Taking Desiraye's suggestions, you all settle in for a night's rest.  That proves easy to do, given that you're in the bunk area.



DAY 77
5:00 HOURS

You wake up suddenly.  The alarms are going off!  You jump from bed and inspect what's going on.  Every indicator light on every device and display show "red" and/or "DANGER".  Ospra jumps on the computer, determining that it is the J/MN/AL (alarm) program.

Then, as suddenly as it started, the alarms stop, after a total of two minutes on.  Ospra and Yagrith spend some time at the computer but can't determine why the alarms went off.  It appears to be some strange glitch in the programming.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:32, Thu 10 Dec 2009.

In her singson voice, Ospra jokes, "Well, I guess we didn't need an alarm clock."  She says, "Maybe we should try to unlock the door going to C area, unless you want to go around."

During the rest period Kri'lik looks around for a bucket or other container that will work for transporting water from the scalding hot showers to the sinks and toilets. Once finding such a container he pulls the stopper on the sink and fills it with water. "There we go, once this cools a bit we will have some water to clean our selves with. We can also fill this bucket and use it to flush the toilets. Much better than just finding a corner. Cleaner and safer this way as well."

Kri'lik finds a bucket in a cleaning closet in the lavatory (apparently for when the maintenance robot wasn't around) and has no problem carrying out his plan.

"Morning all!  Everyone ready for the next leg of the tour?"

Sergi stretches and looks round.

"Anyone check on our patient and our new pet?"

Both of them are doing fine.  Except for the sudden 2 minute alarm, nothing has changed.

"Im ready to go, though I feel a bit naked without my power pack. Will we be needing to go back to the shuttle again any time soon?"

His Albedo screen is now powered by a power clip...

In reply to GM Heath (msg #1):

Desiraye shoots up from her sleep and grabs her laser rifle and begins to look around for the problem (outside from the obvious alarm sounding).  After Yag & Ospra checkin into supposed problem, Desi relaxes some when there seems to be no immediate emergency at hand.

"I guess we should make ourselves ready to push on to the next compartment.  We can make another run for supplies at the end of today if we need to or tomorrow, depending on what we find, if anything at all!  If no one has anything else, gear up and lock & load!"

"I'm with you, Desi" growls Yagrith. "What should we do with our little friend? Bring him along or, uh, secure him here? I have a strange feeling he's going to be helpful to us -- maybe we should bring him?" he asks, pointing out the Sape that slept at Yag's feet during the night.

"Sure Yag, if you think he'll be helpful, then by all means bring him along with us!  If not, we're going to have to secure him here somewhere!"

I need to know which direction you're going (C or elsewhere).  Remember that the C hatch is locked.

I vote for C hatch. Technicians, anyone ready to pick that lock?

Ospra looks over at S'Krllk.  "Be my guest," she says.

"C hatch it is then.  If we can't open it, I have explosives but, I'd rather use that as a last resort in case we need a secure area," Desiraye tells Yag and the others.

"I beleive we should work our way to the other shuttle hanger and assess its status. We do have some time until the jetsom is close again for pickup, but the sooner we know if we can get off this floating balloon the better."

Desiraye knew that they had some time before they would be picked up but, she didn't want to leave a lot of the station unexplored for that long.  If they could clear it in a week or so, that should make them all rest a little easier that most, if not all, of the threats were neutralized.  It was a risk leaving the next compartment unsecured the night before but, it gave people the chance to sleep and Desi knew that they were working short-handed and everyone wasn't combat orientented as some where.  They would make do.

"We're going to clear compartment by compartment until the entire place is done.  If I looked at the schematics correctly, we've got to clear C to get to the hangar bay?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:06, Tue 15 Dec 2009.

"Yes C section would be first, I'm just saying we should work our way toward the shuttle hanger, then work our way around back to here."

S'Krllk calmly and silently begins a methodical examination of the lock on the hatch. For no reason other than the abrupt disruption of the sleep cycle, he will be wary as he attempts to unlock the door. Perhaps it is the extra caution that causes him to do such a bad job.

22:35, Today: S'Krllk rolled 32 using 1d100+20. to open the lock.

"Well this ought to be fun"

as Sergi adopts a good firing stance to cover the hatchway.

"Keep an eye on that Ape, I don't fancy it going loony tunes at the first burst of gunfire!"

After some work (and a little bit of cursing), S'Krllk is able to overcome the hatch mechanism which had been locked.  (Level 3 lock.)

NOTE: All hatch passageways contain a locker with one spacesuit for each of the races.

