MILLICENT: “If you don’t help us contain the fuel cell we stole from you we’re going to become target practice for every bit of iron-ish ore meteorite in the Sol system in a matter of hours.”
STORY: She closes her eyes. “You stole the trirubidium.”
STORY: “Did you not read the signs?”
ALEJO: Alejo lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We did. But that’s not the leading story right now, T’chololl. We need your help.”
STORY: She sighs. “Humans.”
STORY: “What is on my chest?”
ALEJO: “We had to do some things to save your life.”
MILLICENT: “Oh. I built that!”
MILLICENT: “It keeps your body from expelling the jet fuel I turned your blood into.”
MILLICENT: “It’s been a long day all around, but I won’t begrudge you a particular feeling of disorientation about that news.”
STORY: “Jet fuel.”
MILLICENT: “Inert jet fuel.”
STORY: Alejo, you’re slammed into the aft deck. Please roll to Brace for Impact!
ALEJO: 3+4=7+1 = 8 Yikes.
STORY: 8’s fine, you don’t mitigate the injury, which is Minor. You’re bonked pretty hard on the back and butt and head, but you’ll be fine in a bit.
STORY: Alejo is thrown against the aft deck.
ALEJO: “What the . . .” Alejo sits up, startled and unsure what’s just happened. He cautiously feels around his head, looking for any signs of serious injury.
STORY: Alejo, something dragged you here; the normal inertial dampeners didn’t work as the ship started to break orbit. You take stock and realize you are pinned to the wall by.. something in your left jacket pocket.
TUELLER: “Ejo? What’s the rush?”
STORY: Jenny’s eyes widen and she reflexively pulls back her hand from you, Tueller. “Oh my gosh!” She rushes over to Alejo and offers him a hand to stand back up.
ALEJO: “Something’s not right here,” he says as he gingerly starts to feel around the pocket.
TUELLER: Tueller ambles over, following Jenny.
STORY: It’s the fuel cell.
ALEJO: “I think. . . .,” he looks around, still a bit dazed. “I’m pinned by this damned alien thing.”
STORY: It’s pinned to a spot between two steel brace beams on the closed cargo bay door.
MILLICENT: Millie lights up
MILLICENT: “Really? Fascinating!”
ALEJO: Alejo wriggles out of the jacket and stands, looking down at the coat as it stays pinned to the wall.
STORY: It’s just hanging there now, dangling a few feet above the deck.
TUELLER: Tueller just reaches over and tries to pick it off.
MILLICENT: Millie kneels to examine it
STORY: It’s stuck, Tueller.
ALEJO: “That was bracing.”
STORY: Jenny looks concerned, touches your forehead. “Are you ok? It looked like you hit your head.”
TUELLER: “Like a rare earth magnet.”
TUELLER: “We should probably change the name of that. Earther-centric language still.”
MILLICENT: Can I figure out what’s causing it?
ALEJO: Alejo brushes himself a bit self-consciously, trying to regain some composure. He offers a weak smile to Jenny. “Yeah, I think I’ll live. But thanks.”
STORY: You can try! What are you doing to investigate, Millie?
STORY: Jenny nods. “Sure, Captain.”
MILLICENT: I’d like to touch it using Alejo’s jacket as a barrier
STORY: Ok! It’s about six inches in diameter, basically round, hard, and very smooth. It’s opaque black in color, and you can’t tell very clearly since you’re touching it through cloth, but it feels like it might be warmer than the ambient temperature in the room.
TUELLER: “This thing was being fed energy, right?”
STORY: — Bueller?
MILLICENT: “Yes, it looks like the solar panels were feeding it.”
TUELLER: “Well. Are we feeding it now ourselves? From our drive.”
ALEJO: Alejo steps closer, looking over Mille’s shoulder.
STORY: Jenny peers over your shoulder as well. She whispers. “What is it?”
MILLICENT: “That’s an interesting thought, Tueller.”
MILLICENT: Do I think it is?
STORY: Millie! Tell me generally how you intend to investigate this puzzle, please
MILLICENT: With science, generally!
ALEJO: Alejo tips his head back towards her and says in the same quiet voice, “Alien tech. It’s what we recovered from Mercury.”
MILLICENT: I’m a little confused by the question
ALEJO: “A battery, we think.”
TUELLER: We’re going to science the shit out of this question.
STORY: Her eyes widen. Quietly, conspiratorially: “Why didn’t you report it to Admiral Randd?”
STORY: — The way Assessment works is you tell me what you are doing to try to get more information
TUELLER: “Because we don’t work for Randd.”
STORY: — so i tell you what you roll
MILLICENT: Oh
MILLICENT: Oh hey
STORY: — like, generally, are you poking at it, or reasoning with it, or wrestling it into submission
STORY: — and you’re supposed to sa it in a way that isn’t like “I roll Investigate!”
ALEJO: He turns to Jenny with the audacious smile of a pirate and puts a finger to his lips. “Shhh.” Then he offers a shrug.
MILLICENT: “Noma, would you be a dear and run the ship’s sensors over the fuel cell we recovered from Mercury and feed the results to my visor?”
TUELLER: Tueller has some ideas, but is leaving the conch with Millie on the science shit.
STORY: Ok, so that’s a Command please, Millie! Roll + Influence
MILLICENT: —I’m going to use the scientific tools on board to examine it
STORY: Jenny smiles at you, Alejo, and nods. She nods to Tueller as well, formally.
MILLICENT: 4+4=8
STORY: Noma pipes in on the intercom. “The sensors aren’t built to scan within the ship, but I’ve done my best to turn them around. Material is unknown, not radioactive, not organic. I don’t have a visual scan, but it appears to be very large based on the difficulty I’m having piloting Peregrine.”
STORY: “I’m afraid I can’t perform further scans until…” The ship starts to quiver. “I’ve gotten our trajectory under control. Please hold.”
TUELLER: “Noma, can you tell me if the ship is experiencing a drain on our power?”
TUELLER: “Millie, I’ve got a Faraday cage in my hold, if that helps.”
MILLICENT: Millie runs to find some more scientific equipment to use examining the fuel cell
STORY: The ship goes from quivering to shaking to violently wrenching. Everyone please Face Advertisy + Physique.
