Yellow Sun 'It's Double or Nothing' Part 1

The second session of my new Red Dwarf Universe RPG campaign, Yellow Sun, was something of a thought experiment. I really wasn't sure it was going to work the way I saw it in my mind.

I contacted the players through a Facebook Message Group I set up for the campaign and asked them if a Character Study episode was OK with them. No intended action or intrigue per se, though it could happen, but rather a strong focus on getting to know the PCs.

My main concern was, 'Is a Character Study better once we know something about the Characters - we being the Player running them and the group as a whole - or would a Character Study episode enable us to get to know the characters in the first place? Would it be a good way to figure out who they are?'

The players, without knowing what I had in mind beyond that, all voted for a Character Study episode to get to know their PCs. I found that exciting and oddly heart warming as well. It showed me that they really cared about this campaign and want to push it forward and try something different. 

I decided to go with my original, rather unusual framing and pacing plan for the session and I have to say the results were pretty great. Here is a recap of the session in a more overview format that the previous play-by-play used for Episode 1. Let me know which one you guys prefer going forward.

Yellow Sun

Season I, Episode 2

'It's Double or Nothing"

Part 1

"Mayday. Mayday. This is an SOS Distress Call from the Space Corps Search and Rescue Vessel 'Yellow Sun'. Yes, we see the irony.

A Cadmium II Radiation Accident has killed the crew and we are three million years off course. The only survivors are:

Mitchell Webb, a comedian and passenger placed in Stasis during the accident.

Lt. Donald Wilder, Rescue Specialist, resurrected as a Ship's Hologram.

ARTHUR 1001, the ship's Chief Robot Security Officer. 

and Chicken. A lifeform evolved from escaped domestic poultry.

I am ADAM, the Yellow Sun's Artificial Intelligence with an IQ of 6000. That's same IQ as twelve thousand Kardashian fans"

Our story begins with each of the Yellow Sun survivors working on some personal endeavor.

Lt. Donald Wilder is on the Bridge asking ADAM to help him go through various data files until he finds the one he's looking for. Finally he comes upon the right one and plays it. We hear a boisterous male voice spouting rhetoric about a Conspiracy Theory involving Dinosaurs and UFOS. Jotting down some notes, Wilder leaves the Drive Room to find Chicken.

ARTHUR 1001 is in the ship's Galley, having decided to make lunch for the group. He intends on making Bangers and Mash until he learns that the ship's stores are out of the specific type of sausage he wanted to use. Instead of substituting another kind, he decides to make some sausage from scratch. ADAM appears on a screen to tell him something but gets distracted by ARTHUR's cooking preparation and begins asking the Robot about it. ARTHUR is given various meat options by the computer and selects Pork, though both Pork and Mutton are highlighted. ARTHUR and ADAM both acknowledge that this is odd. ARTHUR presses the button again and Pork is confirmed. ARTHUR reaches into the food storage compartment and then begins getting to work. 

Chicken is sitting cross-legged in a big, serious looking chair, her face lit by a console screen and a series of glowing buttons. Chicken presses a button and an image on the screen lights up. As it starts blinking, a version of ADAM's voice that sounds slower, deeper, and more serious says, "Port Side Laser Cannon Fully Charged." After a few moments more it came again saying, "Warning! Do not Overcharge! Repeat - Do not Overcharge!" Chicken then pressed the button again and the light and voice faded away. She decides to press it once more and the whole process repeats, as it had the last two or three dozen times she'd done this. 

Mitchell Webb walked aimlessly but with purpose down the corridors of Level 15 - or was it 20? - searching for the library "Real books", Webb exclaims, "No more screen and plastic paper. What separates us from animals is the written word and the written word fairs nowhere better than on real paper!" ADAM appears on various screens up and down the halls offering to help. "I am a Human Being," shouts Webb, "And what has Humanity come to? Do we need computers to do everything for us? Tell us which way is up and how to clean our bums? I will find the library myself thank you very much!"

Webb did not find the library. Instead he found an Officer's Exam Testing Room with a study book on Astro-navigation. Frustrated but eager to prove himself self-sufficient and capable, Mitchell started reading the booklet thinking he might learn some useful skills.Not technically minded it all seems a lot of gibberish.