Once the hatch is open, you immediately see why it had locked you out.  The far hatch door is propped open with a chair, unable to close.  Thus, the hatch had locked for safety reasons.

You step forward to look into the area marked C1.  It appears to be some kind of maintenance room.

Inside, you see two male and three female adult sapes.  They are aware of your approach and growl territorially.  They shout in their primal tongue.  Your polyvox translates it as:  "kill no-furs!", "go!" and "hate!"

The young sape clutches Yagrith's arm.  You're not sure if it's fear or apprehension.

In reply to GM Heath (msg #20):

Desi scans the room watching the Sapes and sees that they don't appear all that friendly.  "Shit," is the only thing that comes to mind at the moment.

Yag hugs the young sape, points to the threatening sapes, and tells the little guy: "Say friends!"

Then with a growl: "Maybe this little guy can keep them from attacking us. If not, those sapes are gonna eat some laser beams."

S'Krllk backs away from the hatch, saying noncommittally, "Could we friendly no-furs borrow that chair over there?

Ospra says to the sapes, "We come in peace."  She points in a friendly way to the young sape.

 Having given up the vast majority of his personal protection to save the life of the frozen Yazirian, Dr. Kri'lik is not looking for a fight. With no power pack to run his laser rifle he decided it would be best to leave the longarm in the crew section of the Jestom. Now armed with only a laser pistol with a single power clip he thinks Ospra's approach is more practical.

"Yes peace. See here, one of your own has befriended us, there is no need for hostilities. We are here to help."

Psycho-social Level 1
  Empathy - 20%  (10% + Sk Lvl)
  Persuasion - 20%  (10% + Sk Lvl)
  Communication - 50%  (40% + Sk Lvl)
  Hypnosis - 25%  (15% + Sk Lvl)
  Psycho-Pathology - 40%  (30% + Sk Lvl)

Current STA 35/35

Laser Pistol (5 SEU setting, 20 SEU clip)
Albedo Screen (20 SEU clip)
Military Skeinsuits (50 STA)
Chill Suit – OFF (46 SEU remaining)

First Aid/Biocort Use:
Desiraye - n/a (hurt), Kri'lik - n/a, Kuurn - n/a, Ospra - n/a (hurt), Parson - n/a, S'Krllk - n/a, Sergi - n/a, Yagrith - n/a (hurt).

Round 2
The sapes do not appear moved by the speeches or the young Yazirian.  In fact, your polyvoxes translate their further yelling as, "Anger!" "Go!" and "Challenge not!"

"Tighten up chaps, we may have to drop them!"

Ospra will attempt to use her biosocial skills to calm the sapes.  "We are here to help.  Peace.  We do not intrude on your territory.  We have food to offer."

Kuurn steps back out of sight just in case his dralasite appearance might frighten or anger the sapes.  "We might want to just go around.  We can pop up on the far door later and say, 'Surprise'!"  He says this with a dralasite's attempt at humor while slinking back.

OOC: Is the door behind us still open? Or did it close behind us? If open, I vote we beat a retreat and head around the other way. Then, as Kuurn says, we may be able to surprise them when we come around, perhaps with some nice doze grenades.

It's still open.

Desiraye keeps her laser rifle pointed down in a low ready and keeps her eyes on the Sapes.  "WE're going to have to deal with them sooner or later.  They know we're here now so I don't know if they're going to come looking for us or not.  Only thing I can think is we take 'em out with tanglers and doze grenades and try to secure them the best we can."

"If violence can be avoided I vote for that option." Says the doctor. He still however rests his right hand on his laser pistol at his hip.

"We mean you no harm." speaking towards the sapes he continues trying to persuade them to a friendlier attitude.

Psycho-social Level 1
  Empathy - 20%  (10% + Sk Lvl)
  Persuasion - 20%  (10% + Sk Lvl)
  Communication - 50%  (40% + Sk Lvl)
  Hypnosis - 25%  (15% + Sk Lvl)
  Psycho-Pathology - 40%  (30% + Sk Lvl)

Current STA 35/35

Laser Pistol (5 SEU setting, 20 SEU clip)
Albedo Screen (20 SEU clip)
Military Skeinsuits (50 STA)
Chill Suit – OFF (46 SEU remaining)

First Aid/Biocort Use:
Desiraye - n/a (hurt), Kri'lik - n/a, Kuurn - n/a, Ospra - n/a (hurt), Parson - n/a, S'Krllk - n/a, Sergi - n/a, Yagrith - n/a (hurt).

