Check what's in my box. It's never not a good time for that!
5
You open the box, and... oho. Inside is a dozen primitive drones, small metal spheres, carrying simple scanners made to scan large bodies of iron for impurities. They seem to be calibrated to pick up on exotic or rare metals and transmit a rough location back to the ship.
You might find something interesting by sending them on ahead, and quickly extract the metals when you passed by. On the other hand, telling them to spread out through the planet could have better results, but might involve persuading everyone to go on a time-consuming detour to actually reach the stuff.
Steve starts searching the ship for secrets.
4
No secrets as such, but Steve does find something he wasn't aware of. As well as defensive layers of reinforced metal separating the storage rooms at the back end of the ship from the large pod bay doors, there's a layer between the front of the ship and the rest. On one side of it is the engine room, the bridge, Varisdel's box and the workshop, and on the other is everything else.
This front part of the ship appears to be detachable, so in an emergency you could turn into a much smaller vehicle shaped like an inverted teardrop, and depart at immense speed, leaving most of the ship behind.
Lucca decides to inspect the Xelqu heart.
The Xelqu heart is brimming with power, strong and healthy despite the countless millenia since its owner passed from this world. The giant blue organ floats in the centre of the engine room, pipes of blackened iron providing it with a steady drip of nutrient gruel from the vats in the hold. It glows a little brighter as you enter, the tiny mind recognising a member of its own species. It's enough to make one feel a little less alone.
After conversation, Suzy is also going to tour the ship. If the sword wishes, Suzy will carry it.
You make a rough circuit of the ship, holding the greatsword a little awkwardly even in two hands until you rest the flat of the blade on your shoulder. The weapon is cold, but not unpleasantly so. You can feel the vibrations in your collarbone as it talks.
First is the bridge, the wide windows looking out into the core of a dead planet, huge iron shutters ready to sweep across them at the first sign of danger. You avoid the engine room, as the Xelqu is in there with the weird psionic organ and is either performing essential diagnostics or having a bit of a moment, and pass through the crew's quarters. Next you pass the carefully customised voidsuits, and through the indoor garden that is the ship's biological regulation system, carefully created by Lucca's psionic tinkering, bizarre fungi and flowers carrying out reactions far too specialised for mere chemistry to handle. You avoid the Titan's dedicated storage chamber. Seeing that creature isn't really a "stroll" sort of experience.
You pass through the stocks of nutrient gruel sloshing in the hold, and then you're among the four pods at the back of the ship. Turning around, you pass through Lucca's gene banks, carrying every single biological blueprint he's managed to barter, beg or borrow since the collapse of the worlds. Next is medical as you work your way back to the front of the ship, then the ship's workshop, and finally the bridge again.
Varisdel senses a change in the huge shards of metal surrounding the voidship, and even the others can detect a slight shift in the shapes and colours on display. Soon you'll reach the jagged exterior of this exploded planet, and be able to get properly underway.
There are rumours of some kind of settlement on the exposed surface of the shattered globe, as well as something living outside it, large and dangerous enough to afford the inhabitants of the interior an unusual degree of tranquility. Which might make leaving interesting.
Status: Fully intact
Fore:
- Bridge
- Varisdel's box, currently empty
- Engine room (Elder Xelqu Heart, Psionic)
Central:
- Quarters
- Suit Room (4x standard armoured voidsuits, fitted)
- Infirmary
- General Storage
- Biological regulation garden (waste disposal etc)
Aft:
- Secondary Storage Chambers: Nutrient Stock, Gene Library, Titan
- Pods
- Main Airlock
Movement:
- Psionic propulsion via Xelqu Heart
- Chasm Traversal (requires mounted Stride Blade)
Weaponry:
- Cleavers: huge detachable metal blades, psionically controlled. Also useful for traversing fluids.
- Secondary: flechette cannons
Varisdel has a dozen metal-scanning drones.
Suzy has a briefcase that can be turned into a tank.
Steve has a pair of sunglasses and a laser pen.
Aside from that, it's just whatever sentimental junk and threadbare clothing people chose to bring with them.
Author
Topic: Solar Graveyard - Starlight (Read 23327 times)