Episode 4

Thanks to NoDot's genius girlfriend Hecate, the crew learns more information about the protomolecule. They decide destroying it wouldn't be a good idea, so they'll play along with Anderson Dawes for now and see what happens. When they arrive on Ceres, they meet with Dawes--he tells them he doesn't want their help stealing the protomolecule, but he does want their help with a different job tomorrow. Everyone kills time on Ceres in different ways until tomorrow comes.

Starting: Wednesday, 2350-12-20
Ending: Sunday, 2350-12-24
(4 days and change)

2350-12-20 Wednesday

Morning: Hecate breaks down the Protomolecule

The session starts with Number/NoDot receiving a video message from their girlfriend Hecate. Previously, Number had sent her the files found on Emilio Castille's hand terminal--the real scientist whom Zuko was posing as on Rhea.

Hecate's first video message arrives early:

"Hi Dot. I hope you’ve been getting into all kinds of trouble. So listen, I kinda forgot about all those files you sent me until last night, and wow, I haven’t really slept. Is this a prank? Did you find somebody really smart to prank me? She better not be prettier than me.

"This thing is fucking wild. It doesn’t borrow a single mechanism from our existing biology. There’s no way it would occur naturally, with all of the quantum chemistry involved. This thing is, like… fucking chef's kiss sleek, too. Peak efficiency. Peak beauty. It’s… kind of fucking terrifying. Okay, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

"So first off, what we’re looking at here is a macro-molecule, which is exactly what it sounds like. Most macro-molecules are dumb--like rubber, for example. Others are a little more complex, like proteins. But this? This? I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s basically a whole fucking, like, quantum computer crammed in there ready to do… well… something. The data you sent doesn’t include that. But what does this molecule do, you ask? So get a load of this.

"Cool thing it can do number one: it can build. At first I thought this mechanism just existed so that it can self-replicate, but I was thinking small. When I found that computer inside it, I realized... it can build whatever the fuck it wants. And of course, that brings us to cool thing it can do number two: it can deconstruct matter too, which makes sense because how could it build stuff without materials? But get this: nuclear transmutation. Which is, um… it’s literal fucking alchemy, Numbie. Like... it wouldn’t even need carbon atoms to make sugar. It could just pop the bits off a few hydrogen atoms and throw away the nuclei, or save it for later, or whatever! Doing this kind of thing is challenging on a large scale, but absolutely unheard of on a molecular scale.

"Now, I already know what you’re thinking: if this thing is just a molecule, where does it get enough energy to do any of that? And, well… I’m not sure yet. It is insanely efficient, and definitely has all the requisite functions to store some chemical energy, but that would never be enough for… fucking space alchemy… I cannot get over that. I was actually just trying to figure out where the energy comes from when my chat reminder went off a minute ago. Until I figure it out, I really couldn’t tell you how fast it can turn a bicycle into a puppy or whatever... but it could. Eventually.

"Oh also, not to boast, but I’m not sure a room full of quantum biochemistry post-grads could’ve figured all this stuff out in one night. Hell, I’d be surprised if they could figure it out in a week. I got a bit lucky with where I started my investigation, but also GOD I am at the top of my fucking game. It’s too bad I love sustainability so much because I’d fucking kill it in whatever quantum-bio-phys-chem fuckery sub-field this is. I really want to incorporate some of this stuff into my plants, but ah fuck who am I kidding, there’s no way I could synthesize anything like this with my equipment. Also I’d probably be in like… deep violation of some patent or imprisoned for life for IP theft or murdered by a hitman. Blech.

"Anyway, I digress. What else, what else… Oh yeah. So this stuff definitely had to be synthesized. There's just no way this molecule would have occurred naturally. But it would also be impossible to produce this thing with any lab equipment I’ve ever heard of. But obviously... the alternative is incredibly far-fetched, so what I wanna know is: who the fuck is making this and where the fuck they did they get their grant funding??

"Oh also, this goes without saying, Number, but if you have some of this stuff, don’t fucking touch it unless you want to slowly turn into a bicycle. And I wouldn’t bank on it turning you into a puppy, even though that would be pretty cute. Well… the puppy would be cute. The process would probably be horrific.

