You're Arriving Very Late

Sep 15

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Eighteen days of drift end at Prometheon Station, a spire turning around a five-ring alien gyroscope the size of a city, with a Virodyne fleet hanging dead in the black around it. The crew came for Dr. Voss. What they find is an empty station that isn't empty. Automated drones. People in gas masks and thigh-high rubber boots who call themselves the Listeners. A crowd of workers with the wrong color in their eyes. Voss is here, wired to a pedestal behind a sealed door, and there's gas coming into her lab. Somewhere above all of it, Viktor Strake is watching through the glass, and he seems to think they're late.

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Meet the Crew:

Jeff as Star Master
Brian as Captain Thorne
Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy
Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members!

They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

[00:00:01] Star Master Jeff: Welcome to the Dark Star Adventure Cast, where the only thing standing between you and the Black is your ship and the strength of your crew. Void help us all.
[00:00:11] Robert: If I get vacked because Voss went full out hell murder robot, I will haunt you while you are dead.
[00:00:19] Haleyy: I think I might only have six months to live. And there's literally like rocks growing in my brain.
[00:00:27] Felix: It's off the charts.
[00:00:28] Felix: I've never seen anything like this thing before.
[00:00:30] Thorne: We're going to make those Omnitek sons of bitches regret they ever met any single one of us. Just be careful. I care about you guys.
[00:00:42] Star Master Jeff: 18 days in transit, the Scapegoat moves through the dark toward a system that doesn't exist on any public chart. Felix has run every search, and Prometheon comes back empty. No record, no registry, no traffic. Whatever's at the end of this drill, Virodyne didn't want anyone finding it. The crew is in transit now in the final hours before they drop out into normal space and into whatever awaits them at the end of the journey that they first embarked on way back on Camiri 4. We enter now with Robert Ross and Felix Champlin on the bridge of the Scapegoat, just ticking down the hours until they reach Prometheon.
[00:01:22] Robert: Robert Ross has been piloting the Scapegoat for what feels like days. I don't know if y'all have ever been doing a long distance drive before. Once you start driving through the blackness, you start hallucinating a little. You start seeing things. And I'm just seeing lights pass me by. I know we're on the right path, but I'm starting to get a little loopy. Felix, you've been scanning, I mean, daily. I mean, damn near hourly. What are y'all looking for? What do you think you're going to find?
[00:02:03] Felix: Felix waits a beat, turn to my chair, rub my eyes, and look at Robert. Bloodshot, haggard, stubble. I just, I got to get some kind of lead. I don't know what we're going into. There's too many variables. I'm trying to figure this out, but we got to get Voss. We got to... You know, Petey, he could be there. And so I've been trying to figure out how do I get him? How do we save Voss? How do we destroy Prometheon like Voss wants? I'm running a lot of directions right now and just trying to solve some of these variables.
[00:02:38] Robert: I get you. I mean, you told us all about Petey. What? Why do you think Petey's going to be in the vault?
[00:02:45] Felix: Voss was telling us. Everything that they're doing, bringing all the data here, I mean, it makes sense. This is their hidden station. And so the research they're doing on these transferred human consciousnesses, like, is it a guarantee he's here? No, but he could be. And this is the closest I've been in a long time, Robert. Do you think you're going to be able to recover him? I've been asking myself that same question, and I don't know, Robert, to tell you the truth. I don't know. I know I'm gonna get him back or I'm gonna die trying. Yeah, I feel that.
[00:03:17] Robert: Whatever you need, brother, let me tell you, whatever you need.
[00:03:21] Felix: I pound the rest of my coffee. Well, I gotta get back to this, Robert.
[00:03:27] Star Master Jeff: Meanwhile, down in the cargo bay, Haley has taken to sitting with Froggy on this short trip from Causeway 3 out to wherever the hell Prometheon Station is. They're sitting outside of his nest in the cargo bay in two fold-out chairs, passing a gallon of something in a repurposed milk jug back and forth.
[00:03:49] Haleyy: So, Froggy, is this some kind of radio Froggy special drink?
[00:03:56] Star Master Jeff: Oh, yeah. Just a little special mixture I make up. I call it Froggy's Special Juice. Something I used to make back on Wafisa back when I was a kid, when I knew Vera at our best. It was just like this. Just a shared carton of, you know, the special juice. Walking down the tracks, heading on towards the dump, see what we can scavenge. And he hands the jug back to you.
[00:04:22] Haleyy: Well, Guardians really fucked that up for you guys. I'm sorry, Froggy. How are you doing, by the way, with everything that's happened?
[00:04:32] Star Master Jeff: I've been better. I've been better, Haley. He takes the jug from you and takes a swig. Yeah, you know, I just miss Vera. I miss home, but I don't know what to do if Vera is inside that orb. I don't know. I don't. It's all so fucking weird, Haley. I don't know what to do about it. I'm not like you guys.
[00:04:53] Haleyy: Hey, you're Froggy. You know, the voice of the Rebellion of Wafisa. That's something, too. We're also not sure what we're doing out here sometimes. And we're all doing our best. Like, there's just so many questions that we all have right now, too. Like... We found that there were these, you know, it's hard for me to even figure out how to approach this. Cause like, cause like Froggy, like I think I might only have six months to live and there's literally like rocks growing in my brain.
[00:05:26] Star Master Jeff: Haley, that sucks.
[00:05:28] Haleyy: It does. It really does.
[00:05:30] Star Master Jeff: He passes the jug back over to you and he says, Thank you. I might have something a little stronger than that if you want.
[00:05:38] Haleyy: Like a Wafisa Bucks espresso martini?
[00:05:44] Star Master Jeff: No, like, and he takes a slim cylinder out of his pocket that's blue-tipped, and he cracks it, and a blue smoke rises up from its end. No, I'm good.
[00:05:54] Haleyy: No, Froggy, no. I fully...
[00:05:56] Star Master Jeff: I got this out of Felix's bunk.
[00:06:00] Haleyy: I apologize, Froggy, but with the rocks growing in my brain, I am not sure if it is the wisest thing for me to engage in this, and Haley taps her com-pad on her arm and says, Felix!
[00:06:12] Star Master Jeff: Oh, you narc!
[00:06:17] Haleyy: I need you to come babysit Froggy.
[00:06:19] Star Master Jeff: He hurriedly stamps out the death stick, and then he goes and he hides it behind a crate.
