STORY: Tueller lifts a large rock, but he’s not used to the gravity on this asteroid and fumbles it. Alejo is quick enough to grab on before it crushes Tueller’s foot, but in doing so he creates a small tear in his suit. The rock’s out of the way, but Alejo has to use both hands to hold the hole in his suit closed.
ALEJO: “So, our usual luck seems to be back.”
MILLICENT: Millie comedy wobbles in her suit behind him. “I kind of missed this.”
TUELLER: “Doc, patch that.”
ALEJO: He awkwardly holds his suit together, stumbling a little as he turns around to smile at her.
STORY: Doc, you have no patches on hand. You have to get somewhere with atmo.
TUELLER: “Shit. Doubletime it here.”
ALEJO: Air keeps escaping in little bursts.
TUELLER: Tueller heads towards the security shuttle as fast as he can.
MILLICENT: Millie wobbles behind. “Did you think I wasn’t going to patch it if I had the ability to?”
ALEJO: Alejo limps along, picking up a very funny looking but surprisingly fast rhythm, sort of like someone skipping.
TUELLER: “I don’t know; I don’t count on us having the same responses ever.”
MILLICENT: “Like, I looked at air escaping the spacesuit of the man I love and I’m like, cool, that looks fine. I’m okay with this situation. Gonna just let all that air escape and hey come back here my sarcasm is wasted on your overly toned ass.”
STORY: Tueller’s head cracks rather loudly on the deck when he collapses.
STORY: Calixta doesn’t move.
ALEJO: Alejo looks back and forth at Calixta and then Tueller and finally lets go of Cali’s hand and runs over to Tueller. “Hi, Noma.”
ALEJO: He kneels down and checks the big fellow’s head.
STORY: “Hi, Cinco.”
STORY: This through the intercom as well. Noma’s voice.
MILLICENT: Millie cocks her head to the side.
MILLICENT: “Huh.”
MILLICENT: “Noma, what just happened?
TUELLER: Tueller opens his eyes and just kind of lays there, look up at the ceiling.
STORY: “You plugged me in.”
TUELLER: He waves off Alejo.
MILLICENT: “I plugged you in to your body. Are you appear to be just in the ship again. Is that correct?”
ALEJO: Alejo stands and offers him a pillow, with a wry smile.
STORY: “I’m in the ship. And I’m in my body. The human brain possesses superior processing power to any isolated computer system, so my efficiency has improved significantly.”
STORY: “Please do not unplug me. That would suck.”
MILLICENT: “Okay, right. I’m going to run a quick check on your vitals.” Millie does so.
TUELLER: Tueller props himself up on his elbows and looks at Calixta and sighs.
TUELLER: “Hi Sprite. I missed you.”
STORY: Vitals are stable. Still not very strong.
STORY: “I wasn’t gone long, Tueller.”
TUELLER: “It’s been a minute to me.”
STORY: “I am glad to see we made it off the relay. Are we running?”
ALEJO: Alejo goes back to Calixta’s body and takes her hand again.
MILLICENT: Millie uses a nearby console to try and figure out what the new normal is here while Tueller and Alejo bond with Noma.
ALEJO: “We’re . . . working with someone. Who had stolen Peregrine. We just got her back.”
STORY: “You know that wasn’t my question, Cinco.”
ALEJO: He nods. Then he realizes she can’t see that. “Yeah. I did.”
ALEJO: “We’re buying time before we’re not running anymore.”
ALEJO: “Cali, what happened? To you? Do you remember?”
STORY: “Fried, I think. That onboard AI caught me.”
STORY: “Pretty glad I only lost the body.”
TUELLER: Tueller blanches.
TUELLER: “Lost.”
ALEJO: “Lost?” Alejo swallows hard. “Like . . . do you mean forever?”
STORY: “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not getting any signal from it, am I moving?”
TUELLER: “no.”
TUELLER: Small voice.
MILLICENT: Millie looks up. “Maybe.”
ALEJO: Alejo looks down at Cali’s hand and squeezes again. “Can you feel that?”
MILLICENT: “Remiel really did a number on your wiring. Brain wiring, that is, not the implants. I wish it was the implants, then I could help more.”