"So yeah, if you could cough ask cough whomever you got these files from for more of them, I really want to know what the designer’s intention is with this. The data you sent me only contains the raw structure, so... unless you have more of those files laying around, we’ll just have to use our imaginations regarding what the fuck the in-built computer is for.

"Soo, that’s just about everything interesting about that so far. I can’t wait to hear from you! Hope you’re having a great time with your space friends! I’m expecting to receive your first message in about… fifteen minutes, oops. I guess I started recording a little early. Ok. I should definitely go find some coffee and make some breakfast and totally not spend every second until your message arrives investigating this thing some more. Kisses, nerd. Hecate Out."

She ends the transmission with her signature CRT line-collapsing effect and sound effect.

NoDot sends a message in response:

"Well... ooookay. I understood, I'm gonna say, around 12% of that. But I'm gonna say I understood the energy of it around 80%. Um... Impressive, terrifying... So." NoDot sighs. "I'm gonna level with you, I'm a little out of my depth here. We told everyone on the ship about the molecule, and we're also talking about maybe... throwing it into the sun. Which... I mean, I hope it won't turn the sun into a puppy or something. That would be bad. Ohhh boy.

"You know I have control over our security channel lines and have been keeping them up. Just for a check-in, could I maybe root around a little bit in your base's security systems and try to make sure any information that you've researched has not flagged anyone? Please let me know, I don't wanna violate your space, but I also don't want you to be dead. That's probably number one to respond to.

"Number two: do you mind if I bring some other folks from my crew in here?" NoDot is clearly reluctant about this. "The clock is ticking, and we've been two days into space, and we're talking about sending this thing to the OPA, which, you know how I feel about that. But obviously if it doesn't go to them, then it could go to Mars, or to Earth, or to the corporation that made it, which is called Protogen. You probably know their name.

"Yeah. So, that's--that's high level, umm... Let me know when you get this message, and also maybe take the rest of the day off. I would love to do a little chat with the other people on the ship who are all kind of in on this plan. Oh also, what if we pretended to throw it into the sun, and I told all of my friends that I did, but then I didn't, and I kept the capsule and I hid it in my wall."

(At this moment, Nikki's player puts his face in a pillow.)

"What if I did that? Because practically, one of the big concerns we have right now is 'is this thing synthesized?' And you obviously are very smart and beautiful for noticing that as the big question. How is this thing synthesized? Obviously it was all black-box locked down, I can't even get into that info. It was made on Phoebe. And it was these Protogen people. And I think we should not use this thing for stuff, for the obvious reasons. So maybe we should get rid of it. But then what if they can make another one? So what if we didn't get rid of it, and... I just held onto it in case someone else made another one, so that we could we weaponize it politically, or physically? Also, they did testing on kids! So, gross!

"Okay, um, love you, I'm panicking. Let me know when you've got a chance to respond."

In Hecate's next message, she's holding coffee and seems a bit jittery. She still hasn't eaten. She replies:

"Boy, that's a lotta stuff to cover. So let's see, where to start, where to start...

"First of all, I have no fucking idea how they would synthesize this. Like I said, I'm not aware of any equipment that even hypothetically could do it. But what I can tell you is that if some does exist, it's... probably pretty trivial to produce more of itself. So I would not necessarily bank on it being the only one.

"As far as hiding it in your wall goes, it really depends on how you've contained it. I would say it's a bad idea, but giving it to the OPA sounds like an even worse idea, so... Just be fucking careful, okay?"

Hecate gives NoDot permission to root around in her research facility's security. Immediately upon hearing this, NoDot starts pulling up the greenhouse's systems and improving their security, and scrubbing Hecate's access records.

Hecate also says she hasn't told anyone about this, and NoDot can bring in their friends if they want, but she feels bad for not having more time to chat one-on-one first.

NoDot pings Nikki, Alfie, Kova, and Lu to come to their room to meet their girlfriend. They respond:

Nikki: OMG i've wanted to meet her for so long!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙌

Alfie: k

Kova: i'm on my way

Lu: It is emotionally healthy to have a partner of a romantic nature. I am happy for you.