[00:06:24] Felix: Felix has all of his comms off right now anyway, so. Oh, thank God. I'm in do not disturb mode.
[00:06:29] Haleyy: I'm just worried about you, Froggy. I don't want you falling into, you know, like, Felix is into some heavy shit, and with our whole untethered, unhallowed thing going on, you shouldn't touch those death sticks.
[00:06:45] Star Master Jeff: Well, that did not go the way Froggy wanted it to go, but he sits back down and he takes the jug from you and we leave the cargo bay and we make our way up to the galley where Thorne and Iso are currently preparing dinner. Thorne, you pulled out the old Harrow family cookbook. Now, what did you choose to cook out of that?
[00:07:07] Thorne: Yeah, thumbing through the pages, we found Claire's Sunday pot roast. Braised chuck roast with root vegetables and bread. There's a note in the margins that says, double the garlic, don't listen to Michael. Must have been from Claire herself.
[00:07:22] Star Master Jeff: So Iso's next to you and she's stirring something in a pot. She kind of slaps your hand with a spatula when you get too close, even though you weren't going to do anything. But other than little outbursts like that, being here in the kitchen, this is probably the calmest that you've ever seen her.
[00:07:37] Thorne: Damn, Iso, it's starting to smell good. I didn't know you were any good at cooking.
[00:07:41] Star Master Jeff: Well, hell yeah, I am, honey. I think with a mother like Claire, Robert and I don't know how to cook.
[00:07:46] Thorne: All right, you got me there. Well, soon we're going to be at our final destination. I'm ready for revenge, but I got to tell you, there's a lot on my mind. I'm excited for a little bit of simple pot roast.
[00:07:57] Star Master Jeff: Well, I think this will hit the spot.
[00:07:59] Thorne: Why don't you go ahead and mince the garlic? Oh, yeah, sure. And I just head over to a spot nearby to do what's got to be done. Thorne's not particularly adept at this sort of thing, but he can follow directions. Also, Thorne keeps, like, reaching to the side every, like, couple minutes or so, pulls out his data pad, clicks a few buttons, sighs deeply, and puts it back in his pocket and goes back to the garlic.
[00:08:22] Star Master Jeff: Thorne, why do you keep checking over there? It's, like, every ten seconds. It's getting annoying. Just focus on chopping.
[00:08:29] Thorne: Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it. It's the damn auction money. If it's going to get into our account, it better get in there soon. Otherwise, that whole endeavor is going to be putting us deeper in the hole than the exosite was itself.
[00:08:41] Star Master Jeff: So what, you're just going to check it every 10 seconds for the rest of your life until that money hits your account?
[00:08:45] Thorne: Oh, is that it? Damn, that's not it. I mean, if I have to. All right, fine, I'll just set up some kind of notification.
[00:08:51] Star Master Jeff: There you have it.
[00:08:55] Thorne: Now Redshift Revelry will play when the money gets deposited.
[00:09:01] Star Master Jeff: Oh. And that's an okay song, I suppose. An okay song! Hey, whoa, it's not exactly my taste.
[00:09:07] Thorne: Fair, fair. I mean, I'm not going to begrudge you your taste.
[00:09:11] Star Master Jeff: Okay. Why don't you pass that garlic over to me? We'll pop it in and go ahead and call everyone. The dinner will be ready any minute.
[00:09:17] Thorne: Here you go. I'll get on the comms and just call everyone down. All right, everybody. Food's going to be up soon. Why don't you all start making your way down here to the galley?
[00:09:26] Robert: Oh, hell yeah. What's on grub today?
[00:09:29] Thorne: It's Claire Harrow's Sunday pot roast, a Wafisa classic.
[00:09:34] Haleyy: Froggy, did you hear that?
[00:09:36] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, I'm excited. I love Claire and Michael. I loved reading their recipe book.
[00:09:41] Haleyy: Oh, made me miss home.
[00:09:44] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. And everyone's filtering in. Felix and Robert from the bridge. Haley and Froggy from the nest in the cargo bay. And the table is laid out. Claire's Sunday pot roast with root vegetables, a loaf of bread. It's just that good home-cooked meal. And everyone sits around the table in the galley. Just mere hours out from reaching what you hope will be Prometheon Station. And if it is, you don't really know what to expect when you get there.
[00:10:12] Felix: So Felix is eating, well, like, very little, but also like working on his data pad at the table.
[00:10:20] Thorne: Felix, you're still going, huh?
[00:10:21] Robert: I thought we had a rule. No phones or tablets at the table. Yeah, Felix. I'm sorry.
[00:10:29] Robert: I'm just—don't you know what's at stake here?
[00:10:32] Haleyy: Felix, drink this. And Haley grabs the jug of Wafisa brew. It'll help.
[00:10:40] Felix: Thanks, Haley. I take my cup of water. I throw it, empty it over my shoulder and I pour some in.
[00:10:45] Robert: Oh, this is bad. Now, everybody take a swig because after that, I'm going to chug this whole last thing.
[00:10:52] Star Master Jeff: No, that's my brew.
[00:10:55] Thorne: I'm not sure I want to drink anything that Froggy brewed. No offense, bud.
[00:10:58] Star Master Jeff: That's just a mixture. It's not like a brew.
[00:11:01] Star Master Jeff: I used grey water.
[00:11:03] Haleyy: Nope, we don't want to ask any other questions. Used grey water. Nope.
[00:11:06] Felix: I mean, that's the only water we're drinking on the ship, guys. I hate to tell you.
[00:11:10] Haleyy: We have advanced water filtration systems here.
[00:11:13] Felix: I pass the jug around so everybody can pour some because I think it's a nice moment to all have something.
[00:11:19] Thorne: Yeah. Once everybody's got a full cup, Thorne's going to take a moment to stand up around everybody. All right, everybody, listen up. Let's enjoy this one last great meal together that Iso put together for us before the big mission. Prometheon Station is up ahead. We'll be there anytime now. And when we get there, we're going to make those Omnitek sons of bitches regret they ever met any single one of us. We're going to find Dr. Voss. We're going to blow that place to hell. Just be careful. I care about you guys.
[00:11:51] Star Master Jeff: Cheers. Cheers to that. Thanks, Thorny.
[00:11:54] Haleyy: Cheers.
