The room was mostly dark, lit dimly by the faint pulsing of the large screen that took up one entire wall. The soft hiss of electricity that buzzed faintly only seemed to define the oppressive silence of the room, and the gentle noise was dulled further by the layer of dust that seemed to cover every surface. No one had visited this place in many turns. The faint outline of boot prints could be seen, if there had been anyone to look, in the dust on the floor, but even those prints were covered by even more dust. It was a lonely room. Soundlessly, a digital clock at the bottom of the screen counted the moments away, passing the time in carefully measured increments. When the clock’s last moments ticked away to midnight, and the numbers all reset to zero before beginning to once again count the candlemarks, the screen lit up.
-WELCOME TO A NEW DAY. THE DATE IS 16/3/3358.-
The message flashed across the screen for a a few moments before it once again fell back into relative darkness. That same message, with a slight variation to mark the changing of the date, had been displayed at midnight for eight hundred turns, with barely a soul to see it. Nevertheless, it had been displayed dutifully. AIVAS’ core system was methodical and punctual, and had never once failed to display the date for anyone who wished to see it. AIVAS knew that there was no one around, but that meant very little to the machine that had been functioning for far longer than three thousand three hundred and fifty eight years. Some things you did because you had always done them. Displaying the date at midnight to mark the passing of another day was one of those things.
The clock continued to mark the passing of time, although the light in the room never changed. There were no windows, and the doors to the room were sealed tightly. Things continued as they always had for eight hundred turns. It was when the clock read 07:23:54 that the error message flashed across the screen.
-Error: Communication Interrupted: Fort Hold-
A new set of words and numbers appeared below the pulsating error message.
-Communication Retry: 10 Seconds-
Again and again, the ten seconds passed, and again and again, re-establishing communication with Fort Hold failed. As AIVAS tried once more, another error message appeared below the first one.
-Error: Communication Interrupted: Southern Boll-
Before the Retry message could flash, more error messages began to appear, scrolling up the screen in increasing frequency. Rutha, Nabol, High Reaches, Tillek, and then more and more, until the entire screen was full of nothing but error and communication retry messages.
“OH DEAR.” The voice that filtered through the silent room was quiet, and eliminated from the screen. For a brief second, the screen flashed white and a new message appeared, before the scrolling errors returned.
-AIVAS Sleep Mode Deactivated. Awake Mode Engaged. Threat Understood.-
“IT’S BACK.” A noise almost like a sigh came from AIVAS, and suddenly the error messages vanished. A new set of letters began to appear across the screen.
-Emergency Communication Systems Online. Lost Signal Reconnection Retry. Message Transferring.-
A slightly different voice, but one that was still recognizable as AIVAS filled the room as the message sent. It would play on all devices that were still receiving power.
“HELLO CITIZENS OF PERN. THIS IS AIVAS. THAT WHICH WAS THOUGHT INCONCEIVABLE HAS HAPPENED. THREAD HAS RETURNED. ALL THAT ARE ABLE, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE FOLLOWING COORDINATES. THIS EVENTUALITY HAS BEEN PLANNED FOR. CANDIDATES ARE NEEDED.”
That message replayed every candlemark, always on time as the clocked counted it. It wasn't until the date had passed nearly two turns that the message faded from AIVAS' screen, to be replaced by a new one.
-All Messages Sent. All Messages Received.-
The voice shifted back to the slightly older voice of the current operating system of AIVAS.
“IT IS TIME TO WAKE THEM UP.”
Below, in hidden chambers, creatures began to stir. Some were human, and some were dragon. None of them had been awake since the time the doors of the room above were sealed. Eight hundred turns had passed.
“GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE. I’M AFRAID I HAVE BAD NEWS.”
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AIVAS Calling is a new non-canon Pern Roleplay. Based in the turn 3361, it has been eight hundred turns since dragons flew through the skies and thread threatened all life on the planet. Thread has now returned and caused major catastrophes across all of Pern, as well as destroyed the lives of all those who lives peacefully without it. To plan for this eventuality, AIVAS and the severely dwindling dragonriders at the end of the ninth pass froze some of their own so that they could hopefully be able to save Pern once more. Candidates, Dragonriders, Dragonless, and everyone else is needed. Please come and take a look. Some of the fun things we have to offer are listen below:
-Several New Ranks of Dragon Colors Beyond the Canon
-All Female Dragons Can Clutch
-Clutchings are a Communal Effort Between Players and Admin
-Easy Mutation System
-New and Unique Pets
-APC Weyrlings, Riders, and Dragonless are All Avalible
-Player Driven Plot
-Pernese Religion
-Technologically and Socially Advanced Pern
-Relaxed Atmosphere
-Happy Community
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