MILLICENT: “For now I think the only thing we can do is wait and see how you heal.”
STORY: “I can’t feel anything. Bit of a relief, honestly. I’m thinking much more clearly now.”
TUELLER: “You’re still using the body as a processing source?”
STORY: “Yep. The brain’s working.”
ALEJO: Alejo closes his eyes tightly and sighs.
MILLICENT: “You might never get full use of your body back. Or your brain could remap around the damage. But with the implants and the scarring already there, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and encourage those new routes. They should come naturally, if at all.”
MILLICENT: “How do you feel about that, dear?”
MILLICENT: She puts a hand on the side of the console.
STORY: “Fine by me. A body’s distracting. You don’t even know how hard it is to ignore that input until you’re free of it.”
TUELLER: “Oh, we have some idea.”
STORY: “Honestly I have no idea how I lived with one for so long.”
TUELLER: “It’s not all bad.”
ALEJO: Alejo opens his eyes.
ALEJO: He lets go of Calixta’s hand.
TUELLER: “So.”
TUELLER: “You want to remain a Sprite, then?”
TUELLER: Tueller says that as neutrally as he can.
STORY: “There’s no want, Tueller. I am.”
ALEJO: Alejo shakes his head. He looks ill.
STORY: “I can’t not be.”
MILLICENT: “I must say, I have missed your voice coming through those speakers. It takes me back.”
STORY: The voice coming from the intercom wavers and changes in tone, traveling to a few uncanny valley places that you don’t like before resting on a sound close to, but not quite like, Calixta’s. “I was just considering a change, as it happens.”
TUELLER: Tueller sits on the floor, cross-legged.
MILLICENT: Millie grins up at the ceiling. “Suits you, lovely.”
TUELLER: He looks at the floor for a little, looking smaller than he is.
ALEJO: Alejo’s looked on the edge of screaming something, but that drops away with this voice.
ALEJO: “Cali?”
STORY: “Not quite right. I’ll continue to iterate. Yes, Cinco.”
ALEJO: “I . . . I just didn’t expect this. Cali, you’ve always been such a physical force of nature. I just. . . I’m sorry.”
STORY: “You’ll adapt. You always do.”
ALEJO: Alejo backs up against the wall and slides down it to sit.
STORY: After a long quiet pause, “Should I wait until after the funeral to ask again if we’re running?”
TUELLER: “We’re not running.”
STORY: “Well, fuck.”
TUELLER: “yeah.”
TUELLER: “I’m with you on that, but still.”
MILLICENT: “I’d like to hear this Captain Forsythe wants us to do next.”
MILLICENT: “Our last job might have been pro bono.”
MILLICENT: “I’d like to see what he’s after here, in general and with us.”
STORY: “So you still want me to run interference so you can suicide mission into the Weave.”
TUELLER: “I guess that was a plan, if not the plan.”
MILLICENT: “As for that, I still don’t currently have a better idea. Anyone else?”
TUELLER: “We also have Remiel here, I’d like to remind everyone.”
STORY: “Huh.”
STORY: “That’s interesting.”
TUELLER: Tueller taps the hard drive he’s been keeping around.
TUELLER: “Yeah. We couldn’t kill him. Not even in revenge.”
STORY: “Good boy.”
TUELLER: “Which surprised me too, considering what we’d…lost.”
STORY: “Revenge is meaningless. It wouldn’t help.”
ALEJO: “So, what do you propose doing with him?”
STORY: “Is he secure?”
MILLICENT: “He is.”
TUELLER: “He’s on an unconnected drive, at least.”
STORY: “Then leave him. If you kill him, it adds to your sins once the Collective finds us.”
TUELLER: “And he says he wants to co-exist with us.”
TUELLER: “He’s kind of boring; he lacks your warmth.”
TUELLER: “Such as it is.”
STORY: “I’ve literally never been accused of warmth in either lifetime, Tueller.”
ALEJO: Alejo laughs.
TUELLER: “Now you have.”
TUELLER: “I guess I’m just a notoriously sentimental son of a bitch.”
ALEJO: “That was the first thing she’s said that makes me think that maybe she really is okay.”
