GAME 2

Second Cold Open: The Perfect Stranger, flips, burns and then slowly disappears…
as the camera pans toward the ship in orbit.

Subtitle:
Over Neon, Usher subsector of Reft.
On the edge of Imperial Space

The ill-fated shuttle disappears through the wispy clouds and a voice says over
comms…
“We’ve lost the shuttle… somethings wrong….
a noise, a distance rumble.
“We’ve got an explosion in the auxiliary lab,” says a harried, cracking voice.
“Can’t be a coincidence,” says a third.
The camera is close enough now to reveal this is a Laboratory ship. A tendril of
smoke drifts from one of the far spokes.
Some of the lights inside flicker … and then there is a scream.
Blackout.

You wake to a blaring alarm. You are in low births and are waking via emergency
procedures.
You have no recollection how you came to be here.
As you step out, you’re shocked awake… ankle deep in cold water covers the floor
of this claustrophobic room.
There are two such grey-beige rooms and the group is divided in to groups. There’s
an electric arc overhead in the first one and the alarm abruptly ends. Silence,
though a distant sound of trickling water. The only light is from emergency lighting
under the puddle on the floor, which lists towards the door(s).

You are, or we’re, connected by wires and tubes to the low births to monitor vitals.
A calm voice repeat nonsense to help you wake up from cryo-sleep, but its adds to a
groggy and disorienting experience making it seem truly surreal … worse then nor-
mal way one would wake from low births, even in during emergency.

You free yourselves from the medical bits and the births themselves.
(a brief tutorial on low-births and what they are).
You have no tools, no weapons… not even shoes… but you do each find ship-shoes
(slipper like things… maybe like canvas Chucks.
- a dead low-birth passenger is in each room as are two other empty births.
- also in A: Pillbug, and Spaceman and a woman you don’t know
- in B: Klaxon and Thrace and Constance Sagittarius.

Pillbug, deep breaths (panic) slows himself, ‘where am I.' Looks around. EDU-(11)
recognizes the type of transport. Last thing he remembers was dinner on Tobia. It’s
Spaceman, it takes a second for you to recognize him and he’s still coming around.
Where’s your ship. your bots, all your stuff???
… And who is this woman.

“How did we get here?” he asks

Spaceman shakes his head …. all he hears is a goose-honky Charlie Brown teacher
he mumbles “I didn’t touch her….”
The woman… “You don’t know how you got here either? Last thing I remember I
was on Tobia.”
“In a restaurant?”
“In the Starport… just passing through,” she says.

Meanwhile… in the other compartment…

Vern: “Connie. Connie”
“Urmmm Thrace?”
“Wake up. We’re in trouble.”
“Where are we?
“I think we’ve been abducted.”
Blackout.

THEME

And we’re back:

“I think we’ve been abducted.” says Vern, rolls medicine… 14 not only in low
births… but you also seem to have been drugged… maybe jumped to a conclusion
… but (retcon from later)

***holds up some strange, unmarked vials. cloudy liquid in syringes.

“But you’ll be fine. We’ll be ok.” he says calmly. “I need to check the others to see if
anybody needs help.”

Klaxon from across the room.

“Abducted? God damn it. Not again.” shakes his head… puts on socks leaves room.
“Don’t forgot your booties.”
“He seems fine,” says Vern.
“And highly motivated,” agrees Connie.

Klaxon goes out in the hallway sees iris airlocks to the right and across. An elevator
down to cargo blocks a maintenance hatch on the roof to the left.

Constance accepts help out of the low birth from Thrace and puts on her booties.

In A, Spaceman, shakes his head again

“Pillbug? That you?”
stumbles into the water and also heads for the door.
looks over NPC. considers. “Not right now,” he mumbles.

***Pillbug finds some drugs, emergency resuscitation equipment (no power), and
some strange unmarked vials.
In the Hallway the door opens as he murmurs “Tobia?” and then he locks eyes with
Klaxon in the hall.
“Henry?”
“Space man”
“That’s Spa-chem-in”
“Right. Whatever.”
“What’s the sit-rem”
"This thing is sinking,” says the former Field Agent. “Better try to grab what we can
and get out.”
“Right. remember anything?” asks the Detective.
“Nope.”
Where’s Thrace and Constance?
“He’s checking her out…”
A quick look from Merriman.
“Not like that!” adds Klaxon. “I think they’re ok.”

Spaceman moves across the hall and tries to force open the Iris vale towards the
bow.

“It’s a Matchbox shuttle. A Maus,” says Pillbug following Spaceman. “Life support is
offline. But we have air for now,” he says.
“Great. Thanks Doc,” says Thrace. “We better get that back on stat.”
A space suit glove and a ration bar float by in the slowly rising water.