The group gathers in NoDot's room. Nikki was mid-work out, training to fight with weapons in her hands, so she arrives in a sports bra and leggings and carrying knives.

NoDot gets everyone up to speed. With this new information about what the protomolecule is capable of, the group decides that destroying a sample of it would be useless, and might turn the sun into a bicycle. Right now it seems there's not much they can do but play along with the OPA, but they do care about the human testing and want to do something about it.

They briefly review what they know about Phoebe, the moon where the protomolecule is being developed: it's heavily guarded by Mars, and you'd need serious clearance just to be on it. There's only one station for the whole place.

When NoDot records a reply to Hecate, the group asks a couple questions.

• Is there a way to potentially destroy or deactivate the molecule without turning the sun into a puppy?
  • Hecate responds she doesn't know, but wants to research it more.
• What is the molecule made of? Is it mostly tech, or biological?
  • It seems to be both. It's like a quantum computer inside a single molecule. Nothing like Terran biology.
• How programmable or controllable is it?
  • She doesn't know if it's already been programmed for something, or how you'd program it at all. She knows it technically has everything necessary to do anything, but she doesn't know how you'd infuse it with enough energy in a practical way.

• Do you think there's a way to turn it off?
  • She hasn't the faintest idea. Without knowing anything else about it, it's impossible to guess.

• Does she have any idea who between Earth or Mars has possession of it?
  • Not at all. She only has little pieces of the scientific data files.
• Nikki asks "What's the story of you guys' first date?"
  • Nodot quickly interjects "Fuck off, fuck you, get out of here, oh it looks like that's the clock, we're done!"

"ILY, bye!" signs off NoDot. They proceed to kick everyone out of their room.

Chilling on the ship

When Kova, Nikki, Alfie, and Lu return to the mess, they find Mack looking down. Lu asks if he wants a Pepto Bismol, which still exists in this year of our lord 2350, but Mack replies he's just gonna go lay down.

Hanging out in the mess, Alfie reads out a riddle. "Steven was looking at a photo. Someone asked him, 'Whose picture are you looking at?' He replied, 'I don't have any brother or sister, but this man's father is my father's son.' Whose picture was Steven looking at?" Nikki correctly answers "his son."

The next riddle: "The day before two days after the day before tomorrow is Saturday. What day is today?" Everyone is dumbfounded. Nikki doesn't bother thinking about it and throws out "Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday." She's correct!

The current riddles scoreboard for the trip is: Nikki has 7 points, Kova has 6 points, Lu has 2 points, and NoDot has 4 points.

Kova spends the afternoon armoring up Pip and giving him some urban camouflage paint.

Later, Alfie asks Lu for her opinion about a blue cheese ranch dressing he picked up recently. It tastes terrible. Alfie says he can't taste very well, so Lu reluctantly agrees to taste test his future food experiments.

Nikki and Julie "catch up"

Having exhausted topics related to the protomolecule, Nikki asks Julie how her life is going.

Julie joined a Belter advocacy group in college, and very recently got fed up with her parents and left Earth. She's dated a few guys, but nothing long term. "You know," she confides, "I've been considering for a long time that I might not just be into guys, and I think I'm kind of sick of guys right now. I keep telling them about the cause and that tends to make things peter out."

Nikki's player asks how cute Julie is. The DM shows a screenshot from the Expanse TV show, and Nikki's player responds "Holy shit, I have been doing this all wrong."

Nikki makes a move on Julie. Julie blushes, and they go to Netflix and chill in Nikki's room.

The players decides the Nikki/Julie ship name is Maonnedy.

Mack's Conundrum

At some point during the day, NoDot goes to check on Mack. Mack confides he's real bummed because he doesn't want to be kicked off the ship when they arrive on Ceres.

NoDot tells him if he wants to stay, he'll have to pitch himself to the people in charge about joining the crew. (The players notice at this point that Mack has stats rolled up, but they're all terrible.) NoDot throws out ideas: he could be a chef? Janitor? Hired muscle? Mack doesn't respond positively to these suggestions, so NoDot tells him to ask around for more ideas. But first they cheer him up by playing the video game Waifu Fighters 9: Demons from the Titty Dimension.