Lt. Wilder finds Chicken at the Port Side Gunnery Station and tries to engage her in conversation. He tells her he's been studying theories put forth by a 'pre-accident' philosopher who asserted that Dinosaurs didn't disappear because of a meteor and may not have evolved directly into birds as we had thought. They did evolve, according to this theory, perhaps becoming more bird-like (who knows after all), but advanced to the point where they developed space flight and left Earth. It was considered a crazy notion "But look at you Chicken", Wilder insists, "your people prove it could have happened. You basically confirm it. A parallel history!"

Wilder's attempt to connect with Chicken is well intended but fails to take into account the fact that Chicken is, well, Chicken. "WOW!", exclaims Chicken, "That's amazing! Can you clear up a few things for me?"

"Of course", beams Wilder.

"What are Dinosaurs? What's Earth? [I've heard you guys mention it before.] Birds are like some kind of Chicken right? What's a Meteor? How did it make the Dinosaurs disappear or not disappear? Are you saying my people are Dinosaurs? Or we were Dinosaurs? Again what are Dinosaurs?"

At this point ADAM appears on screens throughout the ship informing everyone that he has some big news. "Attention All Personnel. Attention All Personnel. All Four Personnel. Please report to the Drive Room for a Briefing. Thank you."

Everyone puts aside or complete their various doings and heads up to the Bridge. ARTHUR puts the food he was preparing into the refrigeration unit and contemplates whether it wouldn't have been better to choose Mutton.

Once everyone assembled in the Drive Room, ADAM appeared on the screens again and explains that with the information the team downloaded from the Nova 8 (in Episode 1) he was able to discover that the ship had a Duality Drive. He made various modifications to the Yellow Sun's drive systems and now we have a working Duality Drive of our own. 

Wilder asks exactly what that means and ADAM explains a Duality Drive is a Faster-Than-Light Drive that picks two points in Space/Time, connects them, then moves a starship from the one point to the other. For a full second, a ship with an active Duality Drive is actually in two places at once, its starting point and its destination.

The Players discuss whether this will help them find the Red Dwarf faster and ADAM suggests it may. He wants to test it right away but the team thinks he should run some simulations first.

In addition, Webb (of all people) says that ADAM's calculations on where Red Dwarf might be wrong. Mitchell thinks that if the engines of the JMC Mining Ship are functioning, they would turn around and head back to Earth and might be coming towards them not still going away. ADAM is impressed and recalculates. He then runs his simulation scenarios.

"Simulation 1 initiated. Oh dear. Simulation 2. Ow ow ow. That looked...very painful. Hmmm. I'll cycle through a few more. Just a moment please. Jeepers! Ouch! Hmmm...no. My goodness no. Ah, this looks promis...no. Definitely not."

After this ADAM doesn't speak aloud for several minutes. His face winces a few times, he shakes his head in frustration once or twice, then finally says with some enthusiasm, "Ah-ha! Simulation 12. No one died. Damage to the vessel was not existent outside a few minor power fluctuations. Initiating Test Run. Please pick a destination."

While Webb protested, Wilder noted two star systems within 12 light years. Chicken wanted to go to the pretty yellow star, but the cool, bright blue one had a planet around it with a breathable atmosphere. Chicken deemed it pretty enough for an effective test. ADAM counted down...

"Initiating Duality Drive in 4...3...2...1, Activate!"

Everything shook and blurred. It was as if everyone, even ARTHUR and Wilder, were seeing two images superimposed - One in which the Yellow Sun was where it started and one in which it was in the vicinity of the blue star and its planet. Another few seconds of shuddering and the ship and everything in it fell still.

Out the Port Side window, Wilder could see the blue star in the near distance. The jump was a success! "Take us into orbit of the planet ADAM", said Wilder.

Out the Port Side window, nothing had changed. Wilder looked at ADAM's face on a nearby screen and asked what had happened. "Nothing" said ADAM sheepishly. "I am afraid my calculations were incorrect. The Duality Drive does not function. I will analyze the data and find out why. My apologies."