TUELLER: …
TUELLER: Roll(2d6)+2:
2,3,+2
Total:7
ALEJO: 6+4=10+1 = 11
MILLICENT: haha
MILLICENT: 3+1-1=3
STORY: Millie, please tell me where you land.
STORY: Tueller, you can catch yourself before you’re thrown to the deck, but Jenny is going to follow roughly the same trajectory as Millie, and you’re going to watch her eat shit.
STORY: Alejo, you’re like that guy on the subway who doesn’t even need to hold the pole. Sea legs for days.
MILLICENT: haha
MILLICENT: oh
ALEJO: — Can I help one or both of them?
MILLICENT: I know
ALEJO: — Jenny or Millie?
MILLICENT: Tariq
STORY: You can help one!
STORY: Tariq’s upstairs
MILLICENT: I’m going to smash into him
MILLICENT: ah dip
STORY: You guys are in the Cargo Bay
STORY: Tariq, Jac, and Kahn are upstairs
MILLICENT: Okay in that case I think I fly all the way to the ceiling and back
TUELLER: Tueller’s moving to help out Millie.
ALEJO: Alejo maintains his balance and reaches out to catch Jenny before she falls.
MILLICENT: It’s like when your airplane drops 40 feet in 2 seconds
STORY: Tueller, you can’t, you spend your turn not falling yourself
ALEJO: He then makes a move to try to grab Mille, but misses.
STORY: Alejo grabs Jenny by the hand and stops her ascending to the ceiling as Millie proceeds to do so and then come back to earth.
TUELLER: Tueller ineffectively gestures towards helping and then just sits down roughly.
STORY: Everybody ends up on the ground in the end, more or less safe. Millie, roll to Brace for Impact. This is a Minor injury as well.
ALEJO: “Jesus, Noma! What the hell is happening?”
MILLICENT: —Sorry, what’s a Brace for Impact roll?
MILLICENT: —It’s my first
STORY: — roll + armor
TUELLER: 2d6+armor
MILLICENT: 7
MILLICENT: 2+5
STORY: Ok, so you take a Minor injury, probably on the butt.
ALEJO: “Where’s that Faraday cage? That’s what the thing was in when we found it.”
STORY: You Minorly hurt your butt.
MILLICENT: my butt!
TUELLER: “You okay Millie?”
STORY: The ship shudders again, and you hear metal squeal from the direction of Alejo’s jacket.
TUELLER: “Fuck it. I’m on it.”
ALEJO: “We need that cage now!” Alejo runs to help Tueller up.
TUELLER: Tueller’s trying to leave the room for his diplomatic stash.
STORY: Noma comes in via the intercom. “I apologize for the turbulence.”
STORY: “We are no longer flying.”
MILLICENT: “Oof”
MILLICENT: “That is. Apparent.”
STORY: “I believe the ship is being dragged.”
MILLICENT: Millie stands up gingerly
ALEJO: “Can you up the inertial dampeners at least?”
STORY: The three of you take a moment to look out a porthole and confirm via a passing satellite that… you do indeed appear to be still moving. In the direction of Alejo’s jacket.
MILLICENT: “Dragged by whom?”
ALEJO: This message has been removed.
STORY: Millie, give me an Assessment + expertise please.
MILLICENT: haha
STORY: Tueller, Alejo, you head upstairs and find Kahn and Jac picking themselves up off the floor.
MILLICENT: 4
MILLICENT: 1+1+2=4
MILLICENT: BUT
STORY: There is a call for help from the med lab.
ALEJO: “You alright?” Alejo offers them a quick hand but sticks close with Tueller.
MILLICENT: This is the first time I’ve witnessed this situation
TUELLER: Tueller is attempting to, unless something gets in his way, palm print his way into the stash and get the Faraday cage he keeps a hand terminal in.
MILLICENT: What caused this situation?
MILLICENT: That’s my Deduction at play
STORY: The fuel cell.
MILLICENT: I jump on a terminal
MILLICENT: Okay come on that’s not new information
TUELLER: —hah!
ALEJO: “Thank gods for your paranoia,” Alejo mutters to Tueller, as he gets the cage.
ALEJO: “This thing big enough, you think, for that ball of whatever the hell that alien tech is?”
TUELLER: “This is not paranoia. People do regularly try to kill me.” The Faraday cage is a square meter.
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “Fair. Fair.”
MILLICENT: Millie looks up for the terminal, “Noma, would you take us back to a rough eclipse of Mercury, please.”
TUELLER: Tueller opens it up and gingerly sets aside an off computer terminal that looks very expensive. He hides the rest of the contents from Alejo, and picks up the cage to take it back to the cargo bay.
MILLICENT: “Better yet, just set a course for approximately as far from Sol as Mercury is.”
STORY: The ship shudders. Noma pipes in. “I’m sorry, I’m unable to change the trajectory of the ship, Millie.”
ALEJO: Alejo will politely avert his eyes, in a show of respect for Tueller’s much coveted privacy. Then head off ahead of Tueller back towards the cargo area.
MILLICENT: “What is the trajectory, dear?”
TUELLER: —brb
STORY: “Calculating.”
STORY: Millie, another assessment, this time + interface please
STORY: This is an important one.
TUELLER: —back
MILLICENT: 8
MILLICENT: 6+1+1
STORY: “Assuming no accidental collision with passing ships, satellites, or debris, we will hit Procyon-A in 15.62 years.”
MILLICENT: “Oh! Well, that’s good news!”
MILLICENT: Turning to the crew
MILLICENT: “I have some very exciting news!”
STORY: “I am 74% confident in these calculations, though this ship has relatively weak resources for stellar cartography.”
ALEJO: “Yeah, great.” Alejo says brushing past Millie and moving to his dangling jacket, hoping Tueller is right behind him.
MILLICENT: “The fuel cell is made of trirubidium!” Millie pronounces expectantly.
MILLICENT: A pause as Millie waits for more beaming faces
STORY: Jenny stopped when you went upstairs to help Tariq, for the record, so it’s just the three of you down here again.
TUELLER: Tueller arrives back with the faraday cage and ignores the annoucement.
ALEJO: “How the hell are we prying this thing free enough to get it into the Faraday?” He stands now in front of the jacket.
MILLICENT: “Trirubidium”
MILLICENT: Millie says it again, hoping this time it will sink in
ALEJO: Alejo turns to her blankly. “And that means . . . ?”