“Water is getting in aft,” says Spaceman

“And there’s gravity,” adds Vern.
“We might be completely submerged,” says Pillbug.
“Okey dokey, let’s get the fuck outta here.” says Merriman, pushing again on the
iris valve which opens slowly with a little backup power assist.
Beyond are four staterooms, most use to store mining sample boxes, still new and
wrapped and thus empty.

Pillbug enters a storage locker marked ‘2.’ it’s been ransacked. Meal packs and pro-
tein bars are probably the most useful thing here.

“My name is Anson. You all seem to know each other,” says the strange woman who
seems literally in the same sinking boat as you.
She looks around and takes a step toward the bridge uphill, mumbling ‘I;m always
getting in trouble.’

flashback…
The group leaves the restaurant on Tobia
“Come on, I’ll show you the Ouroboros,” says Pillbug a hint of pride. “But lets drop
your stuff off at the hotel,”
Vern puts his hand agains a wall. shakes his head…
“must be jet lag.”
It passes.

Back…
“Let’s find where we are taking on water and see if we can seal it up and buy us
some time,” says Vern.
A woman he doesn’t know enters the bridge and he follows.

Anson and Thrace scan the cramped bridge, engineering, drive room and two
bunks.
Bunks again ransacked. clothes for a large man in one with a vac suit with the name
“Tomerman”. In the other a woman’s room is another On the back of that is “Miko-
los.”

Vern inspects the main console… “fire. put out by hand extinguishers. auto suppres-
sion didn’t trigger fro some reason.”

Klaxon comes in behind, sees the emergency locker and heads right for it. he kneels
down as Vern spins, again looking for the source of the water. He find is coming
down from above the engines Port aft.

In the locker… Henry Vermillion finds mostly junk. But there is a revolver and hol-
ster and (6 shot clip) and an emergency override key. self powered, but limited bat-
tery power. “2 or 3 uses maybe” (There were 3)
“We’ve got an override key” he says out load.

Connie comes up behind Spaceman,

“Merriman. How are you doing?’
“Just peachy.”
He faces a rising tide of junk, but moves ahead looking for anything useful. He grabs
a duffle.
“Come on give me a hand. Oooh Vacc suit.”

As he enters, he looks up. Hatch. seems air tight

“Could be underwater,” says Connie.
“Peachy.” He picks up the suit. On the back is “Maxanni.”
They both grab a few more buoyant meal packs.

“We have a hatch back here!” he yells to the others.

Pillbug:
“Where’s our stuff!” he continues to find nothing. But sees ‘Matchbox 21’ on a bulk-
head. The stoopid ship’s stoopid name.
(Andrew rolled 7… if he rolled an 8 would have known a survival kit is generally in
the cargo hold. It’s at the bottom of the lake now.)

Anson at the leak. “It’s all buckled in and jammed shut. Water is just trickling in
we’ve got a little time.

Vern goes back to the main console… 7… “everything is fried beyond my exper-
tise.”
Klaxon flips the override key to Constance who’s now in the hallway, between him
and Spaceman under the hatch.

He goes ton get the vac suits in the cabins and then head to engineering to look for
tools.

Spaceman uses the key and opens hatch and water starts pouring in. he’s blown
back down, but gets out/up into mid section, and goes to use the override key
again, but decides against it.
Connie G helps to manually close the Iris as quickly as they can… but they can’t
quite get it closed.

“At least we know we’re underwater now.” says Detective Spaceman.

<<<someone says feels like an escape room. That’s a good sign.>>>

Pillbug realizes the airlock is the best way out. When Anson says the aft hatch is
jammed and is where the water is coming in.
“Maybe vacc suits or air bubbles in there.” points to airlock.

Klaxon “Spaceman … give Pillbug the key.”

“This is the worse goddamn day,” says Pillbug taking it.

Vern hears Connie groan behind him and heads to help her and Spaceman… he
uses telekinesis (12) <NOT intellect but PSI!?> and makes it look like he’s heaving
physically. Spaceman 3 on Recon die, doesn’t realize.

CG puts her hand on Verns back and looks worried.

Iris slams shut!

Klaxon heads to engine room

“Tools, tools,” he mutters filing a duffle.
Well maintained engine. Lots of tools, … and a shotgun w/ 6 shells. He has the re-
volver already and offers the shotgun, Anson moves to take it.
“Not you. I don’t know you. No offence, but I’m not that trusting,” he says.
“I’ll take that” says Constance.
Anson puts her hands up and steps back. “I get it. But I’m stuck here too. Sorry my
‘Shippies’ aren’t here. Well. I’m not. I hope they are somewhere safe drinking
whiskey.”
Klaxon notices an EMP device has been set off here… it’s clearly what disabled the
ship and caused the crash. He knows it will never fly again. The thing was fairly
powerful to boot, and seems deliberately set.