Mack goes to find Alfie, who's sitting at the pilot controls and hamboning. He asks for a job on the ship. Puzzled by the question, Alfie suggests Mack either pay rent, or cook, or clean and do laundry.

"Is there anything that's like, cool? Like, flying the ship--"

"No," says Alfie.

He suggests that maybe Mack could be a jester and tell jokes. Mack immediately leaves to go talk to Kova.

Kova suggests being in charge of hydroponics and growing food for everyone. Mack likes this idea. He asks her how to grow plants, and she replies "Uhh... that's not a skill... I have..." But she's willing to help him set up a hydroponics rig in an unused closet on the mess floor.

NoDot, watching the interaction over the cameras like a creeper, asks Hecate for information about botany and forwards it to Mack. It's very in-depth and includes a lot of links to videos.

Evening: Gambling in the mess

Alfie and Zuko sit in the mess and play cribbage. They gamble for doing each other's laundry. Zuko wins by a landslide.

Alfie is smoking. Walking by the mess, Lu stops and reprimands him. He's unphased, so she leaves in disgust.

Kova joins for the next cribbage round. Alfie shares a cigarette with her, and once again gets stomped. He has to do both Zuko and Kova's next load of laundry.

2350-12-21 (Thursday) (retcon)

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

Kova: spends all day moving the passenger crash couches out of their current room (the one that was being used as a movie theater), with the intention of turning the room into a Medbay. She puts them in the cargo bay.

Nikki:

NoDot:

Alfie: builds a card castle in the mess.

Lu: helps Kova move chairs, for fear of her throwing her back out.

Mack: watches tons of videos about plants.

2350-12-22 (Friday) (retcon)

Another travel day.

Kova:

Nikki:

NoDot:

Alfie: has important knitting to do.

Lu: relaxes and reads medical journals.

Mack: reads tons of articles and gets way deeper into the specifics of plants than anyone at his skill level needs to.

Nodot corners Julie

Nodot tells Julie their formal complaint about the OPA: they had a bad experience with the OPA in the past, and have problems with them now, and want Julie to think critically about working with them.

Julie is confused why NoDot's telling her this. She's under the impression that the Terpsichore is just dropping her off on Ceres. NoDot counters that that definitely isn't true, the crew is complicit now and involved in the protomolecule situation. Julie says sure, but they can just go their separate ways.

"No we can't. What are you talking about, girl?" NoDot asks.

"What are you talking about?" Julie replies.

NoDot backs down and repeats that they just want Julie to think critically about the people they're going to talk to. Baffled, Julie says, "Okay, sure, whatever you say."

Later, Julie asks Nikki why NoDot told her about this. Nikki tells her that the crew wants to see the protomolecule situation through. Some of them might not like the OPA, but beggars can't be choosers. Julie says that Dawes' faction on Ceres has been clean for a while, ever since he broke ties with the faction run by Marco Anaros, a man who has done a lot of terrorism in the name of the OPA.

2350-12-23 (Saturday)

Ceres: Commercial Dock, Pier 2

In the few hours before landing, Alfie prepares the ship for docking. Kova straps everything down to the ship. Lu eats a slow breakfast. NoDot puts on a full bimbo/harajuku getup, with a cute plush backpack and a neon green-pink ombre wig. Nikki's hair is in a messy-chic bun, and she's wearing a fashionable jacket, crop top, blue skinny jeans, and nice boots with chunky heels.

Mack pitches to Nikki his idea to be the plants guy in exchange for joining the crew. "And... I could clean I guess?" he adds reluctantly. Nikki latches onto that part and agrees to let Mack stay, believing he's now the ship butler.

The Terpsichore docks on Ceres. The fee is 10,000 credits a night, but Zuko assures Nikki the OPA will cover it while they're here.

Everyone on the ship rides the train into the city. It's crowded inside. Alfie vibes and listens to music. NoDot chews neon bubble gum. Lu keeps wiping her hands with sanitizer because it's dirty. As they ride further inward, the gravity gets lower.