[00:11:57] Star Master Jeff: A few hours left now and nobody really settles down. In short order, Buddy's voice comes over the comms. Hey buddies! Get your asses to the bridge, cause we just got to Prometheon Station. Choo-choo! Last stop? Hopefully not your deaths. You're on the bridge when you drop out of the spike drill. Straight gray to black. The gyroscope resolves first. Five interlocking rings on a scale that stops making sense the longer you look.
[00:12:27] Thorne: What the hell is that thing?
[00:12:29] Star Master Jeff: Three turns, slow and steady, but two are locked dead. Where a moving ring passes over a frozen one, void energy sparks and rages in the gap. Haley, you can feel it in your chest, a dark thrum pulling you ever closer.
[00:12:44] Haleyy: I do not know exactly what it is, but I can tell you that sparking off of it, that energy, it's exactly what I experienced coming out of those forks that we've been seeing all over. Pretty sure it's the same stuff.
[00:12:58] Felix: So it's alien stuff. It's off the charts. I've never seen anything like this thing before.
[00:13:04] Star Master Jeff: Below it, dwarfed but still huge, Prometheon Station. And docked against its flank, Virodyne black, sleek and armed, is the Acceptable Loss. Son of a bitch. And then further out, hours away, a dozen Virodyne warships hanging dead in formation. Flies stuck in a spider's web.
[00:13:25] Felix: Let's space that. I put the ship on emergency power to make us as hard to detect from other scanners or other systems as possible. We're silent running, folks. Silent running.
[00:13:39] Robert: Do any of y'all know what's happening with this gyroscope? How the hell did they make something this damn big?
[00:13:46] Thorne: I wish I had an answer for you, Robert. And look at those ships. They're just sitting there. Like, is there some kind of cloaked shipyard sitting over there or what?
[00:13:55] Haleyy: Like they're waiting for something.
[00:13:57] Thorne: Yeah, I don't like that. Take us in carefully and quietly.
[00:14:03] Robert: So guys, I'm just going to throw out there. We got the Acceptable Loss here. Victor is probably on board. What are your thoughts about just nuke the whole ship?
[00:14:12] Felix: Excuse me? Have you forgotten that Voss is over there, Robert?
[00:14:16] Thorne: You trigger happy son of a bitch.
[00:14:18] Thorne: Yeah, let's reel it in a little bit. I would love to blow up the Acceptable Loss. Love to. As the station itself, we want to get on first. I feel like if we can get Voss out of there, we should do it.
[00:14:29] Felix: I was hoping it wasn't a space station.
[00:14:31] Felix: It'd be a lot easier to land somewhere and get in at all.
[00:14:36] Star Master Jeff: As you get closer and closer to Prometheon Station, Robert, you ready yourself, ready to talk to whoever pings you and asks you what you were doing at Prometheon Station and what your call sign is and where your orders are to dock. But nothing. Just a dead radio.
[00:14:55] Haleyy: Am I sensing anything at all as we get closer in like void energy? Am I communing with a greater hive mind yet? I feel like there's going to be a hive mind.
[00:15:06] Star Master Jeff: Hey, whoa, no one said anything about a hive mind, but you are feeling the dark, persistent beat of this void energy. It feels like there's a rope around your heart and someone's tugging, beckoning you closer to the gyroscope.
[00:15:24] Haleyy: Hey, guys, I know that nothing's reaching out to us, but pretty sure something knows we're here. So just keep an eye out.
[00:15:35] Thorne: Well, Robert, if they're not going to give you any docking orders, then find the first open space you can find and let's pull in.
[00:15:42] Robert: I mean, Thorne, I'm getting a real bad feeling about this. Haley, I hear what you're saying. I'm just going to keep drifting up in here.
[00:15:50] Haleyy: And if you feel anything like we felt when we were on Sibylen, when all of our friends, the people that we had met were becoming untethered, just do something, say something before it gets worse.
[00:16:04] Robert: I'm worried at this point when I'm just slow cruising up in here. If I turn something on, if I do disturb this time dilation, whatever the hell she is, we might get blown up out of the sky.
[00:16:20] Haleyy: Yeah, yeah.
[00:16:21] Thorne: Yeah, I would not mess with it, Robert. What do you want me to do? Focus on getting us onto that station.
[00:16:28] Robert: OK, I'll see if I can pull the like coolest drift move where I try to use the gravitational forces of the giant gyroscope to flip us all up around the station and very gently land into one of the docking bays.
[00:16:50] Star Master Jeff: You execute it perfectly, and I don't want to put any bad juju out there, but you are like a leaf on the wind as you drift around the outside of Prometheon Station and find a berth a bit further away from the Acceptable Loss. As you approach the berth, the locks open up, you slide in, and they attach to the Scapegoat. You didn't have to type in any codes. You didn't have to accept anything from Prometheon Station. It just simply allowed you to dock.
[00:17:20] Thorne: Before we head in there, Felix, you still have that other orb locked up somewhere?
[00:17:25] Felix: Yeah, I mean, Thorne, you know I couldn't get anything out of it, so I just locked it up in the storage container.
[00:17:31] Thorne: You may want to keep it close on this mission. Just a hunch. It may come in handy.
[00:17:36] Star Master Jeff: So everyone grabs all of their stuff. Felix meets the three of you at the airlock. And just as you're about to cycle it, you hear footsteps behind you and you turn around to find Iso fully kitted out holding her beloved TX-7 shotgun. All right, cabin, let's do this.
[00:17:54] Thorne: Iso, we need somebody to stay with the ship. Guard it in case anybody comes on board. And protect Froggy.
[00:17:59] Star Master Jeff: Are you fucking kidding me? Babysitting duty again?
[00:18:03] Thorne: What can I say? You did a great job last time.
[00:18:06] Star Master Jeff: God damn it. She drops her shotgun in the hallway and just walks away and shrugs off her backpack and just stamps her feet as she walks away.
[00:18:14] Felix: Alright, so with Iso gone, Felix cycles the airlock so we can get into the station.
[00:18:19] Robert: He is the door guy.
[00:18:20] Star Master Jeff: He is the door guy. That is true. The door opens to his magic fingertips and you take your first tentative steps onto Prometheon Station after months of travel. This corridor of Prometheon Station is the outer ring where all the different ships can find a berth. It's basically a large curved hallway with big wide windows and flickering fluorescent lights. You would expect this area to be packed. People come on and off all the different ships that are arrayed around the station, but you don't see anyone. In fact, you think you should see people here because there are signs of life. Robert listens. Just the sounds of the environmentals pumping out good clean air, and other than that, silence.
