TUELLER: “Meet a copy of Alejo who didn’t die.”
STORY: Ryo stands, tilting his head. After a long beat. “Huh.”
ALEJO: Alejo waves.
STORY: He extends his nonbroken hand.
TUELLER: “He’s the original, as original as any of us are. We’ll all copies, if we’ve gone through a relay.”
TUELLER: “I think I’m probably Tueller 23.”
ALEJO: Alejo shakes it. “I’m still Alejo. So, we’ve met.”
STORY: “That’s incredibly upsetting. Sorry about your, uh. Nose.”
STORY: All right! You’re leaving. Calixta is still in a med bay, but otherwise you’re free to do as you please. The station has been turned over to Tux’s control and he’s working on solving whatever problems you are leaving behind.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie helps however she can to fake the catastrophic failure records Tux will need to save his ass from the Collective
STORY: Let’s make that a Face Adversity + Interface.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 10 + 2 = 12
STORY: Millie spends a few hours helping Tux fabricate records that indicate some kind of mutiny and catastrophic failure.
STORY: Tueller, Alejo, what are you doing?
TUELLER: Tueller retrieves the boarding armor we brought aboard in case we have to go out the door, and looks for extra set for Alejo.
ALEJO: Alejo is getting Calixta ready to move.
TUELLER: He knows Alejo’s size
STORY: You have two sets, one that fits you and one that fits any normal sized human.
TUELLER: By sets you mean an outfit for one person?
STORY: Yes
TUELLER: We came with three; we lose one?
STORY: You came with two; Calixta wasn’t wearing any.
TUELLER: Okay.
TUELLER: Tueller retrieves the two.
STORY: Do you search alone for it, or are you asking around?
TUELLER: Going to the room where we hid it first, alone.
STORY: Yeah, you can retrieve the two you know about, I’m saying are you searching for additional vac suits alone?
TUELLER: Ahhhh, yes.
STORY: Okay, you can’t find anything, which is not that surprising, this station isn’t built expecting anyone to ever leave.
STORY: Alejo, what do you do to get Calixta ready?
ALEJO: Pack up any of her personal stuff, though there probably isn’t much. Then get her into a wheel chair or a rolling gurney. She’s not hooked up to any necessary medical equipment, is she?
STORY: She’s on an IV and comatose, so it may be unsafe to put her in a chair.
ALEJO: Then a gurney. And Alejo packs up additional IV bags from the supply.
STORY: You spend some time looking around and you aren’t able to find any kind of a gurney or a wheelchair, and realize that this base was built without any interest in the health of its workers – if someone gets sick, you just dump them and grab another clone. There’s no medical equipment to speak of at all, which is why it’s been so dicey with Calixta.
ALEJO: Alejo frowns and puts his head against the wall. He stands and looks over Calixta in bed. “Tueller might just have to carry you.” Then, he heads to the nearest galley to see if he can find a rolling food cart or something that he could make would to transport Calixta as safely as possible.
STORY: Let’s do Assessment + Mettle for that!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 4 + 2 = 6
STORY: Ooof. You search high and low and can’t find anything that could support an adult on wheels other than an office chair with two sticky wheels.
STORY: Time to escape?
ALEJO: “The fuck they move anything?” He heads back to Calixta’s room.
TUELLER: Time to try, at least.
ALEJO: Yup.
STORY: All right! Walk me through the plan, adventurers.
TUELLER: The best case scenario is that we use the radio Noma set up, Peregrine is out there, they can attach to the airlock where we came in, and we just get on there. Right?
TUELLER: —I assume that works and we’re back on Peregrine and everything’s happy, right?
MILLICENT: That’s right.
ALEJO: Tueller carrying Calixta while Alejo follows with the IV equipment in tow.
MILLICENT: 1. Collect all our crew and gear
MILLICENT: 2. Go to airlock and contact Peregrine to pick us up.
MILLICENT: 3. Get picked up.
MILLICENT: 4. Profit.
STORY: Okay. 1 is Calixta and the armor Tueller just got, correct? Anything else?
TUELLER: Tueller makes it clear that we have two working suits. One that fits him, one that fits everyone else. We don’t have a seal, Tueller’s going to have to ferry one person across at a time and bring the suit back over and over again.
TUELLER: “Or 2001 it.”
MILLICENT: “A modern day fox, chicken and seeds.”
MILLICENT: “What I’ve always wondered was, why did the farmer travel with a fox?”
TUELLER: “Focus, Doc.”