TUELLER: “Trir you bid yum. Got it Doc.”
MILLICENT: “It gains mass the farther it gets from a star!”
TUELLER: Tueller tries to enclose it in as much Faraday cage as possible.
MILLICENT: “So, we brought it out of the reach of Sol and it began to gain in mass. It’s now, I’d estimate.” Millie runs some calculations on the console.
STORY: Tueller, it’s inside Alejo’s pocket, what are you doing about that?
MILLICENT: —how much do I estimate it weighs now?
STORY: — anything sufficiently absurd will do
STORY: — more than your ship, minimum
MILLICENT: “About three Peregrines.”
ALEJO: “Great. So we’re slowly but surely creating a giant gravity well. How fast is the increase?”
TUELLER: I’m just trying to put everything into the cage.
TUELLER: Or, the cage around everything, that is.
MILLICENT: “So,” Millie laughs, everyone’s in on this joke, “our modest acceleration needed to break atmo has now been added to a dozen or so times!”
TUELLER: It’s a meter wide cage; it should all fit.
MILLICENT: “Oh, it’s well.”
ALEJO: “Isn’t that fun.” Alejo clearly does not think that it’s fun.
STORY: Oh! A meter? I thought this was for your laptop.
MILLICENT: “I estimate we’ll have created a galaxy devouring gravity well in”
MILLICENT: More math. What say, gamemaster?
TUELLER: It’s for a lot of things. The laptop was just part of it.
STORY: Ok. You can sort of push the cage around it so it’s covered on five of the six sides
STORY: It’s not exactly flush with the wall, since the bay door is curved and there are support beams here and there, but it’s close.
STORY: Millie, assuming no interference from any other stars, which will weaken it, probably six years.
STORY: But you will certainly begin to pull anything nearby towards you within a few hours, depending on proximity.
MILLICENT: “Oh! This is good, probably six years!”
TUELLER: “We’re going to have an event horizon on our ship sooner than that, Doc.”
ALEJO: “Doc, we really need to recalibrate your sense of good news.”
MILLICENT: “We will become a super magnet for every unencumbered metallic object in the system in a matter of hours.”
ALEJO: “Is that cage helping matters,” he pauses, briefly, “things at all?”
MILLICENT: “Co-captain, six years is loads of time!”
MILLICENT: “Oh.”
MILLICENT: “Ah.”
MILLICENT: Millie looks awkward, embarrassed.
MILLICENT: Cute boys doing cute science guesses!
MILLICENT: “No.”
MILLICENT: “But such a good try!”
ALEJO: Alejo looks at Tueller holding the cage around the thing, which is a bit of a comical sight. He smiles.
TUELLER: “Well. Shit.” Tueller stops trying to hold it around the object
ALEJO: “Gods, why can’t we just need someone shot or something stolen or something easy.” Alejo mutters this and frowns.
ALEJO: He turns to Millie. “So, if we get this closer to Sol, the mass goes down?”
MILLICENT: “Yes, just so!”
MILLICENT: “Well done!”
ALEJO: “I mean, we can jettison it, right?” He’s thinking out loud. “But we’d just get sucked into the gravity well, wouldn’t we.” He shakes his head.
TUELLER: “Or if we blow it off of our ship so we’re no longer being dragged by it”
ALEJO: “Yeah, but do we have enough power to outrun the pull?”
ALEJO: “I mean, it’s dragging us now.”
MILLICENT: “Now, we just need to simulate whatever it is the trirubidium gets from a star!”
STORY: Alejo, roll Assessment + expertise please
TUELLER: “Alejo, I can walk away from it right now. Still doing okay.”
ALEJO: — Well, that is a mystery.
ALEJO: 6+6=12 – 1
ALEJO: 11
STORY: Jesus
STORY: hahah
TUELLER: “I’ll go grab our grow lights–see if that helps out.”
TUELLER: Tueller is walking out of the room with plenty of time to be told to stop or do something else.
ALEJO: “Listen, if this thing is also fuel, can we use it to power something? Our engines?”
MILLICENT: Oh
MILLICENT: “Oh.”
TUELLER: Well, I feel dumb.
MILLICENT: “There’s an idea!”
MILLICENT: —do I think I can retrofit the engines to accept power from the fuel cell?
ALEJO: Alejo looks pleased with himself.
STORY: Assessment + expertise please Millie
TUELLER: —Don’t ask! Just do it!
STORY: Yeah, I assume that question is an intention to try
MILLICENT: 9
MILLICENT: 3+4+2
STORY: No. There are theories here you’re unfamiliar with and machinery you certainly don’t have onboard. You’d need someone familiar with trirubidium power supply maintenance.
ALEJO: — Can I use my contacts?
ALEJO: — I mean, we’re not someplace right now, but perhaps I could reach out to someone?
TUELLER: —This is like the exact opposite of the Firefly episode “Out of Gas.”
STORY: Boys.
ALEJO: Alejo gets on the com. “Jac, Tariq, mind dropping by the cargo bay ASAP, please.”
STORY: Boys.
TUELLER: The alien!
TUELLER: “Get the alien out here.”
STORY: Jac comes downstairs a few moments later, gesturing over her shoulder. “Tariq’s with the bug.”
TUELLER: Tueller’s off to the races himself.
ALEJO: Alejo sprints towards the med bay.
STORY: Tueller swishes by her as she descends.
STORY: “What’s up with h–”
STORY: “Geez, ok.”
TUELLER: “Millie come with us” as he leaves the room.
TUELLER: A Tueller shapped doppler effect.
STORY: You enter the med bay to find Tariq standing over T’chololl, and Jenny on the other side, holding up an IV bag. They both look winded.
STORY: Tariq turns back to the two of you, annoyed. “Thanks for your help earlier.”
ALEJO: “Tariq, is she . . . “ Alejo pauses to take in the scene.
MILLICENT: “Oh, yes, of course!” Millie moves slower behind them
STORY: “Lifting this giant patient off the floor.”
STORY: “It was very easy, thanks for asking.”
TUELLER: “Need her help now” pointing to the patient “Millllllllllie get here.”
ALEJO: “Sorry. Yes. Is she awake. Can she be?” Alejo moves to the alien’s side, looking her over.
TUELLER: “I know Tariq, I carried her off the planet.”