TUELLER: Tueller looks at the body in front of them and says nothing.
STORY: “I told you I’m fine, Cinco.”
MILLICENT: “I believe you.”
MILLICENT: “I think the boys are having some difficulty right now.”
ALEJO: Alejo almost rolls his eyes at this, but he catches himself before Millie can see.
TUELLER: “hrmph.”
MILLICENT: “But they’re only used to existing as bodies. Which is unspeakably humanocentric, but understandable.”
TUELLER: Tueller sighs.
STORY: “Well. Nothing like work to get our minds off something. Who’s Forsythe and what do you owe him?”
ALEJO: “Pirate. You’d like him. And he wants something more from us. We helped him with a job, to get Peregrine back. But we don’t know what more he wants yet.”
STORY: “Oooh, pirates. Like the old days. Should be fun. Millie, your tech suit is still in the charger in your quarters, I should be able to join you in a limited capacity.”
MILLICENT: “That’d be nice. Are you sure you want to let Forsythe know about you?”
STORY: “Who says we have to? I’m an advanced virtual assistant you programmed during university.”
MILLICENT: Millie shrugs. “Works for me, if you can pay the part.”
MILLICENT: “But for all I know he’s bugged this place silly. I should have done a sweep before we plugged you in.”
STORY: “Oh, he definitely can’t hear us. I’ve been running the engine at 1.25 average capacity to cover anyone within earshot and I fried all six bugs he had onboard the moment you plugged me in.”
STORY: “I got you, boo.”
MILLICENT: Millie claps, “Of course you did!”
ALEJO: Alejo smiles at this.
TUELLER: Tueller does not.
TUELLER: Tueller does not speak, but points at the body and shrugs, making eye contact with both Alejo and Millie.
MILLICENT: Millie frowns at him.
ALEJO: Alejo nods weakly and shrugs as well. He then frowns back at Millie.
STORY: “That’s a long pause. Are you guys hand signaling? Do you want me to stop listening?”
TUELLER: “Having trouble with words just at the moment.”
ALEJO: “No. Tueller. And I are struggling with this change. Millie does not seem to be.”
ALEJO: “But you don’t need to leave.”
STORY: “Okay. You know I wasn’t really going to anyway.”
TUELLER: “I know, Sprite.”
ALEJO: “I do.”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles.
ALEJO: Alejo tries to gather himself. “We should talk to the pirate king.”
TUELLER: Tueller flashes Millie a look, uncomfortable with her happiness.
TUELLER: “Save the…funeral for another time, then?”
MILLICENT: Millie flashes him one back, fierce.
ALEJO: Alejo raises his hands, uncertain. “I mean, is it a funeral? I . . . I don’t know what the fuck to do with this.”
MILLICENT: “She’s not dead, you ghouls!” Millie throws her hands up.
ALEJO: “It seems more like a . . . coma. Maybe?”
STORY: “It’s a coma. Leave my body, please, I need it to think.”
MILLICENT: “We get what most people don’t get, a chance to interact with their loved one who is in a coma!”
TUELLER: “Okay, let’s take fifteen for me to walk this off and then go meet with our new patron, then.”
TUELLER: “I need to just be for a moment.”
MILLICENT: Millie double checks the numbers everywhere and once she’s sure Noma’s going to be fine in her absence she storms out a different direction. “Some time alone sounds lovely!”
TUELLER: Tueller walks out.
STORY: “You leaving me too, Cinco?”
ALEJO: Alejo watches Millie as she leaves. “No. No I’m not.” He goes back to the bed and takes Calixta’s hand again.
ALEJO: He drags a stool over to sit by her.
STORY: “You know I can’t feel that.”
ALEJO: “Yeah. But I can.”
STORY: That’s a nice end to that scene!
STORY: Want to pick up a bit later when you’re meeting with Forsythe again?
ALEJO: Sounds good to me!
MILLICENT: Yeah!
TUELLER: Yep. Tueller arrives on his own first and just mills around
STORY: Okay, you’re in his office with the big oak desk. He sits behind it, leaning back in a leather chair that you now also figure must be real, and rests his feet on one corner. “Tueller!” He stands, brushing a scuff off the corner of the desk from his boots. “My ma wouldn’t approve, but it’s just so relaxing. Can I get you a drink?”