STORY: For 2, the radio is in your quarters, Millie, and has to be operated there. Also, it’s a wide band radio, so it can’t contact Peregrine specifically, it’ll hit everyone within range, which is a few kilometers, far enough to get everyone in line for the relay.
MILLICENT: haha well shit
TUELLER: “So, me and Noma by the airlock, you and Alejo in the office, make your call, and see who docks.”
MILLICENT: Okay, so Step 1 is to get Tueller and Calixta to the airlock. Step 1.1 is to get Millie and Alejo to Millie’s quarters and use the teapot to contact Peregrine with a somewhat coded message.
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “Good idea.”
TUELLER: “Alejo can escort you back to me and take care of you when things get ugly.” He doesn’t say “if.”
ALEJO: Alejo agrees.
STORY: Tueller, you’re in the airlock with Calixta, Alejo, you’re in Millie’s quarters with her.
STORY: Millie, what do you tell the teapot?
MILLICENT: “Hello, dear. We’re ready for pick up where you dropped us off. See you soon!”
STORY: No response.
MILLICENT: “Hmmmm”
ALEJO: “Simple. I like it.” Alejo stares at the teapot. “We trust this shrink. Right?”
MILLICENT: “I did.”
MILLICENT: Millie hits the comms again. “Once again. Looking for a margarita to pick me up.”
ALEJO: Alejo moves a little closer to Millie, standing side by side. He’s still looking at the teapot. He nods as she says this.
STORY: Tueller, you’re standing in the empty cargo bay, holding Calixta in your arms, when you hear something scrape against the hull behind you. It’s a very faint sound.
MILLICENT: “Tueller’s therapist’s name is Margarita. That’s a pertinent detail.”
TUELLER: From outside?
STORY: Yes. Another scrape.
TUELLER: Tueller goes to look out the porthole.
STORY: There are no portholes!
ALEJO: “That is. Pertinent.” He turns to look at her with a smile.
MILLICENT: Millie smiles. Frowns.
STORY: But when you walk to the hull to see if you can tell where it’s coming from, you are greeted with a banging sound. Bang bang bang.
MILLICENT: To Tueller, “No answer yet.”
TUELLER: Tueller bangs three times back.
TUELLER: “Got some banging here.”
MILLICENT: “Do you have any inside jokes with Dr. Bo-oh. Great!”
STORY: After a pause, the scraping again, this time twice, then another bang.
ALEJO: Alejo perks up. “Good news?”
MILLICENT: “He hears a bang at the airlock.”
MILLICENT: “Sounds promising.”
STORY: What you know about this airlock is that it has a special docking mechanism that is nonstandard, so it’s impossible for anything but the dragon ships and the Peregrine (which you modded for this purpose) to make a seal.
STORY: Otherwise, though, an airlock is just a portal that can open and close. It’s hull on the other side.
TUELLER: Tueller closes the door to the airlock, checks his and Noma’s suit, and goes and flips the switch that allows the connection to go forward.
TUELLER: He gently sets Noma off to the side, and stands in the middle, as both a target and in preparation.
STORY: The banging and scraping is continuing, Tueller, without any pattern that you can tell.
STORY: You can tell from the console that there’s no ship docked on the other side, so the door won’t open.
TUELLER: Comms: “No ship out there. Just banging and scraping.”
MILLICENT: “Huh. Well, that doesn’t sound like us or them. You’re the man in the room, what’s your call?”
STORY: Bang scrape bang.
STORY: Bang.
STORY: Scrape bang scrape bang.
STORY: Scrape bang bang.
ALEJO: “Just got less promising, huh.”
TUELLER: “I can’t open the door through standard mechanisms.”
TUELLER: “Alejo, you know Morse code?”
MILLICENT: “He says no ship’s docked, it’s just scraping. He’s asking if you know Morse code.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods.
STORY: Bang bang bang bang.
STORY: Bang scrape
STORY: Bang scrape bang bang
STORY: Srrrrraaape.
MILLICENT: Comms: “He does.”
TUELLER: “Okay, well, try this. Dot dot dot dot. Dot Dash. Dot Dash Dot Dot. Dash.”
TUELLER: “I can’t remember before that.”
STORY: The banging goes on, Tueller, how’s your memory?
MILLICENT: “Salt?”
TUELLER: Pretty good!
MILLICENT: .–. . .–. .–. . .-.
MILLICENT: “Hang on, that’s halt.”
MILLICENT: “Three dots is salt. Four is halt.”
