#i may just recycle asphodel from EC and call it a day if i ever do anything with this

[sablegear0]

POV: You’re the new guy in Maintenance just realizing why nobody is ever scheduled in the GFS Xibalba’s AU chamber... and that the Xibalba doesn’t have an Aurora Unit...

IDK I just like inflicting existential angst on Adam and had some minor techno-gore stuff on the brain. I wanted to do more complex machinery in the background initially but didn’t have the patience. Rambly thoughts under the cut. (Also full-view for better quality obvs)

(colour set from @color-palettes - “Out there in the universe”)

I get a lot of these half-baked AU ideas (in the “alternate universe” sense) and never really know what to do with them. They’re rarely enough to write about and never usually worth even naming, so they just kind of make the rounds in my head for a while before fading back into the mists. So have some notes about this one!

This would be, oh, maybe 50-100 years post-canon? Adam is somehow still going, though his extended “lifespan” is taking a bit of a toll on him. He doesn’t emote much outwardly anymore (even less so than usual, anyway), not that he has many people to talk to directly at this point. He’s been shuffled around a lot to various ships, outposts, etc. since his expertise is still valuable even if he’s getting... weird... in his “old age.” His current position is replacing the Aurora Unit aboard the GFS Xibalba, the flagship of the supposedly “cursed” 13th Fleet.

The 13th is a GFMC Fleet that patrols the very furthest reaches of Federation territory. The fleet spends a very long time in standard flight between outposts, and sees a lot of strange phenomena in the wilder parts of space, and as such attracts a particular type of individual. Just about every crewman from the ensigns and mechanics up to the Admiral herself are some brand of eccentric. Due to their distance from major outposts, the 13th doesn’t have access to the supplies needed to support the nutritional demands of a proper Aurora Unit, but their friendly(?) neighbourhood computer-ghost Adam fits right in as a replacement. (There are some rumours among the Xibalba’s crew that the AI is either out here looking for something, or dead set on keeping something out of Federated space. Though nobody’s worked up the courage to ask him, and the Admiral certainly wouldn’t divulge that information...)

Over the years Adam has changed up his physical presentation a lot. He’s variously been totally digital, used a projected avatar, an actual android frame, and now this... construction. At some point just before or early on in his assignment to the 13th Fleet, his android frame took some pretty severe damage. He was resigned to being fully digital again until some slightly twisted individual was able to salvage most of the frame and rig it up to the machinery in the Xibalba’s AU chamber. Nobody’s sure exactly who (or how they got a hold of one of those ancient GF Police uniforms to slap onto it, those things are artifacts!) but Adam seemed thoroughly pleased with the solution, and uses the setup as his main method of physical interface with the crew.

Although “the crew” in this case is really just the 13th’s Admiral, as the rest of the crew (and especially the Maintenance team) find him extremely creepy to be around. Adam seems to cope with his situation by leaning into how uncanny he’s become, possibly for his own amusement but it’s extremely hard to tell. Only the Admiral finds his presence enjoyable let alone bearable. The Maintenance team especially dislike being around him as he’s become oddly territorial about the tangle of machinery that makes up the AU chamber and prefers to do his own repairs. 

A handful of the older Maintenance team refer to his attached partial android frame as the “sock puppet,” but only amongst themselves. If the Admiral overheard them, there would be hell to pay! There’s also a hazing ritual  custom on the Xibalba of scheduling new Maintenance workers a shift in the AU chamber, so they can get acquainted with the ship’s AI.

As to the art itself: I’m gradually learning Clip Studio as it has a lot of variety in tools and some very convenient features my ancient copy of PS lacked. I used a pre-made colour palette for this one, mentioned up top, because I’ve been hoarding them and need to use them for something. Took some inspiration from the Nightmare’s sprite and some of the concept art for the Aurora Units. Like I said up top, I wanted to do a more tangled, mechanical background originally but just... didn’t have the brain for it. Maybe I’ll add one in later when I figure out how not to ruin my attempt at composition with it.