TUELLER: “Yeah, whatever will be fine. That’s a nice chunk of wood. Earth grown?”
STORY: “Indeed. I won it off a land baron from… I want to say Brittany?”
TUELLER: “You can always tell an original. Must be the gravity.”
TUELLER: “Not fond of the mudballs but they have their advantages.”
STORY: “They certainly do.” He hands you something brown, then offers a clink.
TUELLER: Tueller clinks. He’s making an effort to be sociable but not at full charisma.
TUELLER: “To our friends and enemies.”
TUELLER: He trails off, not knowing how to complete it.
STORY: “Friends and enemies.” He drinks. “Ship how you left it?”
TUELLER: “More or less. Put on a couple of miles in the meantime, and of course, Loll fucked around with the engine to keep it from going hooooooooooha.”
STORY: “That engine. A beauty. Who did the mods, was that your scientist?”
TUELLER: “That’s the Doc. I’m a yeoman when it comes to machines.”
TUELLER: “Experience kilometers wide and a meter deep.”
STORY: “About right for a man with your skill set.”
TUELLER: “What have you heard about my skill set?”
STORY: “That you know a little about a lot, and a lot about one thing.”
TUELLER: Tueller smiles.
STORY: “But if my understanding of current events is up to date, it sounds like you’re not as interested in that one thing anymore?”
TUELLER: “Well, I did just get out of prison, more or less.”
STORY: “Shame.” He puts down his glass as the other two arrive and he waves them in. “I’m gonna need you to fake it.”
STORY: “Everybody ready to talk job two?”
ALEJO: Alejo takes a seat. “Sure. Let’s hear it.”
MILLICENT: Millie comes in and takes a seat. She nods coolly.
TUELLER: Tueller stands, swilling around his drink.
TUELLER: Thinking on what was said to him.
STORY: Forsythe waves a hand and an image comes up on the holoscreen behind him – a gigantic coliseum-style arena, updated for our modern lifestyle in black plastic and chrome, but organized much like the arenas of ancient Earth. Dozens of rows of benches ring the central field, a large turfed flat pockmarked with evidence of weaponry and vehicles.
TUELLER: Tueller coughs.
STORY: He performs another gesture and a series of areas light up, outlining what you realize are the various security measures.
STORY: “Fifty-nine thousand of Sol’s wealthiest in one building, watching our best and brightest fight in blood sport. Barbaric, isn’t it.”
STORY: “…That they should be allowed to keep all that money.”
MILLICENT: “Oh no.”
ALEJO: Alejo tilts his head at the hologram.
TUELLER: “Oh, THAT’S what you need me to fake.”
TUELLER: Tueller drains his glass, sets it down, and crosses his arms, saying no more.
STORY: “Yes, Tueller. The next event is in three days. I’d like you to bring down their security, please. We’ll handle it from there.”
ALEJO: “You’ve got a plan for bringing down the security, as you say?”
STORY: “No, my friend, that’s the plan I need you on. We have a plan for after. I’ll even give you a ride home.”
STORY: “Jac can give you a ride to Euphrosyne. Questions?”
ALEJO: Alejo purses his lips and nods slowly.
MILLICENT: “Can you be more specific about what you mean by “bring down” security?”
MILLICENT: “We won’t kill them.”
STORY: “Oh no, they’re no use to me dead. Make it so I can pay those fifty-nine thousand trillionaires a visit, please.”
TUELLER: “Smash so he can grab.”
STORY: “Precisely. You do have a talent for this, Tueller.”
ALEJO: “Do you have details on the security measures in place, or . . . are we figuring this out ourselves?”
ALEJO: Alejo stands and looks more closely at the holo.
STORY: “The latter, I’m afraid. The proprietors are quite talented at keeping that information out of the hands of people like me and you. But I wish you luck in your research.”
TUELLER: “I’m just glad you’re not asking me to fight in the tournament.”
TUELLER: “Unless that’s part of our plan,” of course.