STORY: Her eyes are closed, but you see her breathing, and the liquid in her recently added equipment is flowing.
TUELLER: Impatiently waiting for Millie to join us.
ALEJO: Alejo looks to Jenny and then Tariq. “We need to get her awake. Like ten minutes ago. Can you help?”
STORY: Jenny looks confused. “Me? I’m just holding the bag he told me to hold. Ask the doctor.”
MILLICENT: Millie arrives, having poured herself a second beer
STORY: She gestures to Millie.
MILLICENT: I mean, Josh is the one with the beer
STORY: I wish I had a beer.
MILLICENT: A beer is just room service away
TUELLER: —Me too.
ALEJO: — Me too. And no room service for me.
MILLICENT: Photo on 1-9-18 at 9.21 PM.jpg
ALEJO: “Millie!” Alejo looks around for the Doc. “Short legs are one thing,” he shakes his head.
TUELLER: “Millie. Talk to our patient. Bond over your pet element. But….please, a little urgency. We’re extrasolar soon.”
MILLICENT: Millie turns her translator on
STORY: — you have a universal translator in your ear
MILLICENT: —haha okay cool
MILLICENT: This message has been removed.
STORY: Friends.
STORY: The Maitri is unconscious.
MILLICENT: Oh hey that’s good intel
ALEJO: This message has been removed.
STORY: It’s above, Second Beer.
MILLICENT: —sorry, dude I was getting my second beer
TUELLER: —Tueller spaces Millie.
ALEJO: — No worries. I’m just jealous.
MILLICENT: Millie changes out the Maitri’s IV for something less sleepy and more awakey/talky
STORY: Tariq looks agitated. “Can we give her some space, please?”
MILLICENT: Photo on 1-9-18 at 9.25 PM.jpg
TUELLER: …
TUELLER: Tueller lays a very large hand on Tariq. “Tariq, we’re about to be dragged out of the solar system by a Maitri device we stole, so we need her awake and talking before that happens. Thanks buddy if you can get right on that.” And he squeezes Tariq’s shoulder very hard.
STORY: “OW. JESUS.”
TUELLER: “Prayers later buddy.”
STORY: “Fine.” He grabs a small syringe and, shaking his head, injects it into her IV drip. “This is on you, Dr. Breedlove.”
MILLICENT: —I just did that
STORY: He steps back as T’chololl Thasht’s eyes snap open. She does not sit up, merely inhales, looks down at her chest briefly, then surveys the faces peering over her.
MILLICENT: —was I unclear on how I just did that thing?
STORY: — sorry, I missed that.
MILLICENT: —I mean, third try maybe, but still I did that thing already
STORY: She settles on Tueller. “Where am I?”
TUELLER: “On our ship. Moving very fast away from Sol.”
TUELLER: “Not our choice. The second part, at least. The first was.”
TUELLER: Tueller’s getting a little flustered.
TUELLER: “Doc, you’re up.”
MILLICENT: “Good morning!”
MILLICENT: “I think we’re celebrating a late afternoon, but you just woke up so.
MILLICENT: Millie smiles.
MILLICENT: “Good morning!”
ALEJO: Alejo squints up his eyes at the suddenness of Millie’s “good morning.”
MILLICENT: “If you don’t help us contain the fuel cell we stole from you we’re going to become target practice for every bit of iron-ish ore meteorite in the Sol system in a matter of hours.”
STORY: She closes her eyes. “You stole the trirubidium.”
STORY: “Did you not read the signs?”
ALEJO: Alejo lays a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We did. But that’s not the leading story right now, T’chololl. We need your help.”
STORY: She sighs. “Humans.”
STORY: “What is on my chest?”
ALEJO: “We had to do some things to save your life.”
MILLICENT: “Oh. I built that!”
MILLICENT: “It keeps your body from expelling the jet fuel I turned your blood into.”
MILLICENT: “It’s been a long day all around, but I won’t begrudge you a particular feeling of disorientation about that news.”
STORY: “Jet fuel.”
MILLICENT: “Inert jet fuel.”
STORY: “Interesting. You performed this?” She looks at Millie. It’s a cold look.
MILLICENT: Millie looks wounded. “I did. It’s very neat work, for short notice.”
ALEJO: “T’chololl, I know you have questions. And I swear to you that we can and will answer as many as we can, but this is pretty urgent. We need your help. Now.”
STORY: She nods. “I shall remain, then, until you bear the shame of my saving your life.”
STORY: “How far are we from Sol?”
MILLICENT: “Noma, would you answer T’chololl?”
STORY: “We are 56.42 million kilometers from Sol and counting.”
STORY: She nods, weakly, and winces.
MILLICENT: This message has been removed.
STORY: “What sort of stabilization system is onboard? Is this a pulse drive?”
MILLICENT: —anybody got a preference?
TUELLER: “Yes, humans have that tech.”
STORY: “Where is your engineering bay?”
TUELLER: “Lower deck. .Aft.”
STORY: She nods, and sits up, grunting.
TUELLER: “Immediately beneath the cargo bay where the orb is firing.”
STORY: “Bring it to me there.” She points to Jenny. “You, bring me to engineering.”
MILLICENT: This message has been removed.
ALEJO: Alejo puts an arm out and stabilizes T’chololl
TUELLER: Tueller gives her a shoulder, attempting to basically carry her.
STORY: Tueller, she’s not that heavy, you can do so. She nods. “I am surprised one of your stature allows others to order you to do such work.”
STORY: “I have much to learn about humans.”
STORY: Alejo, she is so much taller than you she basically ends up resting your head in her armpit.
TUELLER: “no one orders me to do shit. They ask, and I go or not.”
STORY: T’chololl smiles.
ALEJO: Alejo shifts around, without much effect, grimacing as he helps her.
MILLICENT: “Yes yes, you’re both so tall and strong. Your muscles glisten with dominance.” to T’chololl, “Could you please tell me what you intend to do to my ship?”
TUELLER: “Our ship.”
TUELLER: —I think T’chololl is going to bring out bad tendencies in Tueller.
ALEJO: “This is neat. But let’s have this conversation on the move.” Alejo starts moving to the door, whether anyone else is coming or not.
MILLICENT: “Our ship, thank you Tueller.”
STORY: She explains as she walks, slowly. It’s an excruciatingly modest pace. “The pulse drive can be modified to spin enough to act as a magnetic torquer.”