Spaceman hands the ‘key’ to Pillbug and moves to find out where Klaxon is. He
trusts that guy already.
He finds him stuffing tools in a bag. The detective also grabs a backpack and joins
his new pal salvaging tools.
Pillbug uses the key and opens the inner door to the airlock. He finds a TL8 Vacc
suit (no name, just Matchbox 21 on the bicep. He puts in on.
“Everybody put on a vacc suit, Then I’ll blow the airlock,” he calls
He then finds a second revolver and six rounds.

“How good of a swimmer are you?” Spaceman asks Anson.

“I think I was in a hotel pool once,” she says. He hands the suit he found to her. On
the back is the name “Maxanni"

Trace gives the “Mikolos” suit to Constance.

Klaxon puts on “Tommerman’s" suit as he looks at Spaceman and says… I’m not a
great swimmer.

A groan signals that the ship is now taking on water and is being pulled down.
(we discuss Anson and that we don’t know each other either… not that well. But we
are not alone like she is. And she’s tried to be useful.)

Also two rescue balls in airlock. The other two not in suits can get in there (with
duffles of fools) and Spaceman says let’s inflate them just outside and all float up to
surface together.

Water is now up to your waists mid ship.

Pillbug uses the key… last electro charge … and the six of you escape the sinking
shuttle.

Note: Ship is about 3m below water… would have only been .5m if lower hatch had
stayed closed.

You are in a small lake… cold and wet and still a bit confused as your memories
start to come back. It’s an Earth-like world. Early morning. Chilly, maybe some
wisps of fog.
You have no idea where you are
“Where the hell are we?” asks Anson.
you have no comms, money and modest gear. Three guns with 6 bullets each, some
tools and a food packs.

The only sign of civilization is a radio tower coming up through the trees on a
forested hill a few Kms away to the Northeast. Likely where the shuttle was sup-
posed to land.

You all swim towards land… tools are weighing down Klaxon and he clings to the
ball… maybe a hydrophobic in the making? A collection of terrible rolls on Athletics
checks. Maybe lingering affects of drugs… Spaceman has a mild concussion as an
egg starts to form on his head. <<<From before the crash…

Should have put another flashback here ((RECON)): The hallway of your hotel room
when drugs start taking affect as you enter your rooms… people are waiting, Space-
man gets a brief look at a face and takes a swing, and is clubbed from behind.
…It takes much longer than you’d like to get to the shore, but soon you are there…
cold, wet and probably tired at this point. Thrace decides to use gentle Psioincs to
help finally get everyone to shore and Spaceman is left with much respect for the
smaller man. Thrace, in general, has kept his focus sharp and it shows.

Water in lake is drinkable, so you won’t immediately starve or dehydrate.

Landscape is like a blasted moor with scrubby thorny bushes… the lake looks al-
most swampy from the sandy shore.
Not the place Starfarers are typically comfortable.

You make your way along the beach north and then find an animal path as a tree
line comes in to view up hill to the west. Here Pillbug find signs an ATV occasionally
comes down this way. Maybe to collect water from the lake?
Also fresh bootprints that seem to head up hill.

It’s now about 2pm and you are halfway up the hill. You see a body lying on the
ground ahead in a bright orange coverall.
You approach cautiously. Spaceman pulls a heavy hammer from his tool bag just in
case and moves forward motioning the others to stay back.
Constance moves out to one side to flank with the shotgun. But the corpse stays
still.

Maxanni is on the back of the jumpsuit. Spaceman grabs his boots. They are a little
tight.
Thrace determine he’s recently been injured a gash on his side, an arm in a sling.
A medic check. This guy got basic first aid, but likely died from internal injuries,
maybe aggravated by the journey you are currently on.
His pockets have been rifled through. But you do find a multi tool and a couple of
ration bars.

“Supposing we were abducted,” says Klaxon suddenly. “We’re going to the place
where this thing was going to land. Should one of us put on is clothes and try to be
him?”

“They probably know he’s dead though. They took his stuff,” says Pillbug.
Klaxon takes his belt for the revolver holster.
Spaceman also decides to take Maxanni dry coveralls.

At this rate it’s going to take 2 or three more hours up hill to make it to the tower.
Besides small birds and mammals all is quiet.

Or is it…