On the Yellow Sun in the blue star system, Webb went back down to the Exam Room but found the ship's Archive Room instead. Wilder instructed ADAM to prep a Rescue/Survival Drill in case they had to land on the planet. The Drill involved polar conditions - cold temperatures, ice, snow, and perhaps ARTHUR pretending to be an attacking Penguin.  Wilder then took Chicken to get some treats from a Vending Machine. She got Chocolate Covered Strawberries from a flirty Vending Unit with a French accent. ARTHUR returned to the Galley to finish lunch. He found he had chosen Mutton after all. Strange.

All the number '2's on screens throughout the ship blinked.

The Port Side Laser Cannon continued to Overcharge. 

On the Yellow Sun that hadn't moved, Webb went back down to the Exam Room but found the ship's Archive Room instead. Wilder instructed ADAM to prep a Rescue/Survival Drill in case they needed to travel to that blue star's planet at some point. The Drill involved polar conditions - cold temperatures, ice, snow, and perhaps a Skutter pretending to be an attacking Polar Bear.  Wilder then took Chicken to get some treats from a Vending Machine. She got Chocolate Covered Pretzels from a flirty Vending Unit with a French accent. ARTHUR returned to the Galley to finish lunch. He found the Pork and got back to prepping.

All the number '2's on screens throughout the ship blinked.

The Port Side Laser Cannon continued to Overcharge. 

The story continues...

The story continues...

AD
Barking Alien

The Fourth Is Strong With This One

Happy Star Wars Day Everybody!

Art by Sarah Stone

For most of you this will be posting up on Star Wars Day Eve as I was unable to tear myself away from another project to post this earlier as I intended. No matter, we are together now and I want to say what a lovely May the 4th is has been! 

It all started with a morning cup of tea (as I am low on coffee) and the Grand Finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars with the twelfth episode of Season 7, 'Victory and Death'.

What an incredible end to an incredible final four episodes. The beauty, majesty, and tragedy of the last story arc, 'The Siege of Mandalore' makes up for the rest of the Season 7 episodes which were, in my opinion, rather lackluster. I almost wish they hadn't made a Season 7 but instead just made a single 'Siege of Mandalore' film. 

Be that as it may, it was fantastic and I highly recommend seeing the last four if you are a Star Wars fan of any kind. It is Star Wars at its best in every sense of the word. 

And speaking of Star Wars at its best...

If you have any interest in the creative process behind good Star Wars productions you could do far worse than checking out Disney Gallery - Star Wars: The Mandalorian on Disney+.

An eight episode series, airing weekly I believe, goes behind the scenes of the awesome streaming series to reveal how it was put together and what went into making it work. The first episode features a neat discussion between show Creator and Executive Producer Jon Favreau and each one of the Season 1 directors. It was very interesting seeing each of their different skills addressed and their personalities come through. 

I will definitely be watching this going forward. 

In related news, Taika Waititi, who directed The Mandalorian Season 1 finale and voiced the Bounty Hunter Droid IG-11, will be directing and co-writing a theatrical Star Wars film! That's right, a new Star Wars movie by the man who gave us Thor: Ragnarok and Jo-Jo Rabbit. I am intrigued to say the least.

And that's not all! A new Disney+ series is in the works as well. Read more about that here. 

Finally, because you and I like the rest of the Star Wars loving galaxy can't get enough of The Mandalorian's resident Force Sensitive alien infant, there is this...

Yes, that is a real product - Coming soon to supermarket shelves from your local store to Long Ago, and Far, Far Away. Can't wait!

Well, that's all for this Nerf Herder. Clear skies, Bright Suns, and I'll see you around the galaxy.

AD
Barking Alien

Hold Me Back

A big issue I run into when I'm working on a game I'm really excited about is figuring out when to inject which idea I have into the campaign.

To put it another way, I tend to have dozens upon dozens of ideas for scenarios, characters, environments, and more and I want the players to be able to experience them all right away. I don't want the campaign to end prematurely for some reason with everyone getting to experience all the cool content I have planned. 

The problem is, you can't put several dozen sessions worth of content into a single adventure no matter how much you want to. It just doesn't work and it's a situation I have seen far too many rookie Gamemasters attempt. The desire to throw everything and the kitchen sink into a single sitting will only weigh the game down and muddy the players' understanding of what is (or isn't) going on. 