ALEJO: “Right. Right. Right.” Alejo spins around and looks at Millie and Tueller in turn.
TUELLER: “This seems pretty standard for us.”
MILLICENT: Millie scrunches her nose and turns her head, her version of “eh”
STORY: Forsythe takes his leave and lets you plan.
STORY: What’s the plan?
ALEJO: Alejo looks around the office for whatever Tueller was drinking. When he finds it, he pours himself a glass, Millie a glass, and refills Tueller’s.
STORY: It’s brown! It’s delicious.
TUELLER: 31 Euphrosyne is in the asteroid belt.
MILLICENT: First we investigate!
STORY: Millie, what do you want to find out?
MILLICENT: Millie sips and looks things up.
MILLICENT: What is this? Where is it? What’s the security like? Who gets invited?
MILLICENT: The big heist questions
STORY: Okay! Millie, what is this?
STORY: Tueller, what’s security like?
STORY: Alejo, who gets invited?
STORY: I’ll tell you where it is because Tueller already did: Euphrosyne is a largeish asteroid in the belt.
STORY: There are no known settlements on Euphrosyne given that it’s been privately owned by mining interests for the past hundred years, which you realize is a great cover for running an illegal gladiatorial arena for the ultra-wealthy.
MILLICENT: About sixty years ago there was a video game called Charon’s Test. It was vaguely based on a mythologically inaccurate version of the story of Charon, where souls of the dead were forced to compete to determine who could enter the Elysium Fields and who would linger tortured on the banks of the Styx and Acheron, forever in pain. It was insanely popular and favored high risk high reward moves. It spawned several sequels, none of which landed like the original.
MILLICENT: Fifty years later a particularly enterprising former dentist made a deal with some enterprising mining barons to build a recreation of a generation’s favorite video game using real life gene-tweaked athletes. Now it’s a billion dollar yearly retreat that’s taken over half of Euphrosyne. There are seasonal restaurants and hotels that pop-up and exist for the long weekend of Charon’s Test.
MILLICENT: The fights for the weekend have a larger special effects budget than most major holo studios, but practical effects have recently become crowd favorites. It’s said that Charon’s Test scouts poached the finest athletes from six sports.
MILLICENT: The tournament is based on the video game’s structure. Starting with one on one fights, then two on two, then teams. Finally the best fighters from each round compete in brutal one on one fights again. Costumes are a must.
STORY: Almost all the competitors die, but that’s not the point.
STORY: Who cares about the competitors! It’s about their sponsors.
TUELLER: It’s about the love of the game.
MILLICENT: It’s about glory.
TUELLER: Erde-Maris claims the asteroid belt, but hasn’t done much to develop it at all, so security is handled by a corrupt Erde-Maris capital ship that went AWOL and settled on this large asteroid as a home base. “On leave” Erde-Maris military staffs it from time to time, and they smuggle Erde Maris tech to the asteroid to build it out.
TUELLER: The employed security has military precision dulled by indolence, but they maintain a high level of tech and a reputation for competent violence as a result.
TUELLER: The tech behind the security system is based in a shuttle craft 1 km from the arena that landed and has been built into the rock of the asteroid.
ALEJO: This is a member’s club sort of thing. Full members were originally made up of the system’s industrial elite families—old, old money. The event began as a means of indulging exclusive privilege rather than making more money. So, the original rules for invitations still apply.
ALEJO: Full Members can invite a limited number of “guests” for each event. Every attendee at an event may have up to two security members or attendants, but no more. These days, although the guest list remains exclusive, more and more new money guests are invited so that the robust betting pools become more interesting. Importantly, the Ya’Makasi family has recently become a full member.
STORY: If only you knew a member of that family!
STORY: Okay!
STORY: Forsythe can’t just show up and steal from everyone, there’s let’s say a series of very sophisticated automated defense turrets that will shoot down any unauthorized vehicles that approach the asteroid.
STORY: There are also a lot of wealthy people who will run at the first sign of trouble.
STORY: He would like you to solve the first problem without causing the second.
STORY: What’s the plan, stan?
MILLICENT: I think I’d like to wait to hear what Tueller is willing to suggest
TUELLER: Tueller suggests dropping a rock on the security system. Very fast.