They disembark in Midtown at Takashi station. Zuko leads everyone to Anderson Dawes' office, then splits off from the group.

The Meeting with Anderson Dawes

"Ah! Welcome to Ceres," Dawes greets. He offers everyone a seat and some glasses of water, which is a scarce resource right now on Ceres. Nikki gives him a Belter cheers and takes a sip.

Dawes pays the group 9,870,000 credits for their work with Zuko. 10,000,000 was the agreed price, but he had to take some out for the pay-per-view and room service NoDot used at their slumber party on Eros.

It's Julie's first time meeting Dawes in the flesh, so the two are happy to see each other. Dawes comments to Nikki that it's a strange coincidence she knows Julie already, and says the Terpsichore seems to be full of strange coincidences. Nikki doesn't respond to that.

Julie tells Dawes the critical new information she's acquired: she knows the protomolecule sample is being moved from Phoebe to Eros on the 29th.

"I wish there was a way I could've told you, but considering the sensitivity of the information..." Julie says.

"No no, you did the right thing. But this doesn't give us a lot of time. We need to come up with a plan tonight."

Dawes tells the crew he wants to work out a gameplan with Julie, and they should all go enjoy Ceres for the day. Nikki protests that she'd like to be present for the planning process, because Zuko made it clear to the crew that they'd be involved. The crew assumes they were brought here to help heist the protomolecule, like they were hired to help Zuko do back in Episode 1.

Dawes responds with confusion. There's been a misunderstanding--Julie will be doing the heist with an OPA crew he trusts. The Terpsichore will not be helping with that. Plans got shuffled around on their way to Ceres when Julie appeared, and now she and her information are the priority. The Terpsichore's job became simply to bring Julie here.

Nikki attempts to pitch the group as perfect for helping with Julie's heist, because they are an unknown group of people not affiliated with the OPA, and good for plausible deniability. Dawes responds he's well aware of who the crew is comprised of.

He explains he did research into the Terpsichore itself. 30 years ago, only 7 ships of its type were made, built on Tycho Station in the belt and based on a Martian military design. They were ordered by Mao-Kwikowski and then disappeared almost immediately. "That's as much as I can find out about that. And what happens? One of them turns up on my doorstep, with a pilot that I can't find anything out about."

"Then that means people who might take offense to this also wouldn't be able to find out," Nikki says.

"It means as far as I know, you work for Mao."

Nikki laughs.

NoDot impatiently whispers to Nikki that their crew actually holds a lot more cards than Dawes thinks. Thanks to Hecate's research, they know a fair amount about the protomolecule and what it can do--likely more than the OPA does. Nikki indicates this to Dawes, and Dawes becomes suspicious. He ultimately refuses their pitch to join the heist, but seems to still want them involved somehow. He tells them to come back tomorrow to help him with something, as an olive branch. Nikki accepts.

"What can you do for the belt?" asks Kova next.

Dawes begins to respond, "What I want is independence and nothing more. I know the OPA has a bit of a bad reputation, but--"

NoDot coughs conspicuously, growing increasingly annoyed at all the diplomatic speeches. Alfie takes NoDot outside to keep them from disturbing the rest of the meeting.

"...But, it is about time we grow up," Dawes continues. "If we want a seat at the table, we must stop with some of the actions we've used in the past."

The meeting concludes with Dawes giving the crew accommodations in a nearby hotel for the night, along with water vouchers. The crew leaves his office, and on the way out, Dawes asks Nikki to send Alfie back in.

Everyone finds NoDot outside, ranting incoherently.

"I get it, but listen, I don't think we have much power here," Nikki tells them.

"WE HAVE SO MUCH POWER," NoDot exclaims back.

Dawes talks to Alfie privately

Dawes wants to have a chat with another Belter, and he knows Kova feels wary about the OPA, so that leaves Alfie.

Dawes asks what's up with the Earther captain, and if Alfie trusts his crew. Alfie replies, "No, but they can do the job."

"That's wise," says Dawes.

He tells Alfie that he knows Kova once had a bad experience with the OPA.

"You know about Marco Anaros?" he asks.

"Yep," Alfie lies.