[00:19:08] Thorne: Weapons ready. Robert, I want you on point. We don't see anyone yet, but I'm confident that at least Strake is here.
[00:19:15] Robert: Yeah, I don't think the Acceptable Loss is just here for funsies.
[00:19:20] Thorne: And Haley, let us know if you sense anything weird, any strange feelings, stuff you can't explain, familiar stuff, whatever it is. I want to hear it. Let's go quietly. It's like everyone just vanished or something.
[00:19:33] Robert: Yeah, I'm not picking up any tangos.
[00:19:36] Star Master Jeff: Let's keep moving down this right hall. The first thing you immediately run into that's worth pointing out are the various view screens telling you about all the different ships that are around here. And next to these view screens is a port that Felix is probably very interested in.
[00:19:52] Felix: Oh yeah, baby. We got a port. Pop on over, pull out my data slab, and jack in. All right, I got a map here. I'm going to send it all to your pads. Take a look, see if you can find anything that looks, I don't know, like a computer center, a bridge. Like where's the central point of the system?
[00:20:10] Robert: Haley, here's my data pad. You can sketch it into yours.
[00:20:16] Star Master Jeff: Robert rolls piloting to kind of figure out what this map is all about, and he sees that there are actually two data centers in the center of Prometheon Station. Near those data centers is a laboratory wing, and then spread out all over the station are several areas that are simply labeled restricted.
[00:20:33] Robert: Okay, guys, labs, data, data, restricted section.
[00:20:39] Thorne: We gotta figure out where they're most likely keeping Voss. We know Strake is probably here, and we can pretty safely assume he knows we're coming. Whether he knows we're here already or not is up for questioning. Where would he bring her? Where would they put her?
[00:20:52] Haleyy: I think we should find out where people were last seen. Every other time we've felt this kind of energy. It's not that people aren't present. It's that they're, you know, last time it was because they were in a central location putting something together.
[00:21:06] Robert: They're enthralled. Good point.
[00:21:09] Haleyy: I would not be surprised if we run into the same thing.
[00:21:12] Star Master Jeff: Robert and Felix, you notice a combat drone hovers out from behind you about 10 meters away. Its laser rifle snicks out from its big round body. It takes aim and it fires. Ooh, its shots go wide. Robert and Felix, you noticed it so you get to go first. Robert, your rifle is already at the ready.
[00:21:35] Robert: That's going to be a 17 to hit with 18. Jesus!
[00:21:40] Star Master Jeff: You fire one excellent shot that goes straight through its frame, bashing out its internals, and it goes, wah, wah, wah, and it falls to the ground. Dead or deactivated.
[00:21:53] Haleyy: That was easy. What the hell?
[00:21:55] Felix: They still got automated defenses, at least. I can't get access to any of the good security systems from here. We're going to have to go somewhere else. Did you guys find, like, a security room or a control center on the maps?
[00:22:08] Robert: I mean, I think we did. I thought there were two data centers. I mean, Haley, check your pad.
[00:22:16] Star Master Jeff: Another drone drifts lazily out, this time from further down the hall in the direction that you are going.
[00:22:22] Robert: Oh, God.
[00:22:23] Haleyy: I'm going to shoot it while walking towards it, if possible.
[00:22:27] Star Master Jeff: A 23 hits.
[00:22:28] Haleyy: Hell yeah, for three damage.
[00:22:31] Star Master Jeff: You shoot your laser rifle through it. One big bolt of laser lances straight through it, and it teeter-totters back and forth. It's obviously very damaged, so these do not have a lot of hit points, it seems, but it is not destroyed. And Felix...
[00:22:48] Felix: I mean, nobody on my side has been hit yet, so I'm going to keep looking at the map. I'm not too interested in the data centers right now because data centers are not where security systems are controlled from. I'm trying to see if I can break through and understand what the unmarked secure sectors are.
[00:23:03] Haleyy: Are we just not killing this thing?
[00:23:05] Felix: Apparently not.
[00:23:06] Haleyy: I'd punch it. I just drop my rifle on the ground, trusting that I'm gonna pick it up after this.
[00:23:11] Star Master Jeff: You just punch a drone. A 12 hits.
[00:23:14] Haleyy: Okay, so it takes 11 damage. Oh my God.
[00:23:18] Star Master Jeff: So there's a laser bolt hole already in it, and you just punch straight through the hole you already have, widen it with your mammoth elephant fist, and you rip out the guts of this poor, poor drone, and it falls to the ground, and you're just holding computer parts now. He's just doing his job.
[00:23:34] Haleyy: Well, that's one way to talk about it.
[00:23:37] Felix: All right, I found the security office. We can get there. We can shut down the automated defenses and figure out what the hell is going on here. Follow me.
[00:23:45] Haleyy: I pick up my gun and shake the guts of the drone off my arm as we run.
[00:23:50] Star Master Jeff: As you continue on, you are noticing more signs of there having been life here recently. You peek into an office. You see that there's a cup of AF sitting on a desk. Unlocked computer terminals. Motion-sensored lights turn on as you go down the hallway and then snick off behind you moments later. You hear a PA turn on briefly. Second shift, report to your stations. As you continue on, Robert, you feel a prickling on the back of your neck. Not that you've necessarily seen something. You think you may have heard something, but you also have the distinct feeling that you're being watched and followed.
[00:24:36] Robert: Guys, we got eyes on. I don't know, I'm getting a weird feeling.
[00:24:42] Thorne: Yeah, there's something more than suspicious going on on this station, Robert. You said something's following. Is it another drone or just a bad feeling?
[00:24:50] Robert: I can pop out my bionic eyes and see if I see something, but no, I'm just getting a real bad feeling about this.
[00:24:58] Thorne: Are there, like, mounted security cameras or anything that I can see? Everywhere. Yeah, okay. I just sort of, like, walk up to one, like, really close and, like, stare directly in it while Felix is looking at the map. It turns and follows your movement. Well, Robert, we definitely got eyes everywhere. Whether someone's on the other side is another story. And I just wave at the camera sarcastically.
[00:25:19] Robert: The AI, something that's watching us. Oh, hell no.
[00:25:24] Felix: All right. Listen, from what I saw, the security room is here. And I point on the map, which is probably about an hour's walk at this point. This station is a lot bigger than I thought. Now there is, and I point over here, a mass transit system of some sort. And I mean, the station looks fully operational, so I bet it's still working. I mean, that's going to cut our travel time way down. I don't think we have an hour.
