((If you wish to join this RP feel free to do so on the Sign Up thread: http://kh13.com/forum/topic/61942-echoes-and-ash-an-original-sci-fi-rp-sign-ups/ Sign ups will be open until the end of the RP, but the sooner you can get involved, the better))

 

((As a side note to all RPers, the enviornments in this RP are mostly designed by me to make sure the flow of the story works well. When entering a new area or opening a door to an unknown area, please end the post with a "..." and I will quote the post and describe the new area your character finds.))

 

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TrinityNet servers active...

[REDACTED] joined...

[REDACTED] joined...

[REDACTED]: ?

[REDACTED]: Whatya mean "?"

[REDACTED]: Why did you call this?

[REDACTED]:To see if you started...

[REDACTED]: Why would I tell you?

[REDACTED]: Please, as if that kinda info's gonna give any of us a leg up.

[REDACTED]: Of course I did. The fact that you wanted to find out means that you started too.

[REDACTED]: Which just leaves...

[REDACTED]: She's not here. Which means she's busy and doesn't want to talk. Which means...

[REDACTED]: Her too...

[REDACTED]: So the clock's ticking.

[REDACTED]: Guess so...

[REDACTED]: Well I'm going to get back to it, they're waking up, thanks for wasting my time.

[REDACTED]: Hey! That's not nice!

[REDACTED] left...

[REDACTED]: Jerk...

[REDACTED] left...

 

The wind blew softly over the island. Besides the soft swaying of the trees there was little to disturb the idyllic serenity here. The island stretched out for miles, but at the coasts there was nothing to see but water. The island, like the universe in which it existed, was nearly empty, the remnants of life clung, decaying, to its shores and its trees and its fields, but the yells of excitement, of fear, of courage that has once complimented the sound of the wind ha since faded to echoes. Today, however, that changed. Today life returned to the universe. The only question is; what kind of universe would it return to?

 

"C'mon, get up!"

"All of you, wake up."

"Rise and shine, it's a new day."

 

Far away voices entered the hazy minds of those sleeping on the island.

 

Lying on the shore of a short beach was Seraphim Valentine, Derik Absolon, and Samantha Allison, and Rodin Seefull. The wind blew over them as they lay sprawled over the sand in close proximity to each other. Just as they had been placed. Next to the beach was a mix of jungle and swamp that went deeper into the mainland. Besides that the beach was mostly barren. A wrecked fishing boat was rusted and decaying within walking distance, but nothing more. The waves lapped up on the shore softly...

 

Lying in the middle of an airstrip surrounded by jungle was a different group. Rusted machine parts lay strewn about, and any sign of activity at the airstrip had long since faded. On the ground in the middle of the airstrip lay Alex Dimanche, Ferro al'Vere, and Hazimie Azhar.  Two desolate bunkers flanked the airstrip they were on, with a control tower at the end of the strip. Forest flanked the airstrip on all sides, with a single winding road leading out. The wind cut through the trees and sliced past the bunkers onto the airstrip. Only the wind and the trees provided any sound to the desolate military installation...

 

Deep in the jungle was a pair of rusted jeeps parked next to a crumbling house. The jeeps were long past functioning, and their engines were removed recently as well. The house sat surrounded by the trees with a single road leading somewhere further into the jungle. Inside the house were the four people; Rija Mors, Terry Frost, Henko Tenioenai, Koizumi Onnea, and Rin Nozomi Part of the roof of the house had caved in, and most of the belongings and furniture were gone. Remaining in the house were a few pots and pans, and single picture in an immaculate frame on a table in the room where the four people were laying. Silence pervaded the house...

 

The far away voices slowly awakened all of these people. The clouds in the blue skies above moved slowly; the morning was upon them. It was time to wake up and find the future...

Edited September 5, 201312 yr by MDSVeritas

Rodin says to Samantha:  "You could be right about that.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was true."  After hearing Elaryse speak, Rodin says:  "I would've said 'robo AI', but that works too."  From hearing Derik finished, Rodin replies:  "If this really is the past, wouldn't we meet some scientists to tell us the cryo freeze failed, go home and back to our boring, war-waging, corrupt, and worthless world?"

