Discord
Today, 05:40 AM
Delivery bay.
You can use the drone there.
It's a bit of a run there, but it's relatively secure.
All you have to do is make it there.
You hear them typing on your computer.
You don't know what else they might want here, but
now's probably the busiest they're going to be.
The plush
could be a distraction, maybe?
Why would-
You don't really have time to think.
You grab it, ready to throw in case you need to, and-
It's
chirping
in your hand.
It's glowing pink.
You see the 'SQUEEZE ME!' on its underside.
You are going to die.
You scramble to your feet, and toss the plush in the direction of the computer.
There, it bounces off the head of
the drone.
The one with purple triangles.
The one from the gate.
The one you piloted earlier today.
It's moving on its own.
It'd been typing
something you can't see from here
into several programs.
You're frozen
for just a moment
as its head swivels
its camera focusing on you.
You bolt for the door,
slamming your way through it into the entryway,
nearly stumbling over
your
your jacket, snow boots-
You're going to be running outside without them,
you don't even have SHOES on!
Doesn't matter, does NOT matter right now.
You hear solid, metallic CLUNK noises from the other room.
It's running after you.
You reach the entrance door,
spotting that the drone had Easily broken through the lock to get inside.
You push the door open and
You are no longer moving forward.
Your legs seem to sputter, and you stumble,
as something cold and metal has a TIGHT grip on your shoulder.
By the time you're done processing this,
the hand on your shoulder has pulled you off your feet.
Airborne,
then sliding on your back for just a moment;
tossed away from the exit, back into the hall.
Your back stings from skidding on the concrete floor.
The sound of servos fills the air.
The singular lens focusing upon you, as it steps closer.
A crackling, synthetic voice- as if it's still trying to acclimate to the system- fills the air.
"Interesting.
You Seem to be stationed alone."
Its voice is synthetic, with a crackling sound; like it's still trying to acclimate to speaking.
"Why is that?"
The drone's lens re-focuses, as if it's decided upon something.
You're grabbed by the ankle, and it begins to drag you back into the work room.
You hardly have time to process the fact that it SPOKE to you.
You scramble, trying to wrench your leg from its grasp, but the drone is far, far too strong.
You push your other leg forward instead, managing to get your other foot in front of its own; trying to make it fall.
It kicks your foot out of the way.
"They left these drones here for you.
And still the computer has more protection than you do."
You're back in the work room, now.
The door shuts behind your head as you're dragged along.
Your hands reaching out helplessly, trying to grab at anything.
The drone isn't even bothered.
You manage to snag onto the edge of the couch,
only for the couch to drag along the floor With you;
the drone apparently haven't no trouble pulling you both.
You do your best to hold tight.
You-
Right. You can speak.
You haven't spoken to anyone in weeks.
"Let GO of ME."
The drone turns,
its' eye locked upon you.
"Finally found your voice."
You're suddenly YANKED closer,
as it releases your ankle and pins you down by the shoulder instead.
Leaning closer.
Tugging at your shirt.
Looking over you.
A yelp finds its way out of you,
and you reach up, pushing at the drone's camera as you try to pull your way out from under it.
"I'm-
If you don't LET GO, I'll..."
As you press at its camera, you hear-
As if something's wrong, a deep, droning, CRACKLING sound spits out of its speaker.
It's loud enough to make you let go and cover your ears.
It takes a moment to re-stabilize itself.
Slowly turning its head back to you.
"You ?
What will you do, exactly."
Your ears are still ringing.
You barely hear what it says.
You're panting, still held down by it.
"Just...
what
do you want
with Me?
You can use the computer - I don't care!
Just get OFF me.
...please."
You have a headache from the horrible noise it made.
Or maybe from when it threw you across the room.
You don't know.
You can hardly Think.
It waits.
Stepping off of you-
before lifting you off the floor by your shirt collar,
"Your computer?
It won't let me in.
It seems to be the most secure thing about this place."
It proceeds to drop you on the couch.
Going back to the keyboard.
"I trust you won't try to run again.
Neither of us should waste that effort."
You look over at it, watching it type.
You don't know what it was trying to use the computer for,
but the computer itself didn't seem to offer much function;
its internals were mostly locked down, it probably couldn't do much with it.