[00:25:46] Robert: You're telling me that the thing that's sending AI robo drone bots with shotguns after us is going to be fine with us just taking the train?
[00:25:55] Felix: It will be fine. Let's get on the train.
[00:25:58] Thorne: Robert, your concerns are noted.
[00:26:00] Robert: I'm telling you, if I get vacked because Voss went full out hell murder robot, I will haunt you while you are dead. Deal.
[00:26:11] Felix: We can't stay here long. Haley's got the alien shakes.
[00:26:15] Haleyy: Alien shakes, oh my god.
[00:26:19] Star Master Jeff: You make a beeline for the trams, which are about a 10-minute walk away. It's sort of like being in New York City. If you walk everywhere, it's going to take you forever, but there is sort of a subway station or a bus, just a 10-minute walk away. The lights are continuing to flicker on ahead of you and turn off behind you after about 30 seconds. You are being blasted with fluorescent light 30 feet ahead of you and behind you, and then everything beyond that barrier is dimly lit darkness. As you round a corner, though, at the far end of this hallway, there is a light that is on, and standing in the middle of the hallway is a single, lone figure in a long, black coat wearing a gas mask.
[00:27:02] Thorne: Who's there?
[00:27:03] Star Master Jeff: It slides a crowbar out of its jacket.
[00:27:06] Thorne: I point my rifle at them. You at the crowbar, stand down.
[00:27:10] Star Master Jeff: It walks off to the right.
[00:27:12] Thorne: That was close to what I said. Where the hell is it going?
[00:27:15] Star Master Jeff: You consult the map, Felix. That is in the direction of the tram.
[00:27:19] Felix: I got bad news, Thorne. We're following him. Haley, maybe it's best if you take point.
[00:27:25] Haleyy: Yeah, Haley is happy to take point.
[00:27:28] Star Master Jeff: So you continue on, you round the corner, and there is no sign of whoever or whatever that was. It is not long before you arrive at a door that you are meant to go through. And although when you approach it, the door opens automatically, like many other doors before it, on the other side is a barricade of well-positioned, nailed-together boards, pieces of furniture, and slick wire that's been wound around all of it. And through the cracks in the boards is simply darkness beyond.
[00:28:02] Felix: What the hell?
[00:28:02] Star Master Jeff: Blocked. We have to get through here.
[00:28:05] Robert: It's just boarded up, though? I'm sorry, but the person to my left, she punched through a spaceship.
[00:28:13] Star Master Jeff: Just to be clear, she did not punch through a spaceship. She punched a spaceship. But she did try. Yes, that is two different things.
[00:28:21] Robert: I don't like the look of it, but I like the look of getting through her.
[00:28:25] Haleyy: I'm going to try to get us through the barricade with my fists. I rolled a 13.
[00:28:30] Star Master Jeff: You reach in and you start ripping up boards and like kicking and punching and like pushing everything out of the way. And as you begin to push through all of this debris and make your way through the doorway, the light clicks on on the other side. And standing there is the lone figure in the long black coat and the gas mask. And a moment later, another appears behind him and then another, and then two more. Oh my God. And another two and another two. Very quickly, you count 10, all of them wearing gas masks, all of them wearing long black coats and thigh-high rubber boots. Looks like they're ready for dealing with an environmental problem, one that you are ill-prepared to deal with yourself.
[00:29:12] Haleyy: Oh, those kinds of rubber boots. I was like, what?
[00:29:15] Star Master Jeff: Damn, girl.
[00:29:16] Haleyy: This is a look.
[00:29:18] Star Master Jeff: And then you hear a sound behind you of the light clicking on. And from around the corner behind you come three more of whatever this is.
[00:29:27] Thorne: So Thorne still has his rifle at the ready. And so now he's bobbing it around, pointing it at one guy and then another and then another and turning around and pointing it at someone else. And just it's bouncing off of everybody. And he just calls out, who are all you people? Are you the crew of this station? What's going on? Is there some kind of gas leak?
[00:29:47] Star Master Jeff: The one that is behind you looks off around the corner where you actually came from, and you hear him say something muffled, and then a motion of the hand, and then people. Honest to God, regular Joes, Susans, and Jessicas walk around the corner wearing Virodyne, Prometheon, Omnitek uniforms, wearing work uniforms, wearing overalls, oil stains, slips, some of them bloodied. But all of them have that sickly white pallor and that strange blue look to their eyes that says that they've been in contact with something from beyond the void and begin to walk straight for you. First just a couple, then there's a half dozen, and then quickly a dozen filling up the hallway behind you.
[00:30:31] Thorne: Uh, Haley, does this remind you of anything?
[00:30:32] Haleyy: This is obviously untethered, unhallowed shit. Like on the Exosite.
[00:30:36] Felix: They're getting closer. I think we better get out of here.
[00:30:39] Haleyy: Everyone stop!
[00:30:42] Star Master Jeff: 11. Just two of them stumble, but it seems as though your nascent void powers are not quite strong enough as the remaining continue stumbling towards you. Not enough, Haley. Closer every second. And you hear a chuckle from behind the barricade. You better run.
[00:31:02] Felix: I start moving towards the open hallway to our left. Guys, come on. We gotta get out of here.
[00:31:09] Star Master Jeff: The unhallowed, as you know them definitely to be now, begin to pick up the pace. They stop their slow walk. They're stumbling and they begin to jog in erratic ways. They will be upon you any second. Felix is right.
[00:31:22] Thorne: Let's go. Don't kill any unhallowed.
[00:31:24] Star Master Jeff: You don't have to. The group sprints away. Felix in the lead. I don't know which way you're trying to go, Felix, but as you get to the end of this hallway and you look off to the right towards the shortcut to the trams that would go around the barricade, you see that it is as well barricaded and you are forced off to the left. You continue to sprint down hallway after hallway as the PA over you says, Second shift. Your stations are empty. Please report. Second shift to your stations. And then it cuts out in a different, unfamiliar voice. All of you there, I can see you. Oh my gosh. You must make your way deep into the labs. And then it cuts out.
[00:31:58] Felix: The labs? Hello? The labs?
[00:32:02] Star Master Jeff: Suddenly, from out behind one of the corners comes one of the rubber-booted men. And he swings a crowbar. Haley, go ahead and roll an evasion.
[00:32:15] Haleyy: Oof. Oh, no.