MILLICENT: “It’s an easy mistake.”
STORY: Okay! You relay the next word – dash, dot dash dot, dot dash, dash dot, dot dot dot, dash dash, dot dot, dash
MILLICENT: “Transmit”
TUELLER: “Halt transmition?”
MILLICENT: Oh hey actually Henry do you want to do the translation?
MILLICENT: “Yeah, I think we’re going to meet you down there.”
ALEJO: “You know morse code too. I’m impressed.” Alejo gives her a cheeky smile.
MILLICENT: “Harder to catch notes in class if you didn’t use tablets or paper.”
MILLICENT: Millie grins. “Come on, we’ve got a mystery to solve.”
MILLICENT: She heads for the exit.
ALEJO: Alejo leads the way, making sure that they stay out of sight on the journey.
ALEJO: Once there, he hears the rest of the message, which repeats.
ALEJO: “Okay, the full message: ‘msg recd halt transmit stop pickup 0600 stop ready spacewalk stop.’”
TUELLER: “Great except we don’t have a clock.”
ALEJO: “Ready spacewalk. Ugh. That’s also a problem.”
TUELLER: “‘Open the pod bay doors, Hal.’ I was kidding earlier.”
MILLICENT: “Well, I guess we can ferry back and forth.”
TUELLER: “If.”
TUELLER: “I don’t even know what the “If” is, actually.”
ALEJO: “If we figure out when 0600 is so we don’t miss our ride.”
TUELLER: “You could just ask ’what time is it now?”
TUELLER: “Also, ‘not enough suits.’”
TUELLER: “Seems like pertinent info for our…guests to know.”
MILLICENT: “Pretty sure they said halt transmit for a reason.”
TUELLER: “Halt the transmission. But they’re right there, and they know morse code, as do we.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t want to draw more attention to ourselves than necessary, especially with the Collective drawing down on us.”
MILLICENT: “Good idea!”
MILLICENT: “Give them our staccato message, Mr. Soto.”
MILLICENT: ( -. — / -.-. .-.. — -.-. -.- / — .. … … .. -. –. / ..— / … ..- .. – … )
ALEJO: Alejo nods. He knocks out the message.
STORY: It’s a long time, listening to these bangs, but after a few minutes of listening to scrapes and bangs, you have the return message:
STORY: “current time 0430 will have med ready good luck”
ALEJO: Alejo relays the message.
STORY: “Good luck with what?”
STORY: You all turn to find Antonia Conrad standing in the doorway, head cocked curiously.
ALEJO: “Fuck.” Alejo mutters and then turns with a big smile. “Hi!”
STORY: She takes a step into the room, pointing generally at the hull. “Is… someone out there?”
STORY: “Epaphus, why do you have boarding armor on?”
MILLICENT: Millie closes her eyes and takes a breath.
TUELLER: “Because I dearly hope to get our comatose friend here back to her other self.”
STORY: “What happened to that woman?”
STORY: Her eyes widen and she reaches for her radio.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: “Pshh. Out there?” Alejo takes a step forward. But he is friendly and smiling. If she goes for the radio, he’ll jump at her and try to take it.
STORY: Well, the good news is you’re cybernetically enhanced, so you snatch the walkie out of her hand before she can say anything.
STORY: The bad news is, she’s decided to holler instead.
STORY: “SECURITY! ANYONE! DECK 3 AFT CONTAINER, NOW! SEND BACKUP!”
STORY: She tries to run. What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo stops her, with as little force as he can use to do so. “Just hang on already!”
STORY: Okay, then you’ve got a hand on her wrist and she’s continuing to holler and struggle.
STORY: “DIEGO! EFFINGTON! DECK 3 AFT, NOW!”
ALEJO: “Damn it!” Alejo pulls her into the room and shoves her against the bulkhead, not too gently this time. “Stop!”
MILLICENT: “Antonia. I need you to listen to me. Take a breath and give yourself a second to think.”
STORY: Let’s make that a FA + Physique, Alejo
MILLICENT: Calming down a panicking student
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: ablair01 rolled 8 + 1 = 9
STORY: You shuffle her up against a bulkhead to shake some sense into her, but you’re amped up and do it too hard. Her head slams against a beam and you hear a wet thud. She looks dazed, then touches the back of her head – blood.
STORY: The good news is, she can’t really scream anymore.
STORY: The bad news is you hear footsteps coming down the hallway.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: “Fucker.” Alejo eases her to the ground. He then looks at Tueller to take the blind spot inside the doorway. He goes to the door to address whoever is coming.
