World Tree MUSH

    Anyone who chose to look into the offer from Sky High Orbitals will have been quickly shuffled into a large transport, where the quick briefing is given. The large inner area is divided into three groups, but one group in particular, which look like heavily-armored marines, is 'in charge' at the moment. The head of the group steps forward, easily speaking over the faint vibration noise of the vehicle in the thin atmosphere of Mars.

    "You can call me Ike, and I'm the leader of this expedition," he announces. "Keep in touch over radio. You've all been given any necessary frequencies and equipment if needed, along with what maps we have of FreeDome. It's not a fully registered colony, but for safety reasons certain parts have to be updated regularly, so we know emergency exits and certain core infrastructure." He gestures to the marines. "This is my crew, and were' Team Alpha. Team Bravo is the Blackhawk Mercenaries over there. And finally, Team Charlie is the irregulars over there." He points to the Harbingers.

    The armored man reviews the mission. "Now, our task is to insert at the given points we drop off at. We have emergency overrides to enter the airlocks, which should give you a few minutes at most to slip in. Once in, be very careful... Sky High Orbitals is one of the few companies that does business here, but more than that, we just don't know what the problem is. With any luck, nothing will be wrong at all and we just apologize and leave, but considering how insistent they are that nobody visit, I suspect something is going on here. Stay in contact and do not engage unless your life is threatened. These are largely civilians and artists, not anyone that we should need to fight." Which makes it curious that they are all very heavily-armed isn't it? "We are not here to take over the dome. We find out what, if anything, is wrong, then we decide on an action. If we lose comms, your orders are to find out what you can, then retreat to the airlock, where extraction will be arriving every six hours after your initial dropoff, so everyone record that time."

    FreeDome is built into the side of one of the tall dormant volcanoes of Mars, and has several landing pads. The dropoffs are about to happen, as the transport is on approach right now. Immediately there is a sign that not all is well. While FreeDome mostly runs on a fusion reactor buried in the mountain, it has a solar array as well... and half of the array is toppled over and clearly not functioning. Any last questions should come now!

    It isn't often that Blues finds a place that is deliberately hiring offworlders. More importantly, this sounds... fishy? Not the hiring, but what they're investigating. He figures with his abilities, maybe he can be of considerable use here. Of course, he needs to know where he's teleporting first, and would rather not blind teleport into a place, so he's along for the ride and listening. No need for a spacesuit at least.

    "So we shouldn't necessarily expect trouble, but looks like we should be ready for it, huh?" Blues points out, gesturing at the heavily-armed group they've got. "Not a good sign."

    Kore is here, which may make things a little awkward with Circe in the group. She has eyes mostly on Ike, narrowed sharply, but she's left behind the robotic dogs for now. Fitting a helmet over her head, she's suiting up and checking the seals. "If they're worried enough to send an armed team, you can be confident that it isn't just a misunderstanding. It might not require violence, but you can bet something is wrong."

Circe hadn't been in her home space in a while, what with the being a wanted terrorist thing and all. She'd managed to keep herself busy for long enough that it was about time to hope that some of the heat had faded, in fact, and attempt to make a return.

One under a different identity, of course. Another one. One that could use some establishing, on a small little mission like this that Circe has no reason to expect either any of the bigger megacorps or any of her relations looking at it.

"Call me Alice." She'll introduce herself back to Ike and the others, though she'd had a fuller fake identity for the paperwork with Sky High Orbitals. She has a knife and a pistol, which is heavily armed enough for her but probably on the lighter side for anyone else. "Any especially prominent residents we should be asking after?" She comes up with for the last-second questions portion of the debriefing.

She's either pretending not to recognize Kore, hoping Kore won't recognize her or at least won't blow up her spot if she just doesn't say anything, or possibly GENUINELY doesn't recognize Kore.

