Part 7: Red Dwarf this ain’t.

It seems that the convergence plan made some headway, so we’ll be taking a look at the Scifi chapter today. It won’t take long, but I’m going to have to do a fair amount of transcription.



Vessel Name -- Cogito Ergosum
Vessel Type -- Civilian Transport

Destination -- Earth
Cargo -- Alien life form
Crew -- 5
Passengers -- 1, military, in charge of cargo



Welcome to the Cogito Ergosum. To quote Blastinus from the old LP,





Most of our cast for the chapter remains in cold sleep, though one of them already appears to be up and about.



Hmm…



-------



-------



Theeere we go… Finished!

Hmm?



That should’ve done it…

Once we decide to move…

It…





The newly-activated robot makes happy sounds that can only be properly called ‘burbling’. Like what babies do.

All right!!



I’m Kato. That’s K-A-T-O. Kato.

Say hello to Kato, everyone. He’s the ship’s mechanic.

Good morning? Er… Say, that’s right! You don’t have a name yet.



Nah… that sounds like a dog’s name, anyway…


This concludes the ‘stealing from Blastinus wholesale’ portion of the LP.



You can be… Cube!!
Hmm…
… maaaybe not. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll think of something.



Kato wants the yet-unnamed robot to follow him, but there’s one thing we can do in his room. And indeed, we can do this for most of the cast.



Yes, we can invade their privacy.


So our small spherical friend is Kato’s creation, Mk. 3. It sounds like the first one fell to bits, but what of the second?



Talking to Kato in the hallway lets us continue. We will have a chance to wander and examine the ship’s layout soon enough.



This is level 2 though. It’s an oval-shaped circuit.





..... Here we go!



--Please state your business--

Good morning! I need to register a new crew member.

--Understood--



Classification … Worker Robot?
Name?



Somebody suggested <3Cube as a name, but that isn’t valid. And calling him Sphere was the other LP’s thing, so we’re going with the default name. (I may give some thought to the suggestion of choosing names out of those offered instead of taking the most common vote, which is nigh guaranteed to be using the default now.)



Now you can come and go as you please. Mind, each of the crew’s individual cabins have security locks. If you don’t have the owner’s permission, you won’t be able to get in.



Certain rooms are plot-locked, got it.

Alright then, Cube. Now I want you to follow me on your own. I need to test out your AI. I’ll be somewhere on this floor. Your job will be to come and find me.



And thus Kato wanders off and allows us to do some exploration of this floor if so desired. But trust me, we will be seeing every last inch of this god-forsaken ship in due time, and there’s not even anyone around to talk to yet.

There are three levels of the ship, but level 2 is the largest. We are on the south-east part of the circuit, outside the Mother Computer’s terminal room.



Kato is just straight north from us, in the middle of the east side. The lower door leads to sick bay, but any effort to explore once you’re on this screen will make Kato yell and drag Cube over to him.



Beyond this door is the Cold Sleep Room. During long trips through space, we use this place to go into cryogenic stasis. Don’t suppose you’d have to, though… Well, please wake everyone up. Thanks!



There’s a name plate here.
Ship’s Captain
Hol

The captain was already out of his bunk before we started, but everyone else needs a bit of assistance.



This is the reserve capsule, containing the military man responsible for whatever alien lifeform is onboard. I mean, who else would wear a red beret?

The other capsules tell us everyone’s names and jobs, but we’ll get those in a minute. So, skipping ahead…







Yeah! He’s called Cube.

See, we already knew that the first model fell apart. That’s what reading other people’s diaries gets you.



Rachel here is the ship’s communication officer.



And of course the ‘cool dude’ is the pilot.



Huey has the glamourous job title of Cargo Handler. The universe hates Huey.



But since we have performed so admirably in our tasks so far, we now have to wake this poor bastard up.



Ugh… Kirk, c’mon! I thought I told you to lay off…



...That’s a fair reaction, I think.

’ey, Huey! Finally awake, huh? That’s the robot that Kato was building.

