.

 

[Walliver]

Kavi was nervous, to say the least. Landfall wasn’t going to be perfect, or smooth, that much he knew already. Landfall simulations had prepared him for pretty much everything. But the idea that something out of his control could happen had him on edge. Human error was frequent enough to make him anxious, not to mention mechanical defaults and miscalculations.

When the alarms began to blare on the pod, his anxiety only worsened. Everyone began to panic- loudly. No one was speaking but he could hear everything. It was as if someone had taken everyone’s thoughts and put them through a megaphone. His hands automatically moved to cover his ears as a mechanical whine began to fill the pod. They were crashing.

-/-/-/-

Chitrinee remembered little of the actual crash, only the aftermath. Her tongue felt heavy, and a quick swipe of her hand against her mouth confirmed that her face was covered in blood. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the dust from her eyes as she looked around the pod. Her parents had been right next to her, Kavi across from her. She turned to her left and nearly vomited at the sight of her parents- what was left of them. Across from her, Kavi appeared mostly intact, if not completely shaken by the Noise that surrounded them.

Hurts…

She turned to the noise, eyes wide. Half of the pod seemed crumpled, as if a giant hand had grabbed it as it was falling. She scrambled out of her seat, fighting against the safety belt that had most certainly bruised its shape into her skin. She crawled over the rubble frantically.

There, someone was under all the debris. From the sound of it, they were hurt. She took a deep breath and began pushing pieces out of the way.

“Hold on, friend! Help is on the way!”

 

[DovahBeat]

With a deep, steadying breath, Riae took her first steps onto New World and tried to calm her thoughts. A lot was already going on, and it was obvious not all the pods had a good landing. Basa jumped out of the pod behind her, and his first thoughts were on exploration and all the new smells and creatures.

Riae honestly didn't expect to also hear her dog's thoughts, but... it shouldn't have been surprising, all things considered.

Adjusting her pack, and Basa by her side, she made her way to the small base camp set up to organize and for the medical professionals to treat the wounded. After checking in, she set out with a group to gather firewood and other supplies to make a bigger shelter. Small medical tents would only get them so far.

---

After taking a moment to get his bearings, Daisuke finally stood up and left the landing pod. All the noise... it was still pretty jarring for him.
Still, there was work to do, a world to explore. He quickly found himself at base camp, and then being directed to the group looking for water. Apparently, his knowledge of animals and ecology was seen as useful for this group. While that may be true, his knowledge lay with Earth's animals, and while he was sure some things would transfer over, he wasn't sure how much. Oh well, only one way to find out, right?
As Daisuke and the group walked, his noise based on what he saw was flitting around him excitedly. There were squirrels that were clearly not squirrels, but he didn't know how else to describe them, and their noise was chittering at them in alarm and egging on anyone who got too close, daring them to do something and find out the consequences. Daisuke wasn't sure he wanted to find out, not yet anyway.
And then there were the giant bugs. Against his better judgment, and probably to everyone else's disgust, Dai picked one up. It looked like a giant isopod, but more suited to a wooded or swampy environment. That probably meant water would be close.
"Hey, check this out!" Daisuke excitedly held out the isopod creature to the nearest person to see, in this case, Jambo.

Veil Walker

 

[Veil Walker]

Triss was doing as much as she could in the triage tent, but honestly she wasn't trained as a doctor. After putting yet ANOTHER dermal patch on someone whose ancestor had seemingly missed out on the important lesson that 'fire hot', she was honestly getting a stress headache. Keeping her focus on the actual problem and not the numerous new sources of sound each complaining in the loudest terms about their problems, she was beginning to feel like she had become a mother to thirty or forty people overnight. Pushing the last of the minor injury section out of the tent, she began doing rounds, checking IV's and medical charts and just trying to keep busy before the cacophony of Noise overwhelmed her again. The last thing she wanted was to wake up to more idiots gawking at her as she lay on the ground.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jambo was checking his equipment one last time before heading out, when a man with purple hair excitedly pointed out what looked to Jambo to be the spawn of a rather large roly-poly and a lobster. His head swam slightly with bright colors as the other man held it out, but JAmbo pushed through the distraction and eyed the creature speculatively before shooting his new companion a grin.
"Well, I did miss a meal, so I could use something to chow on. Few more o' those and we can get a nice stew going. Good find, my friend!" Jambo shot the man one of his (in)famous charming smile, and held out his hand.
"Name's Jambo, friend. What do they call ya?" Before Jambo could continue with the niceties, he heard a plaintive voice, just at the very edge of his hearing seem to whisper:
'Hurts...' Without conscious thought, Jambo began swiveling, trying to figure out the direction, before clapping his new friend's arm.
"Assuming you heard that, no time for shootin the breeze, we gotta move!" Jambo moved quickly in the direction of the noise, arriving shortly at a smoldering crater where figures lay in gruesome detail. He could see at least one person moving, trying to clear rubble. Without thinking, he jumped down, pulling on a pair of industrial gloves to shield his hands from the heat as he started carefully shifting the bigger pieces as best he could.

