Episode 2

Starting: Wednesday, 2350-12-06
Ending: Saturday, 2350-12-16
(11 days)

2350-12-06 (Wednesday)

The Big Reveal

The morning following Episode 1, Kova assesses the damage to the ship and begins the simplest repairs, mostly able to use the supplies she gathered from her shuttle. NoDot spends the morning hours streaming. The remainder have gathered in the galley to eat breakfast. Emilio, still barely able to walk after the gunshot wound, rests back down on his makeshift hospital bed, a crash couch, across from the Galley in the passenger couch compartment. Lu tends to him, and he asks to give a brief speech to everyone on the ship.

While the crew waits for NoDot to finish their stream and join them, Alfie asks Emilio for help with a crossword puzzle and pretty soon everyone is trying to solve it. NoDot arrives after Nikki solves 5-across: "cranberry," a nine-letter red fruit that bursts when cooked.

First, Emilio thanks Lu for keeping him alive, and suggests to Nikki that the crew would be smart to take her on permanently as crew. He then says, "Norville, you’re lucky I got shot or I would’ve caved your fucking skull in. You can thank Alfie for that one. You don’t seem as bad as those other two though. Now give me your fucking hand terminal." Norville complies, and Emilio hands it off to NoDot, asking them to double-check that the terminal couldn't be tracked by CPM, and to disclose any information they find on it. He turns to Kova and apologizes that she got mistakenly wrapped up in this. In one piece herself, she doesn't seem to mind, seeing it as an excuse to leave Rhea.

Following this, he pauses for a moment, takes a breath, and then reminds the crew of what he said previously: that he is in fact The Mechanic that CPM was looking for.

Emilio is (or was?) a real scientist who really worked with Antony Dresden, as his hand terminal attested when NoDot hacked it on the journey to Rhea. But The Mechanic is not Emilio. When describing the meaning of his moniker 'The Mechanic,' he says, "I’m a fixer. And… I’ve re-arranged a face or two with a pipe wrench. Or maybe it was a pipe, I don’t remember. Anyway it doesn’t matter. Point is, those freaks must have caught wind that I’m not Emilio, and heard it was an OPA mechanic. Only for some reason they thought the OPA was sending an actual mechanic."

He explains that he had assumed his identity in order to get a sample of the technology from Protogen. This technology had been brought up to NoDot before: just as they were landing on Rhea, he claimed it was "something special. Something that could put the Epstein drive in the same technological category as a wooden stick with a sharpened end." While his identity as Emilio was a lie, his objective on Rhea was not. He intended to go to that meeting to make a trade and obtain that technology, but of course this did not go through, and two CPM security guards ended up dead instead.

Around this point, NoDot successfully gains access to Norville's hand terminal. NoDot refuses to give the terminal back and provide The Mechanic with unfettered access, for fear of him withholding information. The Mechanic fears the same thing of NoDot and strains in his medical chair to see the unlocked terminal over their shoulder. He immediately notices that it belongs to one Mack Silva, not Norville Rogers. Upon interrogation, Norville, actually Mack, announces that he is a big millenaboo, a fan of millanime, and that he had blurted out the name of his favorite character while under duress. "I find him relatable, please don't hurt me." He was afraid that it was too late to come clean without risk of punishment.

The Mechanic asks "what the fuck is a millanime," immediately regretting the question.

NoDot reveals that they are also a millanime fan and that their girlfriend (she goes to Ganymede, you haven't met her) changed her name to that of a millanime character. It's apparently a common and trendy thing to do.

The Mechanic reveals that he mistook them for a reputable transport service, but regardless, he is impressed with how effectively they were able to adapt to the situation at hand and provide him with a security detail. He notes that things went altogether pretty smoothly, and that a single gunshot wound was better than having no security detail, and being dead.

NoDot reveals to the group that they hacked into The Mechanic's hand terminal on the trip over, which indeed belonged to (actual scientist) Emilio Castille.

"Nikki," says The Mechanic next, "nice ship." She responds that the ship belongs to Alfie, but The Mechanic had already surmised this from a previous conversation. Lastly, turning to Alfie, he says, "Helluva pilot," referring to their initial dangerous landing, followed by "not much of a negotiator though," with a grin. "Don't worry. It wasn't the first time I was shot, and hopefully it won't be the last. Because in my profession, the last bullet you take is the one that does you in."

"The way I see it," he continues, "there are two ways we can go from here. We can either go back to Vesta, I pay you, and we go our separate ways and forget any of this ever happened. Or, I fill in the remaining details and hopefully we... save the world? I'll still give you the second half of the fee, but I can’t promise my pockets will stay so deep. Bossmang miiight cut me off if I keep spending money like this."

The crew, interested but hesitant to believe him, asks for more details about the technology he is seeking.