STORY: “You’ll need to bring the cell into the engineering bay so I can use it as a power supply. Do you have a Faraday cage onboard?”
ALEJO: Alejo keeps trying to shift his head out from her armpit with each step, but with no success.
MILLICENT: “We do, but we couldn’t the cage around the fuel cell.”
STORY: “Why not?”
MILLICENT: “It’s attached to a support beam.”
STORY: “Then move the beam.”
MILLICENT: Millie cocks her head.
MILLICENT: RUNS to the cargo bay
MILLICENT: Is next seen, if not stopped, using the Canary to bend the support beam to free the fuel cell
ALEJO: “This thing better be worth so much money.” Alejo essentially whispers this as he shuffles forward, T’chololl resting on his head, one arm around her back, supporting her as they move.
TUELLER: “Ejo, can you please go grab the Faraday cage and meet us in Engineering. I got this from here.”
STORY: T’chololl walks slowly, deliberately, with the two of you. “Why do you think we risked intergalactic war to secure a refinery on your… I’m sorry, I don’t remember the name of this outpost.”
STORY: “Mincory.”
TUELLER: “That’s right. Mincory.”
STORY: “Malcory.”
ALEJO: “Yeah, right.” Alejo slips free. He then dashes to get the cage and help with the cell.
STORY: “Malculy.”
TUELLER: “Good old planet Mincory.”
STORY: “Very humorous. What is your name?”
MILLICENT: — + inspiration
TUELLER: “Tueller, of House Ya’Makasi.”
TUELLER: Tueller gives her a glance to see if she recognizes the name.
STORY: “Tueller of House Ya’Makasi, I am T’chololl Thasht. What is your function here?”
STORY: She does not appear to.
ALEJO: —Mayhem.
STORY: She is also fully a foot taller than you.
TUELLER: “You can call me Tueller. I’m going to call you Loll. I’m the captain and the muscle.”
MILLICENT: —elegant destruction
STORY: “All right, Tueller. I am a class 2 fuel maintenance tech. Did you shame me intentionally?”
TUELLER: “Does it make it better or worse if I were shaming you without even thinking about it for a moment?”
TUELLER: “Yes, you’re definitely a Loll. Maybe a Lolly if I decide I like you.”
STORY: She looks confused. “You may call me whatever you desire. I am speaking of this.” She knocks on her chest apparatus, then winces and composes herself.
TUELLER: …
TUELLER: “While you’re in our system, there ain’t no shame in prosthetics.”
STORY: She looks confused. “You have much to learn of the Maitri.”
TUELLER: “Do I? Huh.”
TUELLER: “We’ll see about that.”
TUELLER: “As for now, you’re a class 2 fuel maintenance tech. You’re exactly what this ship needs here, so let’s go maintain some fuel, tech.”
STORY: Millie, Alejo, what’s happening in the cargo bay?
MILLICENT: Millie is not exactly cackling, but there is some non-comforting laughter as she wrenches the beam the fuel cell is attached to free, hopefully dropping the fuel cell into the Faraday cage
STORY: Millie, you’re thinking about this wrong
STORY: It’s not attached to anything – it’s traveling forward, and pulling the ship with it
ALEJO: Alejo is not laughing.
STORY: You need to push the ship away from the fuel cell
MILLICENT: I need some help, because I don’t really get how I move the ship
STORY: Imagine a purse hanging from your finger
STORY: You lift your finger and the purse moves up
STORY: That’s happening now, but the purse is your ship and your finger is the fuel cell.
MILLICENT: Okay. A very nice visual image.
MILLICENT: Does not help me at all figure out how to get the fuel cell into the Faraday cage or picture what “move the ship” means in this context.
STORY: If you’re in the purse, you can’t move the finger down, but if you could somehow move the purse up, you’d be loose from the finger
MILLICENT: Still
TUELLER: Don’t fight the pull, fly into it.
ALEJO: Alejo gets the Faraday cage positioned below the device. He looks to Millie with a knowing glance. “If we roll the ship? And accelerate?”
MILLICENT: Mille gives directions to accelerate into the pull
TUELLER: It’s space. If we fire the engines, we’ll go faster than it.
MILLICENT: And roll
MILLICENT: I thought we wouldn’t? But maybe I understood badly
MILLICENT: I am really the worst person to be in Science Chair
STORY: You’re not pointed in the direction that the engines go. If you turn them on, you’ll probably just rip a hole in the ship.
TUELLER: It’s half fake science and half real science.
ALEJO: —Well shit.
STORY: Think of it this way, if you grabbed Alejo’s jacket and pushed really hard against the back wall, like with enough force to lift the ship, you’d free the fuel cell
MILLICENT: Okay, so turning into the pull doesn’t work?
STORY: No, the ship can’t pilot itself anymore
MILLICENT: And accelerating so it floats free for a second?
STORY: You can’t accelerate at all, you’re being dragged backwards
MILLICENT: We can’t turn into that?
STORY: Don’t think about the ship’s engines as an element here
STORY: They’re not functioning and you’re being dragged
MILLICENT: I think I’ve misunderstood from the start
MILLICENT: But that doesn’t mean I’m any closer to understanding
STORY: The ship was originally pointed forward
STORY: then Noma tried to change course and it went badly
STORY: now the ship isn’t flying, it’s just being dragged along backwards as the fuel cell continues its course.
ALEJO: — Just so that I have the picture of this, this thing is lodged in the rear cargo bay door, yes? So we are being pulled, in reverse.
MILLICENT: So if we back up fast enough it should float?
STORY: It’s not even lodged, it’s just pushing.
STORY: Sure
STORY: Yes.
MILLICENT: Okay, can I ask Noma to do that?
STORY: Don’t ask me
STORY: Just try things
MILLICENT: “Noma, back up to match the pull of the fuel cell plus 15%, please.”
STORY: There’s a pause, which is unusual for Noma.
STORY: “Rear thrusters cannot accommodate, Millie, I’m sorry.”
STORY: “Our attitude stabilizers broke with the initial error. We’re dead in the water.”
MILLICENT: “Neat!”
STORY: “I think so, yes. An interesting problem.”
STORY: “What is the goal of increasing our velocity?”