[00:32:17] Star Master Jeff: You fail your evasion saving throw, and the crowbar slams into your gut. You didn't see it coming. All of a sudden, he just stepped out and got you. Take four points of damage. Oof. But then you're stumbling past him, the momentum of your run taking you beyond him, and... What would you like to do? You could stop and interact with him, but the unhallowed are hot on your heels thanks to Felix's slow gait. Wow. Keeping everyone slowed down. You guys could probably outpace these unhallowed if it wasn't for Felix right now, actually. Wow.
[00:32:49] Haleyy: Can I pick Felix up? Can I carry Felix?
[00:32:53] Thorne: Can I shoot that guy? Like, if I'm running right behind Haley, maybe as soon as she gets whacked with a crowbar, Thorne just takes a shot?
[00:33:02] Star Master Jeff: Sure. So, Thorne, go ahead and roll to shoot. Haley, go ahead and roll your exert strength. And Thorne, I see that has rolled with his laser rifle. He swings it up and shoots wide, missing whatever this is, and it melts back into the shadows. Haley rolled a five on her strength exert, which is too low. So you're carrying Felix and you're feeling the exertion creep into your bones. You are moving faster than Felix was, but you're moving half as fast as you were before.
[00:33:31] Felix: I mean, I do have a fully robotic leg, so I'm heavier than I look.
[00:33:36] Haleyy: Well, hey, Felix is always the smartest guy in the room, so I just assumed he would use better materials for this stuff.
[00:33:43] Felix: I didn't build this leg.
[00:33:44] Haleyy: It's not my fault that he has. You know what? We'll work on it when we're out of this. Sensitive subject, Haley. Sensitive subject.
[00:33:52] Star Master Jeff: All of a sudden you erupt into a much larger space. You run through the door as the lights click on, and you find yourself on a catwalk, high above an area that down below looks like an open-air laboratory. The unhallowed are actually hanging back a bit. You're not sure if every twist and turn has simply given you a larger lead, or if they're being reserved for some other reason. As you run across the catwalk, Robert notices something strange. You're two stories up right now and three stories up on the opposite side. You can see that there is a large room that's glass or plastic floor to ceiling transparent. And it's obviously a control room. You can see all of these different colored lights and big consoles and standing in there looking at you a bit confused and in disbelief is Victor Strake.
[00:34:44] Thorne: Flip him the bird.
[00:34:45] Star Master Jeff: A radio that's hanging off of the catwalk crackles to life, and you can see that he's pressing a button down in the control room. And he says, oh, the scapegoaters. Welcome to Prometheon Station. I'm surprised to see that you've made it this far.
[00:35:05] Thorne: Yeah, hey, this is Scapegoat Solutions with a delivery for Victor Strake. And then I just, yeah, I flip him off.
[00:35:12] Star Master Jeff: Oh, it's fun to have you here, Captain.
[00:35:14] Thorne: I'm glad you think so. Think you know what we're here for?
[00:35:18] Star Master Jeff: Oh, I think you're arriving very late, actually. Almost too late, but it's almost time. Let's just say you're in for one hell of a ride.
[00:35:30] Thorne: And if I have my way, Mr. Strake, you're on your way to a ride to hell.
[00:35:34] Star Master Jeff: He looks off to the side down below you. Well, I think it's time for you to keep running, Thorne, but I'm sure we'll run into each other again soon. And from out of the door that you came through comes the piles of unhallowed, sprinting recklessly towards you, some of them plummeting off the catwalk and slamming into the concrete below, breaking legs and faces, arms, ribs shattering, and the rest of them climbing over, desperate to get at you to rip you limb from limb.
[00:36:00] Thorne: I drop the radio, and I look at the crew, and I say, for once, I agree with the bastard.
[00:36:05] Star Master Jeff: He waves like a toodaloo wave at you as you sprint away down the catwalk. You make your way deeper into the laboratory area, and it's not long before you barrel into a room that when you go in, the door closes behind you. What the hell? Inside this room, there is another door, a much heavier, a much more serious door with bolts all over it and a key card access. And in that door, there is a porthole with several inch thick plastic. There is no other exit from this room.
[00:36:36] Felix: What if this counts as a door or a barricade? Haley — Felix, let me hop off Haley's back.
[00:36:41] Star Master Jeff: Can I punch it? You go up and you punch it once. Yeah, it's solid. So Felix, you jump off her back as she punches it and you peek through the porthole and what you see makes your breath catch in your chest. There are two people in there. One is a woman, sharp features, dark hair, pulled back in a bun, lab coat over dingy day old clothes. The other one, a man, younger, very soft featured, carrying a little bit of extra weight. He's pacing back and forth. And in the center of what looks like a computer lab is a pedestal. And upon that pedestal is Dr. Voss, wired in.
[00:37:19] Felix: She's here. She's in there.
[00:37:22] Felix: Frantically, I'm examining the door to see what controls this.
[00:37:25] Star Master Jeff: There is some sort of an access card area, but there's no handle beyond that. And there doesn't seem to be any way to force the door without specialized equipment. The woman sees you and she looks wide eyed and she runs up to the door. She turns on the PA system, but you don't have any way to communicate back.
[00:37:46] Haleyy: Oh, no, no, we do. We do. Because Haley whips out her shitty little notebook.
[00:37:56] Star Master Jeff: OK, let's do it.
[00:37:58] Haleyy: I'm writing frantically and shoving my notepad up against the window.
[00:38:02] Star Master Jeff: The woman hops on the comms system, which is reverberating apparently throughout the entire station because you hear it echoing outside of this room. You made it. You made it in time. Voss said you would be coming.
[00:38:14] Thorne: Of course she did. What do you mean we made it in time? In time for what?
[00:38:18] Star Master Jeff: There's no time to explain, really, all of it. And suddenly the room she's in begins to fill with a noxious green gas.
[00:38:26] Haleyy: Oh no.
[00:38:28] Star Master Jeff: And she drops the communicator and just throws her hands up in frustration and looks at you. Can we get them out of there? As the door behind you swings open to reveal one man in a long black coat and a crowbar. He takes off the gas mask and you can see that he's an older gentleman, mid-50s, silver hair. Well, it's good to see that more people have made it after all. And he walks up and he extends a hand to Haley. It's a pleasure.
[00:38:58] Haleyy: Uh, same, but my hands are full right now. Do I know you?