 

[Blaklyte]

Just as his eyelids started to grow heavy, a voice cut through the static. For a moment the man snapped from his pain filled haze. The rustling of heavy metal pieces being lifted off of him eased the burden on his chest, though it still hurt to breath.
-////--Wh--o...?
--Help--///??
He he winced as the debris filtering the light above was removed and he became exposed to the outside. Hovering above him, He could see faces, strangers. None of them were recognizable... not that he could see their features very well anyways. Between his delirium and the blinding light he struggled to see anymore than vague shapes. The man tried again to move, attempting to weakly push away the remaining pieces that sat on top of him, but it wasn't much use. He was too weak to be of much help. He winced as pain shot through his body again from the shifting of weight and his attempt to move around. He gasped silently as he waited for the pain to lessen, he then reached a shakey, blood soaked hand out to the figures kneeling over him.
Hur--ts...-///--...out...///--

Chitrinee - Walliver
Jambo - Veil Walker

 

[Walliver]

Chitrinee was infinitely grateful for the help. She was strong, but trying to move twelve tons of steel by herself was a recipe for disaster. She heard Kavi unbuckle and slide out of his seat. Good, three sets of hands working on the same job would help greatly.

Careful. The rubble could be unstable, we could accidentally crush whoever’s down there.

Ah. That would take some getting used to. She was quite used to Kavi’s silence and his quiet ways of communicating, but hearing his thoughts was something different. Weird how everybody’s thoughts were in their speaking voice. Kavi sounded a lot like Baba, except a little more tired and a lot less sure.

We could also accidentally injure them further even if we are careful. Move away the bigger pieces first.

The image of a piece of metal spearing through ribs and muscle suddenly flashed in her brain. She tasted acrid bile on her tongue but continued to move pieces of debris out of the way.

-/-/-/-

Kavi hated the Noise already. Hearing everybody’s thoughts- even if it was currently allowing them to rescue someone- was something he didn’t really enjoy experiencing. He watched Chitrinee wince and swallow as the image of an impaled corpse was summoned to the forefront of his mind. He saw her nodding along with things he didn’t say out loud.

It was strange. And a little invasive. His thoughts were his own- occasionally excerpts from textbooks or quotes from Baba and Mother. He shook his head, crawling over between Chitrinee and Jambo to help move the rubble.

“Hello, friend. We’ve almost got you. Could you let us know if anything is pinning you down before we move it?” Kavi kept his tone level and calm, trying to soothe the poor fellow who was still covered in a good bit of rubble.

 

[DovahBeat]

Daisuke's excited expression fell at the distressed Noise. Jambo was right, couldn't just stand there!

He dropped the isopod-esque creature and ran after jambo, glancing around at the wreckage. This was -- oh wow.

Carefully He helped remove the debris that was trapping Doe, but careful not to touch the piece impaling him. He figured it would be best to let medical professionals deal with it. Or at least. Someone more experienced with medicine than he was.

He let his noise go blank, not silent, but blank, as a way to block out the gore and disturbing images before him.

Blaklyte Veil Walker Walliver

((Will post with riae when she's got something worth noting shdbdbd))

 

[Veil Walker]

Triss was glad to notice that no one seemed to pick up her thoughts as a gravely wounded man was brought in by what seemed like a country yokel with extremely annoying Noise, because otherwise everyone would have heard how much she was freaking out. She was glad not to be the doctor as well, because that wound of his seemed nasty and she was afraid that her limited knowledge of wound care would only make things worse. She had to admit a grudging respect for the yokel, seeing as he had made sure no further damage could be done to this poor soul. Still, his thoughts annoyed her, and she shooed him away into some far corner while she did what she could for the man and administered a hypo spray of antibiotics. After that, she medigelled around the shrapnel wound, before seeing herself out of the way so that proper doctors could work, once again cursing her anxiety for turning down the opportunity to learn to be a proper doctor.