MILLICENT: “Freeing the fuel cell so it can be collected into a Faraday cage”
ALEJO: “Yeah, puzzles are so fun. But this one is going to kill us.” Alejo is fidgeting with the cage and the cell.
STORY: “Could you please activate the camera on your suit and point it towards the issue, Millie?”
MILLICENT: Millie does so
STORY: The ship shudders again as you feel the stabilizers loosen and wobble.
ALEJO: Alejo braces himself, warily.
ALEJO: But he positions the Faraday cage so that he can slip it around the device, should any room appear around it.
STORY: And then you’re steady again and Noma’s on the intercom.
STORY: “Thank you Millie. May I suggest a solution?”
MILLICENT: “Please!”
ALEJO: “For the love of stars, yes,” Alejo adds almost immediately.
STORY: “The issue does not appear to be that the fuel cell is stuck anywhere, though it has visibly damaged the bay door.”
STORY: “It still appears that it would easily be freed from Mr. Soto’s jacket should we simply move the ship away from it.”
ALEJO: “How do we move if we have no attitude stabilizers or engines?”
STORY: “Push the ship.”
ALEJO: Alejo looks around, as if seeing if he could put on a suit and push. “With what?” He says this more to himself than to anyone in particular. “Is there something that we can fire — a probe or something — that will give us a thrust? Blow an airlock?”
MILLICENT: “Oh! I could eject an explosive!”
ALEJO: “Out the front, the explosion would push us?” Alejo nods.
STORY: “A good idea, Millie. I can turn off the artificial gravity to add to our buoyancy.”
ALEJO: “Bounce house time, without the bounce.” Alejo says before getting on coms to warn the crew of the impending loss of gravity.
STORY: Tueller, you hear an announcement come over the intercoms. “Attention Peregrine crew, please secure yourselves to any nearby surface, we will be losing gravity in three seconds.”
MILLICENT: Millie builds a small explosive. She asks Noma to increase shields toward the airlock she indicates and turn off inertial dampners entirely..
MILLICENT: Then she expels the explosive from an airlock and blows it to push the ship
STORY: Alejo, Millie, have you ever been in microgravity?
ALEJO: Alejo then positions himself to “catch” the device in the Faraday cage.
MILLICENT: I think Millie did a weekend prep course
ALEJO: Alejo has been, in his training.
ALEJO: Though it was some time ago.
TUELLER: “Oh Loll, we’re going for a ride. Hold on.” Tueller holds on to her and then holds onto the straps spaced out on the hallway.
TUELLER: —Alejo, the Ya’Makasi training involves some microgravity work, definitely.
STORY: Ok, everyone Face Adversity + Physique please to see how y’all do with the sudden loss of gravity.
MILLICENT: 5
MILLICENT: 2+4-1
ALEJO: 3+6=9+1 = 10
TUELLER: Roll(2d6)+2:
6,5,+2
Total:13
ALEJO: —Boom!
MILLICENT: —haha nice
TUELLER: Boom goes the improvised explosive device.
STORY: Tueller, you quite easily keep yourself and Loll safe, and take the opportunity to fly the two of you rather smoothly the rest of the way to the engine room.
STORY: Millie, what goes wrong with your plan?
MILLICENT: I think the bomb goes outside the airlock and explodes a little late. So Millie is unlooping from her handhold and taking a look around when it blows
STORY: And since there’s no gravity to hold you in place, when the ship is propelled forward, you get knocked in the head as it accelerates.
STORY: Brace for Impact please!
MILLICENT: 8
MILLICENT: 5+3
STORY: You take a second Minor injury, which because you haven’t rested up your butt compounds into a Major – let’s say a concussion. You’re briefly knocked out.
MILLICENT: Okay
STORY: Alejo, the fuel cell comes away from the hull and your jacket begins to float aimlessly around the cargo bay. You can catch it in place and start trying to figure out how to move the ship around it, but you catch sight of Millie on the other side of the bay, by the airlock, being knocked in the head with a bulkhead and passing out. What do you do?
ALEJO: “Millie!” Alejo shouts, “You alright?” As he does, however, he grabs the cage and gives Noma instructions on how to move the ship so that he can get the cage around it. He does this as quickly as he can. And he adds: “Noma, don’t turn on the gravity until I have Millie safe in hand. She’s hurt. Don’t want her to fall.”
STORY: This message has been removed.
ALEJO: This message has been removed.
STORY: This message has been removed.
ALEJO: This message has been removed.
TUELLER: —brb
STORY: The ship can’t move! I’m so confused
ALEJO: — I’m confused too. In your message, you say “figure out how to move the ship around it” so . . .
STORY: The ship can’t move itself
ALEJO: — I thought that accelerating the ship would free the device for a brief moment.
STORY: It did!
STORY: But the thrusters are still not able to be used for this
ALEJO: — So then, as my original narrative suggestion attempted, Alejo puts the cage around it as quickly as possible and snaps it shut.
STORY: The fuel cell is, from your perspective, floating in the middle of the cargo bay
STORY: Yes, you did that
STORY: it’s still floating in the middle of the cargo bay and you have to get it upstairs
STORY: since you can’t move it off its trajectory, you have to move the ship around it
STORY: and since your thrusters are down you have to find some other way to move the ship
ALEJO: — So the Faraday cage does not stop it from pulling. I see.
MILLICENT: Like https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Round_maze.jpg/1200px-Round_maze.jpg
STORY: Right, it doesn’t change anything about the trajectory
ALEJO: — So what’s the point of the Faraday cage.
MILLICENT: —good question
STORY: I’m not sure anyone asked T’chololl
ALEJO: — Okay. Well, then I suppose I hope that Millie made more explosives! 🙂
STORY: Let me make a suggestion
ALEJO: — Yes Please!
STORY: Think of this like being in a boat near a dock. You can’t move the dock by pushing it
STORY: but you can move the boat
STORY: The fuel cell is the dock
STORY: you’ve dislodged yourself from the dock, now you’re in the water
ALEJO: Okay. So here’s the plan. We’re gonna blow airlocks, a little bit, all over the ship to steer the ship around.
STORY: Don’t do that yet
STORY: just push the fuel cell
ALEJO: — Okay. I’ll do that. But I thought that the cell was the dock?
MILLICENT: —I’m so confused
STORY: Right
STORY: you push against the dock and the boat moves
MILLICENT: —so we can push off the fuel cell to move the ship?