TUELLER: Very very fast.
MILLICENT: “Interesting. Can you think of anything else that might help us get access?”
STORY: The security system has more than one piece! But you can definitely drop a rock on one of the pieces.
ALEJO: “If we take over that shuttle, presumably the security forces take their orders from there as well. Maybe instead of destroying it, we infiltrate it and then clear the guards out with a decoy?”
TUELLER: The hardened shuttle near the arena coordinates that defense, so we need to get into it (without hitting it with a rock), maybe through the tunnels originally used to mount it into the rock and set up the connection to the hardpoints.
MILLICENT: Okay, great!
MILLICENT: Let’s tunnel!
ALEJO: With the goal of getting into the shuttle or breaking the connection?
STORY: You answer that question!
ALEJO: Seize the shuttle!
STORY: Cool!
STORY: Ok can someone summarize the plan for me?
TUELLER: Millie gets old blueprints for the base, we use tunnels that already exist and dig through places that don’t to try to get into the command center, an adapted Erde Maris navy shuttle that’s controlling military hardpoints so our employer can strike at the capitalist pigdogs wrecking the solar system!
MILLICENT: woooo
STORY: Excellent. Millie, do me an Assessment + Expertise to make a tunneling plan please!
TUELLER: Tueller is trying to work on her with these plans with his experience on asteroid.
TUELLER: He might just be getting in her way.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 4 + 2 = 6
STORY: Tueller, go ahead and Get Involved + Expertise
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 5 + 2 = 7
STORY: Millie, you get ahold of a set of plans, but they’re old – and Tueller, you had to use your old name to convince someone to send them to you. They may wonder why you asked, but you tried to move on quickly to small talk.
STORY: You plot out a path that you believe will get you access to the struts at the bottom of the shuttle that hold it in place. You’ll need to go in boarding armor, since it’s exposed to the vacuum. You also need a safe way to land without being caught. Plan for that?
TUELLER: Uh, yeah. Tueller Ya’Makasi is going to the games with his security.
STORY: Excellent!
STORY: Jac acts as pilot again, and it’s another few hours of silence from her. Once you near the asteroid, an automated assistant hails you.
STORY: “Invitation please.”
TUELLER: Tueller sighs and breathes in before clicking on the comms. “Tueller Ya’Makasi. The Ya’Makasi name is my invitation.”
STORY: A pause.
STORY: Tueller, please Face Adversity + Influence! Let’s see if that name of yours still holds water.
TUELLER: I think I’m going to use a Close Up here!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 5 + 1 = 6
TUELLER: FACK.
STORY: Oh my goodness!
TUELLER: —If only Influence weren’t my dump stat.
STORY: The automated voice returns. “No member of the Ya’Makasi family by that name. You will be terminated. Thank you.” The intercom clicks off, and Jac looks back at the three of you with a panicked look.
STORY: “They’re scanning for missile lock!”
ALEJO: “Well shit,” Alejo says calmly and sits, strapping in.
MILLICENT: Ooooh! Automated voice! I’ll slide into the copilot chair next to Jac and try to hack the security protocols on the surface
STORY: FA + Interface please to gain access!
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 7 + 2 = 9
STORY: You’re in, but you’ll be kicked out soon. What do you do?
MILLICENT: Can I add Tueller’s name to the guest list?
STORY: You think you have time for that, yeah.
MILLICENT: I do that!
TUELLER: Tueller goes to the comms again and enunciates more clearly, “TOO-LER Ya’MA-KAH-SI. Look it up you goddamn machine.”
STORY: The intercom comes back on. “Invitation accepted. Welcome, Mr. Ya’Makasi.”
STORY: Jac relaxes.
TUELLER: “T-U-E-L-L…thank you, dammit.”
TUELLER: Comm off. “Please, get us on the ground.”
MILLICENT: Millie leans back and sighs
TUELLER: “Thank you Doc.”
ALEJO: Alejo unstraps. He puts a hand on her shoulder tenderly. “Good save.”
MILLICENT: “We’re even for you getting those plans.”