He says that he doesn't have much more information about the technology itself, and that the explanation he gave the crew was near-verbatim from his boss at OPA. He repeats that the plan was to assume Emilio's identity, as he works (or, has worked) for Protegen, the same company that operates the security force CPM. He arranged a meeting with another Protegen scientist to trade for a sample of their tech. Clearly, Protogen somehow sniffed out the ruse and sent security instead. The Mechanic now has to wait for further orders, but could use the Terpsichore crew's help as freelance transport and back-up.

The crew asks what he meant by "saving the world," to which he replies that he means humanity itself, and that unethical human experiments have been performed using this technology.

"Does that mean danger?" asks Alfie, and The Mechanic gravely nods.

The Decision

Nikki asks The Mechanic for his real name, and the man who formerly claimed to be Emilio says that as long as he can remember, since he was about 8 years old, he's been using fake names and assuming identities, and that his only steady moniker was 'The Mechanic.' This nickname was given to him by the OPA, whom he'd worked for since he was about 14.

Nikki, unable to accept that The Mechanic has no name, suggests that the group make one up for him. NoDot and Mack run through a list of millanime characters and settle on Zuko (after nearly settling on Goku, which would be clearly too ridiculous). The Mechanic says he will accept whatever name he is given, and is thus redubbed 'Zuko.'

Zuko repeats that he is working on limited information and if they want to know more, they can discuss it with his boss on Ceres. Upon learning that he is referring to Anderson Dawes, both NoDot and Kova seem hesitant. Kova shows interest in helping save the world, but NoDot claims they're distrustful of Dawes. Lu stays out of the discussion and Alfie defers to Nikki, who ultimately makes the final decision:

The crew won't be parting ways with Zuko, for now. They will take him to Ceres, receive payment, potentially hear Dawes' proposal, and reserve the right to nope right out.

The discussion wanders to what Mack knows, but he states that his boss, Ron, didn't tell him anything; that he was 19 years old, fresh out of security bootcamp, and his parents sent him to work there telling him that it was the kind of job a Man does. He claims he won't blab if they let him go, and the crew considers dropping him off at Ceres as well.

Final Preparations

Before taking off, first the remaining repairs must be made, requiring Kova to go into town and trade her spare titanium alternator for a new Bremsstrahlung condenser for the fusion drive. Without this, the Terpsichore will likely lose electrical power during the 18-day flight to Ceres. In Nova Nexus, Kova has a chat with Vance Watanabe, who has to go look in the back but eventually does turn up with the part she needs and agrees to the deal. Meanwhile, Alfie and Nikki visit The Atonement Speakeasy nearby to pregame before heading off to a night club at The Hive.

Back on the ship, NoDot invites themself into Kova's new room while she's absent and hacks into her pet robot Pip, duplicating feeds of its sensor data (camera, microphone, etc) to their hand terminal.

Then, after a brief detour to Nikki's room, they go out to meet up with Nikki and Alfie at the night club.

On the way back to the ship, Kova takes a detour of her own, visiting her shuttle to grab the remainder of her personal belongings.

Lu spends time doing some job hunting for potential work on Ceres. Additionally, she does some research to see if there is any public information on what occurred at the Rhea hospital, but nothing turns up.

Partying like it's the end of the world

NoDot shows up to The Hive Night Club wearing Nikki's dress. The three dance while getting absolutely hammered on locally-sourced fermented mushroom vodka, and trying to push the uncertainty of the future into the back of their minds. As the lights and holograms of The Hive flash, and the music pounds, internally they are each thinking...

NoDot: Wants to grow the family on the ship but doesn't know how. They feel a little uncomfortable about the number of OPA members on the ship.

Alfie: Trying to mentally prepare for the danger ahead.

Nikki: Excited to have new people on the ship, nervous to be interacting with the OPA.

Kova (working on the ship): Also worried about working with OPA, but glad it's Dawes and not someone crazier.

In the nightclub, once Nikki has had several shots, she says to NoDot, "You know, if you want to borrow my clothes, you can just ask." NoDot says the whole point is that they don't ask. Nikki is unimpressed.

The three climb into a photo booth, and between pictures, NoDot tells Alfie and Nikki about the secret room they found in the hospital through hacking the previous day, and Nikki suggests they ask Lu about it. Alfie and NoDot are both in disbelief about this direct approach. Alfie tells her this why she's in charge.

The photo booth snaps pictures as Nikki beams at the thought of being in charge, NoDot cries about their loneliness, and Alfie gives NoDot a half-hearted pat and a peace sign.

2350-12-07 (Thursday)

Waking up, and feeling it in their bones

The next morning, Kova is already up, has already repaired the seized maneuvering thrusters, and is in the process of making the final repairs to the fusion drive when the three partiers wake up more hungover than they've been in some time.