STORY: Yes.
ALEJO: — But unlike a boat, I don’t have any leverage on the ship, do I?
STORY: Now that it’s not stuck up against the wall anymore
STORY: You do if you’re bracing against it
MILLICENT: —okay, well Millie’s asleep anyway
ALEJO: Alejo jumps into Millie’s EVA and braces himself against one of the support beams of the ship with one of its arms and puts another around the device, leveraging the device to literally pull the ship around it.
ALEJO: — Yes?
TUELLER: —Just brace and push.
STORY: Ok! Give me Face Adversity + Mettle please
ALEJO: 5+4=9+2 = 11
STORY: Tell me about how it goes and where you direct it!
MILLICENT: —ah yeah
ALEJO: — Haha.
ALEJO: The Canary is stretched oddly in the zero G, one hand grasping a support beam of the ship and one the device. Slowly, the ship spins around the device and Alejo is able to guide the ship so that the device is now at the stairway leading to the engineering bay. He then shifts positions and continues leveraging the ship against the device, effectively dragging the ship over the device until the ship’s engine bay is now positioned around the device.
ALEJO: “Hi.” Alejo says casually to Tueller.
STORY: Tueller and T’chololl are there, ready for its arrival. T’chololl nods when you approach.
TUELLER: Tueller and Loll are hanging out in the engine bay, floating with Tueller casually with his arm around her, with one hand on a railing.
TUELLER: “What kept you?”
STORY: “We’ll need to power down the engine and open it so I can work. Tell your crew to warm themselves.”
ALEJO: “Oh, you know. Just space physics.”
TUELLER: “You need anything, Loll?”
ALEJO: Alejo gives another warning to the crew, telling them to bundle up.
STORY: “Where is your mechanic? She’ll need to assemble a control moment gyro as close to this bay as possible to compensate for the core object.”
ALEJO: This message has been removed.
STORY: This message has been removed.
TUELLER: —Think she probalby means Millie.
ALEJO: “I need to get back to Millie. She’s down.”
MILLICENT: —haha sorry suckas Millie in dreamland
STORY: T’chololl narrows her eyebrows. “Disappointing. We have little time. Please awaken her.”
ALEJO: “Tariq? Jenny? Jac? Someone? Please retrieve Millie. She’s knocked out up front. Please hurry.” Alejo is getting out of the Canary.
ALEJO: “I assume here will do?” He asks T’chololl.
TUELLER: “I got her. Assist Lolly here.”
TUELLER: Tueller shoots off to the bay.
ALEJO: Referring to the device.
STORY: Tueller, when you go downstairs, you find Tariq and Kahn trying to examine Millie. “What happened to her?”
STORY: Tariq’s holding a compress on her head. “Why was she alone?”
TUELLER: “Don’t know. Not my call.”
STORY: “What the hell is with you people?”
TUELLER: That’s Tariq saying that?
STORY: Kahn shakes his head but doesn’t comment, just holds Millie with one arm and braces against the bulkheads with the other and his legs to hold them stable.
STORY: It was.
TUELLER: “You’re going to watch your tone with me.” It’s not a question. Just a statement.
STORY: Tariq looks angry. Through gritted teeth: “Can you hold this against her head, please.”
TUELLER: “Absolutely.”
TUELLER: “I will do that.”
STORY: Tariq opens Millie’s eyes, shining a light in them to examine her pupillary response. Millie, the light wakes you up. Your head hurts SUPER bad. You’re Clumsy until you receive medical treatment.
MILLICENT: Millie blinks
MILLICENT: “Please stop that.”
TUELLER: “No rest for the weary, Doc. Lolly needs a hand. I’ll help you down there.”
STORY: Tariq tries to object. “Jesus. Dr. Breedlove, you’re concussed. Please –”
STORY: Kahn shakes his head and he stops.
MILLICENT: “Just a moment, Tueller. My head aches abominably.”
MILLICENT: “Not now, Tariq.”
MILLICENT: “My vision is somewhat blurry. Ringing tone in the ear.”
TUELLER: “Of course. It’s just that we have certain things that need doing so we don’t all die out here in the vastness of space. Take your time.”
MILLICENT: “Add the slight nausea…I’m concussed!”
MILLICENT: “I have a concussion!”
TUELLER: Tueller takes a moment to look unblinkingly at Tariq.
MILLICENT: “Oh, how novel!”
TUELLER: “You are. You should not go back to sleep for awhile, which is helpful.”
MILLICENT: “Have you ever been concussed, Tueller?”
MILLICENT: “It’s.”
TUELLER: “Oh yes. When my ship lost gravity as we were engaged in a boarding action.”
TUELLER: “It was, as you say, very exciting.”
MILLICENT: “Nah.” Millie makes a swallowing sound. “Naaaaaugh. Oh that is positively disgunting!”
TUELLER: “Threw up inside my armor.”
MILLICENT: “Yes, you know I think I might ‘lose my lunch’ as well!”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles weakly.
TUELLER: “Boarding armor is built for it. Cycles it out as waste. The smell doesn’t clear, though.”
MILLICENT: “That’s unfortunate, perhaps it could use an air purifier…”
TUELLER: “If you must throw up, please remember we are in null G right now. It’s a bit of a mess. Give me a head’s up first.”
STORY: Kahn releases Millie from his grip under her arms, then steadies her by holding one of her wrists.
STORY: “Are you steady?” he asks her.
MILLICENT: “If I taste iron, Mr. Ya’Makasi, you’ll be the first to know.”
TUELLER: “Excellent.”
MILLICENT: “Oh. Good question, Tariq. Fairly?”
STORY: “I’m Kahn.”
MILLICENT: “Then no, not very.”
MILLICENT: “But I can walk!” With great dignity.
STORY: — do we want to swoosh here or go a bit late to solve this engine problem?
MILLICENT: She does so slowly
MILLICENT: —let’s clear the table for next time
STORY: Tariq looks exasperated. “We’re in microgravity, Dr. Breedlove.”
STORY: “No one can walk.”
TUELLER: —Or, if the engine explodes, clear out so we can start afresh.
STORY: “You’re just pedaling your feet.”
MILLICENT: “Can someone drag me to the science emergency soon, please?”
TUELLER: “Yes, doc. Grab ahold.”
MILLICENT: “This doesn’t feel dignified.”