TUELLER: Tueller takes a defensive position at the door, shaking his head.
STORY: Where’s Calixta now?
TUELLER: Inside the airlock.
TUELLER: Against the wall, propped up.
STORY: Okay!
STORY: Two more security guards come running through the door, batons drawn. What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie checks out Conrad, see if she’s okay or if she needs medical attention.
ALEJO: “Hi guys!” Alejo steps into the hallway, putting himself between them and the room.
TUELLER: Tueller keeps an eye on Alejo, ready to back him up but letting him take lead.
ALEJO: “We’re all fine here. Just a little misunderstanding. Can we please just take some deep, relaxing breaths.” He steps towards them, blading his body slightly but showing his hands, placatingly.
STORY: Conrad definitely needs medical attention, Millie – your cybernetically enhanced boyfriend got agitated and slammed her too hard against a metal bulkhead. She’s somewhere between a concussion and a cracked skull.
STORY: Diego starts. “Where’s Conrad?”
MILLICENT: Millie starts doing what she can.
ALEJO: “She’s alright. But she probably needs some medical attention, which I definitely want to help her get.”
STORY: “What? What did you do?” They each take a step back, ready to swing those batons.
ALEJO: “There was a mutual startled situation. But, like I said, she’ll be okay. Got a bit of a knock on the head. But can you help me get her to the infirmary. We can clear this up after we make sure she’s alright.”
STORY: Diego looks at his partner. “Get down on your knees, hands behind your back.”
STORY: He looks nervous.
ALEJO: “Diego, right? There’s not time for this cop stuff. And I’m not your enemy. Help me. Don’t fight with me, please.”
ALEJO: “Everyone here wants to help Conrad, first and foremost.”
STORY: He looks upset at you, and points with his baton. “You attacked the captain! Get the fuck on your knees!’
ALEJO: “Bud, you have no idea what happened. And I most certainly did not attack anyone. Can we please just calm down and help your captain?”
ALEJO: He keeps his hands up.
STORY: “LAST WARNING, ON YOUR KNEES NOW!”
ALEJO: Alejo nods.
ALEJO: How close are they?
STORY: One big step and they’re within reach.
TUELLER: —Fuck ’em up, Socrates.
ALEJO: Alejo turns slowly, like he’s going to kneel and then attacks,
TUELLER: Tueller comes out to back him up, but slower, of course, than Alejo can act.
STORY: Alejo! Launch Assault.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 8 + 2 = 10
STORY: Tueller, you step out to help, but there’s no need. Alejo, what have you done by the time Tueller’s ready to help?
ALEJO: Alejo springs forward just as Diego starts to swing, but Alejo dodges to the side, spins Diego into the other guard, grabs Diego’s wrist with the baton and breaks it, taking the baton out of his hand as he does so. He then hits the other guard with the baton before he can recover.
ALEJO: Diego is on the ground and Alejo just touches him with the stun baton to knock him out.
ALEJO: “Fucker fuckety fuck.”
ALEJO: He turns to Tueller. “Conrad going to live?”
TUELLER: “Doc’s looking after her. But these people are understandably upset. We’re leaving them to a shitty fate.”
MILLICENT: “She’ll live, but she’ll have a hell of a headache tomorrow. And potentially math is going to be more difficult for her going forward.”
ALEJO: “Fuck. I did not want it to go down like this.”
MILLICENT: Millie wipes her hands and stands up.
MILLICENT: “Nobody did.”
ALEJO: “I think I broke Diego’s wrist.”
MILLICENT: “But it’s important to remember that we didn’t put ourselves in this position.”
TUELLER: Tueller is silent.
MILLICENT: “We’re not blameless, but I think it’s fair to say we didn’t start this.”
ALEJO: He looks down at Diego. He then kneels and rolls him onto his back, so that he’s not so crunched up, unconscious.
ALEJO: He likewise tries to move the other guard into a less awkwardly knocked out position.
TUELLER: “Let’s get them out of the hallway.” Tueller gently picks up Diego and takes him to the nearby bathroom.
ALEJO: Alejo drags the other guard, with a lot more effort, to the same bathroom.
TUELLER: “And Conrad.”
TUELLER: Tueller goes back to bring her along. “Don’t want her flying out the airlock.”
ALEJO: “Sorry. I know you and Diego were mates.”
TUELLER: Tueller doesn’t answer.
TUELLER: “Always hated the trolley problem,” he says eventually.