    A job is a job and some jobs require muscle. Rebecca is here to be that muscle; the pint-sized operator is settled in on the transport. Even if the job is to just check up on things in a dome where communications have gone sideways and weird.
    The Mox-tattoo'd solo is busy loading several weapons and checking their operation before stuffing them into her favorite duffel bag o' guns while she listens to Ike. Regardless of the fact that it's supposed to be a dome full of civvies and artsy types that doesn't stop her from making sure her irons work.
    "So like when did this whole deal start anyway?" She asks while zipping up her armored Samurai jacket. "I get when a bunch of people wanna try and do things on their own- that's how the Mox started- but when it goes wrong that big guys gotta be called to check in on things... Yeesh..."
    Anyway, she's done loading a crapload of guns on that note, so she peers to Blues while looking out a window.
    "Doesn't look like anyone's come out in a bit to fix those solar panels. Def not a good sign, choom. A hundred Eddies says we're gonna end up dealing with some kind of nasty space-martian gribbly-alien."

    Ike nods to Circe, or 'Alice' as that's a good question! "... oddly, no. Eventually, maybe, but if there's something subtle going on, like many of the complaints we've heard, it'll be the regular people here who most likely have something to say. If you can quickly find a lead, go ahead and follow it, but don't be shy about withdrawing and figuring out another approach later."

    Rebecca gets a shrug. "FreeDome is about forty-ish years old? But the anomalies started a few months ago, at least we thought. They haven't let anyone in or out for almost two years, it looks like, so it's probable that we've only just started noticing people acting weird in the last few months. The thing that finally tipped us off was a friend of one of the higher-ups talking to his sister, who started skipping and looping. Analysis of the call showed she was actually in VR at the time, and something went wrong with the environment and put her stack in a loop."

    With a last 'Good luck,' the dropship lets off the teams, with Team Charlie, that's you four, being let off last at a small port near the medical wing. Fortunately, the airlock device works fine, and it cycles through and fresh air rushes in... at least until the inner airlock door opens.

    When that hisses open, it reveals a short hallway opening up onto a 'street' that's meant for public transport only, and the various residences of this area. Probably rentals for recovering patients as well as full term ones for hospital staff, if the map is correct. Strangely, although street lights are on, none of the lights in the buildings are on, at least not the residential blocks in sight. It is daytime, so some may not need lighting, but NONE of them being on is a bit weird.

    As Blues doesn't use a helmet, he frowns when the airlock opens. The young-looking robot looks around, slowly advancing out of the airlock. "Something's off about the air here. It's filtered but... there's definitely something lingering in the air. I don't like it." He takes a deep sniff. "I don't think it's toxic but it isn't pleasant."

    "Huh..." A dome not letting people come or go for two years is sketchy as it is, and when problems like that are 'only a few months old', Rebecca purses her lips.
    "Aite. Guess we're going in." The solo says with a shrug as the airlock cycles.
    "Who wants lead?" She asks, "If nonna y'all want, I'll take it." Offered next as she shoulders an assault rifle in her grip.
    No sooner than Blues points out something's off about the air, Rebecca opts to keep her helmet very much on, thank you.
    "Lights are out in the buildings." She points out next. "Street lamps are running but if no one's home, who's running 'em?"

    Forewarned is forearmed. "At this moment, we just need to find other people, so it doesn't matter who leads," Kore points out. "And until we know what is wrong with the air, I think we should keep our helmets on." She scans the area, first visually and then, hesitantly, reaching out with her soul sense, to try to find any ghosts or recently dead who may have lingering spirits.

    "You're right, it is very quiet. I would have thought some alarm would have gone off when we opened the airlock," she adds.

    Circe will leave her helmet securely on, following the others through the airlock as she does. She'd tempt fate just to see how bad whatever might be in the air was, of course, but that seems a little too blatent and dangerous even for her in the here and now.

    Instead, she'll offer. "The machines probably can run on their own and on timers for decades, of course, but we should still go inside and see if anyone's around, I think. Breaking into a few people's houses might not be the worst idea. Or at least we can see if there's any dust or anything to show how long they've been gone. Food, computers, really anything with a log would be helpful... Just get me a local network connection and I can work some magic, too."

    It doesn't sound like there's an alarm, but things do seem... eerily quiet. No bodies though, which is weird if there were something that happened. At least, nothing immediately stands out, so perhaps some automated cleaning is happening? Kore stretches out her senses, but the rest can mostly see... nothing special, at least at first. Just walking forward a bit does change that, at last.