"Let's avoid harming them if we can. They are innocents, and are victims of the problems here as much as anyone else.

If we all have tanglers or doze grenades, then by all means let's try to subdue them now. Otherwise, let's back away and try again with some surprise later."

"I have a doze grenade..."

"I've got three," whispers Yag, fishing in his pockets. "Who needs one?" He'll get ready to carefully hand doze grenades to any who need one. "On Desi's signal, toss them and let's hope for the best!"

S'Krllk readies his needler. "I am assuming we are vocalizing our violent intentions in the belief they will not be able to understand. Therefore, I should express a need to know if these darts will work on certain lifeforms."

Sergi fumbles one handed for a Doze Grenade.

"Ok, ready here, but if they go bananas they get dropped!"

Ospra and Kri'lik talk to the Sapes and they seem to relax for a moment, but then they erupt in anger again.  Unfortunately, there just doesn't seem to be enough time for a good psycho-social role, particularly when the sapes are unrestrained.

Yag and Sergi throw doze grenades (please subtract from inventory).  The accuracy is dead-on, and just in time.  It looks like the sapes were starting to advance to attack, but they slump over, every last one!  (Rolled a 2, critical hit.)

Looking at the stunned sapes, "Well now what do we do with them?"

Kuurn begins quickly searching around the room while there's still time.  "You could tie them up.  I don't know if they're too big to move or not."

"Let's get them tied up quick before they wake up."

Yag removes the rope from his backpack and begins to tie up one of the Sapes, motioning for the others to come help him.

Ospra follows along with tying them up.  "This may give us time to use our psyscho social skills on them when they wake up...hopefully."

Watching the group tie up the sapes Kri'lik says, "Now what? Not like we can just leave them like this until we get off this place in some 40 days..."

"Let's secure them first and then we'll figure out what we can do with them," Desi says to the others.

"Wow, lets try and do that every time!  Ok, get them tied up or secured or locked up...pretty much take them out of the fight.  We can worry about looking after them once we have the station secured.  They must have some sort of pens or stalls, right?"

S'Krllk's mandibles click a time or two, then he says, "Might I suggest that we evaluate them medically? Their behavior isn't at all what we were lead to believe it would be."

Sergi's look suggests he questions his colleague sanity, however...

"Examine all you want but wait for us to secure them S'Krllk.  Having them come to and tear your limbs off would smart a little.  I think I have some rope in my pack."

After securing the adult Sapes with rope Yag says: "Maybe you psycho-social types should tie them to chairs where they'll be a little more comfortable. Then maybe you can do whatever mumbo-jumbo you do on troubled creatures."

Yag then starts to look around the room. "Gotta figure out what's going on around here. C'mon, Junior!" he says to the young Sape at his side.

While everyone is talking Kuurn examines the area marked C2 to see what it is.

Yag looks around the room (C1), trying to find a computer terminal.

This room contains computer terminals Term-3 and Term-5. An inspection cover near Term-3 is labeled "COMP. J/MT". Behind the cover is the J/MT maintenance) computer.

Room C1 was some kind of maintenance room.  The room has the standard machine tools (lathes, etc.), benches and other gear normally found in a small maintenance workshop.  It has everything you may need to repair robots and other equipment.

Above one of the benches is a power socket for recharging power beltpacks and backpacks.

The area marked C2 appears to be the sape pens.  They have not been cleaned out in a long time, and there is a correspondingly strong odor in this area.  At the end of the room nearest the door is the sapes' food dispenser.

The six sape pens which take up most of the room each contain a bed of green plastic fiber.

With the sapes tied up Kri'lik begins to examine them one at a time.

The sapes appear to be adult versions of the one that follows Yagrith around.  Upon inspection, they appear emaciated.

"They all appear quite hungry. Perhaps there is a food source for them nearby?"

After examining the sapes he takes a close look into their pens, looking for anything that might help them or give clues to their condition. Upon discovering the food dispenser he will determine if it works or not.

(Is the dispenser out of the pens as if some one would have to feed them or is it somehow accessible by a pen with an occupied sape?)

"It looks like that there is a feeding dispenser in the pen area.  Is there anyway to see if it's working and maybe see if we can secure the Sapes in there for the time being?"

While the others tend to the Sapes, Yag gets on Term-3 and tries to find out the status of the computer. If it seems broken or infected, he will try to repair it [GM: feel free to make rolls for me as necessary].