ALEJO: Alejo narrows his eyes, pretending to thoughtfully agree. “I think I know what you mean.” He smiles softly.
MILLICENT: “We should lock them up.”
MILLICENT: “They’ll probably be awake in half an hour or so
MILLICENT: “Giving them an hour to stop us before our exit window.”
MILLICENT: “So we can’t just leave them in that stall, as picturesque a scene as it makes.”
ALEJO: Alejo examines the bathroom door to see if there’s a way of locking it or sealing it so they can’t get out.
TUELLER: Tueller takes the radios off of everyone’s body.
ALEJO: “We can seal them in.” He points to the locking mechanism. “Hotwire it shut.” He looks around the bathroom to make sure that there are no other ways out. “Room’s safe. For an hour or so, at least.”
ALEJO: “But we’ll need to let Tux know they’re here. They’ll need medical attention. Or at least a lot of fucking aspirin.”
ALEJO: “After we leave.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
MILLICENT: “Good plan.”
TUELLER: “We can use the walkie when our ride comes.”
ALEJO: Alejo pulls the locking pad to the bathroom and starts to hotwire it. He looks over to Millie. “I can do this, but maybe you should double check it.”
MILLICENT: “I’ll check your work, but go ahead.
ALEJO: Alejo fiddles with the job for a few minutes, muttering under his breath quite a lot more than he usually does. After a number of salty curses he stands. “Okay. Should work.”
ALEJO: He is shaking his head. “Can’t believe I . . .” He shakes his head. “Damn it.”
TUELLER: “Just a reminder of the kind of shitty thing we’re doing here.”
ALEJO: “My shitty thing, knocking the head off Conrad. That was not . . . ” He shakes his head some more and goes back to check on Calixta.
MILLICENT: Millie puts a hand on his elbow, squeezes. “Just take a breath, Soto.”
STORY: She’s breathing, but her head’s bobbing and her airway is a little blocked. She should lay on her back.
ALEJO: Alejo pulls her back from the wall and lays her down. He makes sure that she can breath.
ALEJO: He smiles weakly at Millie. And fusses over Calixta some more.
TUELLER: “Doc, you got any suggestions as to something to make a space walk not so bad? Rig together a bubble for us, some sheeting to… I don’t know. Vacuum isn’t good.”
STORY: She’ll be more comfortable that way.
STORY: You’ve got roughly an hour until your spacewalk, Millie, and only two suits.
TUELLER: “I don’t know if you’ve ever been out the door without a suit, but it’s not great. I’d swap this suit with you if I could, but I don’t think it’ll work for you.”
TUELLER: “And I can haul you better than you can haul me.”
MILLICENT: “I think we’ll only make two bad suits if we try to alter these to fit more than one. We’re going to need to rig something for me and Alejo.”
MILLICENT: “Only you will fit in yours and Noma needs the softest ride we can give her.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods.
MILLICENT: Millie rigs together some “pressure suits” from materials available nearby on the station.
STORY: Oh yeah, let’s give that one a try, Millie.
STORY: FA + Expertise please.
TUELLER: Tueller will help out.
MILLICENT: Shower curtains, lots of tape.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 6 + 2 = 8
STORY: Shower curtains and tape are a great idea for an 8!
STORY: Now.
STORY: In order to get this stuff, you and Tueller are going to have to leave the bay, and that risks running into someone who might have questions about what you’re up to. Proceed?
MILLICENT: I think we have to take that risk.
ALEJO: Do it!
STORY: All right! Tueller, Get Involved + Expertise, please
TUELLER: Tueller’s going along, no question about it.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 6 + 2 = 8
STORY: Okay! You dart through the decks, looking for the right materials.
MILLICENT: Millie grabs some tarp that was used to cover up parts of the station that were under repair or construction. She uses mostly tape, but she finds a hot glue gun for the fiddly bits. Her basic design is this: a ziplock bag. They’re going to need to keep themselves from the vacuum of space (hopefully for just a few minutes) and they’re going to need some air. Hopefully if she seals them in just before they jump the air in their suits will last for long enough to get to Peregrine. The suits, aside from a clear plastic shower curtain for the domed head, are an extraordinarily ugly teal with mustard tape striping. They are big, pillowy things that would remind you of the Michelin man if that mascot had survived until the present day.
TUELLER: Bibendum Suit.
MILLICENT: Millie also finds every sweat suit in the surrounding quarters. She starts laying out items by size and starts putting them on in layers. Soon her arms don’t quite touch her sides.