In addition, as I recently discussed with some of my players, sometimes a story works better if other stories are told first. For example, an adventure heavy in action and combat has more weight if you care about the characters involved. You get to care about the characters by first getting to know them.

So, by this thinking, in a new campaign one should have a character study/development focused session precede one in which said characters' lives are in danger. Know that we know who they are, and we want to know even more, no one will want to see them killed off. This raises the emotional stakes and is a lesson I learned from analyzing the better constructed television series. 

For my new Red Dwarf/Yellow Sun campaign, I had several session/adventure ready to roll and several more I planned to develop further that expanded the world-building and brought in some of my favorite elements of the TV show's canon. However, after re-watching the entire Red Dwarf show from beginning to (current) end I noticed that the first season was largely explorations of the characters all set aboard the titular vessel. Sure Sci-Fi concepts were thrown in but major components of Red Dwarf's milieu such as GELFs (Genetically Engineered Life Forms) and Swirly Space Anomalies don't really appear until much later. 

This, as well as discussions on the subject with the players, convinced me that the second 'episode' of Yellow Sun should be a character driven one. I rearranged the episode order I was originally planning and the results were nothing short of amazing. We were able to pull off the kind of session that had every chance of failing big time. It was both a bit experimental and high concept but because it was really about getting to know the PCs, the Players took it and ran with in. One of the best sessions of anything I've had in a while. 

In the end, show some restraint, hold back that epic set piece and army of multi-headed monstrosities and spend so time figuring out who your heroes are. It will feel that much more satisfying next time they fight to live or die. 

AD
Barking Alien

Spin My Nipple Nuts and Send Me to Alaska

Yellow Sun

Season I, Episode 1

"It All Ends Here"

Part 5

'The Conclusion'

[You can catch up on the full first session recap with these posts:

Fun, Fun, Fun, In The Sun. Sun. Sun.
Everyone is Dead Mitchell
Shipwrecked and Comatose
Let Me Fly Far Away From Here

or by clicking the tag 'Yellow Sun'. 

OK, here we go...]

***

Chicken had made it to the galley of the Nova 8 and after a desperate search for pretzels, she came upon a talking metal box that had clearly seen better days. In a voice small, exhausted, yet strangely hopeful, the box asked the age old question that had plagued Humanity for untold millennia. 

"Would you...would you like...*child like weeping*...some toast?"

"Sure! What's toast?"

"What? What's toast? It's grilled bread. The bread becomes warm and crunchy...and..."

"BREAD! I love bread!", says Chicken excitedly, "And you can make it warm? And yet crunchy like a pretzel? WOW! I think we are going to be great friends. I'm Chicken!"

*Sobbing and giggling with happiness* "I'm Talkie, the Talking Toaster. Bless you Miss. Bless you."

Meanwhile, the rest of the group were in the forward section of the Engine Room; the front of the rear one might say. They found the Fuel Pods nearly full and intact, though the Drive Section itself was a total wreck. Large, sharp rock formations had gone right through it. Wilder instructed ARTHUR and Webb on how to safely remove the Pods and get them ready for transport. 

The Space Corps Deep Space Explorer Nova 8 in its heyday.

Basil walked over with some suitcases and told the team he was prepping everything for evacuation of his crew. He still had some luggage to pack however. Wilder explained that they'd load everything onto the Starbug and transport it up to the Yellow Sun when the evac was complete. He suggested Basil start moving the luggage to the Starbug now while the Fuel Pods were being removed. Basil thought that an excellent idea and left to get started. 

The gang (minus Chicken) begins to discuss their situation. Something is clearly wrong with Basil and there are a number of details left out of the information they received on the Nova 8 they'd like to have filled. Unfortunately, the priority has to be obtaining the fuel, so they start lugging the Fuel Pods to the airlock when suddenly Bennett appears on a wall screen near them. Wilder salutes, "Yes Bennett? Is there something we can help you with?"

"Hmm? What? Why did I...Oh Silicon Heavens yes! Basil isn't here correct?" The group confirms he is not. "Good. You must be most careful around him. He's a few triangle sandwiches short of Afternoon Tea if you catch my meaning. He can be quite dangerous."