Edited September 9, 201312 yr by Ultimus Grid

Rodin says to Samantha:  "You could be right about that.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was true."  After hearing Elaryse speak, Rodin says:  "I would've said 'robo AI', but that works too."  From hearing Derik finished, Rodin replies:  "If this really is the past, wouldn't we meet some scientists to tell us the cryo freeze failed, go home and back to our boring, war-waging, corrupt, and worthless world?"

"I meant in a figure of time. Our minds are too slow to process change immediately, just by a few milliseconds, but a few is enough to stick us perminantly in the past." Derik sighed. "Phisically, we are in the present time, not the future, as we can only move as per time allows, but since our minds are too slow to process at the same time as our existance, we are mentally behind by a few seconds. It's weird, I know." Derik sighed again.(FYI, this is true infos here bros. The more you knooooooow)

Terry was up and moving before most of the others, but said nothing. He started fiddling with some of the controls on the cryo pod he had been in. He noted that somebody had already been tampering with it. Odd. He tried to access the system the pods should be hooked up to for monitor systems. He really wanted another source of information other than what was the cryo subjects were getting now.

Rin blinked, looking at the console. 

"R-Robots?! What kind of trick is this?!" she exclaimed.

"This is INSANE!" she thought, crossing her arms. 

"I meant in a figure of time. Our minds are too slow to process change immediately, just by a few milliseconds, but a few is enough to stick us perminantly in the past." Derik sighed. "Phisically, we are in the present time, not the future, as we can only move as per time allows, but since our minds are too slow to process at the same time as our existance, we are mentally behind by a few seconds. It's weird, I know." Derik sighed again.(FYI, this is true infos here bros. The more you knooooooow)

(Huh.  Learn something new.  At least this makes more of a show.)

 

"Huh.  Okay then. I think I get it."  Rodin examines the console and says:  "Still, you have to admit this is pretty advanced work here."

Rytt went silent for a moment.

 

"There is one more thing you two must know. It may be... unfortunate to hear."

 

On the holographics screen a city suddenly appeared. It was filled with huge skyscrapers, space elevators, sky bridges, and various mag-rail tracks.

 

It was also empty.

 

"This is Chicago." Rytt's voice finally chimed in. "As you can see, it's abandoned. That's because... it's because all human life except for those in your cryo unit has disappeared. They're gone. Everyone but you and a few others frozen with you are gone. That's what I need your help with."

 

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Elaryse took a pause.

 

"Before you all are armed and I inform you of the task at hand, there is one other major thing to know about this period of time. Look around, you now see roughly a half to a third of the entire human population. You are the last humans left alive. There was... a very terrible accident, possibly worse than an accident. Something very bad happened and... let us just say you will not find any of the space stations or planets in the human-controlled space lived in by anyone."

 

 

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Veridyan's voice seemed somewhat flustered.

 

"Don't worry, you'll get your precious weapons in a moment. But before that, I think there's something ya oughta know..."

 

There was a long pause.

 

"About 20 years ago something really bad happened. Me and a few SAs, the roboty people like me, survived... but none of your kind did. All the people in the universe are... gone."

Henko pondered this. His assumption was correct. The only humans remaining, as far as he knew, were in that very room. "So what does that mean about us?" He asked Veridyan. "If we're all that's left then what do we do? We supposed to..." He glanced in Rin's direction. "'Rebuild'?" He tried to put it as delicately as possible.

Edited September 9, 201312 yr by Sikota Urinakano

Rin shot a glare at Henko.

"Hell if I know." she snapped.

She looked at the console again.

"Henko is probably right though...." Rin thought. 

Ferro felt a cold dread settle in his stomach as Rytt spoke. Humanity. . .was gone? "Whu-what? How could they be gone. Surely there could be nothing that could wipe out the entire human race! Even if the sun in our home system went out, the vast majority of humanity would still survive. And I doubt there is an alien race more advanced than us, sufficiently so to kill everyone." Ferro turned to the console; he hadn't even realized he had been pacing until he turned around. "Do you know anything about the disappearance? Any events that could have heralded it, or migrations that came into contact with other life?"

