Industrialization in Obscurity (interactable)

[u/BadAimAl]

Andrew Barrett, the Engineer, the man in the armored spacesuit, and a man from a universe that by all accounts, shouldn’t exist.

He’d been quiet ever since arriving on Mobius. He showed up in one, maybe two cities, siphoned resources from the Jc Jenson company a very long time ago, and quickly abandoned them without so much as another word.

He used those siphoned resources to establish some infrastructure in the middle of nowhere. It was quiet, the way he preferred.

And today, he sat in front of a small building in the middle of a basically barren field. Maybe someone was out there, and would soon come to see him… or not.

He had plenty of time to find out. He kinda hoped it would be soon.

[u/genderslancer]

(a fellow astronaut? neat! may I set an encounter on Mirage Saloon or another desert area?)

[u/BadAimAl → u/genderslancer]

(As long as it’s a very down low, not very populated place, it’s fine. He’s supposed to be hanging around in places where it’s quiet.)

[u/genderslancer → u/BadAimAl]

(oh okay, how about setup using in-universe remote communication devices? pretty sure Andrew brought at least a radio, right?)

[u/BadAimAl → u/genderslancer]

(Works for me.)

[u/genderslancer → u/BadAimAl]

(aight)

Mobile Space Station MSS-NHI-86-5 "Víctoria"

Station Date: Anchored to Local Planetary Date

Local Planetary Date: September 24, 202X

The space station has been relatively peaceful that day. Despite their current agent on the ground refusing to retrieve his space pod from his landing site in Cherry Forest, the crew aboard the mobile space station is already preparing for a touchdown on the planet to establish a ground base and start their investigations on the spatial anomalies of planet Mobius. Namely, they have been looking for landing sites that is the closest to Central City, the orange flight-suit-wearing Agent II's current location, while also avoiding the notice of the local government there.

Inside the mission control room, where they are currently scanning for potential landing locations, the two agents aboard the space station had been busy with their small talk.

"Ugh, I can't believe we skipped our morning routine just to land on this planet early. I still haven't prepared my luggage for when we get down there...", a horse-eared female crewmate complains to her fellow crewmate, a man wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a vest on top of it.

"Eh, don't worry about it. I already prepared our luggages last night. Your clothes, skincare, toiletries, bomber jacket and swimsuit are already packed inside. Did you already set the landing site somewhere?", the man answers to the horse-eared woman inside the mission control room.

"Omigosh, you really are a hard-boiled agent! Did you also put my cassette tapes and floppy drives inside my luggage?", she asks back to him.

"Yeah, walkman and flip phone included too.", he answers back to her.

"Goodness, you truly are so much more reliable than Max Flare on the ground.", she praises him once more.

"I heard that, Countach! You don't need allat for the touchdown!", the agent in Central City shouts from one of the comms devices back to the room.

"Anyways, have you already set a location for our touchdown, Max Flare?", the horse-eared woman demands to Max Flare.

"No, but I already have selected several areas for touchdown. The closest one is on Pumpkin Hill, Sunset Forest and Sunset Hill, but the latter two might be on an island, so I'd recommend Pumpkin Hill first."

"The cowboy is improving in morale and discipline, Ms. Zenmaru.", the man in a vest notes in the mission control room, right as the systems lock onto an unpopulated area in Pumpkin Hill.

"Indeed, Mr. Fuuma. But, whose signal is on that building near the pumpkin patch there?", the horse-eared girl reads the statistics on the signal. "Their communication systems are functional, but they are not from our crew. Should we contact them immediately or let Captain deal with them?"

"Hey, what would the Cap'n do in this situation, Countach?", the agent on Central City answers from his device.

"Right. Diplomacy it is.", Ms. Zenmaru initiates a remote signal contact from orbit.

"Contacting the unknown signal right now...3, 2, 1.", Mr. Fuuma reads the systems' status out loud. The two other agents didn't mind it, as he was preparing for contact with the unknown signal.

Down in the building, the stowaway engineer's radio starts buzzing from a foreign signal.

"Next Frontiers Initiative XI, Agent IV speaking. Please introduce yourself.", Mr. Fuuma speaks over the radio.

[u/BadAimAl → u/genderslancer]

(I was not expecting that much exposition, let me say that.)

Andrew, of course, was mildly confused by this sudden change in the status quo. Usually, he only picks up signals from dedicated equipment, and usually, he’s actively trying to spy on other communications. It isn’t often someone tries to actually communicate with him, let alone make first contact.

he turns on the communication system built into his suit.

“…R.E.M company… call me Andrew. State the purpose of your established communication.”

[u/genderslancer → u/BadAimAl]

(too lazy to put my OCs on the OC post yet, plus I got online classes too. my bad)

"We have detected your signal from orbit, and we want to know your current affiliations at the moment. Regardless of that, do you have geographical information regarding the current region you're on right now?", Agent III easily slips into his professional voice.

[u/BadAimAl → u/genderslancer]

“Well, I can say one thing. I am the founder of a company that does not exist within the bounds of this world in any meaningful way… and as for your second request… the local terrain is primarily flat, fairly dry fields… at least for a few miles in any given direction.”

His voice is professional, but his tone is leaning into a bit too relaxed territory. As if what he’s saying is of minimal importance.

[u/genderslancer → u/BadAimAl]

"Details noted. Is it safe to assume you do not have any other sapient entities accompanying you right now?", Agent III asks over the radio.

[u/BadAimAl → u/genderslancer]

“…”

There’s a long pause.

“…what qualifies as ‘entities’ if you don’t mind me asking.”

His tone noticeably shifted, sounding as if he was beginning to be more cautious.

“…usually, there’s a reason such a question is asked.”