    One of the doors to the apartment block nearby opens, and a haggard-looking woman leans out. And by haggard-looking... like death warmed over. Papery grey skin, sunken cheeks, hollow eyes, and what was once a full head of bright red hair is now thin and clinging. Almost skeletal fingers grip the edge of the door as it slides open, and she peers at the group, wetting her lips with a tongue that seems more dry than not.

    Then she says in a scratchy voice, "W-what are you... who are you... you can't be here! This place... they'll come for you! Hide, quickly!" Her voice rattles in her throat, and with how emaciated she looks, it's like a stiff breeze might blow her over. Yet, her eyes are alert, and she isn't begging for food.

    Kore pauses, but before she can say anything, the woman appears. She looks at the others, "Something is very wrong here. This entire place feels... like it is on the cusp of death, like it's about to die and keeps trying, but something won't let it. And from the look of things, she's included."

    She has a suspicion about this, but won't say it out loud yet. "Though I think we should at least find a defensible position."

    The door opens and the woman peeks out. Rebecca swivels that way, but lowers her weapon at the sight of the lady.
    "The cusp of death? The hell kind of freaky voodoo juju are you talking about?"
    Still, one look at the woman says she's practically on the cuspof death, too.
    "Who'll come for us?" The solo asks before looking to the others.
    "I think getting off the street's a good idea right about now, though."

    There's a lot of obvious follow-up questions, of course, like 'who will come for us' that Circe would love to ask. Though Rebecca will take care of that one for her. Still, invited or not, there's one door open right now and if they have to hide and get into a defensive position Circe wants it to be where someone who might have some answers is.

    Whether the woman wants them to hide with HER or not, Circe will stride forward towards the apartment complex, planning to go in right where the woman had come from, not waiting to see if someone else has what would likely be a better idea.

    "I'll go up top," Blues replies, heading for the fire escape on the building. He does a short jet-assisted leap, then starts climbing the stairs, aiming to get to the roof where he can see more of the dome from this sector. Since everyone has comms, it shouldn't be an issue to keep in touch. "Be careful, that woman looks like she may be ill or something, so maybe don't get too close."

    The woman doesn't object to anyone coming to join her, because at the moment there's no danger. At the moment. That changes with the clatter of something nearby, a wastebasket or something. It also lets her state more clearly what the problem is, as she points out, "Them."

    The 'them' in question look... zombie-like. In fact, the three that shamble forward look VERY zombie-like. Two are staggering forward fairly intact but visibly rotting, while the third is crawling along, using just the arms, trailing... tubes and wires. That third looks heavily cybernetic, though there's rotting flesh attached as well. Unlike the woman, they don't have any sign of intelligence in their eyes, just raw hunger.

    Blues reaches the top pretty quickly, but this isn't a place with a skyline conducive to a lot of surveillance. He is, after all, at the edge of the dome! He can see that the place is in varying states of disrepair, but a few buildings DO have lights on. The nearest, notably, being the hospital, which seems to have most of the bottom windows and the front doors sealed shut with makeshift barricades.

    "Ah."
    That's the sound of Rebecca spotting 'Them'.
    "Oh shit, cyberzombies?" The solo blurts without thinking as she takes aim with her assault rifle.
    To Rebecca's credit she does not fire unless they turn out to be the cheating fast zombie variant because screw those cheating bastards.
    If she's learned anything from horror movies, though, it's that loud noises like gunfire tend to attract *more* zombies.
    "Whoahhhhh... Time to delta; let's get inside." She suggests, following in after Circe.
    "Keep it cool up there and try not to get eaten by a gribbly." She does radio to Blues when he jets up the fire escape.

    'Alice' will stare at the approaching zombies, and in particular the one that appears to mostly be implants loosely connected by flesh.

    "Looks like some asshole isn't doing their job right." She'll mutter, though she's not actually that bothered by the concept of zombies. It's not like they MURDERED the people, necessarily, and Circe's generally okay with trapping people within a prison of their own flesh.

    In the abstract, at least. Right this second she has an objection on the purely practical grounds of that she's standing here and the zombies are kind of gross.

    She's not worrying about weapons, at least, because information is the first and most important piece of weaponry; instead she'll ask their 'host' a question. "What's going on? How come you've all been pretending everything's okay over comms instead of going 'aaah, there are horrible monsters in the streets, help us' or something that might get assistance like that?"