Wilder and Webb exchange glances. "The crew of the Nova 8...did he kill them?"

"What? No, no. He wouldn't. He couldn't. But...if you press too hard on the fact that they are in fact very much dead he'll go into an absolute frenzy. You are not his crew and he might harm all of you."

Nova 8 Crew Uniforms and Mission Insignia Patch

"Hello? What are you all talking about?"

The gang looks up to see Basil putting down too large suitcases and titling his head in query. 

Webb and Wilder whisper, "Nothing about the Nova 8 crew's...condition. Got it?"

"Absolutely. They are as fit as I feel", remarks Webb with an eye roll. 

Wilder returns to normal volume, addressing the Mechanoid with, "Almost finished Basil? We're ready to move the Fuel Pods."

"Certainly sirs. Just one more set of luggage and then, if you would be so kind, you can help me escort the crew to your shuttle."

"Sure", says Webb, then whispers from the corner of his mouth, "does anyone have a vacuum?"

Just then Chicken comes up from behind Basil, a piece of toast in one hand and bread crumbs all over her face and hands. "Hey guys, you're not going to believe what I found! It's a toaster. It makes toast! Which is really warm, crunchy bread. Also, I think the entire crew of this ship is dead."

Basil begins to twitch and tremble. "What...wh-wh-wh-what did you say Mum?"

"She's right ya know. They're dead", says ARTHUR matter-of-factly, clearly having missed the memo. 

Basil's eyes and the circle on his lower abdomen began to glow a bright yellow-white, with the latter blinking on and off. He took a swing at Wilder but it passed right through the Lieutenant's Soft Light form. Basil jabbed his other fist at Webb but missed as Webb ducked and ARTHUR moved to intercept.

Chicken began screaming and waving her arms around and just as she planned it distracted Basil enough for ARTHUR to pin his arms in a bear hug. OK, a Robot Bear hug. As Basil flailed about shouting things like, "How dare you!" and "No! Na-Na-No! My sweet crew!", Webb got in front of the maniacal droid and saw the blinking disk on him blink faster and faster. Gulping down his instinct to run, Webb pressed hard on the disk which appeared to temporarily knock Basil 'unconscious'. 

After a minute or so Webb pressed the button once more, gently this time. Basil woke seconds later, seemingly alright, until another whispered comment about the crew almost set him off again. This time Webb pressed the disk right away and did not touch it again.

The team moved back up the vessel's length until they had reached the bridge. Calling up Bennett, he appeared looking even more tired, barely lucid, and pale. When the group asked what had actually happened here, how did the ship crash, when did it happen, and was there anything that could be done about Basil?

At first Bennett seemed not to hear them, asking "Who's that? Who's there? Speak up!" When the gang identified themselves yet again Bennett remembered but said that without the fuel and with the damange and the years he was not going to make it. He did reveal some very useful information however. The ship crashed in the 24th Century, some 200+ years after the Yellow Sun's accident. The Nova 8's Computer Archives would contain information and technological advancements considerably ahead of the Yellow Sun's databanks. 

In addition, an operators and maintenance manual in storage on the bridge and in the data records might be able to help with repairing Basil if the group chose to do so. 

With that, Bennett said his farewells and faded from the screen. The gang worked fast to download as much information as possible before the entire system went offline for good. Luckily they managed to find the physical Mechanoid Manual though there was some debate over whether it was too little too late. 

Webb reactivated Basil and told him that the Nova 8 was so busy with their scientific work, it might be best if they stayed on the planetoid to complete their research. If that was the case, it only made sense for him to stay as well as they would need him to take care of things. The cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.

Basil seemed a bit delirious but remained calm as Webb spoke. He eventually smiled and told Webb what a splendid idea that was. Webb then convinced him he might want to enter a Rest and Recharge Mode, go offline for a bit, as he had a lot of work ahead of him. Basil agreed and waved goodbye to Webb and the others as he appeared to enter what appeared to be a robot coma. 

As Webb started to leave, ARTHUR asked what was going on. He became rather cross when he gleaned the intention was to leave Basil behind. Wilder and Webb both thought it best but ARTHUR disagreed.

