The Asylum
30 Jun 2017Vizz Curio
::CMDR Vizz Curio on the Jupiter Jazz, docked at starport Beagle 2 Landing, Asellus Primus::::personal log::
Things are getting darker surrounding the Thargoid bases.
I suspect there's a psionic element to the alien technology.
First Lennox had a complete mental breakdown.
Now Sheila is in a coma. Non-responsive, even after applying cortical electrodes.
If this keeps happening to my hired crews, I may need to rename my ship to something like The Asylum... Yikes.
I thought it was suspicious that she hadn't left her cabin in almost 2 days, so I had Eden ping her room after leaving Obsidian Orbital and heading back for civilized space.
No response, so we did a life-sense scan of the ship and two human lifeforms showed up. (With as much hardware, cybernetic parts, and synthflesh I had replaced on my body after the accident years ago I'm amused that I still show up on those scans!)
She didn't respond even to my bangs on her door, so I went all out and called for a full Red Alert on the ship.
No dice.
Now I didn't feel like I needed decorum to respect her privacy as at this point I was concerned for her well-being. I punched in the master override code to the doors at my console and dashed to her cabin.
Red writing all over the walls.
It was blood.
On the walls.
Now it was overall just a small amount of blood, a sliced fingertip's worth. But her blood all the same.
I turned pale (okay, paler than usual) seeing my crew mate laying on the fold-down bunk. After my heart dropped I remember she's was still reading as alive on the scan a few minutes before.
She didn't rouse when I tried to wake her. Pulse was fast. Checked her fingers and found her right index finger with a large slit and dried blood had sealed the wound; it was dark so I assumed at least a day old. There wasn't enough blood to indicate that she passed out from blood loss.
We were in the middle of nowhere between Maia and civilized space, nothing I could do.
I planned to clean the room at least, and keep her body comfortable until I could dock at a station for medical help.
As I went to scrub the walls I looked closer at the gruesome writing. These were glyphs, I had seen them before.
Recently after exploring the inside of the Thargoid base at HIP 14909 2 A and witnessing the star map, some commanders had discovered a spectrograph in the sounds that were played there. The Cannon Research Group analyzed this and is distributing information about it. The images show glyphs of the Thargoid ships, the Unknown Probes and Artifacts. These were depicted in Sheila's blood writing. She's gone mad.
I dropped her off at a starport in the bubble which has an excellent medical facility. (For her safety I haven't recorded which, and I've altered my ship's flight logs to mask my path.) I gave them all of her information. After a preliminary scan the doctors told me it doesn't look good and due to her neurological readings that they don't expect her to wake up anytime soon if ever.
Disheartened, I knew I had to leave.
Plotted a course for Asellus Primus because that system is asking for space cowboys to hunt and take out pirates and transgressors to create a safe haven system. I needed to shoot something really badly, and that's always easy money for me.
Docked at Beagle 2 Landing, signed up for the thing with the thing, and popped into a bar for some stiff drinks.
Met a gal there, pretty. Zaya Gates. Says she's from the Sol system originally, but won't say what planet. Doesn't act like an Earther from what I've heard of them at least. Says she's a pilot, experienced. Lonely, looking for adventure.
I told her she's welcome to sign on with me and the Jupiter Jazz; adventure is my style but my life is crazy. Docking pad 07, and I plan to do some bounty hunting in the local rings tonight.
Later on back at my ship doing system checks before heading out I heard a knock on the airlock door. I opened it up, she says "Is that invite still open?"
I opened my arms wide then gestured inside and replied "Welcome to the asylum".
::end transmission::
-------------
Classic Lovecraftian gone-insane trope -- I couldn't resist. I lost my crew mate in an unfortunate skirmish when bounty hunting and sadly Elite Dangerous doesn't provide escape pods for our NPC crew mates like it does for us CMDRs.
-------------