A bit shocked, Rodin crosses his arms and thinks:  The last humans?  What kind of accident would cause that?  Sure there were definitely trouble and conflicts that could lead to some serious matters.  But it can't really be one if it's worse than that.  It surely has to be something more. 

Samantha looked down at the floor for a moment, "the last ones....." She looked back up at the camera before opening her mouth. "Is that why you seemed so interested in us before?" Her mind wandered slightly to what could have happened, "they could've finally just blown each other up..." Sam thought to herself. As terrible as it was the thought amused her, it would make far too much sense if humanity went out like that.

Koizumi wasn't the slightest shock at this news. "Well in this time period, i would expect robots to be around but the entire human race gone.....that's crazy." She took a slight breath. "Are you sure they're all gone? Did a deadly plague kill them off? Are there still any bodies around?" Her tone started to have a bit of excitement in it. "I would gladly examine them as far as to cutting them open to see what we can do to prevent something like that from happening again or or mayybe we can find something that our generation didnt have before we were frozen." Koizumi calmed down but the thought was still there and it brightened her mood despite the dark news.

Rytt went silent for a moment.

 

"There is one more thing you two must know. It may be... unfortunate to hear."

 

On the holographics screen a city suddenly appeared. It was filled with huge skyscrapers, space elevators, sky bridges, and various mag-rail tracks.

 

It was also empty.

 

"This is Chicago." Rytt's voice finally chimed in. "As you can see, it's abandoned. That's because... it's because all human life except for those in your cryo unit has disappeared. They're gone. Everyone but you and a few others frozen with you are gone. That's what I need your help with."

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Elaryse took a pause.

 

"Before you all are armed and I inform you of the task at hand, there is one other major thing to know about this period of time. Look around, you now see roughly a half to a third of the entire human population. You are the last humans left alive. There was... a very terrible accident, possibly worse than an accident. Something very bad happened and... let us just say you will not find any of the space stations or planets in the human-controlled space lived in by anyone."

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Veridyan's voice seemed somewhat flustered.

 

"Don't worry, you'll get your precious weapons in a moment. But before that, I think there's something ya oughta know..."

 

There was a long pause.

 

"About 20 years ago something really bad happened. Me and a few SAs, the roboty people like me, survived... but none of your kind did. All the people in the universe are... gone."

"Are you sure.... It was an accident I doubt mass genocide would occur as an accident... And no accident could occur which caused the end for no reason. I doubt war was the thing to wipe the rest of our species from this plane of existence, no man of politics could have been idiotic enough to do this ... The only things I could imagine actually doing them in is a meteor, or a man-made satellite of some kind that was orbiting around earth having a technical issue and crashing, but both of which would have to be massive objects or ones of great density... Their likely hood is down to a low percentage... I'm sorry, but I have issues with your calling this an accident..." Derik looked directly into the camera. "Some storytelling is going on here, and I'm not liking this book, so how 'bout you open up the one where we get some real answers." Derik stared into the light, not even blinking once from the light as he said this sentence. "Or I'm going to go find one on my own."

"Who knows what kind of weapons could have been invited in 200 years." Terry said to Koizumi as he continued to fiddle with his pod. "There might not be any bodies left, if we are talking something super biological."

He glanced up momentarily.

"Is that what happened?" He asked Veridyan.

Rija stepped back from the console abruptly when Veridyan appeared. She let him and her new friends talk, before interjecting herself. "To be fair, Veridyan never said that they were all dead, simply gone. They could have been abducted by aliens, or have left the star system or anything like that. In any case, we don't have enough information to know what has happened. Heck, we barely know where we are, or what year it is!" Rija spoke up, her speech directed both to her group, and Veridyan.