MILLICENT: Alejo has his own pile to put on.
STORY: It’s 0545.
TUELLER: Tueller carries and sorts things and follows Millie’s lead.
STORY: Anything else you do to prepare?
TUELLER: Tueller has a decent sense of time and brings us all back.
MILLICENT: Sure, Millie finds a length of rope and a powers up a magnet and ties it to the end.
MILLICENT: A last-ditch spaceship lasso in case they go off course.
STORY: Good thought.
STORY: You’re finishing off the magnet, maybe ten minutes to go, when you hear an odd sound come in on the intercom. It sounds like the click of a message starting, but then you just hear someone say “o–” and get cut off.
TUELLER: “I’m going to focus on getting Noma across and safe. If I succeed at that, I’ll come back for whoever is struggling.”
MILLICENT: She gives this to Alejo, by the way.
STORY: Alejo, you’re standing near the door and are able to clock that that weird, cut off announcement went to the whole ship; you can hear it echoing for a moment in the corridors.
ALEJO: “Oh crap. New problem. That just went station-wide.” Alejo turns to them all.
MILLICENT: Which takes longer to put on, the boarding armor or the makeshift vacuum suit?
STORY: The makeshift vacuum suit
STORY: You’re basically secured inside it, waiting to tape off the last bit and cut off your air supply.
STORY: You’d have to cut yourself back out to take it off.
TUELLER: Tueller hangs out near the door as their line of defense. He goes to shut it.
MILLICENT: “Tueller, it will take too much time to get out of these suits and back in them. What do you think about disrobing and investigating that call?”
TUELLER: “I’m not leaving here. Our ride is coming, and I don’t want to miss it, and I don’t want to leave you sous vide bags defenseless.”
ALEJO: Alejo struggles in too many layers of sweat suits. “We’re not defenseless!” He raises a very puffy arm.
MILLICENT: “I’m worried about Tux.”
ALEJO: About halfway up his body. “Okay. Maybe. A little.”
TUELLER: “I get what you’re saying, captain, but I’m not leaving Noma, and I’m not leaving you.”
ALEJO: “I think T’s right. We’ve got to focus on getting off this thing. Tux can handle himself.”
MILLICENT: What time did we determine it was?
MILLICENT: 45 minutes until pick up?
TUELLER: It was about 15 minutes before pickup
TUELLER: Depending on how free talking is here, we’ve killed some of that.
MILLICENT: Millie takes a deep breath
MILLICENT: “Okay. I just want to be clear that we’re counting on Tux to save the Sol system.”
MILLICENT: Millie cracks her neck and flexes as much as she can within the suit.
TUELLER: “And ourselves, separately.”
MILLICENT: “Yes, okay. He’s got this.”
MILLICENT: “We’ve got this.”
MILLICENT: “I really hope that’s Noma out there.”
TUELLER: “Or someone, at least, that we can work with it.”
MILLICENT: “Only one way to find out.”
STORY: There’s a few moments of silence, then you hear a scrape along the hull.
STORY: Scrape scrape.
ALEJO: “And I guess it’s time to do just that very thing.”
TUELLER: Tueller goes to prepare to pick up Noma.
STORY: Alejo, your special ears catch something else – footsteps on the deck above you. A lot of them.
STORY: Bang scrape scrape bang.
ALEJO: “We got company.” Alejo looks up.
STORY: Bang.
TUELLER: “What’s being said here?”
STORY: Scrape bang.
STORY: Footsteps coming down the stairs, Alejo. You’ve got a few moments before they’re at the door.
MILLICENT: PN?
ALEJO: Alejo shakes his head, listening, trying to find a pattern. “We’ve got seconds before the cops are here.”
TUELLER: Tueller goes to shut the door and mangle the handle.
TUELLER: So it can’t be reopened. “We’re committed here.”
TUELLER: “I hope.”
ALEJO: Alejo waddles towards the bulkhead, trying to hear what’s outside.
MILLICENT: “Pop that door, Tueller.”
MILLICENT: “That’s Morse for OPEN”
STORY: Tueller, FA + Physique please! Break that door!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 2 + 2 = 4
TUELLER: Yikes.
TUELLER: Tueller fails a physical roll. Badly.
STORY: Oh no! You try, but just end up banging your hand and hurting it.
STORY: And you see a face appear on the other side of the door and start urgently trying to open it.
STORY: You can hold this door closed, but you need to get to the airlock, seal that, and open yourselves to space.