Nikki wakes up late, around 11:30, and skips her normal morning cardio routine. She's wearing yoga pants, an oversized hoodie, and fuzzy slippers. Alfie sits in the galley with his aching head facedown on the table.

Lu reprimands them for guzzling too much ibuprofen after drinking.

Kova takes note of what else on the inside of the ship should be improved or repaired.

Soon enough, everyone is ready for the 18-day journey to Ceres.

All Systems Go!

Alfie yells "Who's ready, let's hit it baby!" and pushes the launch lever and juice button on his personal crash couch at the pilot controls, in the vain hope of staving off some of the alcohol hangover.

After a 1G takeoff, the ship settles into a steady heading towards Ceres at a gentle 0.3g.

Kova and Lu sit on the Ops deck with NoDot, who standoffishly allows it, but complains to Nikki that they're touching their stuff. Until now, NoDot has been alone on the Ops deck and preferred it that way. Kova doesn't listen, and instead monitors the ship diagnostics during lift-off, leading to a brief argument between the two.

Kova gives her heartfelt goodbyes to Rhea with a "Fuck you, stupid rock."

Upon standing, she realizes she will need to re-acclimate from the 0.026g of Rhea to the 0.3g thrust gravity of the ship. She seeks bone density drugs from Lu.

2350-12-08 (Friday)

Nikki gets to know people

Nikki aggressively tries to get to know people.

She asks Zuko what his prior retirement plans were, and he says mostly he just wanted to be left alone. He is far from wealthy so he planned to remain on Ceres until he died. Boredom and the urgency with which this job request was made were the only reasons he agreed to it.

2350-12-09 (Saturday)

Movie Night

They watch the Space Bachelor in the room with all the guest crash couches. There's seven people on the ship, but only six guest couches. NoDot bows out, uncomfortable with the social dynamic, but Mack mistakenly thinks it's because there aren't enough seats, so he offers his to them. NoDot declines and goes to their room. Nikki texts them while they watch the show sync'd up.

NoDot asks their girlfriend, Hecate from Ganymede, to take Tuesday off and do a time-delayed conversation with each other, where each of them talk about a topic for the duration of the time delay and then respond to the other person's topic at the end of that time delay.

2350-12-10 (Sunday)

Alfie makes significant progress on the sweater he began knitting on Friday.

Kova does a ton of interior ship maintenance including oiling all of the crash couches.

Nikki begins incorporating weapon-holding into her cardio workout.

2350-12-11 (Monday)

Light-hearted conversation

Tuesday rolls around and NoDot spends the day having a discussion with Hecate while on a 2-hour comm delay.

The conversation goes like so:

• NoDot tells Hecate everything that has gone on since the campaign started.
  • Hecate is really interested in the biological aspect of the technology, and asks for the files they got from Emilio's hand terminal.
• NoDot wants to be friends with the people on the ship but feels like they're fucking it up.
  • Hecate responds with stories about her own troubles making friends on Ganymede.
• NoDot admits they bugged the camera and mic in Kova's robot pet.
  • Hecate tries to softly explain that this isn't ethical or appropriate friend behavior and suggests that NoDot should just talk to Kova if they want to get to know her.
• NoDot says "I don't know how, and I can't, and that seems impossible after what I did."
  • Hecate says that even though it's not very ethical, NoDot should probably never tell Kova about the bugged robot. Followed by a long message about how fun they are to be around and that they shouldn't have trouble making friends.

NoDot spends the rest of the day apologizing and strategizing about gaining the courage to go to the next movie night.

2350-12-12 (Tuesday) (retcon)

Add something your character does on the days that weren't explicitly covered in the session.

Nikki: does laundry. Works out, as usual.

Alfie: Breaks the coffee machine. Knits and talks with Zuko and Kova about murder mysteries while she fixes it, and gives recommendations.

NoDot: Continues several games of asynchronous chess with Hecate (in order to make their turns take longer, they give the chess pieces names and write emotional fanfic about their OC pieces). Nodot has to intentionally make several terrible moves to not completely crush hecate. Overhears Mack talking about millanime and watches through several seasons in a row so that they'll have opinions about them.

Lu: Lu is thinking about her UN mates and how she will never see them again. She no longer has any record of them so she spends her time writing down her memories and then deleting the files so they are left stronger only in her head. She reminds herself she will most likely never see them again. After locking her room she allows herself to cry for the first time since she escaped the secret wing.

Kova: Fixes the coffee machine. Finishes unpacking all of her belongings. Starts working on adding little ramps to the ship to make it more Pip-friendly.

Mack: Talks Zuko's ear off about millanime in the hopes that NoDot will hear and want to discuss it with them.

Zuko: Watches Kova fix the coffee machine.

2350-12-13 (Wednesday) (retcon)

Nikki: borrows one of alfie’s knitting needles to see if they feel better than knives during cardio/weapons training. They do not.