"I don't..." Veridyan seemed almost hesitant, "I don't exactly know what happened, but I was working on a project at the time, a project that may have had the capabilities to make an entire race... go away. I've had a lotta time to think about it, and I think it was another SA, one of the few really smart ones like me."

 

Five approximately-square-foot lit-up panels appeared on the ground around the console.

 

"The thing I need your help with... we gotta be sure that the SAs like that are outta commission before anything else. We gotta stop the ones who got rid of all the humans. I'm only an SA, though. I need human help to stop em, I need you guys. I found your pods floating in a cluster of derelict ships and brought you on board my ship, the Rex. If ya step onto the panels I can get your setup with gear and armor, and we can get right down to it. We need to move fast, cuz..."

 

He paused.

 

"Cuz I ain't the only SA with people on my side."

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Rytt went silent for a moment.

 

"I was active at the time of the disappearance, but I have no logs, no memories, of the incident at all. I do remember, however, that I worked on some high level military technology at the time. I assume me or one of the other three SAs I worked with at the time are the only ones capable of utilizing it, though. To that end, I must stop the other active SAs before they do any more harm and leverage control of whatever weapon they used before they do it again."

 

Two lit-up panels appeared on the ground.

 

"This is the pod I found you both in, it was floating in space, it was good I found you when I did, I'm not sure what may have happened if something else had. Anyway, you are now safely on board my capital-class cruiser that I've used as a base of operations for the past decade or so. Welcome to the Bebop. If you step onto the panels I can equip you with custom gear and weapons I've built after examining your mental and physical attributes."

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"You wish to go off on your own" Elaryse questioned Derik. "If that is your wish, I may open the airlock and you are free to go as you please."

 

The paused and allowed the conversation to refocus.

 

"If you all wish to help discover the true reasoning for the disappearance of the entire human race and see to the justice of those responsible, however, you will need my help as much as I will need yours. I will put trust in you all so long as you understand that attempting to go off on your own and be stubborn in stupidity will lead you nowhere but to death. This is not the world you left behind. I have done what I can for you all so far. When I found your cryo pod cluster it was floating through an asteroid belt. I secured it aboard my ship you are now in, the Odin."

 

Four panels on the ground suddenly lit up.

 

"You see, I worked with 3 other artificial inteligences- SAs, along with scientists at the top of the C.H.A.- the Centralized Human Alliance. I have little knowledge of how the humans disappeared, but I suspect it was at least two or more of the other SAs. I don't know how or why they did it, but if there is any rebuilding to be done, their betrayal must not go unpunished. This universe must be secure, and I require your help to make it so. Step onto the panels and I will equip and brief you on exactly how."

Terry stopped what he was doing and lifted his eyebrows.

"You're saying that you have rivals who will also be using humans to work for them?" He asked.

He stood up and ran his fingers through his hair.

"And what exactly makes you the trustworthy one?"

Henko gave a smug grin. "So we aren't the last of them." He stood up and stepped onto the lit panel. "Gear me up and I'll help you as I see fit." He told Veridyan. The boy looked primordially ready for action, but on the inside, he was processing all of this. Veridyan was part of a group of SA's that were most likely behind the disappearance of the human race. Other SA's had recruited frozen humans as well. For all he knew, Veridyan could be using them as cover to eliminate anyone who could bring him to justice. Or maybe he was sending them out to stop the real culprit, rather than defend him. Maybe, he'll just take the remaining humans under his wing, eliminate all of the SAs, and they could all land on some planet and rebuild, repopulate, the likes.

So four survived the fall of the humans. That leaves a one in four chance that Rytt is the SA who used the weapon. That isn't a very good chance. I don't want to work for an insane machine. Thoughts like this raced through Ferro's mind. He walked over to one of the lit panels. "Would you mind telling me how such a thing could come to pass? According to the laws of robotics, laid down by Asimov millennia ago, a robot cannot harm a human being. Cannot. I don't see how an SA could have committed such an act."

(MDS, do you like Cowboy Bepop?) 

Alex shrugged, "An AI can grow rampant; its code becoming corrupted as time grows on. Like any computer, time can wear down and destroy the precious data." He said, looking at Ferro.