[00:39:02] Star Master Jeff: In the porthole, you can see the woman and the man are choking to death and fall to the floor.
[00:39:08] Haleyy: Can you help with that?
[00:39:10] Star Master Jeff: You don't know me, but we're part of the same thread that runs throughout life. We call ourselves the listeners.
[00:39:16] Haleyy: Um, no, we have to get into that room.
[00:39:19] Star Master Jeff: I know that you are already contacted with the void. Let's keep this short. You, and then he points at Thorne, and you. The two of you are with us. Let's go.
[00:39:31] Haleyy: No. Do you have a key card?
[00:39:34] Star Master Jeff: A key card? No, you don't want to go in there.
[00:39:37] Haleyy: We don't want to go in, we want to get them out.
[00:39:39] Haleyy: No, no, I punch the guy in the face.
[00:39:42] Star Master Jeff: OK, well, that's a hit and he didn't see it coming. So he's down and unconscious.
[00:39:47] Haleyy: Great. I search his body for a key card.
[00:39:50] Star Master Jeff: As that happens, Robert, you are noticing that one of the combat drones has hovered into the doorway and behind it, the corridor is full of unhallowed.
[00:40:00] Robert: Yeah. Haley, um, something bad's about to happen. There's a lot of tangos. Everyone roll initiative. Oh, goddammit.
[00:40:10] Felix: Can we close and lock that door again?
[00:40:13] Robert: I mean, you're the door guy. You tell me.
[00:40:15] Felix: I'm working on this door. I can't work on two doors at once.
[00:40:19] Star Master Jeff: The drone immediately opens fire on the unhallowed, mowing them down while also backing into the room. But at the same time, several other drones are making their way into the room or in the hallway. And in addition, from around that same corner where the door is, there are several more of these listeners with their gas masks forcing their way into the room. And this small room, 10 by 12, is thrown into chaos.
[00:40:46] Felix: The drones are killing the unhallowed.
[00:40:49] Star Master Jeff: Robert acts first.
[00:40:50] Robert: I'm definitely shooting for not the combat drones, not the unhallowed, the listeners.
[00:41:00] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, you mow him down instantly and he falls over. Haley, what would you like to do?
[00:41:05] Haleyy: Whoever the nearest listener is, I want to punch them. Okay, a seven. Does a seven hit?
[00:41:11] Star Master Jeff: No. You take a swing and he hops out of the way, but you cave in part of his chest plate anyway. He falls to a knee gasping for breath. Thorne.
[00:41:20] Thorne: I quickly run over to the dropped listener, the first one, and grab his crowbar and then run over to the porthole and just start slamming the crowbar into the porthole. You scratch it. It's multi-inch thick security glass. I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job and hitting this really hard. And I'm just watching those two, I assume scientists, drop dead before my eyes, right?
[00:41:44] Star Master Jeff: Yes. They're already down on the ground. They don't seem to be like really moving much anymore. And the green and yellow gas has completely filled the room, obscuring what you can see in there. You can just barely still see Voss on her pedestal in the middle of the room. Damn it, we got to find another way in here.
[00:42:00] Felix: Thorne, if we go in there now, that gas is just gonna kill us too. And I turn around and I draw my gun, my little six shooter I got back on Wafisa and pop one of the listeners.
[00:42:14] Star Master Jeff: You hit him and he falls backwards a little bit, but it's not enough to take him down. A firefight erupts around you, but most of them are missing. A few hits get scored on the drones and on the listeners from each other, but all attacks at the core group of you completely whiff. And then all of the unhallowed rush at the door. Next turn, they will actually be piling into this small room, making it even more cramped.
[00:42:38] Robert: Yeah, and that's good enough for me. I'm going to shoot that listener and then I'm gonna have to move towards the door, not to get in the way of anybody who's actually gonna try to close it, but more just to create a choke point so that we can't get flooded.
[00:42:52] Robert: 20 to hit and with 14 damage.
[00:42:55] Star Master Jeff: You mow him down and step over his body even as he falls to the ground and stand in front of the doorway. But with you in the doorway are three combat drones.
[00:43:08] Haleyy: How do we close this damn door?
[00:43:09] Star Master Jeff: Ask the door guy.
[00:43:10] Haleyy: All right. I would like to jam the door shut and then use a crowbar to like jam or something.
[00:43:18] Star Master Jeff: Okay, that's a little too much to do in one turn, so you do go up and you're able to drag Robert out of the way, but you'll have to close the door next turn. And of course, now that you're here, you find that you are looking straight down the barrel of a hallway packed full of unhallowed, mere feet away and rushing towards you. One extra complication is that there are bots in this area and they could potentially be blocking the door, so you'll probably want to get a few of them out of the way before you attempt to close it. Thorne, you're holding a crowbar. You just scratched this porthole. What would you like to do?
[00:43:48] Thorne: I can sense that this endeavor is maybe pointless at this time, or maybe that there's more important things to do at this precise moment. So I drop the crowbar, grab my rifle back off of its sling, and I carefully take aim at one that is not aimed at Haley. So that I'm not aimed at Haley.
[00:44:05] Robert: As carefully as Thorne can take aim.
[00:44:07] Thorne: Yes, very carefully I take aim on one. Hey, it might work out.
[00:44:10] Star Master Jeff: Roll the hit. I got a 10. 10 hits the combat drone. Oh, I hit something with a gun. Yeah, first time in game history. How much damage, Thorne?
[00:44:20] Thorne: Eleven damage.
[00:44:23] Star Master Jeff: Oh! And you killed something in one hit.
[00:44:25] Thorne: Tell me what happens to it. I blast the drone out of the air. I hit it right in one of its little propeller arms, and the whole thing just kind of careens onto the floor with a clatter and a crash.
[00:44:37] Star Master Jeff: As if in response, a different drone swivels around and sets its eyes on Felix. And 14 hits you for six damage.
[00:44:45] Felix: That's half of my health. Oh, my God.
[00:44:48] Star Master Jeff: Felix, you take a massive shot from the laser rifle, lancing through your chest, and you fall to a knee. Then the next drone swings around and puts its sights on Haley. Ooh, it tags you hard. Take five points of damage. Damn. And then the unhallowed rush forward, and the one in the front gets an attack on Haley. Ooh, it gets a claw into her for one point of damage.
[00:45:17] Haleyy: Can I just put all of my strength into shoving the door closed and not caring about any damage it causes?
