the orient express

[The train's music cuts off abruptly, and after a moment or so of silence, the voices fade in]

Female voice 1: ... on the grid, there was evidence they'd b--

Male voice 1: It doesn't help knowing where it's been. We have--

Female voice 1: To get ahead of it, I know, but if it's blocking--

[there's the sound of a door opening, and paper rustling]

Male voice 2: Bad news. They've cut the funding for a rescue.

[the sound of several voices protesting, some expletives, the sound of something like a hand striking a solid table's surface]

Male voice 2: I know. I know, all right? But they said it's been a month, and we've already spent too much in pursuit of one train, and--

Female voice 2: A train? A TRAIN? This isn't about the fucking train. It's about the people on --

Male voice 2: Bridget, I know. I know, and they've said there isn't any concrete evidence there are people on it. They said all we can prove solidly is there's a train missing, moving, and untrackable. We can't prove--

Male voice 1: This is outrageous! Concrete evi--

Male voice 2: I'm appealing it. I'm going to try. It could be weeks, months before they'll hear it. It's the best we can do.

Female voice 1: And what about the people? Reggie, you know there are people. There might be dozens, a hundred of them now.

Male voice 2: [heavy sigh] I'm doing what I can. But until we find funding, I'm afraid they're on their own.

[The transmission fades out, and the music begins again]

[When dawn begins to break in cow-land, each train-issued phone & tablet issues a single beep. At this point, the following phrase begins to scroll across the top of each device. It won't cover any of the network posts (think of top!ads on things like echofon; they're there, and eventually you stop seeing them), and it doesn't change. It will last the initial 24-hours of the plot, at which point it will begin disappearing to reappear intermittently for the duration of the plot.

Sequence initiate 24593: Skillset randomization. Progress interrupted

When your character wakes up, he or she will be in possession of the appropriately swapped power set.

Have fun :)]

[the music from the intercom is interrupted with a burst of static before the following is clearly heard. The music resumes shortly after.]

Male Voice: Off the grid. The fuck you mean it's gone off the grid? It's an entire--

Female voice: I know, what it is, all right? And I'm telling you--

2nd female voice: Fighting's not going to fix it. We have to find a way to get it back on the grid. Before it takes something else along with it. It's one sodding train, how is it shutting us off from -- oh God.

[The post appears as a voice post on the network, and if a users clicks the link, they'll hear this. The recording fades in slowly but cuts off abruptly.]

Male voice: ... six month point.
Female voice: Suppose it's already been a year? It hasn't exactly told us what time frame we're looking at. They could have been on there for months already. Or years. Decades. We have no way of knowing.
Male voice: They'll still come to another six month point. Sooner or later, every train has to stop. They can't override that.
Female voice: We thought it couldn't overr--
Male voice: Obviously, we were wrong about that. But it can't override this. It can't. Every six months the trains have to check in or they'll shut down. It can't be overridden.
Female voice: What if it shuts down and strands th--
Male voice: There's nothing we can do if it does. Except maybe by then we'll be able to get a fix on it. If it's not actively deceiving us, we'll find it.
Female voice: Unless you're wrong and it can override them. It's been a week and no sign of the--

[the voices are relatively clear, and static is minimal, though it terminates abruptly shortly after it begins.]

Female voice: ...1693, Russia 1945, Aquitania 456, Florida 1776, Australia 2016, Bellerophon 2602, and Mordor simultaneously. And do you know where it wasn't?

Male voice: Any of those places?

Female voice: Any of those places. This is ridiculous. Who designed the evolving AI, anyway, to let it

The voices are faint, amidst much static and feedback

No ... no I think I've got it. This time.

Hello? Orient Express? Listen, if you can hear this [static] found [static]. [static]...meet you in [static]. Can't stop [static] ussia.

Don't lose hope. We're trying [static, dead air before the music starts again].