"Well, she spent some time with him a while back, and... Well, I just want to make it clear, I understand her reservations with the OPA. But I don't work with him, and I never would again."

Dawes couldn't find out anything about NoDot, so he asks about them. Alfie says they're a brilliant hacker who elevates the crew's capability tenfold, and Dawes hopes he can win them over.

"I do understand the value of your crew. I think that there is a lot to say in having a Kennedy aboard, on a Belter ship," continues Dawes, referencing Nikki.

"Yep," lies Alfie again, but this time Dawes catches it. He explains the Kennedies are a very big name on Earth, with a political history spanning four centuries. Alfie replies that he thinks Nikki's a competent captain who makes good decisions.

Lastly, Alfie asks how Dawes knows what he knows about the Terpsichore. Dawes answers he had the OPA look into it after seeing it at the port. He knows where it was built because he has connections in Tycho. Based on everyone's reactions, he's believing more and more that they don't work for Mao-Kwikowsi, which intrigues him.

An afternoon on Ceres

Back outside the office, NoDot is holding a bicycle and shaking it and shouting to Nikki, "Is this what you want?! Is this what you want to be??!"

"Hey, that's my bike!" says a random guy on the street.

NoDot points at the bike and says to the guy, "That's you. That's you in like, days." Then they go back to the ship and start up a camgirl stream.

Alfie chats with Nikki. He relays what Dawes told him about Kova. Nikki recognizes the name Marco Anaros and comments "no wonder she left. She's sane."

Then Alfie asks about Nikki's family, which is the first time he's ever asked her about herself. Nikki describes that her father is in the UN parliament, and her family is really famous because of how long they've been involved in high level world-leading politics. Famous enough that Nikki's been pursued by the paparazzi a few times. Her parents groomed her to follow in their business/political footsteps and put her in charge of PR at one of their corporations. But Nikki got sick of it, embezzled some of their money, and left. That money is how she hired him and his ship. When it ran out, she didn't have any more.

"Huh. Badass," Alfie says.

Lu hangs out at a bar

Dawes had said that alcohol was cheaper than water, so Lu goes to drink wheat beer at a bar across the street from his office.

After 3 beers, the bartender tells her she has to pay her tab before ordering more. It's their policy so people don't skip out on their bills. The tab is at about 1000 credits so far. Lu grumbles about the strange policy, but pays it without complaint.

She goes for a buzzed walk and heads to the hotel.

Kova and Mack's Scrapyard Adventure

Kova spends the day helping Mack gather materials for the hydroponics rig in the closet.

They go around to a few different hardware stores to look for pipes, but Mack keeps pointing to one of his botany videos and saying, "I don't think that's the right kind of thing. It looks different. The metal looks wrong. We gotta keep looking." Kova heavily sighs, unamused.

Mack names a specific alloy he wants that Kova's never even heard of, because it's very specific to botany.

"Why," Kova asks.

"Because it's good for the pH of the soil! You have to have proper soil pH or the plants will die!"

"Does it need to be that specific, though?"

"Absolutely!"

Kova searches for a scrapyard in Medina, which Mack is reluctant about. Having grown up on Eros, Kova feels perfectly at home in Medina, but Mack feels nervous and out-of-place. Kova has to literally grab his arm and drag him.

They find an atrium-style place with a big pile of scrap in it. A bunch of people are standing around doing business with passers-by. Kova goes to the nearest one and asks for Mack's specific alloy.

"Uhh... We just have scrap," says the salesman. "It might be that. It--it is that! What did you call it? Yeah, it's that."

Kova asks Mack once more about this alloy. He says that the videos he's been watching told him 'it's the only proper metal to grow stuff on a ship.' Exasperated, Kova asks the salesman just for copper, and gets confirmation they have some. She digs through the scrap pile and finds some copper pipes.

Mack is distressed by the copper. Kova just Googles it. She finds plenty of articles that recommend the special metal for botany, but just as many that say that's a load of crap. There's a lot of contradicting information. It's the internet, after all. Copper will be fine.

"I wanna keep looking for it," Mack presses.

"Alright, lead the way," says Kova.

"....Around here?" asks Mack nervously.

