Collins Does Solo RPG 'The Wretched'

Music (What is it – Chris Bissette)

Day 7, salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Collins Reporting.

This morning I was abruptly woken by some screaming. It was startling and initially I was unable to determine where it came from. I’ve been staying in the Captain’s ready room as its more comfortable than crew quarters and is right next to the bridge for me to be able to respond to any return signals from my rescuers. My first reaction was to sit up in blind panic, then once I’d momentarily had chance to think I reached for the pistol that was on the bedside. The scream was ear piecing and seemed to be coming from everywhere.

It took me a moment to realise it was a ship wide broadcast on the internal comms channel. It didn’t take long for me to shut it off once I went to the bridge. I can only assume it was the creature trying to freak me out, which it did. Once I had made enough noise from my startled waking I could hear noises on the hull of him wandering around. I managed to do a back-trace on the comm system and learned that the creature had initiated the transmission from the permanently locked inner airlock control board. That is unsettling.

I decided to permanently power down that console, if the terror had become intelligent enough to interact with a human control panel then that means he might be smart enough to open doors and access hatches. That’s not the worst part though. Once I had finished my checks I turned and caught a glimpse of the bastard out the bridge viewport. I shat myself so hard I basically fell backwards over the chair. He was just sat there, staring at me. The most visible part of him was his silverly teeth, the jet black body was difficult to make out until the inertial rotation of the ship brought a nearby planetary object into view behind him creating the most terrifying silhouette. His horribly long tail was swaying behind him as it looked deeply into me. I couldn’t see any eyes but I certainly felt the murderous intent behind his stare. I couldn’t deal with it any more so I scrambled to my feet and slapped the blast/heat shield closure button… I really need to find a way to get rid of it once and for good but right now I’m stuck, sealed in a ship in shark infested waters that will likely be my tomb.

I needed some hope, after that episode with the creature I needed something! I decided to check on the distress beacon to make sure it was still pumping out my mayday call. It was thankfully. I also checked the automated logs in detail to see whether there were any response pings I had missed. There were! 2 nights ago the system had picked up an incoming signal! Oh My God! That’s amazing! I played it back with a hefty bout of excitement, like a school child who’s just learnt that the tuck shop has opened for lunch time business. Then my heart sank, I can see now why the computer elected not to tell me about it. It was all garbled and the small parts I heard sounded like standard docking instructions at some shitty outback station like Sevastopol. It has clearly been bouncing around out there on the solar winds. Fuck.

Still searching for hope I decided to check the scanners. Nothing, I couldn’t even get a decent reading of the planetary body I saw behind the creature. There is nothing out there…

I spent the rest of the day trying to find some humanity. I collected up the crew members, putting them in their own body bags and dragging them to an area of the cargo hold and arranged them neatly in lines where I could then formally say goodbye in a sort of funeral.

Some were easier than others based on their demise method and location. The Captain, Doc, and Loadmaster were all relatively simple and mostly intact. Owen, the Navigator, was harder as he had been dragged up into an airvent and gutted. Took me quite some time to get him in the bag and out the vent. By far the most violent death was Powell’s. He had been dragged under an engine block and pulverised. Tools were required to get him in the bag.

During the makeshift funeral I spoke a few words about each person. You know nice things that people usually say at funerals. Stuff like the Loadmaster Eilidh was a whimsically fun individual who loved to be around animals to the point that you’d often think she would be better off working a farm than a salvage ship. She would jump to help you once you had earned her loyalty but woe betide you if you crossed her, she always had a unique way to let you know that she wasn’t happy with you or your actions. Her loyalty to her friends was one of her defining characteristics that also explained her demise. She threw herself at the creature in a fit of rage when we were trying to escape it early on, you could almost believe she stood a chance…

With all the crew laid to rest I didn’t feel much like doing any more work so I settled to make some food. I made up one of the meals that was earmarked for full crew participation, a roast joint of Nerf with all the trimmings. I popped a bottle of Twilerian vino as well to toast the dear departed and the future health of all those that were left behind. It was delicious and the crew would have loved it…