Galactic Threnody

[Vulpix]

You hear and feel the whoosh of air as the red door opens for you. Semi ushers you all inside as fast as possible, and then shuts the door behind you. Ahead of you is another door. A red button on the wall is the only spot of colour in the otherwise stark white room. The button is labelled 'Airlock.' Feeling brave, or maybe just impulsive, Punk-02 pushes the button. The door in front of you slides open, and the five of you step inside. The door closes once more behind you, and you feel a sudden jolt, and then a sense of weightlessness. Rocky puts his hand gently on the lobster to keep it from floating off.

Looking around, this is what you see. The room is eerily silent. There are four storage units for EVA space suits. One is missing. There is a hallway behind you, and the door you came from in front of you. On either side of the door is an electronic panel.

Pardner feels in his pocket for his notebook from the previous room. A good instinct indeed, he finds, as he opens it up to see the new information that's been added to it. Exvy feels a notebook materialize in her pocket as well. Both notebooks have some interesting info...

---

PRIMARY DIRECTIVE:
Locate the crew of the ORION-03.

Questions

In what order did the crew of the ORION-03 perish?
What was each crew member's job aboard the ship?
What was the mission of the ORION-03?
What happened to the ORION-02?

Who is to blame for the tragedy that befell the ORION-03?

Locations

The following locations are in and around the spaceship, and may be visited. They may contain information relevant to the case.

- Mission Control (Bridge)
- Airlock Entry
- Isolation Ward
- Bathroom

- Laboratory

- Corridor

- Escape Pod Terminal
- Sleeping Quarters (Bedroom)
- Kitchen (Mess Hall)
- Engine Room

- Armory

- Ship Exterior

Rules

You may freely investigate and ask questions until the time expires.

Each group will submit ONE answer: That is, Gaap, Pardner, and Rocky will submit one, and Exvy and Punk-02 will submit another. Failure to submit an answer will be treated as an automatic failure.

Your response will be graded in relation to total understanding of the case. If your response is below a certain threshold, you will lose two points.

If your response meets or exceeds the threshold, no point change will occur.

If your response satisfies all requirements, or in other words gets a 100% grade, you will be rewarded one additional point.

Evidence will be delivered via the coloured truth system. Red truths are objective facts about the case. Blue truths are more so speculations based on available evidence, and may not always be entirely correct.

[Vulpix]

Rocky looks around the room.

''They couldn't really send us to space, right?"

"This is just a simulation. A diorama. Still... the less time I have to spend in here, the better."

He goes to examine the panel to the right of the airlock door. It appears to be a map.

[Hansbulla]

Exvy examines the notebook in her pocket.

[Vulpix]

Dec 7, 2023 21:25:03 GMT -6 Hansbulla said:

Exvy examines the notebook in her pocket.

Exvy's notebook is nothing remarkable on the outside. A plain, black, spiral-back notebook with fifty sheets of lined paper. It does come with a free Ikea pencil! And the aforementioned notes (see: locations, questions, etc).

[Ktoasty]

”Rocky, you’re gonna want to keep Li’l Gray away from those electronical panels. We don’t want her fried.”

Pardner looks at the panel on the other side of the door and invests it.

”Might be safer in the Bedroom, ya reckon?”

[Hansbulla]

Exvy heads to the laboratory.

[Vulpix]

Dec 7, 2023 21:33:25 GMT -6 Ktoasty said:

”Rocky, you’re gonna want to keep Li’l Gray away from those electronical panels. We don’t want her fried.”

Pardner looks at the panel on the other side of the door and invests it.

”Might be safer in the Bedroom, ya reckon?”

"Hmm. Maybe. I'm just... I'm not sure I wanna go anywhere alone in here. The whole place gives me the creeps."

Investigating the left-hand panel of the door, Pardner finds that it appears to be a control panel for the airlock. It can open and close the airlock doors, begin the decompression sequence, and unlock the storage compartments for the EVA suits if the correct password is entered.

---

Dec 7, 2023 21:48:19 GMT -6 Hansbulla said:

Exvy heads to the laboratory.

The section of the corridor that Exvy passes through is unremarkable. The laboratory appears to be as sterile and white as everything else she's seen so far here. At the opposite side of the room from the door is a large rectangular window. In front of the window is a table with lab equipment, and a locker in the corner of the room beside the table. On the right-hand wall is a sink. On the left-hand wall is a door.

[Hansbulla]

Exvy looks out the window and then opens the locker.

[jash]

Punk heads over to the bridge

[Ame]

Breathe... Just breathe. You're gonna be okay. Nothing can top what she saw in the Yellow Door.



She steps forward, putting on a brave face. Though she's only fooling herself. Anyone paying attention to her can see that from the moment she stepped through the Red Door, her arms haven't stopped shaking.

"Exvy. Pardner. Rocky. Lady Punk the Second. Let's do this. One more time."

She pulls out her own notebook, and reads over it

"Locked Questions...? That's new. I guess this time... The mystery itself isn't even clear."

Next, she heads up to where Rocky stands, and looks over the map panel.

"Huh... We're really in space. Just like those films... What are they called? Trek Wars?"

She taps Rocky on the shoulder

"I promise, we're not. We're still on Earth. Camp Greenwolfe wasn't real. So neither is this. I'm not sure how they're doing it, but it's definitely not real."