"Mmmmm, six beds.  So we have our sleepy quintet and our new pet.  Does that add up to six or would the little ones sleep with the adults I wonder?"

Sergi scratches his head.

"Lets assume that we have one adult still on the loose and keep sharp."

He takes the opportunity to replace his Gyro Rifle clip containing four rounds with a full clip.

"Better safe than out of ammo!"

"Looks like we found the repair stuff we need to fix the place up.  Damn computers are killing us," Desiraye says to everyone.

The food dispenser works, but only distributes enough food for 1d5 sapes per day.  Thus you see their emaciated shapes.

The pens can be used to put the sapes in.  However, right now they are disgusting with feces and other messes.  You can put them in dirty or clean them up first.

(I will have to get to the computer issues tomorrow.  I forgot my flash drive with the info on it today.)

"Not that I relish the idea, but it would be best if we cleaned up a cell or two before using them. With the few cleaning supplies I found back in the sleeping area it shouldnt take to long. Perhaps an hour or so. On the otherhand a dose grenade isnt the longest lasting method of subdual either."

"And not to mention they will be even harder to contain once they wake up if they are not already confined."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Mon 04 Jan 2010.

Ospra says, "I concur.  Let's use teamwork to quickly get it cleaned up, but let's pull the sapes over toward the cages in case they start waking up early. Everyone needs to pitch in and work quickly."

Ospra's long arms reach out and begin dragging a sape while Kri'lik gets the cleaning supplies.

"OK, let's do that then.  Have a couple of items that will knock them out again if they wake up before we get finished cleaning the pens for them.  Most of us can pitch in, we can knock this out pretty qucikly and be done with worrying about what to do."  Desiraye goes and picks up some cleaning supplies and begins on cleaning one of the pens.

Working together, you are able to successfully accomplish that, putting all the sapes in separate pens after cleaning them.

Checking the food dispenser, you see that it will only dispense enough food for 3 sapes today.  Another one of those bugs in the computer apparently...

After helping clean the Sape pens, Yag goes back to his work on the computer. "I bet if I can fix this thing the Sapes will be able to get enough food," he mutters.

Desiraye nods to Yagrith as she cleans herself up after helping clean out the Sape pens.  "You got your hands full Yag.  We need to prioritize on what systems we need fixed first.  I think keeping these things in the pens will help some but, we've got to keep them fed.  Unless we have to euthanize them as the absolute last step!"

Kuurn paces before the Sapes pens, staring at them. "Whoever left these creatures down here to starve is going to pay for it..." he mumbles to himself before heading off to inspect the maintenance room.

Examining the area he finds the power socket. "Hey Kri'lik, did you bring that empty backpack when you left yours at the freeze room? Might be a good idea to charge it up here."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Mon 04 Jan 2010.

Ospra says in her singsong voice, "I'll help Yag."  She goes to the computers to see if she can assist.  If the sapes wake up, she will try her psychosocial skill to tame them.

S'Krllk pipes up, "I'll see about repairing some of the other system, and just to ease your mind, I will state that any automatic turret weapons will not be on the list."

I'm including the computer info you unlocked (which is terminal 3 and terminal 5, in addition to the previously unlocked terminal 6) on the maps and information thread.

"Unfortunately Kuurn I had to leave my power pack hooked up to the freeze field. We have others but they are back in the shuttle. Its good to know however that there is a recharging socket here. Hopefully it works."

Once the pens are cleaned up the doctor will spend the appropriate amount of time cleaning himself up and making sure everyone else does as well. This is no time for diseases to spread amongst the team.

"No better time than the present to find out Doc!  Would you mind so much to keep an eye on the status of the Sapes as well until we can figure out something better for them, if we can?"

Yag spends some more time trying to figure out just what all this computer stuff means. [By which I mean, the player needs to spend some time figuring it out. The computer network is clearly a bit of a puzzle, and I think it's important to figure out what connects to what so we can get stuff fixed. I'll spend some looking it all over when I get a chance.]

I've updated the Maps and Info thread to include the descriptions of the computer functions, like the "command blocks" (i.e., the triangles on the diagram).  Let me know if anything else is still fuzzy.

One thing you figure out is that there is probably a central control somewhere that has more vital functions to access than communications, entertainment, and the like.  Getting a grip on what all the computers on Jetsom do will help.

(FORESHADOWING:  Jetsom is a somewhat easy computer setup.  When you get back to Moneyspider, there is a more complicated one.)

Ospra decides to examine room C3.

I've now posted just about everything I can think of that's available to you regarding the computers.  It may take time.  Don't think you have to solve anything right now.