 

[Blaklyte]

The noise of the growing crowd of people around him was an unintelligible blur. His head throbbed with pain as he strained to understand what people were trying to tell him... Honestly he couldn't tell if they were even saying anything at all. Everything blended together, the pain, his thoughts, other people's thoughts. He couldn't tell who was speaking, what was being spoken or if people were even speaking at all.
He opened his mouth to try and respond to Kavi's question physically... to no avail. His noise remained broken and filled with static as his exhausted mind struggled to piece together anything coherent enough to be understood.
Suddenly, his mind was filled with images of broken bones and pierced flesh. The white noise that buzzed around the man grew more intense from his panic. He cried out silently as he instinctively tried to pull away from the nonexistent threat. Pain shot through his body again. Despite having most of the debris moved from on top of him, the sharp metal piece still remained lodged firm in his abdomen and held him in place. Some of it would likely need to be cut away in order to safely move the man from the ruins.

Walliver DovahBeat

 

[Lost Echo]

Like everyone else, Jesse had taken the landing sims. Her mother had made sure to go over this trip religiously. But the second they broke through the atmosphere, she knew they were in trouble. It wasn’t just the flashing lights and alarms, no it was the sudden stream of curses that spewed from her normally stoic dad.

~We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die. Osgjoksfvokznioaslranv;d We’re gonna die.~

“Will you shut up! We’re fine!” Snapped her mother, not looking away from the controls as she fought to keep the craft steady.

What was wrong with him? Prying her eyes open, she turned to look at her dad, who had stoic look on his face, as he calmly replied, “Of course we are honey,” The litany of fear still playing behind his words.

“Dad!” Jesse called, and instantly the pattern changed.

~What’s wrong? Is she hurt? I will not lose my family. There’s nothing I can do.~ “Can it wait?” His deep voice contrasted with the panic in the background.

What was happening? Though she wondered if she was really hearing it, her mother had responded as well. She was seeing spikes surrounding his head, the blaring color an alarm on itself. “Dad!” She repeated, as she saw she lost his attention, the litany having moved to prayer.

Once it was back on her, his changed, the thoughts matching the words. “What are those? Jesse do you feel okay?”

“Do I?! worry about yourself!”

“No, there are these blocks, like bricks, sorting themselves around you.”

“I think they’re thoughts--think about something else, like setting up the medbay when we--”

“Hold tight!” Her mother yelled in warning.

For once seeing her own, she watched those bricks fuse into a wall surrounding her as she grit her teeth.

BAM!

The impact was rough. Jesse was jarred forward, caught by her belt, then bounced back against the seat. She could hear her dad’s thoughts crescendo into screams (or maybe he was screaming, she didn’t have her eyes open to check.) Then break into a quiet relief, ~We’re alive.~

“Of course we are! Do you trust me that little!?” Her mother unstrapped herself, before turning on her husband, “Seriously Steve, what got into yOU?!” Fully comprehending the strange sight of…moving shapes surrounding her family, Matilda reached out and swiped at them, her hand going through like a hologram.

“I think they’re thoughts.” Jesse proposed, “Like we were hearing Dad’s thoughts--it wasn’t coming out of his mouth.”

Steve’s shapes spiked an alarming red before settling down again. In a gruff tone, as he took the opportunity to unbuckle, looking away from them, he admitted, “I might be afraid of flying.”

“Honey, you could have been asleep for the landing,” The wife cupped her husband’s face in her hands.

“That’d be an unacceptable delay. Just as this is. We should check on the others.” Still, he pulled her into a quick kiss, making Jesse roll her eyes as she lead the way out.

It was chaos. Just as she opened the pod door, a wall of sound hit her, stopping her in her tracks. She didn’t know what to do, but her dad did. Calm once more, his thoughts reflected his words, “Jesse, you and I will see if those who’ve already started on the medbay need help. Then we’ll start looking for the best way to build the shelters."

Jesse knew that they only had until sundown to build shelters for everyone. She just couldn’t think beyond the noise. Her dad likely said goodbye to her mom, and she even got a hug , but she remained unresponsive as Steve led her to the medbay.

Stopping just outside, he grabbed her shoulders, “Jesse look at me.” And then guided her chin to face him. “It’s just noise. Ignore it. You’ve worked in worse conditions on sims. You can do this.”

Standing up straighter, she started to focus just on the medbay. But as her mind overlaid the structure with what needed to finish, so did her Noise. She had to turn away from the medbay to make it vanish once more. “Maybe I should take someone and scout out the land.” She’d just be a liability like this.