Alfie: more knitting. Works with Kova on a crossword. The Thursday puzzle is tough so they have to ask around for help. Takes a stellar nap.

NoDot: Creepily watches Kova and Alfie working on a crossword through Pip's camera, when alfie comes by to ask for help with the crossword, nodot has to pretend that they don't know the crossword puzzle by heart already.

Lu: After allowing herself to feel vulnerable yesterday, Lu is energized by rage at the torturers at the hospital and their superiors. She works out with whatever equipment or makeshift weights she can find.

Partway through the day she hears a distressed voice and discovers Mack has flooded the washing machine. She spends the rest of the afternoon helping him mop up the soapy water.

Kova: Works on the crossword with Alfie. Finishes the ramps for Pip. Find some spare speaker parts in the cargo hold and spends the rest of the day making a sound system for her room.

Mack: Awkwardly asks Nikki who does the laundry on the ship. Accidentally floods the washing machine after being told nobody is going to do his laundry for him.

Zuko: Reads a murder mystery on his hand terminal called "The Ceres Files". Rolls his eyes a lot.

2350-12-14 (Thursday) (retcon)

Nikki: Remembers how basketball works, but is more content to cheerlead from the sidelines. does pretty well at poker, but mostly because she distracts people with unrelated conversation. When forced to actually play seriously, is outplayed by Alfie.

Alfie: Sucks at basketball. Sudoku with Kova. Shows her his small collection of very old, actual-print newspapers. Goes back to knitting. Shows Nikki his progress. Kicks ass at poker that evening.

NoDot: Rudely refuses offers for basketball and poker. Spends the full day in their room, on a live stream, doing strip-hacking - viewers provide white-hat hacking projects, and if nodot fails to crack it within the time limit, she has to take off a piece of clothing. she ends the stream having done pretty well - with her hot pink bikini, programming socks and a a single long lace glove still on.

Lu: Joins Mack and Alfie at basketball. Bluntly corrects Mack when he gets the rules wrong. Still energized by anger, she accidentally knocks Mack to the ground while playing. She apologizes and suggests they play HORSE instead.

Later plays poker. Does not do as well as Alfie but has a good poker face.

Kova: Sudoku with Alfie. In awe of Alfie's newspaper collection. Works on tweaks to engine efficiency for the rest of the day. Before heading to bed, she wanders into the poker game and immediately loses a hand. Calls it a night.

Mack: Tries to teach basketball to the non-Earthers but can't remember all of the rules. Loses a lot at poker.

Zuko: Plays Belter Hold 'em with some of the crew. Does okay.

2350-12-15 (Friday) (retcon)

Nikki: listening to basic music and having a dance party. Reluctantly lets alfie change to other stuff, then gets into it.

Alfie: Yep, more knitting, while listening to music with Nikki. Just whatever she puts on. Pleasant, if simple, conversation with Lu over lunch.

NoDot: Re-styles out their wigs and fusses about with cosplay supplies all day while watching millanime. Busies themself with busywork to distract themself from worrying about movie night tomorrow. Hecate gives them the idea over a message to procure steel cans and cheesy popcorn packages as a gift to give the crew for movie night.

Lu: Discusses music with Alfie. Lu is excited about an artist Alfie brings up but keeps herself controlled as she explains what she enjoys about it. She's aware that she comes off as a robot but she's not ready to express strong emotions to anybody. It takes her a long time to feel comfortable around someone, and the last people she really felt comfortable around, the bartender and her UN mates, are out of her life permanently.

Lu expects she will soon part from the crew as well, but she is surprised by how sad that makes her.

Kova: Excitedly works on cute LED decorations for the home theater room. Upset with Mack for losing all the parts she needed.

Mack: Tries to help Kova make LED matrices but loses a bunch of the LEDs.

Zuko: Strips and cleans the four pistols and one SMG that he brought along.

2350-12-16 (Saturday)

Movie Night Two: Electric Boogaloo, they're watching Clue (1985) and also Aladdin (2350). It's a double feature

Kova tries to decorate the crash couch room-turned-home-theater with some LED matrix light displays, but doesn't end up having enough LEDs so it doesn't quite provide the atmosphere she was intending.

Alfie brings Clue, and then they watch Wlt's 57th remake of Aladdin, also simply called "Aladdin". They have a bootleg copy with only Belter Creole audio dubs.

NoDot works up the confidence to participate this time, showing up half way through Aladdin (2350), giving each person a small bucket of cheesy popcorn, and then staring at Mack until he gets out of their seat.

Lu watches the movie in quizzical horror but really appreciates the cheesy popcorn.

Later that night NoDot asks Mack if he would let them dress him up. He initially refuses, feigning offense, but doesn't stop talking to NoDot.

Previous: Episode 1

Next: Episode 3