Do you wanna know what happened to Tom?
You do?
Really?
Well then, let's find out!
PART NINE: SAVED BY THE BRO FROM THE CLUTCHES OF CAPITALIST PIGS
Tom, you aren't dead! I sure am happy to see you!
TOM! My God, I'm glad to see you again! How are you? What happened? and where...
Excuse me, Mrs. Mocci, but as you can see, Mr. Driscoll's condition is very bad. He must have medical treatment immediately.
Gas... Captain Brandt, why... The planet is...
I, too, think we should bring Mr. Driscoll into the medical department immediately. It's a wonder that he survived so long in this unsafe environment.
But, Sir, the planet is... You must know that...
The planet is full of life!
I was afraid of this! Mr. Driscoll is hallucinating. He has to be taken to the medical station immediately.
But...
Tom!
Be patient for a few days, Mrs. Mocci. You will be able to visit Mr. Driscoll as soon as he has recovered a little.
They've turned the medical room into a prison cell!
We can't get out. It's quite frustrating, but you have to wait a few hours, till...
Our BRO appears!
Stop, stop! Quiet down, man.
First, it's great that you're still alive. We had pretty much written you and Hofstedt off.
Sorry, old man. I'm happy to see you too.
That's good. I don't know how much time we have. You might have noticed that I opened the door with a doctored card.
I already guessed that your visit here was unofficial. Just tell me what happened!
I can't right now! First, you tell me. Everything, short and sweet.
Short and sweet? Man, you've no idea...
Wow. I have to digest this sitting down.
If I hadn't know you for so long I'd actually believe that you were a little nuts. All of that actually happened?
You know that I couldn't have made all of that up. Hofstedt can confirm everything for you if he had not remained with the Dji Cantos.
Yes, that would help explain it. But that this world is...
Now it's your turn, my friend. What happened here.
Everything is going as normal. And that's exactly the problem.
You aren't going to tell me that nobody here has noticed that something is wrong with this planet!
Think a minute! If you had landed on Earth in the middle of the Gobi Desert, and had seen nothing more of the planet, what would you think then?
The landing site was chosen cleverly, that's for sure. That only leaces the conclusion that the AI and Captain Brandt gave false data to the crew.
Obviously. But aside from that, several things have happened.
The fact that the atmosphere is more breathable than was believed before is hard to ignore.
In addition, during the first mining, we ran into awfully strange and tough beasts. Such highly developed forms of life could hardly be present on an almost lifeless planet.
And no one became suspicious.
It all fits together perfectly. It's now very clear why they've put me in cold storage.
I was too naive. However, I would never have suspected DDT would use such drastic methods. Somehow someone will find out!
Maybe. Maybe not.
Of course, the death of Inspector Beagle now appears in a new light.
Right. He could have noticed the manipulation of the probe data and tried to make contact with his office when they discovered him.
The intentional overloading of the over-c console can only be done by Ned, the onboard computer. If the AI is actively involved in the whole affair, and we have to assume that, then we should be very careful. There's not much on board the Toronto which cannot be controlled by the AI.
Nevertheless we have to get out of here and talk we the other people on board! I know a lot of them. When they know everything about this world, I cannot imagine that they will continue to work on the destruction of the planet, bonus or no.
Maybe. In any case, it's going to be enough trouble just to stop the operation.
But that's not the problem. The problem is the AI.
What can it do? Cut off our power? Ned may have cameras, but there certainly aren't machine guns screwed to them.
Oh, you're kidding me! You mean, DDT would use force against its own people?
You can figure that out for yourself. If a ship of this size does not fulfill its mission, it is a major financial loss.
It would be the end of the company.
That's a motive for extraordinary efforts and measures, don't you think?
OK.
I could tell you a long story about how this planet and its inhabitants have become a part of me on my long journey here and so on and so forth.
I'll add only one thing:
This world will only be dug up over my dead body, O.K.?
There must be fantastic places in this world and I would surely like to see them.
I'm sure I'll regret it, but... I'm with you.
What can I say? I...
How about 'Thank you'? Ha, forget it!
Do you have any idea what we can do next?
We have to try and paralyze the AI's energy supply. Then, we can speak to the entire crew and the security people. I'm assuming that the security people aren't all blood-thirsty. Then, we could have a little revolution without running the risk of a blood bath by the AI bodies.
I assume we can't just pull off the AI's plug, right?
What are our chances of getting there?
Sounds good. Off to the power plant.
That's all you can say about it?
Well. First, we have to find an access to the service deck. They have cleared this section, but we shouldn't leave it, otherwise we'll have security down on our backs immediately. They will lock us up before you can let out a peep of your story.
Sounds good! Let's go!
BRO saved the day!
And here's our BRO. He's extremely good at picking locks, but his fighting skills are a little weak. Well, that's not a problem, we won't be having any fights here.
Let's roll.
Here's an unopenable door.
I may have alzheimers, but at least I don't have alzheimers.
Can you open the door? It shouldn't be more difficult than how you opened my door, right?