"Is that it then? Robot a little damaged so we leave it to rot do we? Don't worry we'll get a new one? Find a better model? No sense fixing this one is that it? Typical Humans."

With that ARTHUR placed the manual and Basil on a hand-truck and wheeled him through the wind and grit back to the Starbug. He intended to make repairing Basil a personal pet project of his. 

When the gang finally returned to the Yellow Sun they were met a the doors to the Hangar Bay but a half dozen Skutters who took the luggage, as the suitcases had indeed been loaded onto the Starbug and, well what the hey, right? ARTHUR took Basil to the Robot Repair Bay and the others moved the Fuel Pods down to engineering. 

Sometime later the gang regroups in the Yellow Sun's Drive room [wherein the greatest, most unexpected thing happens that sets the theme for the campaign going forward]. Webb says that with full power restored the ship can now change course and take the gang back to Earth, assuming there is an Earth to go back to. 

Wilder on the other hand has a different idea. He asks ADAM if he detected the Red Dwarf at any point in the past three million years while Webb was in Stasis. ADAM says no. No sign of the Red Dwarf was every found.

"Then our mission isn't over. The Yellow Sun was dispatched to locate the missing JMC mining vessel Red Dwarf and we haven't yet. We will. Once we do, then we head home."

[And so ends our first session. It was a total BLAST and the gang had a lot of fun, as did I. I will try to do a single post, weekly entry with each additional episode as we go forward. 

There were a lot of character bits, jokes, Easter Eggs, and such that I left out but I think I conveyed the keys elements and a sense of the PCs, setting, and plot. I love that the PCs have ongoing personal goals, such as Wilder's search for Red Dwarf and hope that the advanced information from the Nova 8, 200-225 years ahead of the Yellow Sun's data, can help with the mission. I appreciated both Webb trying to give Basil a noble 'death' but also ARTHUR's feeling that it was an affront to Robot-kind and wanting to try to repair the poor mechanoid. Plus, Chicken took the Talking Toaster from the Nova 8 and brought it on board the Yellow Sun because it makes crunchy bread and they are friends. 

I hope you all enjoyed the tale half as much as I enjoyed telling it. 

Please tune in again as we drink fresh mango juice while goldfish bowls nibble at our toes!]

Later days,

AD
Barking Alien

Let Me Fly Far Away From Here

Yellow Sun

Season I, Episode 1

"It All Ends Here"

Part 4

Outside the Starbug's cockpit view port, the greenish-brownish sphere of the planetoid it was heading towards spun closer and closer at very high speed.

As Chicken piloted the shuttle in a straight, tight, tummy turning trajectory, she noted that her people were not completely foreign to the concept of light. In fact, according to legends, her people could fly under their own power for short distances in 'ancient times'. She then wondered if the trip from Yellow Sun to the planetoid qualified as a short distance. Most of the others shook their heads or shrugged and she nearly panicked again until Wilder distracted her with pretzels.

Finally, the Starbug entered the atmosphere - thin, damp, and composed of whipping, high speed winds - and Chicken is instructed on how to initiate the landing procedure. 

[I explained to Chicken's Player that she needs to slow down, preferably stop spinning, and land. I have her make a die roll and she gets 3 Successes. I ask her how many Successes she wants to put towards slowing, how many to stop rolling, and how many to landing. Chicken decides to place two to control the spin and one on landing.]

The shuttle straightens out and stops barrel rolling to fist pumps and cheers from the rest of the group, only for their congratulations to sour as the Starbug hits the soft, moist, sand-soil of the planetoid like an American Baseball player starting his slide into home plate waaay too soon. When the craft finally stops, a cloud of steam surrounds it and numerous screens flash indicating a relatively safe landing. Relative to death that is. 

Yellow-Orange Alert! Yellow-Orange Alert!

It's more than Yellow; not quite Red.

For when you know you're Smegged but not so Smegged you can't keep going.