STORY: Or you could stay onboard and let your friends make it out.
TUELLER: Sorry, confused here. I can no longer hold the door closed, and try to make it to the airlock and seal it?
STORY: There are two doors – the one you are holding on to that is between the hallway and the bay, and the one between the bay and the airlock.
STORY: There’s also a third door between the airlock and space, but that one’s sealed until the first airlock door is
TUELLER: Ahhhhh. Okay, Tueller abandons the door and goes to airlock.
STORY: Alejo, do you do that or do you want to know ahead of time whether it’ll work? Because I’m not telling you ?
ALEJO: Alejo waddles towards the airlock. “I’ll open it. Hold that door, T!” He’s moving very, very awkwardly.
TUELLER: “Okay, but hurry. It’s getting ugly and my hand hurts.”
TUELLER:
STORY: Alejo, you get an error – safety protocols prohibit the outer airlock door from being opened without the inner one being sealed. Let’s have FA + Interface to override.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6
STORY: ablair01 rolled 8
STORY: Alejo, you vent the airlock and everything in the room is blown out into space, including Tueller from across the room. And it turns out a 6’8″ man weighs a lot, a discovery you make as he slams into you, knocking you both into the black.
STORY: Millie, you’re able to hold on and keep a hand on Calixta. You look out into space and see a decidedly Not The Peregrine ship waiting for you – it’s… is that the Augusta King?
STORY: Its cargo bay door is open, waiting for you, and you see a small creature standing on her fists at the edge, waiting to give you a hand getting onboard.
STORY: Tueller and Alejo have just collided and gone spinning off into the black. You can get Calixta and yourself safely to the Augusta King, but you won’t be able to help the boys if you do. What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie gets Noma and herself to safely, trusting the boys to do the same.
MILLICENT: Not everybody can be the last one in the door.
ALEJO: Alejo reaches to grab Tueller. Then he uses the lasso Millie rigged up, tossing the magnet end towards the Augusta King or trying.
STORY: Okay! Alejo, let’s have FA + Mettle on that one. Good luck!
STORY: Please don’t die!
ALEJO: Can I use my closeup?
STORY: Yes!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+3
STORY: ablair01 rolled 4 + 3 = 7
TUELLER: Tueller does what he can to hold onto Alejo.
TUELLER: And provide stability and orientation on this.
MILLICENT: —VERY good decision using your close up
TUELLER: If Tueller gets an opportunity, he’s going to vent O2 to push us the right way.
STORY: Roll dem bones, Tueller. Get Involved + Mettle
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 6 + 1 = 7
STORY: Okay. Alejo swings that magnetic lasso to grab on to Calixta’s body armor as Millie jumps towards the Augusta King, leaving everyone connected in a ramshackle chain that wobbles and spins and swings in a wide arc toward the open cargo bay door. Tueller does his best to stabilize everyone, but it’s too wild to fully control. The four of you crash land onboard, Calixta’s unconscious form swiping Figgan’s arms out from under her. Tueller and Millie get tangled up and end up rolling ass over teakettle together across the middle of the deck. Alejo, Tueller rolling over the lasso whips you forward quickly, flinging you across the cargo bay and into the opposite wall with a hard slam.
STORY: The bay door closes and oxygen is pumped back in as the four of you get your wits about you, untangle, and shake the cobwebs from that landing out.
STORY: Alejo, as you come to stand, you just about run out of air in your makeshift suit and need to rip off the helmet part.
MILLICENT: From under Tueller, “Well, I think that went very well, all things considered.”
TUELLER: Tueller lies there for a second, then pops up as steadily as he can, “Noma.”
TUELLER: He goes to Noma, ignoring everyone else, and gingerly picks her up.
TUELLER: “Med bay.”
STORY: “Well! That was bracing!” comes a friendly call from behind you, Alejo. As you turn around, Ryo Hanaka meets your eyes and his face drains of blood in shock. “Holy SHIT!” he shouts as he pops you in the face with a badly closed fist.
TUELLER: “Don’t do that Ryo” Tueller says blandly.
TUELLER: As he pushes past running to med bay
STORY: Alejo, that’s a Minor injury and a broken nose, but also you definitely heard Ryo break his hand, so there’s that.
ALEJO: Alejo stumbles as he tries to get free of the makeshift suit.
ALEJO: “God damn it Ryo!”
ALEJO: Blood is running down his face.
STORY: “HOW??”