Oh, probably. But I only had one programmable card. Do you know how difficult it is to come by those things? Moreover, it looks as if this door can only be opened with a code.
And where are we to get this code?
Well, from that paper we found, man!
Tom is such a bright fellow, isn't he?
If we decide to continue through the corridor...
So we decide to try the service hatch.
(it's probably the keycard for the locked door some screens above, shame I've figured it out just about now)
Wooo! More 3d dungeons, this time sci-fi version.
This time it's pure puzzle-time, no fights here.
We get this guy to follow us, this way a door opens.
We have to get from the right corner near the door to the south-western end. It's doable.
A big hall or a maze. Let's try the maze first.
We note the floor plate combination.
Back in the large chamber, we have some more plates
It's not too hard to know what to do
Another large chamber, we open up all the cells with robots inside.
A code part!
FUCK, we somehow missed the first two parts. Ah fuck it, I don't want to backtrack now, we must rely on my meta-gaming knowledge
A new area
Let's get rid of that pesky Ned!
Oh no! The AI!
Ned! Do you and Brandt really think you can conceal the truth about this planet?
Simply put: Yes!
The prerequisites are favorable and the chances are good. The existence of the company justifies taking some risk.
WHAT? You're telling us, right to our faces, that you consciously intend to destroy this world?
I...
What's with Captain Brandt? If he cannot show what happened on the flight, he will lose his license forever!
Sure. And the moon is made of green cheese.
Joe?
Yes?
Let's go. Quick.
Well, that didn't go exactly as planned.
Tom Driscoll, Joe Bernard, your resistance against ship rules and your apparent readiness to go against the interests of the firm unfortunately make drastic measures unavoidable.
I'm sorry.
My God!
What was THAT? How'd you do that?
A little present that they gave me on the island of the Dji Cantos.
Any more questions?
Dozens. But no more doubts about your story.
Good.
OK, let's beat it. It will be hard enough to get through the desert unnoticed.
We were afraid of something like that, Tom. I've already had a discussion with the other Dji Cantos.
Let's return to the island so we can decide what to do next!
You must understand, Birrh, that this ship is capable of growing. The installation is expanding itself more and more. It is a self-maintaining process. It will take a while, but the damage to Albion is immeasurable.
Tom, you are apparently angry about the behavior of your Helromier companions. Does that mean that you are on our side?
What exactly happened?
I was counting on the company's dirty tricks, but I hadn't guessed that it would make such a direct, overt attempt.
Think about it. It was a fool-proof plan: the accidental death of the inspector working with an irreplaceable COM unit. No way to communicate with Earth. By the time there is an investigation, the whole thing would be over. The government can't afford to send anyone out here.
Now the question is: What do we do?
You Dji Cantos have told us about Animebona, the Entity of this world. Didn't you say that she has a kind of consciousness? Would she allow the destruction of her world, her self?
Oh, naturally, Animebona will try to defend herself!
I had disturbing visions while I was waiting for you, Tom. The world, the Entity feels... pain.
Does that mean that we are helpless against the metal colossus?
We must think. I'm happy that three Helromier, including a scholar, have come over to our side. Perhaps, together, we will find a way to conquer this threat.
We think we've found a promising solution. It will certainly be the most difficult magic operation we have ever undertaken, but it does give us a chance.
Didn't you say that magic couldn't fight the Toronto?
That was precisely our problem. However, with the honorable Rainer Hofstedt's help, we have come up with a plan. We should not attack Animenkna, the technological principle of the Helromier; we should make it a part of the magic process, so we can turn the metal colossus into something different.
Unfortunately, tha plan has one, or rather two, glitches.
What Rainer Hofstedt is trying to say is that we will create a magical artefact. Its power will be great, but not entirely predictable. And it has to be applied to a large energy source in the metal ship.
To be exact, the fusion reactor of the installation.
Slowly, slowly. So the first glitch is that we need to return this to the Toronto. And what do we have to take to the reactor?
Understood. And the second piece of information?
There is also the matter of knowing how to harness large amounts of energy. Only the Kenget Kamulos have this knowledge.
The assassin cult!
The Kenget are trained in economic survival as well. We will try to make them an attractive offer. Our community is more wealthy than it appears.
Hmm, in your direct way, hmm, yes, that sums it up. You and your companions are battle-tested and are in possession of the necessary knowledge. However, we would naturally understand if...
OK, OK, we'll spare you any concern. I can hardly say 'no' now. If the others are ready to take the risks, the enterprise can begin.
Sounds good. Make it so.
Friends, there is no reason to delay any longer. Let's go and get the two pieces of information we need.
CHOICES!
We have two things to do now: deal with the sneaky assassins and try to gain knowledge from the distrustful metalmakers. You can choose which mission we'll undertake first!
For you information and to make the choice easier to make (or not) let me say that Kengets will yield powerful items and a fuckton of money, while Umajo'll give us access to unlimited and easy to get experience points.
DECIDE!