voidmissions | [M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN

On opening their eyes, Voidtreckers will feel a sense of disorientation, a dizziness to their vision and inside their head. Both clear quickly, letting them remember where they came from: in the midst of a mission, some unknown entity jumping them, and then —

They're here. Wherever here is.
They stand in an empty room. The lighting of the room stings their eyes after how dark the rest of the station has been. The walls, ceiling and floor are all bright white, tiles. There is no visible door, no windows.

After the disorientation comes fear. The hairs on the back of their neck stand up. For those with danger sense, these senses are going haywire, even though any other abilities are still not working. The feeling can be pushed down, it is similar to the air of expectation at the start of a horror film, the anticipation of fear rather than being in a truly dangerous situation. It might be that they have been on the train long enough to have felt it before.

Heavy footsteps sound, it is almost impossible to tell where they are coming from as the echo through the empty space. The feeling of dread grows until part of the far wall slides open with a mechanical hiss.

Filling the doorway are two huge figures, around seven foot tall and bulky. They are in large metal suits, almost like power armour, black with highlights of gold. They wear a mask that covers their whole face. It is impossible to see the figure inside at all. Their breathing comes through heavy and raspy and when they walk their footsteps are heavy. The door closes behind them and their presence makes the room feel smaller. One of them scans a green light over the voidtrecker.

"Do not be alarmed. Under sections ninety six of Inter-dimensional law and on behalf of the Void Ministry we have intercepted Voidcraft designation Voidtrecker Express as part of ongoing investigations. You have been taking part in a simulated excercise to gauge your skill and strength. No harm shall come to you or your crew, you are protected by inter dimensional law. You have been chosen for questioning and we ask that you comply. You have the right to refuse our interview but we have the right to hold you until our investigation is complete or one week in standard void time has passed, whichever is longest. Complying with us will ensure our investigation is more efficient."

The inspector talking pauses here, as if giving the voidtrecker time to take in that information.

"Do you accept our interview?"

ENEMY: UNKNOWN

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Well, Zelda notes as she looks her captors up and down, escape is right out. No tools, no magic, and if they're as formidable as they look she's as likely to take them down hand to hand as she would a pair of Iron Knuckles.

So for the moment her path is clear: watch, wait, see if she can get a grasp on the situation and her new friends, try not to add 'imprisonment' to her worryingly ever-growing list of involuntary relocations.

"Of course," she says, summoning her most winsome smile.

"I would be glad to be of service. But before I begin, might I request a chair? The past few days have been unpleasant and I'm feeling rather faint."

Standing in gear that obscures their figures, they stand motionless. But after a second from Zelda's request, a cube shape rises from the ground beside her, featureless as the room itself, to the level of her knees.

"Request granted," speaks one of the figures, and then the other- "Thank you for your cooperation. Please state your name, age, and your length of time within the void."

Edited 2021-10-13 08:02 (UTC)

Interesting. Not magic, she thinks, but the cube emerged almost organically from the floor. The same way that the wall had opened, she remembers. These beings have a fine level of control over their environment.

And while you can normally get people to like you by having them do you favors, Zelda has the uneasy feeling that they're not going to fall for that little trick.

"Thank you," she says anyway, because there's no point in neglecting her manners, and sits down. One breath. Two.

And she begins.

"I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. I was brought aboard the train midway through the month of Domino and have remained aboard for the last ten months."

Ah. Well, isn't that interesting; she hadn't much thought of her birthday, but if the passage of time exactly corresponds between the train and Hyrule.... "I believe I turned eighteen about three months ago. It hasn't been a terribly relevant concern, so I've not kept a precise track."

Edited 2021-10-14 18:57 (UTC)

They come forward to stand at a conversational distance, but otherwise there is no change to the manner of how they stand or seem to look at Zelda, though nothing can be seen of their faces through their helmets.

They stay quiet as Zelda speaks, waiting for her to finish. A pause before one of them speaks.

"Information noted. Is your world aware of the Void, and did you consent to being tethered to the Void when your travel began with the Voidtrecker Express?"

"Additional," the other speaks up after a beat. "How do you prefer to be addressed?"

"My name will do, thank you. Under the circumstances, I think 'Your Highness' would be a bit absurd," she says, tone a bit dry. Then, slipping fully back to politeness, "I was unaware of the Void before I was brought aboard. Scholars and sages of my world know of other realms-"

Her nose wrinkles a bit in though, then she qualifies,

"or perhaps the more fitting word would be dimensions- adjacent to our own, and the idea of a gap between those realms does exist. But I do not think these realms stand in relation to each other in quite the same fashion as the world connected by the Void do."

Just a guess, mind. Sadly, the Hyrulean best suited for extensive hypotheses on the matter was probably Ganondorf, whom she knew had summoned powers and creatures from other realms.

One of the Inspector nods to Zelda with her guessing.

"Realms are still within the systems they reside. The Void exists outside their sphere - the space outside space and galaxies." For whatever that would mean to Zelda's knowledge of galaxies and space.

"You have been aboard the voidcraft a long time," the other Inpspector notes, speaking after a beat. "We wish to understand more about the crew that are brought aboard the voidcraft, as well as the voidcraft itself. With your time aboard the craft designated Voidtrecker Express, Zelda, what is your opinion on your circumstance?"

"Excluding the unlawful tethering," speaks again the other, "are the needs of the passengers well-provided for?"

Thank you, Senku. A Brief History of Time is proving remarkably useful.

"There have never been trouble with provisions or with room for new arrivals while I have been aboard. In that sense, it is as reliable as any institution that I have ever heard of. When carriages are requested for specific purposes, the train will usually provide them in time.

"We are usually asked to vote on such measures. I've never been quite sure whether that is protocol, inherently part of the process of creating these spaces, or simply an attempt to make us feel invested in the train when we might otherwise not feel so inclined.

"Boredom and frustration has abated, somewhat, with these additions. But I don't think they ever truly fade. This is, for the most part, an energetic population used to more freedom than they receive under the circumstances- and that is before you add in the matter of 'unlawful tethering' and concerns about their own worlds."

"How are these requests made to the voidcraft? Does it only respond to requests for carriages, and are you ever presented with votes on any other matters?"

"It responded to a request for the ability to contact those at home three months ago. We were brought to a planet called Tshering, which hosted a river the train promised could send messages through the void."

A blink. Two.

"The Voidtrecker Express claimed that it needed to research to find this world. Would it be reasonable to assumed that other voidcraft have difficulties contacting individual worlds, or is the problem simply that none of ours were previously connected?"

[M15] ENEMY: UNKNOWN - THE INTERVIEW

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