Not far from the Starbug's crashsi...ahem...landing zone, the team spots the derelict they've been looking for. Scanning the wreckage from the shuttle's cockpit [at least the Sensors are still working. Mostly.] the gang is able to confirm it is definitely a Nova Class Explorer, though one that seems to have been significantly upgraded. ADAM notes that the Nova Class was brand new at the time the Yellow Sun experienced it's accident. The first of these vessels had launched only a month or so before Yellow Sun went looking for the Red Dwarf. The Nova 1 was a prototype and if successful others would be built down the line. 

Starship model by Sci-Fi Film and TV Model Master

Martin Bower

After trudging through the strange landscape of the planetoid for twenty minutes or so, the group comes upon the ship, wedged between and on top of a series of jagged rocks. At a distance one of the group spots someone, or something, moving around inside the Explorer. 

When they reach the derelict they notice an airlock on the side of the vessel. It is decided that ARTHUR, being charged with the Security of the Yellow Sun's 'personnel', should be the one to enter first. While trying to find a means to breach the airlock, Chicken suggests knocking. It's only polite. 

A moment after knocking a voice with a calm and chipper British Columbia accent answers asking, "Yes? Who is it?" Wilder introduces himself and notes his position as a Rescue Specialist for the Space Corps. The voice is relieved as the vessel, now identified as the Nova 8, as well as its crew are in desperate need of assistance.

After cycling the outer, then inner airlocks, the Yellow Sun team encounters Basil, a Series 4000 Service Mechanoid who clearly sustained damaged in the Nova 8's crash. He greets them with a kowtowing, genuflect attitude typical of droids of his design. Wilder, Webb, and ARTHUR ask him about the ship's mission and crew and Basil is more than happy to introduce them around. As they move through the ship to the Research Labs and Science Stations, the Yellow Sun team sees piles of dust, debris, and hair in each chair Basil motions to as he introduces them as the Nova 8's crew. 

Basil, a Diva Droid International Series 4000 Service Mechanoid

Basil, clearly oblivious to the fact that his crewmates are presently 'life-function challenged', continues to show the group about the Explorer, eventually taking them to the bridge. Here Wilder and Webb describe having some difficulty telling the various crewmembers apart (though they don't bring up that it's because it's hard to tell one mound of bone and hair fragments from another). Basil appears taken aback, pointing out the Captain's commanding presence and First Officer Takashi's austere and noble bearing. And how could you miss Navigator Chen's nature beauty? "I am told that among her organic crewmates she's considered 'quite the looker'."

Finally, Basil introduces the Yellow Sun team to Bennett, the Nova 8 AI, who speaks like an old, well-bred, Upper Class British gentleman. He seemed a tad forgetful and even out of sorts, possibly suffering from Cyber Senility. Be took a liking to Wilder and ARTHUR because they showed proper military protocol. He was very polite to Chicken whom he assumed was a young lady. He didn't trust Webb, whom he immediately saw as a layabout. 

Convinced he'd seen all he needed to see, Wilder asked Bennett and Basil if he and his 'team' could have a look around. He explained that the Yellow Sun would render any aid it could and in exchange the Yellow Sun could use any fuel the Nova 8 had to spare. Basil said the engines of the Nova 8 were destroyed in the crash, which is what marooned the vessel and as such, the Yellow Sun was welcome to all the fuel they had since the Explorer certainly couldn't use it. Basil then implied he would start packing up the crew's things for transport to the Starbug and then the Yellow Sun.

"My guess is they travel rather light these days", remarked Webb. 

Wilder, ARTHUR and Webb headed to engineering to get the Fuel Pods, noticing Chicken had already left the bridge area in search of the galley. She was promised pretzels after all. I mean, why else make this trip if there weren't any pretzels. 

Indeed after poking around the Nova 8 at random, Chicken came across a small galley and mess hall. She opened every drawer, cabinet, and container she could but there were no pretzels to be found. She was about to go from frustrated to downright flabbergasted when a meak, sad sounding voice piped up from a silvery, metal box on the counter with two slits at the top of it. 

"Hello...is...is someone there..."

Chicken perked up and smiled at the box. "I'm here!"

"Would you...*sob*...please...would you care for some...toast?"

Next up, the thrilling conclusion of our first episode and plans beyond!

Stoke me a kipper. I'll be back for Breakfast!

AD
Barking Alien