"Or, a hacker. Someone with a grudge. Anything is possible."

"Not quite anything. An artificial intelligence is built in such a way so as to not develop errors that could lead to human jeopardization. But a hacker could do it." Ferro looked at Alex. "I know this because I built an AI before. Just a small one."

"I don't..." Veridyan seemed almost hesitant, "I don't exactly know what happened, but I was working on a project at the time, a project that may have had the capabilities to make an entire race... go away. I've had a lotta time to think about it, and I think it was another SA, one of the few really smart ones like me." Five approximately-square-foot lit-up panels appeared on the ground around the console. "The thing I need your help with... we gotta be sure that the SAs like that are outta commission before anything else. We gotta stop the ones who got rid of all the humans. I'm only an SA, though. I need human help to stop em, I need you guys. I found your pods floating in a cluster of derelict ships and brought you on board my ship, the Rex. If ya step onto the panels I can get your setup with gear and armor, and we can get right down to it. We need to move fast, cuz..." He paused. "Cuz I ain't the only SA with people on my side." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rytt went silent for a moment. "I was active at the time of the disappearance, but I have no logs, no memories, of the incident at all. I do remember, however, that I worked on some high level military technology at the time. I assume me or one of the other three SAs I worked with at the time are the only ones capable of utilizing it, though. To that end, I must stop the other active SAs before they do any more harm and leverage control of whatever weapon they used before they do it again." Two lit-up panels appeared on the ground. "This is the pod I found you both in, it was floating in space, it was good I found you when I did, I'm not sure what may have happened if something else had. Anyway, you are now safely on board my capital-class cruiser that I've used as a base of operations for the past decade or so. Welcome to the Bebop. If you step onto the panels I can equip you with custom gear and weapons I've built after examining your mental and physical attributes."  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You wish to go off on your own" Elaryse questioned Derik. "If that is your wish, I may open the airlock and you are free to go as you please." The paused and allowed the conversation to refocus. "If you all wish to help discover the true reasoning for the disappearance of the entire human race and see to the justice of those responsible, however, you will need my help as much as I will need yours. I will put trust in you all so long as you understand that attempting to go off on your own and be stubborn in stupidity will lead you nowhere but to death. This is not the world you left behind. I have done what I can for you all so far. When I found your cryo pod cluster it was floating through an asteroid belt. I secured it aboard my ship you are now in, the Odin." Four panels on the ground suddenly lit up. "You see, I worked with 3 other artificial inteligences- SAs, along with scientists at the top of the C.H.A.- the Centralized Human Alliance. I have little knowledge of how the humans disappeared, but I suspect it was at least two or more of the other SAs. I don't know how or why they did it, but if there is any rebuilding to be done, their betrayal must not go unpunished. This universe must be secure, and I require your help to make it so. Step onto the panels and I will equip and brief you on exactly how."

"You mistake my intentions. You offer me shelter and substanance in a world that is recovering from an apocalyptic situation. I would be a fool to turn that down. But I have issues with your story. Since you can't fry my brain anymore, I feel like I might as well as cut the BS act. One, why would a creature who wiped out our world of all human life use humans as a tool. Why not just kill the creatures upon incounter? I noticed that our number is severely lacking in what it should be, so your little buddy's must have the rest. Obviously, you and your enemy's fear eachother, but why in the world use humans? We lack the abilities needed to be effective on any situation, considering you could very well make something to combat your enemy's. Even with corrupted code, a opperating system of this advance state would level with humans in logical thinking. Two, why would we aid you. Yes, you've awaken us, yes, you give us necessitys needed to survive. But let me ask you this: how do we know you've not been the one who who did this? And if there are other humans being used, why would we do combat? Fewer numbers of our kind means we will lack the means to redevelop our kind, one genome set is not enough to rebuild a society, even if we were to clone and alter DNA. Three, and most importantly, you seem to be withholding facts and dodging questions faster than Gohan could throw a punch, which only makes me suspicious of your story. Unlike most yahoo's, I don't stop and go along with my questions." Derik took a moment to breath in. "And thus, either you debrief me in full now, or I will tear through your records to find the truth."