 

[DovahBeat]

Riae, catching Jesse's conversation with their parents (and the subsequent Noise), nodded to herself before approaching.
"I'm about to head out to search for materials we can use to build with, maybe salvage from the pods. You're welcome to join me." She offered, Basa by her side. Her noise was silent, for the moment, but faint images of tearing apart the pods for metal sheets and any other parts they could reuse played around her.
"I'm sure the generators from the pods would be appreciated in med bay, too."
Lost Echo

---

(Gonna wait for Walliver So I don't interrupt their post with Daisuke being pretty useless sbdhddb)

 

[Lost Echo]

The two turned as one toward the redhead, the familial similarities stark in their stance. Jesse’s bricks had started to crumble at her perceived failure, but the wall straightened as her focus sharpened on the woman. “Sure.” Even if her imagination was out of whack, with the goal of breaking something down, well, it wasn’t like she could make things disappear…right? ...less than an hour ago thoughts weren't visual things either.

The elder’s Noise flicked for a moment, with a pod appearing above him before the medbay’s schematics replacing them. “Yes, go.” He squeezed his daughters shoulders, not seeming to notice the quiet yet audible, ~I don’t want to be separated.~ Drawing her into a quick hug, he continued, “We’ll need to clear the area of the pods before building regardless.” Jesse knew that was a consolation, but in truth, she was just glad to be busy. She knew time was short.

She didn’t bother to watch her father head over to their fellow builders, instead sweeping a hand forward, “Shall we?” Her wall was sorting the bricks into piles, even if at the moment the blocks looked the same.

As she led the way to the pods, she rubbed at her ears, trying to block out the Noise. “Do the scientists have any theories yet on the thoughts outside the mind thing?” She waved a hand upward, swiping through her own in indication.

DovahBeat (Riae)

 

[Walliver]

We need to cut him out.

A thought accompanied by the image of a power tool that could cut through metal as a knife through butter. Kavi turned to his sister.

Can you get that? The mechanics and any other medics should be well on their way to base camp. Tell them I sent you, and see if you can bring them back with a stretcher.

“Okay. I think I can do that.” Chitrinee nodded, scrambling out of the wrecked pod. Kavi watched his sister leave, anxiety building in his chest. He cursed the lack of preparation from mechanics and scientists alike. Of course there would be problems upon entering the atmosphere, they should have been prepared for the absolute worst. The pods they were flying in should have been fortified to the point of absurdity.

Now they were on this incredibly loud planet, disorganized and caught off guard. Kavi shook his head, feeling a wave of pain and discomfort coming from his patient.

Sorry, sorry. I’ll try not to be so loud. You don’t have to say anything. I’m here to help.

Kavi tried to exude calm feelings and think happy thoughts. If he were anyone else, the young doctor would have reached out to hold his patient’s hand or make any sort of comforting gesture. The most he could do was think positively.

Before long, Chitrinee returned- out of breath and followed by three very official looking people.

“I found one medic and two mechanics at base camp. They have the tool you asked for.” Chitrinee managed a slight smile, looking to Kavi.

Thank you. Yes, okay. Sorry, this is also going to be loud. I’m sorry, I’m-

The machine roared to life, blade ignited. Kavi cut through the bar, effectively freeing his patient from the rubble.

Bandages and tape. Bandages and tape. Stabilize the object to prevent further injury. Hold on, friend.

The other medic stepped in to help, and with Kavi and Chitrinee, the object was secured. They lifted the stranger onto the stretcher and headed to base camp.

 

[DovahBeat]

Riae walked with Jesse towards the closest of the pods, and shook her head.
"The scientists aren't sure what's up with that yet, either, though we've noticed some people have it and some don't. They've taken to calling it Noise, as well. a fitting name." Riae relayed the information she knew as she approached a pod.
"Let's find the generator first, then we can salvage anything else after we know how much we can carry this trip."

Lost Echo

---

Daisuke hadn't really been sure what to do, they hadn't needed two people to find the medics and the cutting tool they needed.
But when it came time to move him, well, that's something he could help with. As soon as Doe was carefully placed on a stretcher, he volunteered to help carry him.
"Just a little longer and we'll be back at camp, hopefully med bay will be set up and you'll be taken care of, alright, friend?" He tried to assure Doe, and also himself to a degree.

Walliver Blaklyte

 

[Lost Echo]

“Yeah, my mom doesn’t seem to have it. And Dad’s was loud.” Noise fit well, though she wondered about her own silent images. Not that it mattered right now, there was work to be done. When they reached the pod, Jesse went over to one side, making sure to allow Riae space to work as well. The generators were meant to be removed; it had always been the plan to use them in the new settlement. Above her head, the image of an undamaged latch formed as she ran her hand over the dented metal. Pulling out a screwdriver, she tested the give in the screws. She likely could just remove the latch--it’d be easier than working with the damaged metal.
DovahBeat