"Alright. Demi! Semi!- Hell, Amy! I'm gonna get out of here, you hear me!"

In a dash, Gaap runs off. She doesn't really have a plan on where she's running to but winds up in The Engine Room.

[Ktoasty]

”Looks like we’re all split up then.”

Pardner nods to Rocky and Li’l Gray, the other two left behind in their mystery crew.

”I’ll go with ya, Rocky. Let’s mosey on over to the Bedroom and see if anyone is there.”

[Vulpix]

Dec 7, 2023 22:14:27 GMT -6 Hansbulla said:

Exvy looks out the window and then opens the locker.

Exvy stands against the table, careful not to disturb the delicate equipment on it. She looks out the window and sees mostly blackness, with some twinkles of light in the distance. At the edge of her vision, she sees something else. Exvy sees what appears to be a human arm. She takes a step back and examines the locker. It is locked. It appears to require a key.

---

Dec 7, 2023 22:17:54 GMT -6 jash said:

Punk heads over to the bridge

This section of the corridor also appears unremarkable, aside from the doors Punk-02 has to pass to get to the bridge. She presses a button on the wall to open the door to the bridge, and it slides open. She takes a step inside. There, she smells the first real smell she's smelled on the spaceship. And boy, is it smelly. It could be most accurately described as burnt human flesh. The reason for the smell quickly becomes apparent when she sees the body on the floor. Disregarding that for the moment, Punk-02 can see that there are three huge windows. As the map suggests, this appears to be the front of the ship, and these windows are so that whoever is driving can have a wide view outside. There's a dashboard underneath the center window with all sorts of buttons and levels that make little sense to Punk-02. There is a seat in front of the dashboard. There's something like a desk a meter or two behind that: it, too, has a chair that seems to go with it, and it also has many buttons and levers. There is a third control center, set up like the other two with a dashboard and a chair, against the wall (which according to the map attaches to the bedroom). On the wall above it is a large screen.

Now, taking a closer look at and around the body, Punk-02 sees that the body is of an adult woman. She wears a red uniform, adorned with a badge that reads 'CONNOR.' She has a massive wound in her abdomen, and another smaller one on her neck. The skin and fabric around the wounds are thoroughly scorched. Attached to the woman's hip is a holstered weapon. Looking at it, it seems to be a sort of laser gun.

[Hansbulla]

Exvy examines the table equipment and the sink for anomalies.

[Vulpix]

Dec 7, 2023 22:25:35 GMT -6 Ame said:

Breathe... Just breathe. You're gonna be okay. Nothing can top what she saw in the Yellow Door.



She steps forward, putting on a brave face. Though she's only fooling herself. Anyone paying attention to her can see that from the moment she stepped through the Red Door, her arms haven't stopped shaking.

"Exvy. Pardner. Rocky. Lady Punk the Second. Let's do this. One more time."

She pulls out her own notebook, and reads over it

"Locked Questions...? That's new. I guess this time... The mystery itself isn't even clear."

Next, she heads up to where Rocky stands, and looks over the map panel.

"Huh... We're really in space. Just like those films... What are they called? Trek Wars?"

She taps Rocky on the shoulder

"I promise, we're not. We're still on Earth. Camp Greenwolfe wasn't real. So neither is this. I'm not sure how they're doing it, but it's definitely not real."




"Alright. Demi! Semi!- Hell, Amy! I'm gonna get out of here, you hear me!"

In a dash, Gaap runs off. She doesn't really have a plan on where she's running to but winds up in The Engine Room.

As promised, the engine room contains an engine. It lets out an angry hum. Everything seems to be functional at present, as far as Gaap can tell. There is a door in this room that doesn't appear to be labelled on the map. Unfortunately, it is locked. Well, maybe locked isn't the appropriate term... there's simply no way to open it. The button to the side of the door is missing. Or, at least, it seems that way until Gaap looks down. What appear to be the broken remnants of the button are on the floor. Touching the exposed wires it used to cover seems dangerous.

---

Dec 7, 2023 22:29:43 GMT -6 Ktoasty said:

”Looks like we’re all split up then.”

Pardner nods to Rocky and Li’l Gray, the other two left behind in their mystery crew.

”I’ll go with ya, Rocky. Let’s mosey on over to the Bedroom and see if anyone is there.”

Rocky follows Pardner to the bedroom. As shown on the map, it is accessed through the mess hall. The mess hall has a table, chairs, and a big machine in the left-hand corner that looks sort of like a refrigerator. In the right-hand corner there are some shelves with plants on them. Across from Rocky and Pardner is a long, rectangular window. Outside they can see blackness speckled with stars. Pardner tries to open the bedroom door, but it is locked. That appears to be a fingerprint sensor.

[Vulpix]

Dec 7, 2023 22:44:44 GMT -6 Hansbulla said:

Exvy examines the table equipment and the sink for anomalies.

On the table there are four empty test tubes, a Bunsen burner, two empty Erlenmeyer flasks, a chemical analyzer, and a notebook not too different from your own. There is a sketch of a humanoid creature labelled 'Sarlates.' Next to the drawing is written: 'Beware of venomous claws. C277H443N97O98S8'