Samantha blinked and looked at the guy that couldn't seem to shut up, "uh...huh... well my only question is, how do you know you weren't the one who wiped out your species?" She asked deciding she wasn't even going to try to understand any of what Derik was talking about. With that she walked around the small room and looked at the lit up panels. Sam walked near one but didn't dare step on it.

"I don't..." Veridyan seemed almost hesitant, "I don't exactly know what happened, but I was working on a project at the time, a project that may have had the capabilities to make an entire race... go away. I've had a lotta time to think about it, and I think it was another SA, one of the few really smart ones like me."

 

Five approximately-square-foot lit-up panels appeared on the ground around the console.

 

"The thing I need your help with... we gotta be sure that the SAs like that are outta commission before anything else. We gotta stop the ones who got rid of all the humans. I'm only an SA, though. I need human help to stop em, I need you guys. I found your pods floating in a cluster of derelict ships and brought you on board my ship, the Rex. If ya step onto the panels I can get your setup with gear and armor, and we can get right down to it. We need to move fast, cuz..."

 

He paused.

 

"Cuz I ain't the only SA with people on my side."

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Rytt went silent for a moment.

 

"I was active at the time of the disappearance, but I have no logs, no memories, of the incident at all. I do remember, however, that I worked on some high level military technology at the time. I assume me or one of the other three SAs I worked with at the time are the only ones capable of utilizing it, though. To that end, I must stop the other active SAs before they do any more harm and leverage control of whatever weapon they used before they do it again."

 

Two lit-up panels appeared on the ground.

 

"This is the pod I found you both in, it was floating in space, it was good I found you when I did, I'm not sure what may have happened if something else had. Anyway, you are now safely on board my capital-class cruiser that I've used as a base of operations for the past decade or so. Welcome to the Bebop. If you step onto the panels I can equip you with custom gear and weapons I've built after examining your mental and physical attributes."

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"You wish to go off on your own" Elaryse questioned Derik. "If that is your wish, I may open the airlock and you are free to go as you please."

 

The paused and allowed the conversation to refocus.

 

"If you all wish to help discover the true reasoning for the disappearance of the entire human race and see to the justice of those responsible, however, you will need my help as much as I will need yours. I will put trust in you all so long as you understand that attempting to go off on your own and be stubborn in stupidity will lead you nowhere but to death. This is not the world you left behind. I have done what I can for you all so far. When I found your cryo pod cluster it was floating through an asteroid belt. I secured it aboard my ship you are now in, the Odin."

 

Four panels on the ground suddenly lit up.

 

"You see, I worked with 3 other artificial inteligences- SAs, along with scientists at the top of the C.H.A.- the Centralized Human Alliance. I have little knowledge of how the humans disappeared, but I suspect it was at least two or more of the other SAs. I don't know how or why they did it, but if there is any rebuilding to be done, their betrayal must not go unpunished. This universe must be secure, and I require your help to make it so. Step onto the panels and I will equip and brief you on exactly how."

 

Rin stood up, stepping onto one of the panels. 

"I'll help you Veridyan...." she said, looking at the SA. 

"I underestimated you." Rin admitted, then glancing at Henko. 

(Gohan?    But wouldn't it be him evading a punch?)

 

Rodin listens in to Elaryses' response.  He crosses his arms, trying to collect and understanding everything.  He listens to Derik's interrogation( was trying to think of something that'd fit the description) on Elaryse.  Trying to process more matter, Rodin thinks:  Geez, all of this is something.  I would like to find out how all the other humans vanished.  I can't stand evil of any form and want to see it punished.  But it could be true that Elaryse is responsible for "removing" everyone on our home planet.  For these SAs' to use humans to do their dirty work is suspicious.  Hm.  Guess there's just one thing to do.  Rodin walks and steps onto one of the platforms.  He then says:  "I'll go.  The sooner this is started the better."