STORY: Kahn grabs your wrist rather roughly. “Where to.”
TUELLER: “Engineering. Come with me.”
MILLICENT: “Of course! Lead the way.”
TUELLER: Tueller flies from wall to wall like he was born in space, stopping frequently to make sure you can all keep up.
STORY: Kahn drags you to engineering, depositing you there with less care than you probably need. He maneuvers you to a strap near the wall, then lets go and heads back downstairs.
TUELLER: “Doc. Loll. Do your thing, please. I’m at your bidding.”
STORY: T’chololl explains. “I can make the modifications to the pulse drive once we power it off, but you’ll need to assemble and ready a control moment gyro here,” she points to a space she had Alejo clear while they were waiting, “and activate it once we power back up.”
ALEJO: “Hi Doc. Glad to see you up and around. Sorry for leaving you . . . hanging around.” Alejo says this sweetly with a smile.
STORY: “We’ll also need something to compensate for our distance to the nearest star system. And the whole assembly needs to be caged, to reduce the risk of the ship blowing up.”
MILLICENT: “Oh.” Millie blinks. “Of course! A control moment gyro.”
MILLICENT: “Ah.”
STORY: “This was all theoretical, work above my class, but there were scientists working on a… I read about the metaphor you humans use for the technology. You don’t know whether something is in a box?”
MILLICENT: “Someone! Bring me the y-fractured bracing beams in the science lab. They’re grey, two circular holes on each side. The green magnaspanner and a Phillip’s head screwdriver.”
TUELLER: To Loll. “A booby trap?”
MILLICENT: To Loll, “A cat!”
MILLICENT: “We use a cat.”
STORY: “We need to keep the trirubidium from knowing whether it is in the box. Or how far it is from a star.”
ALEJO: Alejo goes to get the requested beams.
STORY: “I do not see how a cat will help us, though I am quite hungry, thank you for the offer.”
MILLICENT: “The cat is dead or not based on perceived observation.”
MILLICENT: “It’s how we relate to the uncertainty principle.”
MILLICENT: “OH”
ALEJO: Alejo moves quickly and gets back with them in as short a time as possible.
MILLICENT: “We’re going to collapse the waveform uncertainty that the tribornaturum is reading!”
MILLICENT: “Tribornaturum is definitely not right.”
STORY: “Yes. On Mincory we have huge magnetic torquers, dozens of meters high, to account for the distance change from your elliptical orbit.”
MILLICENT: “Tribbyhagglebottom”
STORY: “Tribornaturum is not right.”
STORY: “Please focus, mechanic.”
STORY: She looks to Tueller. “Captain, please make your mechanic focus.”
MILLICENT: “I am as focused as I am able to focus currently.”
ALEJO: Alejo looks puzzled at both parts of that sentence.
STORY: “I need her to build a quantum magnetic torquer and she insists on pronouncing the chemicals wrong.”
MILLICENT: “I taste iron.
MILLICENT: “I TASTE IRON GET ME A BUCKET”
STORY: “And she offered me a cat and has not brought me one.”
TUELLER: ….
TUELLER: Tueller comes over with a sack he picked up for this eventuality.
MILLICENT: Millie vomits, shakes her head.
MILLICENT: “Where are those beams?”
TUELLER: “Here, Doc. Into this, and seal it up once you’re done.”
TUELLER: “Remember your Newton and watch out for splashback.”
ALEJO: Alejo waits until she’s done. “I’ve got them.” He floats over to her with the beams.
MILLICENT: Millie puts together the quantum magnetic torquer
TUELLER: Tueller keeps a hand on Millie so she doesn’t drift off while throwing up.
STORY: “As I was saying. You could theoretically miniaturize the torquers were you to suspend them in a quantum state.”
STORY: Millie, Face Adversity + Expertise pls
TUELLER: This is about as tender as Tueller’s ever been towards Miillie
MILLICENT: hahaha
MILLICENT: 6+5+2=13
TUELLER: Tueller’s been where she’s been.
STORY: Oh phew. Tell us about the scene we get to watch where somehow vomiting was really refreshing and you fix everything.
ALEJO: — Shit, torquer it up.
STORY: T’chololl isn’t moving very quickly, but she’ll be in the background making modifications to your pulse drive.
STORY: Tueller and Alejo, you’re both on keeping everyone warm duty. I imagine there are a lot of blankets. Someone finds a welding torch and holds it up as a suggestion that is met with a round of “NO!”s from T’chololl and Millie, who remind you that you are working with a FUEL CELL
STORY: T’chololl shuts down the engine and you find out how quickly the ship loses heat.
MILLICENT: Millie drifts a bit upside down and constructs a whole thing. It’s a real Millie design, with a glowing core and everything. She’s about to set it in motion and Loll gestures and everyone works to turn it rightside up before gravity reasserts itself.
STORY: It’s quicker than any of you would like. Millie, you better work fast.
TUELLER: —Spaceships don’t actually lose heat quickly in space.
TUELLER: —In fiction, they do, of course. Just not in reality.
STORY: — maybe you’ve got a leaky spaceship
STORY: It’s a montage, I’d imagine.
TUELLER: Tueller pulls Millie down so she’s actually on the ground herself.
STORY: By the end, there’s a lot less space in the engineering room, plus two new assemblys of equipment none of you outside Millie or T’chololl could ever hope to understand the function of.
STORY: Noma comes on the intercom. “Shall I reactivate the engine?”
TUELLER: “ppppppplease soon.”
MILLICENT: It looks like Iron Man fucked a Plymouth Belvedere
TUELLER: —I believe he has.
MILLICENT: —he’s only human
STORY: T’chololl nods. “Ready.”
TUELLER: Tueller holds Millie on the ground, ready for her to crumble when gravity’s back on.
MILLICENT: Millie nods, sways, and is steadied by a friendly hand. “Ready”
TUELLER: He remembers how hard this can be.
ALEJO: Alejo has been moving through the crew, trying to keep everyone’s spirits up and keep everyone as warm as possible. He braces himself now and warns everyone.
STORY: The engine spins to life, and Millie, your two systems light up, one, two.
STORY: Everything burns pretty brightly for a moment, giving off some very desired heat.
STORY: The gravity comes back on, and T’chololl falls to the ground.
STORY: She looks up. “There. Simple enough.” And passes out.