STORY: Jac nods and takes you in for a landing. She puts her helmet on, preparing to open you to the vacuum. As you disembark, she watches you go sadly. Alejo, you’re the last off and you see her inhale to speak and then think better of it.
TUELLER: Tueller looks back as he’s getting off and nods at her, and continues on.
ALEJO: Alejo meets her eyes for a moment, smiles softly, and nods once as he leaves.
TUELLER: The entire moon is styled like the ancient Romans made it to the asteroid belt. Tueller leads towards the tunnels.
TUELLER: The tunnel is built where a pykrete aqueduct leads into the ground.
TUELLER: Tueller heads in, hoping the others follow.
MILLICENT: Millie follows
ALEJO: Alejo has the rear guard.
STORY: Okay! You head a hundred meters in, all going well, and find a section that has collapsed in. There are small spaces between the rocks here and there, but none big enough to fit Tueller.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: Oh man, ugly choices here.
TUELLER: Tueller tries to move the goddamn rocks.
ALEJO: Alejo leads a hand.
STORY: FA + Physique, Tueller!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 4 + 2 = 6
STORY: OOF.
TUELLER: —Guess I’m playing Jac from here on out
STORY: Alejo, Get Involved + Physique! Lift rocks!
MILLICENT: Come on! Lift those rocks!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: ablair01 rolled 6 + 1 = 7
STORY: Okay. Tueller lifts a large rock, but he’s not used to the gravity on this asteroid and fumbles it. Alejo is quick enough to grab on before it crushes Tueller’s foot, but in doing so he creates a small tear in his suit. The rock’s out of the way, but Alejo has to use both hands to hold the hole in his suit closed.
ALEJO: “So, our usual luck seems to be back.”
MILLICENT: Millie comedy wobbles in her suit behind him. “I kind of missed this.”
TUELLER: “Doc, patch that.”
ALEJO: He awkwardly holds his suit together, stumbling a little as he turns around to smile at her.
STORY: Doc, you have no patches on hand. You have to get somewhere with atmo.
TUELLER: “Shit. Doubletime it here.”
ALEJO: Air keeps escaping in little bursts.
TUELLER: Tueller heads towards the security shuttle as fast as he can.
MILLICENT: Millie wobbles behind. “Did you think I wasn’t going to patch it if I had the ability to?”
ALEJO: Alejo limps along, picking up a very funny looking but surprisingly fast rhythm, sort of like someone skipping.
TUELLER: “I don’t know; I don’t count on us having the same responses ever.”
MILLICENT: “Like, I looked at air escaping the spacesuit of the man I love and I’m like, cool, that looks fine. I’m okay with this situation. Gonna just let all that air escape and hey come back here my sarcasm is wasted on your overly toned ass.”
TUELLER: “You are imagining my ass, these suits are not flattering.”
STORY: “Less toned than usual,” comes a voice in your suit, Millie.
MILLICENT: “I think we’re all aware that you work it too much.”
TUELLER: “You’re picturing the ass on the old me.”
TUELLER: “Io’s ass.”
MILLICENT: “Even now it’s like two pears fighting like rams to show dominance.”
TUELLER: “This ass is too much for you, you’re saying.”
MILLICENT: “Let there be peace, in your ass.”
TUELLER: “You’re one to talk.”
ALEJO: “It’s too much for me.” Alejo skips along.
MILLICENT: “It’s too much for anyone without multiple consciousness to take in.”
MILLICENT: “My ass is compelling, but manageable.”
TUELLER: “You’d need a computer brain to handle my ass.”
STORY: “Millie.”
MILLICENT: “Exactly what I’m saying.”
TUELLER: “To even wrap your mind around it.”
MILLICENT: “Precisely. See things from my point of view, it’s a negative.”
STORY: Millie, the speakers inside your boarding armor squeal with feedback.
TUELLER: “The shuttle is just up ahead.”
STORY: Calixta’s voice comes in sharply. “FOCUS. WE ARE HEISTING.”
TUELLER: “Still with us, Ejo?”
MILLICENT: Millie slaps her helmet. “Quit it.”
TUELLER: “By us I mean me and my ass.”
STORY: By the time you reach the shuttle, Alejo has already knocked out all the security guards.