Not that you were going to tell it that.
You needed to strategize.
But, you had a question, first and foremost.
"...what... are you?
You took over the drone, right?
Or... you've... been self-aware this whole time?
Just, tell me what y..."
Your sentence trails off.
It waits for you to finish speaking.
When you don't, however, its head turns.
You
don't feel good.
You stand
and run
on instinct.
This time, towards your bedroom.
You hear the clnk, clnk, clnk of mechanical footsteps following you.
It doesn't seem to be in a rush.
You make it to your bedroom.
You cover your mouth.
You reach the bathroom, and
You
pull your face away from the toilet bowl.
You're sitting on the bathroom floor.
Stupid. Fucking. Expired food.
This is the WORST time for this to happen.
You cough.
You can still taste it.
Is this the last thing you're going to taste before that thing decides to just Kill you?
You lean back against the wall, trying to catch your breath.
The drone finally steps into the doorframe, looking over at you;
and it seems to know you're in no state to run.
It approaches slowly, taking in your room.
Looming over you once it's finally close enough.
But it doesn't make any move to harm you.
"They can't even send you edible food.
A shame."
You scoot back a couple of inches, but your restroom is tiny.
You stare up at the grey and purple drone's camera.
"How did-
...How d'you know about that?
How d'you know about any of this?
What are you...?"
"You vomited."
It points at the toilet.
"That doesn't-
You mentioned 'them'.
You said I was stationed alone.
How d'you know about any of that?"
Its shadow covers you.
The sound of servos whirring.
"Basic commands from the drone,
And your computer.
It's not like anyone could do this all by themself."
You don't move.
It's standing right over you.
You feel sick again.
You're sweating.
Your head's still pounding.
"What
are you?"
It slowly kneels down.
Tilting its head.
A mechanical claw reaches under your chin.
"A virus.
One not happy to be stranded out here."
You think about pulling your head away.
You don't feel like you can move.
"Are
you going to
hurt me?"
"No.
Why would I?"
"...Then why'd you--?!"
You grab hold of the sink, using it to pull yourself up to your feet.
You're shaking, still.
"If you don't want to be stranded here, then just Leave in that drone.
I don't care if you have it.
I just need you t..." You gag.
Your hand flies over your mouth, eyes closing.
You manage to keep yourself from getting sick again.
The shift in gravity hadn't helped.
"There isn't anything else.
For miles.
You.
You're my ticket out."
" . . .
I don't GET to leave for like,
probably a Year or longer!
This is my job.
I'm stuck out here,
on my own,
until then.
Even in the event of an emergency they will likely leave me out here To Die."
You cough.
Why
did you just tell this thing
that you're essentially Useless to it?
"Just...
...if you're just Patient, you can go.
Or you can go back in the gate.
Those're your... y-your..."
You need to stop talking.
You need to sit down.
You feel horrible.
It waits for a moment, seeming to think.
"I can be patient."
It stands up, stepping out of the doorframe.
You watch it, as it stands just inside your bedroom.
"...hang on."
You shut the door.
You lean heavily on the sink, finally catching your breath.
You open the bathroom cabinet,
finding some heavy antacid pills,
and swallow them down.
Hoping you can keep them down.
You need to sit.
You step through the door,
cautiously walking past the infected drone.
You grab the trash can from the corner of the room,
drag it by your bed just in case,
and take a seat on the bed.
You
need to figure out what to do, exactly.
As far as you know,
it's only infected this drone, so far.
This is already an issue.
You can't exactly do expeditions with that drone when it's under this thing's control.
There's still the drone here at the station - currently in its charging station, in one of the closets,
and the drone out at the delivery bay - presumably also still in its charging station.
Both of them need to stay uninfected, ideally.
Same goes for the main computer, which it seems like it's already tried to infect.
But you have no leverage.
And you barely know anything about this
'virus' thing.
It must be very advanced, given that it's walking, and talking.
Considering it likely came from inside the gate, you'd guess as much.
You don't want to get on its bad side.
You need a plan.
You could talk to it, now, too.
Ask questions, get info
without pissing it off.
You realize
that
some part of you
is
relieved.
To not be alone here, anymore.
You're really losing it.