Desi watches Ospra go over to C3 and want to search.  "Ospra!  Go ahead and clear all of the rooms in here.  Letr me know if you want help or not.  We need to find out what we're working with here!"

Ospra examines the area marked C3.

C3. Sape-Handler's Cabin
Envt: T = -10; O = Std; R = 0.

The bones of Atata Myera, the Yazirian sapehandler, are scattered over the floor of this room. He was apparently killed by the sapes.  An inspection appears to show that the ravenous creatures have eaten him. The contents of the cabin
were very similar to those of the cabins of the other crewmen, but the sapes have broken most of the smaller (items, including those in the locker).

Amongst the debris, you find four boxes of survival rations and Atata's medical pouch. The pouch has been hurled against a wall, which has broken most of its contents except for a can of plastiflesh, 10 doses of biocort and 5 doses of
antitox.

"I'll go with you, Ospra" says Kuurn as he heads towards the C3 area. Upon the seeing the scene he is quiet, but another Drasalite would know he is feeling shock and revulsion. The Sapes are sentient to some degree at least, and to see them reduced to cannabalism!

Sergi gives a low whistle...

"Well now, looks like we need to keep our pets under lock and key.  Keep them apart and feed them regular.  I wonder who else they ate?"

scratches chin

"And I think there's another one on the loose somewhere."

Ospra will make sure Kri'lik knows of the medical supplies and then will check out the hatch leading toward the D area.

"I think that we should have a plan in place in case we need to euthanize the Sapes.  Don't misunderstand me but, I don't plan to do any harm to them unless something happens.  Can anyone pull up anything on the files about the Sapes so that we can maybe learn a little more about them as far as habits and what kind of food they like besides that grool and the former medical officer."

 Hearing of the scene the doctor heads that way to investigate. The evidence however leaves little to the imagination. "Umm..I think Desi is right. We need a back up plan for them all right."

 Looking for the medical kit Ospra told him about he gathers up what supplies are there and adds them to his pack.

"I think our back up plan with be one round to the back of the head.  Not nice, but I'd rather kill them than wake up as their main course!"

You pull up the following information on sapes:

Sapes (or "super apes") are a specially-bred strain of 2-meter-tall, muscular, ape-like creatures originating on the Yazirian's home planet. They have been bred by Renouf Associates of Hakosoar (Scree Fron) as an alternative to robots in certain applications. Sapes are currently being tested in a wide variety of settings (hidden from the prying eyes of the larger corporations), hence their presence on Jetsom.

Renouf Associates hope to be able to sell sapes on the basis of their cheapness (about 2500 credits each), low running costs (about 10Cr/day), versatility, strength and agility. The corporation also maintains that members of the major
races (especially Humans and Yazirians) will prefer sapes to robots, especially when working in isolated situations. At present, however, sapes are generally mistrusted by people and governments.  Ownership of a sape is illegal without a license, and such licenses are only granted to large corporations.

Sapes are about as intelligent as a four-year-old Human and learn quickly, especially by mimicry. They speak their own language which consists entirely of simple, one- or two-word phrases, and normally wear poly-voxes programmed to translate Sape into Pan-Galactic and vice versa. They are bred to be docile and obedient and will normally obey any one- or two-word command given by a member of one of the major races unless this will expose the sape to obvious danger.

Thus sapes will not normally obey orders to attack, and they will never attack other sapes. Sapes will ignore commands given via intercoms etc., or from robots.
Despite their breeding, sapes retain vestiges of their primitive origins and will resort to violence under extreme conditions. A sape can attack with bare hands and feet - either to kick/punch or wrestle.  Kicking/punching allows a sape two attacks per turn each inflicting 2d10 points of damage. When wrestling, sapes have a +5% chance of gaining a hold. Wrestled victims have a -5% penalty on attempts to escape and suffer 3d10 points of damage per turn. At the start of
any combat, sapes have a 50% chance of going into battle rage which gives them a +20% bonus to hit in melee.

In looking at the hatch information display, Ospra sees:

Envt: T = -10; O = Std; R = 0

OOC: As a reminder, your chillsuits at 0 SEU setting protect you up to -20 without any adverse effects.  Areas B and C have both been at -10 degrees. (0 to -20 with just normal clothes makes you lose 1 stamina per hour.)

Ospra opens the hatch and moves through to check out the far side, standing carefully out of the way in case the turret here is also haywire.

Sergi follows Ospra, rifle at the ready