STORY: He just went bing bing bing like a ping pong machine and knocked everybody’s heads together.
STORY: What now?
TUELLER: “Oh. Good…job Ejo.”
STORY: He’s sort of dusting off his hands and looking for duct tape.
ALEJO: Alejo greets them when they arrive.
TUELLER: “We should talk about my ass more often, if that’s the results it gets.”
ALEJO: “It was inspirational.”
TUELLER: “Well, we have a new flag, then.”
ALEJO: He keeps rifling around. “Seriously! Where’s the damned duct tape.”
MILLICENT: “It’s overly.” Millie shoves a guard out of the chair she needs to sit at the right terminal. “Toned.”
TUELLER: “Standard Erde Maris layout.” Tueller goes over and grabs the duct tape.
MILLICENT: “Eat a donut and sleep in once in a while.”
TUELLER: “Here you go.”
ALEJO: “Thanks.” Alejo takes it and starts patching the hole.
TUELLER: Tueller goes back and forth between watching Alejo repair the suit and Millie work on the system.
TUELLER: “I know you guys are making out, by the way.”
TUELLER: “Or were, at least.”
STORY: Millie, FA + Interface!
TUELLER: “I’m sad neither of you confided in me about it yet.”
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 4 + 2 = 6
ALEJO: “We . . . well. You know, we didn’t. . . .” Alejo gives him a pat on the back. “You’re right. Sorry for not telling you.”
MILLICENT: “It’s new, you dick.”
MILLICENT: “Okay, I think I may have flubbed the computer thing here.”
MILLICENT: “I was distracted.”
ALEJO: Alejo has finished his suit. He’s now tying up the guards and gathering their weapons.
ALEJO: “Sorry. How . . . flubbed is it?”
ALEJO: Alejo walks over to her, looking at the terminal.
STORY: Millie, the system locks you out.
MILLICENT: “Fairly.”
MILLICENT: “I’m locked out of the system. Which means we’re going to need to disable the security another way.”
TUELLER: “Well, we did say ‘smash.’”
TUELLER: Tueller flexes his hands.
ALEJO: “Well, seems like we’re at our best improvising.” Alejo steps back giving Tueller access to the terminal.
TUELLER: “When I was learning to fly, Esi said that if I was going to crash I should aim for something cheap. This looks expensive.”
TUELLER: Tueller hits something that looks vital to him.
STORY: Tueller! FA + Mettle, let’s see how your instincts serve you.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 2 + 1 = 3
STORY: The lights go out.
STORY: Alejo, how do you save the day?
ALEJO: Alejo turns on a flashlight he got off one of the guards. “Well, we found duct tape. At least.”
ALEJO: He looks at Millie and Tueller. “How fucked are we?”
TUELLER: “I killed the lights, I think, which is marginally less than what we need to do.”
ALEJO: Alejo uses the flashlight to check the alarms, which thankfully were not set off. He then looks at the terminal, finds what looks like the turret control system, and hits it with a stun baton, with the stun electricity on full.
STORY: Okay! Dumb luck works and the whole thing powers down, leaving you inside a very expensive metal rock.
ALEJO: Alejo shrugs. “Love it when a plan comes together.”
STORY: You hear, moments later, a voice coming over a very, very large loudspeaker – TC Reynolds’s. And the three of you watch out the shuttle’s front window as Reynolds leads one of the Tarrasque’s own shuttles, itself the size of a pirate ship and styled to look like one, in to hover over the proceedings in the coliseum.
MILLICENT: “This is not what success looks like. I mean, I guess it is, but.”
STORY: Ropes are thrown over the edge of the ship and dozens of his operatives slide down them into the stands as TC Reynolds proceeds to very politely rob the shit out of every attendee.
TUELLER: “reminds me of my youth.”
TUELLER: Tueller says fondly.
TUELLER: “Ejo’s got the better ass these days, by the way.”
MILLICENT: “It does look kind of fun.”
MILLICENT: “I know.”
STORY: You slip out the back and onto Jac’s runabout in time to rejoin the Tarrasque before TC comes back on board.
ALEJO: “These days?” He smiles at Tueller.