You figure out what to do.
You can use the drone there.
It's a bit of a run there, but it's relatively secure.
All you have to do is make it there.
You hear them typing on your computer.
You don't know what else they might want here, but
now's probably the busiest they're going to be.
The plush
could be a distraction, maybe?
Why would-
You don't really have time to think.
You grab it, ready to throw in case you need to, and-
It's
chirping
in your hand.
It's glowing pink.
You see the 'SQUEEZE ME!' on its underside.
You are going to die.
You scramble to your feet, and toss the plush in the direction of the computer.
There, it bounces off the head of
the drone.
The one with purple triangles.
The one from the gate.
The one you piloted earlier today.
It's moving on its own.
It'd been typing
something you can't see from here
into several programs.
You're frozen
for just a moment
as its head swivels
its camera focusing on you.
You bolt for the door,
slamming your way through it into the entryway,
nearly stumbling over
your
your jacket, snow boots-
You're going to be running outside without them,
you don't even have SHOES on!
Doesn't matter, does NOT matter right now.
You hear solid, metallic CLUNK noises from the other room.
It's running after you.
You reach the entrance door,
spotting that the drone had Easily broken through the lock to get inside.
You push the door open and
You are no longer moving forward.
Your legs seem to sputter, and you stumble,
as something cold and metal has a TIGHT grip on your shoulder.
By the time you're done processing this,
the hand on your shoulder has pulled you off your feet.
Airborne,
then sliding on your back for just a moment;
tossed away from the exit, back into the hall.
Your back stings from skidding on the concrete floor.
The sound of servos fills the air.
The singular lens focusing upon you, as it steps closer.
A crackling, synthetic voice- as if it's still trying to acclimate to the system- fills the air.
"Interesting.
You Seem to be stationed alone."
Its voice is synthetic, with a crackling sound; like it's still trying to acclimate to speaking.
"Why is that?"
The drone's lens re-focuses, as if it's decided upon something.
You're grabbed by the ankle, and it begins to drag you back into the work room.
You hardly have time to process the fact that it SPOKE to you.
You scramble, trying to wrench your leg from its grasp, but the drone is far, far too strong.
You push your other leg forward instead, managing to get your other foot in front of its own; trying to make it fall.
It kicks your foot out of the way.
"They left these drones here for you.
And still the computer has more protection than you do."
You're back in the work room, now.
The door shuts behind your head as you're dragged along.
Your hands reaching out helplessly, trying to grab at anything.
The drone isn't even bothered.
You manage to snag onto the edge of the couch,
only for the couch to drag along the floor With you;
the drone apparently haven't no trouble pulling you both.
You do your best to hold tight.
You-
Right. You can speak.
You haven't spoken to anyone in weeks.
"Let GO of ME."
The drone turns,
its' eye locked upon you.
"Finally found your voice."
You're suddenly YANKED closer,
as it releases your ankle and pins you down by the shoulder instead.
Leaning closer.
Tugging at your shirt.
Looking over you.
A yelp finds its way out of you,
and you reach up, pushing at the drone's camera as you try to pull your way out from under it.
"I'm-
If you don't LET GO, I'll..."
As you press at its camera, you hear-
As if something's wrong, a deep, droning, CRACKLING sound spits out of its speaker.
It's loud enough to make you let go and cover your ears.
It takes a moment to re-stabilize itself.
Slowly turning its head back to you.
"You ?
What will you do, exactly."
Your ears are still ringing.
You barely hear what it says.
You're panting, still held down by it.
"Just...
what
do you want
with Me?
You can use the computer - I don't care!
Just get OFF me.
...please."
You have a headache from the horrible noise it made.
Or maybe from when it threw you across the room.
You don't know.
You can hardly Think.
It waits.
Stepping off of you-
before lifting you off the floor by your shirt collar,
"Your computer?
It won't let me in.
It seems to be the most secure thing about this place."
It proceeds to drop you on the couch.
Going back to the keyboard.
"I trust you won't try to run again.
Neither of us should waste that effort."
You look over at it, watching it type.
You don't know what it was trying to use the computer for,
but the computer itself didn't seem to offer much function;
its internals were mostly locked down, it probably couldn't do much with it.
