Session 17 (1 September 2023)

Location: Near the ringed gas giant Karvor IX in the Lansote system (Far Home 1329)

Date: 109-5600

Travellers: Griff Kodiak, Torka Jax, Ada Windsor, Jacobe Kyman, and Dr Fomstep

NPC: RG10-4BXUR general service robot ("Archie")

You have less than two hours to reach the Dawnstar, a 400-ton merchant freighter, if you want to save it and any crew left aboard before it plunges into the upper atmosphere of Karvor-IX. It's emitting an automated distress signal and no one responds to your hails. As you ponder what to do, you receive a message from a patrol cruiser setting out from Lansote: the distress signal has been received and help is on its way, but it'll be days before they arrive. You plot a course to intercept the freighter and inform the patrol of your plans. It's the ethnical thing to do. 

En route, your scopes detect a small 20-ton launch even further away; its engines are off and it is similarly unresponsive. It, too, is on course to crash into the gas giant if left to its fate. Another mystery! You decide to try to rescue both vessels: Griff and Torka suit up and clamber aboard the air/raft to set off in pursuit of the launch while the Dejah Thoris proceeds to the freighter.

Jac maneuvers alongside the Dawnstar. The lights are on and there's no obvious damage to the ship's exterior (or, for that matter, to the portions of the interior you can see through the portholes). You extend a docking umbilical and secure its extremity around the freighter's topside hatch access, positioned just aft and starboard of the bridge: you intend thusly to access the ship's controls as expediently as possible. Precautions are taken to prevent any contaminants that may be in the Dawnstar's air supply to travel back to your ship. You suit up. Dr Fomstep goes first, laser pistol on hip and medkit in hand. Opening the exterior hatch and descending a ladder, he activates the iris valve door leading to the captain's lounge aft of the bridge. Before him lies a grisly scene: a bloody cadaver. The victim, a middle-aged man in spacer's overalls, has recently been slain by some kind of bladed weapon. You notice a trail of bloody footprints — large ones — leading around a corner and heading aft. On edge, you keep an eye in that direction as you open the iris valve door leading to the bridge. Another grim spectacle awaits: a woman's body, decapitated, slumps behind the pilot's chair. Her head has rolled under the control panels, which are covered in a spray of blood. Ada guesses that the woman had been kneeling and was beheaded from behind. Behind her, you see that the key components of the ship's computer have been smashed to bits: so much for accessing the ship's logs to solve this gruesome mystery. Someone has deliberately covered their tracks....

Jac tamps down his revulsion at the gore festooning the ship's controls and sets about getting the Dawnstar into a stable orbit. The others heft their weapons and keep a watch out for the killer.

Meanwhile, Griff and Torka reach the launch. Torka spacewalks over to the portside cargo door and gets inside, ascending via ladder to the passenger deck. No one's aboard. Griff comes aboard to pilot the small craft back to the Dawnstar. 

Reunited, you decide to undertake a search of the ship. You proceed in two groups down port and starboard passages running the length of the bridge and passenger deck. The passenger staterooms are all empty but neatly arranged, ready to receive guests. Further aft, you note that the ship was accredited to carry mail, judging from the sealed parcels you find in the secure cargo area. You discover a room with nine low berths, also empty. In the middle of the room is a robot, who addresses you in its characteristic monotone: "I hope you have come to save me."

RG10 general service robot

The robot, a general service RG10 model, explains that the ship's engineer went mad and began killing the others with a cutlass. "Archie" shows signs of having been shot twice with a slug thrower: he explains that the engineer attacked him as well. Ada clandestinely examines his metal feet and observes specks of dried blood. Archie doesn't know the whereabouts of the engineer, but claims to have seen the launch departing shortly after the captain's murder and assumes the engineer fled in it. You comment that the launch was empty. Archie asks how you know this; when you reply that you retrieved it, he makes no response. 

You order him to power down, and, for good measure, use the kill-switch on the back of his "neck" to make sure he's shut off. 

What happened here? Is Archie a victim or a killer? Where are the other crew members? What other discoveries await you aboard the Dawnstar?

Image credits: robot image screengrab from YouTube video collage of AI-generated sci-fi art.