DEAD PLANET 5: "We smile all the time."

5: "We smile all the time."

Scotty: Doc Marty. Christian: Igor Igor. James: Bobby "The Business" 0428.

SelfPortrait.jpeg

KR deactivates in Brekt's bunker. Seems temporary. Best not to worry about it! Marty and Igor board the Lucifer Rising to see a four-foot-tall decommissioned android built into the mechanical chamber as decoration. The android activates and seemingly goes haywire. He introduces himself as Bobby "The Business" 0428, or just Bobby to friends. He doesn't remember much. 

Brekt explains the Lucifer Rising is going to jet a "coffin run:" a hundred-year trip in cryosleep towards what he's determined is the nearest colonized star system. The Lucifer Rising relies fully on thrusters: Brekt doesn't want to risk a warp drive malfunction on the ship he's spent five years scrapping together. 

At Beef's request Brekt locates the parts needed for repairing the Aphrodite's warp drive in his scrapyard. It takes the crew three more hours to locate the necessary parts for repairing the fuel leak in the thrusters. 

The crew heads back to the Aphrodite with Bobby in tow and notifies Brekt that they'll communicate with him if they accept his offer to join his coffin run. Brekt departs in six days.

Beef starts repairing the warp drive. After some conversation in the Aphrodite and a tour of the crashed ship CoPilot chimes. Bobby starts generating penguin-related images and captioning them like the New Yorker until Igor and Marty determine they should leave the computer alone. A chime all the way in the command module. Winning an argument, Bobby stays in KR's room while Igor and Marty check out the command module.

While he is alone Bobby receives very concerning messages from CoPilot:

CoPilot.Log3

Igor and Marty are met in the command module with a message: "False alarm."

It's determined CoPilot is compromised. The computer issues vague semi-threats, without queue notating the exact amount of oxygen and life support left in the system, and that it has technical capabilities to control these systems.

It switches between terse robotic code-speak (normal) and eerily desperate, polite sentence structure (abnormal).

Igor, Marty, and Bobby come to agreement and move their cots into the command module. Beef is instructed to halt progress on the warp drive and begin repairing the thrusters. Igor and Marty sleep...


DAY 2.

More discussion. More testing CoPilot. Everything is concerning. It produces a self-portrait at the crew's request: a too-tall humanoid individual silhouetted in total darkness with blinding light behind.

Marty pulls everyone outside the Aphrodite, including Beef. Discussions of abandoning ship, and joining Brekt on his coffin run. Igor broaches concerns about losing their jobs and status, the 100-year skip, and the accuracy of Brekt's destination information. Bobby strategizes that the problem may be the statue: if the statue is off the ship then the problem may be solved. If they were to use the archaeological skeleton walker to cut a hole in the shipping container and the Aphrodite they could discard the statue. Marty thinks there's a chance they could burn fuel to lift the Aphrodite off the moon using the thrusters. Its risky.

Its decided they'll send Beef back in and see if the ship can "see" them when they're inside: Beef will play like he wants to betray his crew mates and will report if it changes the demeanor of CoPilot. Beef really needs to sleep. But he'll do it. For 10 minutes. He boards the Aphrodite alone. Around the 10-minute mark the red lights shut off in the command module. 

Igor rushes inside with a head-lamp switched on and scans the Aphrodite. Beef tackles into Igor, covered in sweat. He explains that CoPilot claimed to be his sister, who died several years ago. He didn't believe it, logged off, and suddenly the emergency lights shut down.

Using the command module the crew open the doors to the Merida capsule. The dropship and APC are ready to be accessed outside. A heavy conversation awaits...


> 13 days of food and water remaining for (4) crew members aboard the Aphrodite.

> Day 2: 02 hours post-rest.

> 3 months of thrusters and life-support operations for the Aphrodite. Fuel leakage shortening approximate time to 1.5 months of thrusters and life-support operations until fuel leakage is repaired. 

> 3 hours into warp drive repair (4 days total).

> 9 hours into thruster repair (7 days?/Uncertain).

> 7 hours until the moon enters sunset.






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