Not that you were going to tell it that.
You needed to strategize.
But, you had a question, first and foremost.
"...what... are you?
You took over the drone, right?
Or... you've... been self-aware this whole time?
Just, tell me what y..."
Your sentence trails off.
It waits for you to finish speaking.
When you don't, however, its head turns.
You
don't feel good.
You stand
and run
on instinct.
This time, towards your bedroom.
You hear the clnk, clnk, clnk of mechanical footsteps following you.
It doesn't seem to be in a rush.
You make it to your bedroom.
You cover your mouth.
You reach the bathroom, and
You
pull your face away from the toilet bowl.
You're sitting on the bathroom floor.
Stupid. Fucking. Expired food.
This is the WORST time for this to happen.
You cough.
You can still taste it.
Is this the last thing you're going to taste before that thing decides to just Kill you?
You lean back against the wall, trying to catch your breath.
The drone finally steps into the doorframe, looking over at you;
and it seems to know you're in no state to run.
It approaches slowly, taking in your room.
Looming over you once it's finally close enough.
But it doesn't make any move to harm you.
"They can't even send you edible food.
A shame."
You scoot back a couple of inches, but your restroom is tiny.
You stare up at the grey and purple drone's camera.
"How did-
...How d'you know about that?
How d'you know about any of this?
What are you...?"
"You vomited."
It points at the toilet.
"That doesn't-
You mentioned 'them'.
You said I was stationed alone.
How d'you know about any of that?"
Its shadow covers you.
The sound of servos whirring.
"Basic commands from the drone,
And your computer.
It's not like anyone could do this all by themself."
You don't move.
It's standing right over you.
You feel sick again.
You're sweating.
Your head's still pounding.
"What
are you?"
It slowly kneels down.
Tilting its head.
A mechanical claw reaches under your chin.
"A virus.
One not happy to be stranded out here."
You think about pulling your head away.
You don't feel like you can move.
"Are
you going to
hurt me?"
"No.
Why would I?"
"...Then why'd you--?!"
You grab hold of the sink, using it to pull yourself up to your feet.
You're shaking, still.
"If you don't want to be stranded here, then just Leave in that drone.
I don't care if you have it.
I just need you t..." You gag.
Your hand flies over your mouth, eyes closing.
You manage to keep yourself from getting sick again.
The shift in gravity hadn't helped.
"There isn't anything else.
For miles.
You.
You're my ticket out."
" . . .
I don't GET to leave for like,
probably a Year or longer!
This is my job.
I'm stuck out here,
on my own,
until then.
Even in the event of an emergency they will likely leave me out here To Die."
You cough.
Why
did you just tell this thing
that you're essentially Useless to it?
"Just...
...if you're just Patient, you can go.
Or you can go back in the gate.
Those're your... y-your..."
You need to stop talking.
You need to sit down.
You feel horrible.
It waits for a moment, seeming to think.
"I can be patient."
It stands up, stepping out of the doorframe.
You watch it, as it stands just inside your bedroom.
"...hang on."
You shut the door.
You lean heavily on the sink, finally catching your breath.
You open the bathroom cabinet,
finding some heavy antacid pills,
and swallow them down.
Hoping you can keep them down.
You need to sit.
You step through the door,
cautiously walking past the infected drone.
You grab the trash can from the corner of the room,
drag it by your bed just in case,
and take a seat on the bed.
You
need to figure out what to do, exactly.
As far as you know,
it's only infected this drone, so far.
This is already an issue.
You can't exactly do expeditions with that drone when it's under this thing's control.
There's still the drone here at the station - currently in its charging station, in one of the closets,
and the drone out at the delivery bay - presumably also still in its charging station.
Both of them need to stay uninfected, ideally.
Same goes for the main computer, which it seems like it's already tried to infect.
But you have no leverage.
And you barely know anything about this
'virus' thing.
It must be very advanced, given that it's walking, and talking.
Considering it likely came from inside the gate, you'd guess as much.
You don't want to get on its bad side.
You need a plan.
You could talk to it, now, too.
Ask questions, get info
without pissing it off.
You realize
that
some part of you
is
relieved.
To not be alone here, anymore.
You're really losing it.
You figure out what to do.