[00:45:23] Star Master Jeff: So you'd have to knock both drones clear of the doorway and then hold against the whole mob, pushing back, trying and clawing to get in. And you have to do all of that in one shot.
[00:45:34] Haleyy: Seems like a lot to accomplish.
[00:45:35] Star Master Jeff: Do it. You got it, girl. Believe in you. We got your back. Everything worth doing is hard. You succeeded on two of the three rolls, so both drones get knocked back into the room, spinning off into a wall, and stunned. However, the horde won. No! The door's three-quarters shut, and you can't push it in any further, and it begins to grind back towards you. You can feel the pressure, and it is immense.
[00:46:03] Thorne: Thorne's still not so sure about this plan at all. I don't know what to tell Haley to do because even if that door was shut, what would we do? But let's focus on the problem, which is that there's drones shooting at us and I shoot one. An 11 for five damage. That's a hit and kill. Thorne confidently moves his rifle from one drone to the next. He's finally got the hang of how they float in the air. Fires off a couple more shots in burst fire mode. Boom! The drone goes down.
[00:46:30] Felix: All right, well, Felix, you know, recoils from the shot that he took, takes aim at the drone that shot him, squeezes off another round from the Stauser pistol. It's a 12. It is only one damage.
[00:46:43] Star Master Jeff: Ooh, not enough to kill a drone in one hit. It gets hit backwards and hits into the wall, ricocheting, and then it takes aim at you. Does 19 hit you?
[00:46:52] Felix: Oh, no.
[00:46:53] Star Master Jeff: Lose three hit points. You are definitely the most hurt, so I apologize for the follow-up I have to do, which is the listener attacking the weakest person. Felix has two holes in him, and a 14 from the listener hits. 10 points of damage. That's a massive amount of damage. I am at zero. Felix is slammed by a laser bolt and slides to the ground, leaving a bloody burnt trail behind him. Felix! Haley, you are bracing the door. The situation you've put yourself in is that now you have to keep this door shut or the unhallowed are coming in. What would you like to do?
[00:47:35] Haleyy: All right, can I keep doing what I'm doing and then try and command them again to stop moving?
[00:47:41] Star Master Jeff: Oof, you rolled a nine, they got a 14. They push open the door about halfway and several of them slip into the room. But most importantly, they ignore your orders because you did not roll high enough. Thorne, what would you like to do?
[00:47:57] Thorne: So seeing that Felix has gone down from a shot from that listener and Robert is apparently dealing with the listener. And I mean, there's dudes coming in here, but there's not much I can do. I drop my rifle on its sling. I run across the room and slide down on my knees next to Felix and I grab him and cradle him on my lap. I reach and take the readied med kit that I have. It's got lift. It's got a Lazarus patch. I grab one of the patches and I slap it on the wound. Come on, Felix. Stay with me, buddy. I'm like gently slapping his face and I'm going to roll to try and apply the patch. You think he's breathing. Let out a sigh of relief, and then I gently lower his head back onto the floor and turn around to the other two. Come on, you two.
[00:48:40] Star Master Jeff: We got to do something. There is one drone left in the room. It gauges the combatants and takes aim at Robert. Oh. Take 10 points of damage. Nice. Jeez Louise. Robert Ross, what would you like to do?
[00:48:57] Robert: Level my combat rifle onto that drone. Big old shot.
[00:49:00] Star Master Jeff: Your bullets rip through the drone. It explodes with little puffs of electronic fire and falls to the ground, completely inert. And now we're back at the door. There are three unhallowed in here and they have hands on Haley. Haley, you can keep straining and they'll keep trying to drag you back or you can attempt to break free and give up entirely on the door to save your own skin. What do you do?
[00:49:21] Haleyy: I'm going to keep straining at the door, trying to get it to shut it all the way.
[00:49:26] Star Master Jeff: Okay then, roll to hold it.
[00:49:29] Haleyy: Oof.
[00:49:30] Star Master Jeff: And you got a seven and they got a 15. The door springs open and you are pushed back from the door and the unhallowed begin to pour in. We're talking dozens of bodies cramming into a very small space, their claws slashing, their mouths gibbering as they move towards you. Thorne, it's your turn, but before you go, you realize that you are hearing a song playing out of your data pad, and you instantly recognize it as Redshift Revelry.
[00:49:59] Thorne: It gives me a small amount of a morale boost, because I know right away that means that there's been a deposit into our account, and I can't wait to take a look and see how much we finally ended up with. So I take my rifle, I peer through the door, down the hall, over the heads of all the unhallowed, and I see the injured listener making his retreat, and I think to myself, man, if I could just make this one shot, I could just check my pad and see how much money we got. And I raise the rifle, and I don't have high hopes.
[00:50:33] Star Master Jeff: Thorne, before you roll, it's like you were slammed in the head all of a sudden. Wow, what a headache. You're sitting. It's like you've been knocked to the ground. The pilot's chair in front of you. The nav screen. The Scapegoat just dropping out of spike drive and the system resolving ahead of you. Prometheon Station. In the dark. A large five-ring gyroscope. Three rings turning, two locked, sparking where they meet. The fleet in the distance is frozen, exactly as it was. You remember the battle. You remember Felix... Around you are your crew, all of them looking equally confused. Haley clutches her chest, the dark thrum of the gyro pulling and beckoning.
[00:51:23] Felix: Aw, damn Groundhog Day. A time loop! We just got Omega 13'd!
[00:51:28] Haleyy: We did! We got Omega 13'd!
[00:51:36] Star Master Jeff: Well, that's it for this week. Thanks for listening to the Dark Star Adventurecast. Big thanks to our cast, Brian as Thorne, Scott as Felix, Doja as Robert, and Steph as Haleyy with two Ys. And as always, I'm your Star Master Jeff, playing everyone and everything else. If you want to hear every episode two weeks early, head on over to patreon.com slash darkstaradventurecast. And a huge thanks to Brad and Holly, our two original flavor Scapegoat Syndicate supporters. If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to leave us a rating and a review wherever you listen. It really helps new people find the show and we are looking to grow. Next time on the Dark Star Adventurecast, the crew is back where they started, 45 minutes out from Prometheon Station, healed up and remembering everything that just happened. They know their way around now, they're starting to get the lay of the land, but what they don't know is how many times they'll have to walk back into that station and face death. At least this time, they go in with their eyes fully open. Tune in to find out what happens next, and as always, keep following that signal.