MILLICENT: Millie is on the floor, legs up like a turtle, struggling to free herself from her makeshift vac suit
STORY: Ryo looks at Millie. “HOW???”
ALEJO: “Good to see you too, asshole.”
MILLICENT: “Stop punching people.”
STORY: “Fuck you, zombie, Millie, what happened?”
ALEJO: Alejo finally gets a leg free and then falls over.
MILLICENT: “It’s a terrible look.”
ALEJO: “Fucker.”
STORY: “WILL SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHEN HE STOPPED BEING DEAD?”
MILLICENT: “You looked worse punching him than I look FLAILING ON THE FLOOR IN THIS SUIT SOMEONE HELP ME GET OUT OF THIS THING OH LOOK I CAN YELL TOO”
ALEJO: “I’m alright.” He pops back up and gets free of the suit at last.
STORY: Ryo comes over and helps pull you out of the suit.
ALEJO: Alejo goes over to her and helps her out.
STORY: Keeping an eye on Alejo.
MILLICENT: “Boys. Be calm.”
STORY: Okay, so they’re both tugging on one leg each, eyeing each other.
MILLICENT: “As soon as we stabilize my crew we’ll talk. I promise.”
MILLICENT: Millie shakes free of the suit and stands with the help of both men. “Thank you.”
TUELLER: Comms “Where you at Doc, I’m in med lab.”
ALEJO: “Thanks for the ride.” Alejo looks over to Figgan. “Great to see you, Fig!”
STORY: Figgan’s just blankly staring at you, slack-jawed.
MILLICENT: “I’ve got a date though, so no more hitting.” Millie runs to the med lab.
ALEJO: Alejo watches her leave then turns to them. He smiles. “Hi.”
STORY: Millie, Calixta’s stable, she’ll be okay if you can get her in a bed and IV in some fluids. Still no change from before, but this is a better facility, so you can monitor her more closely.
STORY: Figgan inhales, then decides better of it and just keeps staring.
MILLICENT: Millie hooks her up the best she can. Then she looks for Ryo.
STORY: Ryo takes a long, steady breath. “Nice to see you again, Alejo. When was the last time we… oh, I remember, it was when I watched you get shot in the head, would you mind catching us up please.”
ALEJO: “I think I’ll let the Doc explain the science. But . . . the relays make copies of . . . well everything. So . . . Hey T. Wanna help me catch them up?”
TUELLER: Tueller comes back.
TUELLER: “Doc is on Noma duty. Sorry, Ejo, Ryo.”
TUELLER: “This is weird, so I don’t know how much detail you want, but we’re in a world of shit. Where is Peregrine?”
MILLICENT: I guess I’m confused on the timing here. Is Millie gone for a while?
STORY: Nah, a minute or two. Long enough that they were just staring at each other.
STORY: Everybody can be in the same room now.
STORY: Ryo swallows, and takes a few breaths, pointing at Alejo. “Gonna need a follow up on that later, please.”
MILLICENT: “Ryo, is there anyone else on this ship we know or that you trust to be here for this debrief?”
TUELLER: “So, the relays don’t teleport, they copy people, send that as information, and reconstitute people on the other side, and occasionally keep copies for themselves, because the Collective is evil.”
TUELLER: “Meet a copy of Alejo who didn’t die.”
STORY: Ryo stands, tilting his head. After a long beat. “Huh.”
ALEJO: Alejo waves.
STORY: He extends his nonbroken hand.
TUELLER: “He’s the original, as original as any of us are. We’ll all copies, if we’ve gone through a relay.”
TUELLER: “I think I’m probably Tueller 23.”
ALEJO: Alejo shakes it. “I’m still Alejo. So, we’ve met.”
STORY: “That’s incredibly upsetting. Sorry about your, uh. Nose.”
TUELLER: “yes, we’ve had a bit of time to get used to it and it still squicks my shit out.”
STORY: He’s nodding, but clearly working very hard to remain calm.
MILLICENT: “Oh yes, I suppose we’ve got logs on Peregrine that could tell us which version we are.”
ALEJO: Alejo smiles and then grimaces. “No problem. I’d have punched me too.”
MILLICENT: “Speaking of. Where’s my ship?”
STORY: “Yes, about that.”
TUELLER: Tueller leans forward.
STORY: “We’ve had quite an adventure while you were… apparently also having quite an adventure.”
TUELLER: “Our adventure sucked.”
MILLICENT: “Our adventure uncovered the single largest plot perpetrated against sentient life in the galaxy.”
MILLICENT: “Of course it sucked.”