    "Well. That certainly explains it..." Kore makes a face. "Soul-blighted. I've never seen it localized this much before, though. Usually it's just a small cluster among the healthy, but it sounds as if they're overrunning this place." She of course ducks right into the home with Rebecca and Circe, because no way is she going to stand out there and try to 'harvest' whatever is left.

    As she shuts the door behind her and looks for a way to barricade it, she nods, "That's what I can't figure out. This sort of infestation is usually small and quickly dealt with, or at least causes mass fleeing. But it seems like nobody is..." She looks over the woman. "And you look halfway there, yourself."

    Up above, Blues just watches them, though his arm cannon is now ready. When the others warn about shooting, he holds off though. "Right. This is not how I normally see humans. So if this is a problem you know about, is there a fix for it? This is pretty disturbing." He stops and scans the city.

    "Hospital has lights on, but it's shut up tight. We can probably get in if we're willing to do a bit of climbing or you take turns borrowing my proto-jets." He walks to the edge and peers over. "But the question is do we want to risk it?"

    The woman trembles, shaking her head, "We tried. We can't connect out. At first it was just local communications we thought were down, and when these... things started showing up, many of us, like me, elected to needlecast out." She heaves a sigh. "But when I woke up I wasn't on another planet, I was... still there. And... hungry. Then this started to happen." She gestures at herself.

    "Others tried more than once," she points to those outside. "Like my former neighbor there. They just got worse faster. M-maybe I'll end up like them someday, but I know trying to get out makes it faster. We've been trying to warn people for over a year now!"

    She pauses and thinks. "Ah... an Earth year. Over half a year here."

    The woman licks her lips again. "I'm always so hungry, but I know that won't fix it." Yeah, it's obvious now she's got the urge to snack on these tasty new arrivals.

    This is about when Rebecca raises her hand.
    "What's soul-blighted?" She asks. Before the woman raises another point.
    "And needlecasting?"
    These are very important questions for the uninitiated! Especially as she tries to math out the differences beterrn an Earth year and a Mars year in her head when the woman states the difference.
    It doesn't go well. She's here because she's good with guns not astronomy!
    But then she's eyeing the group's apparent savior.
    "Hol' up."
    Becca's hand grips her gun a little tighter.
    "... There anything we can do for her? Or should I make it quick...?"

    "Mm. There were communications still coming in and out of the colony, even if they were less and less, from our briefing. Something faking them with an AI?" Circe will ask the group, though it's the sort of thing SHE would try to set up so it makes quite a lot of sense.

    That's up until Rebecca suggests the possibility of making it quick, and then there's going to be a real hostile vibe coming her way from the direction of 'Alice'. "Try it and you'll have more problems than you can imagine. She'll be fine, probably, and even if she won't that's no answer. We could try to take her with us; it'd be good to get a closer look at her cybernetics and there's probably a treatment we could figure out."

    Blues is half-listening, but he is mostly watching the streets. "So is the entire city like this? If we're going to try any place, where should it be? Because if it's close we can hit it real quick, else we can jump out and report our findings." He taps a few fingers on his hip thoughtfully. "I can get us back here any time we want, though it'd take several trips and I'd rather not use that much energy if I don't have to."

    Looks like Kore has her work cut out for her! "Soulblighting is what happens when you split the soul too many times. Souls need to be created through effort and emotion, and simply making a copy doesn't generate enough emotion and will to create a complete soul. As a result, copying a living being too many times causes it to try to... fill in the gaps. Eventually it isn't sustainable at all and the body rots from within." She gestures to the woman. "This is the early stages. If I had to guess, either they've managed to localize the effect somehow, or they've been making copies of people without their knowledge. Possibly using them in VR to fake things being fine."

    She then points up. "And needlecasting is when you send your consciousness to another place, and put it in a body there. My guess is when people went to get needlecast, they were instead copied somehow without their knowledge. This made the infestation worse every time, and since there's nobody else around and travel to and from is restricted..."

    She trails off to let the vicious cycle illustrate itself, and then shrugs, "As for if it's fixable... possibly. IF I am right, and IF we can shut down her copies soon enough, and IF some other being hasn't snatched that fragment, then yes, she should recover. I can help with the last part, in fact, by keeping anything from grabbing it after we shut down the copy."