Eh? A… A… robot? Oh! You finally finished him?



We had gathered. But thank you for introducing yourself anyway.



First Kirk, and now Corporal Darth. He’s not the warmest gentleman ever, but again, military.

Corporal… The robot that Kato was building is done. He’s called Cube.





... Just make sure it stays out of the way. I’m heading to the break room.



To be fair, I understand the whole ‘follow orders’ thing gets drilled in pretty hard.

Eh, don’t worry about it too much.



When we wake up from cold sleep, we have a meeting in the break room. Come on! You’re part of the crew too, so you’re obligated to attend.



Heh, that’s so like you to be treating him as if he were human!

You really think so?



As Kato and Huey wander off to join the others, we’re able to poke around a bit more.



Sick Bay seems to be all in order. The decontamination system is working at least.



I know all about you
You are the first robot that Kato completed
I look forward to working with you

Never hurts to make friends with those in charge.



On the lower west side, we have some of the crew’s quarters. Kirk and Rachel have the top two rooms here, and Kato’s is the lower right. The lower left is the guest quarters, which Darth is using.





The middle and upper west sides have two entrances to the break room (our destination), as well as Huey’s room and the Captain’s quarters.



All these places are connected by identical corridors, by the way. And you may have noticed the lack of Tindeck links thus far; the majority of this chapter only has atmospheric noises. At present, it’s machinery humming.



The break room is usually home to a quiet tune, however. Kirk is playing a videogame in the corner, and it will be sitting there switched on for most of the chapter. We’ll hear it (and try the game) later on.



Well, he’s not on this floor unless he’s in his quarters.





Damn straight! You want to take a shot at it?

We do actually have a good reason to refuse playing right now, but more on that when we do give it a try.

Kirk’s really good at this game!

Kirk’s game is awful.



…

Well, we have one other option to progress.





Thanks, buddy.



It’s a story about people who lived centuries ago. I really like reading about people like that! They were so adventurous.

Ahahaha… That’s ‘cuz you’re a chicken! You’d be too scared to do that stuff yourself.



I get that feeling Kirk’s words might have hit home a little hard for Huey there…



...Rude.



Why don’t we teach him how to make coffee? Cube, come over here.



Well, how hard can it be? I mean, you have some kind of espresso machine here.



The machine glugs-glugs-glugs out some coffee for us, but the Corporal isn’t impressed.

Hey, not bad! Let’s have a little taste.



...Practice makes perfect, right? By which I mean we’re going to take the opportunity to offer everyone coffee.

Th-thanks, I think. I’m not really thirsty right now, though.

That’s the spirit, Cube! Thanks!

Thanks. Why not drop by my room sometime later?

Giving Rachel some coffee in this scene means we can see some optional stuff later. This chapter actually has quite a few lines and scenes you can miss.

Thanks! This is just how I like my coffee.

We’re on a roll! Hey, Corporal! Want some coffee?



...A ‘no’ would have sufficed.



I haven’t had many pleasant experiences with robots.

B-but that isn’t Cube’s fault…



Huh. Apparently I used up my allowance of one lame Metal Gear joke too soon.

My apologies for the delay. How are you all feeling?

We’re all fine.

That’s good. Hmm…? What’s that I see over there?

Oh, that’s my robot! His name’s Cube.

Oh, you finished it! I’d love to take a closer look later on.



First meeting: Looked at a book briefly, served coffee, got knocked across the room, and the meeting turned out to be largely pointless.

Great success!



Some meeting! One game and it’s basically over.

Hah! You know you like ‘em that way.

Hahaha! True that.

Well, those two seem… close.





The Behemoth, you say? Good name for an alien beastie.

Well then, I’ll see it after I check the Mother Computer. Cube, you come too. Use the elevator. The Mother Computer is on Level 3, while the hold is on Level 1.



And with the rest of the crew taking their leave, we have a couple of different ways to progress. But since we’ve met everyone and explored the largest of the Cogito Ergosum’s three levels, I think we’ll call it here for today. Maybe something more exciting will happen next time, hmm?