"Yep."

Mack asks a salesman for help. The salesman pulls a random metal from the scrap pile and declares it's exactly what Mack's looking for. Mack pulls out his terminal to pay--

Kova's now completely invested. She stops him and tells him it's the wrong metal. In a 180, Mack whines, "I dunno, it kinda looks right, doesn't it? We've been looking all over for it. You haven't even heard of the alloy."

"Yeah, and that's how I know this isn't it. I've worked with metal for years. It's stain-coated steal."

"...Fine... I don't have any credits anyway."

Kova buys the copper pipes using the crew funds, along with some rubber tubing. It costs about 12,000 credits. That night, Kova uses these materials to build a lattice and hosing system for plants.

Nikki and Alfie buy knives

Alfie fuels up the ship and restocks food and water. It costs 1.2 million credits in total.

Nikki texts the group chat asking nervously if anyone wants to accompany her to Medina to buy weapons, and Alfie replies he knows where to go. "Do you require assistance from a strong woman?" texts Lu. Alfie tells her to stay behind.

He leads Nikki through Medina down some mazelike alleyways, around a corner, down a long flight of stairs, into a place that looks like it has weapons, then through another hidden door in that storefront and into a backroom. It's a tiny room with low lighting, and just a counter and a guy.

Alfie and the weapons guy Jim greet each other with familiarity. Jim's able to hook Nikki up with half a dozen small, concealable, versatile throwing knives. They're carbon black with wrapped handles. "When you get good at throwing them, you wanna unwrap them," he tells her.

He starts to name a big price number, but then looks at Alfie and says, "Actually, considering you saved me that one time and I never repaid you, this one's on me."

Alfie makes plans later to bring his fragile sniper rifle into the shop to get fixed up. Then he and Nikki head to the hotel and hit up the bar.

NoDot streams

NoDot is streaming a drone strip. That's where drones strip off clothes from you, but also block the camera at the right places. Two of the biggest simps in chat start competing to out-tip each other. Since NoDot is using the local Ceres internet to stream, they're able to rake in the viewers and make 400,000 credits.

Evening at the Hotel Bar

The hotel is about 1 subway stop away from Dawes' office. Nikki, Alfie, and Lu all show up around the same time. Noticing Lu's already 3 drinks in, Nikki and Alfie order 3 shots each to catch up. They easily surpass Lu's level of drunkenness.

Alfie texts NoDot to meet at the bar. NoDot responds with a screenshot of their stream. Then he texts Kova, who sends back an image of Mack dragging a pipe onto the subway. Alfie responds to both with a 👍.

Alfie hooks up with a Belter woman at the bar. He doesn't even learn her name, but she gets enamored.

Nikki waits until Julie shows up around 8pm. Nikki buys them both drinks and they talk about Dawes. Julie's hopeful that Nikki realized Dawes isn't that bad, but Nikki's still trepidatious about him. As they down more drinks, Julie loses interest in talking about work. The two retire to a hotel room.

Kova spends the night on the ship.

2350-12-24 (Sunday)

The Next Morning

As they're about to leave the hotel, Nikki proposes to Julie, "You know, if we come with on this thing, then you and I..."

Julie just replies, "We should get going."

Meanwhile, Alfie kicks the nameless woman out of his room. On her way out, she steals his hand terminal. When Alfie realizes, he runs after her and punches her, and she gives it back.

On the ship, NoDot showers, drinks gamer juice, and spends 3 hours getting dressed.

Wrap-up: Meeting Dawes once again

The five crew members returns to Dawes' office.

He shows the group 3 pallet dollies stacked with stuff. He tells them to split up into three groups. So Kova and Alfie pair up, NoDot and Lu pair up, and Nikki pairs up with Dawes.

"I've gotta get these gifts to the orphanages around Ceres," he says. He normally would've done it on the 23rd, but he was busy planning the heist.

Kova suspiciously opens a box of stuff. It's just full of supplies and toys, and seems to have no bombs or contraband.

In return for the crew's help with deliveries, Dawes says he'll owe them. He and Nikki shake on it.

Previous: Episode 3

Next: Episode 5