Aluminum Mallard
Store
Deflecto coating: - $3000
Mission 2: -$500
Total: -$3500
1 Like
Stardate 2
Jewel of the Desert
Captain's Log
As expected, I successfully broke the line and evaded capture. However, the Jewel suffered 37 HP of damage, which suggests that I may need to make some upgrades in order to survive future missions. The $10000 reward seems hardly sufficient for the risk I endured and the damage I must now repair, but I have been trying to come to terms with the position I find myself in and I have calculated that I must accept such missions until I attain more "grit" (and cash). I am still trying to figure out what exactly that is. I also do not understand what value luck is to me, as its very existence seems dubious at best, but have decided to continue my research into it by purchasing a horseshoe. What value this reproduction antique may have is a considerable mystery.
I had to put my cat Dusty in his space suit after the last mission, until I could obtain hull repair services from Scrapyard Pete. The lesson I learned about cabin pressure with my previous cat still lingers in the fore of my memory core. My attempts at training Dusty to man the defense systems console are progressing slowly, but Pete has a new type of fish that may prove a better training reward than the algae that he already eats daily.
In my desire to obtain maximum "grit" I have signed on to a risky mission. I do not claim to understand the politics behind it, but it seems that Flapjack Bill will likely be defeated whether I help or not, so I may as well try for the cash and "grit" that will be my reward.
When I picked up the Jewel from Pete after my night course I received news about a "tailgater" for the raiding party, as well as an after party. Pete suggested that to get on good terms with the hosts I should contribute to the malt funds. I do not understand why I should do so if I do not intend to consume any of the malt, but I assume this charitable act will help me to discover the meaning of "grit". The parties should provide valuable information for my research on human and space lizard emotions and motivations, which may justify the expense.
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Init. Balance $10520
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> Receipt - Scrapyard Pete's
>
> Hull Repairs 37 @ $100 $3700
> Blue Algae 2 Barrel @ $100 $200
> Sand Fish 4 Fish @ $50 $200
> Horseshoe 1 @ $1000 $1000
>
> Total $5100
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Mid-day Balance $5420
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> Mission Expenses - Flapjack Bill
> Fuel, Supplies, Ammunition $2000
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Afternoon Balance $3420
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> Night Course $3400
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Nighttime Balance $20
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> Midnight addendum - party funds $20
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Midnight Balance $0
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3 Likes
Mood: Existentially Frustrated
You learn to keep away from El when sheās in these moods - which is difficult to do when her consciousness permeates and penetrates the very ship-flesh of the vessel you live on. Sheās frustrated by the sheer ineffectuality of the last mission, and sheās making it very, very apparent. So I roll port-side as soon as weāre docked; looking for a bar with a decent view of Charybdis. It later occurs to me that a maelstrom is the last thing you need to be staring into when youāre considering the mental health of your captain. Zarathrusta, and all thatā¦
Iām still a little drunk (or as close to it as this antique metal body allows) when I return - and sheās still in a foul mood. This time, however, it has an edge to it - part anticipation, part suspicion. A posse of local operators are gearing up to take down some second-tier, piratical figure with the genuinely ridiculous name of āFlapjack Billā¦ā
There are whispers of deeper connections, though. And suddenly Eleanor sounds like she has a way forward - a sick suspicion about the location, the direction of her quarry. I think sheās caught sight of Samā¦
So Iām a little worried. Sheās never been a team player, and there are good ships, good captains going up against the Kill Machine. I hope this doesnāt end up as a repeat of Goombridge.
Repairs - $3600
Encryption Upgrade - $5200
Mission 1 - Flapjack Bill
2 Likes
Meta-Meta - I'm liking this because it's ending up as the collision between about forty different sub-genres. Still haven't seen any GSV style activity, though...
2 Likes
Missssion #1ās turning into a pile-on! Unlessss my math is worsssse than Rhaegarās, weāre sssssplittinā Flapjack Billās bounty ssseven wayssss sso far. Ditto the sssix points of Grit, which might prove mathematically awkward unlesss sssomeone doesnāt sssssssssssssssssssssurvive.
1 Like
If my understanding of āgritā is correct, we will be able to smooth out this situation if we can acquire a grit rating of āsuper fineā.
3 Likes
No worries, itās a craptastic PC thatās saddled with IE9 (of which Iāve no power to change). On to the gameā¦
Letās upgrade hull density ($500), and Iāll take 3 barrels of algae at $100 eaā¦ And sign me up for mission #2. Scaly claws crossed!
1 Like
2 Likes
Itās nice to Iām not alone. I may survive it! Glad to have all the help, Bill ought to go down like something something on a something or other. Maybe weāll do it fast enough to take on another mission?
1 Like
I was too sleepy when I first read it, gonna fix it.
SYSTEM UPDATE
I have a late Hock.. err.. Space Hockey game tonight. This post, Round 2, will lock at around **1-2am PST**.
Most other nights, I'll stick to closing up at around **11pm PST**.
Due to popular demand, Scrapyard Pete is picking up some Hooch.
SYSTEM UPDATE
2 Likes
Youāll not just survive, youāll thrive. If a few more ships join, youāll be positively unbeatable.
I hope your crew is enjoying the Venusian Sprits the TARD-iss brought over. Iāll raise the first glass to you when you triumphantly return.
Itās going to be a helluva bender ā drunk Androids are always the life of the party!
Stardate 2
Jewel of the Desert
Captain's Log Supplemental
If recent information I have acquired is reliable, it is apparently possible for androids such as myself to experience alcohol-induced inebriation. The upcoming parties should indeed prove most educational.
1 Like
Mood: Direly Hungover
Depends entirely on the hardware architecture youāre running on. For example, a typical House 'bot is defined by a nested, matryoshka structure of multiply redundant systems - itās about the mind, not the body. Most 'bots run off a universal droid/proxy platform - but the platform itself is agnostic; it could be slaved to a remote mind (human or machine) or occupied by biological wetware, orā¦ in most cases, this minimal matryoshka platform. What this means is that the bot has a whole net of inter-related and increasingly complex systems that support its consciousness. At the base is a kind of femto-scale pascalene gear-work - real steampunk stuff - a clockwork mind encoding thoughts on tiny differential gears. Its there as a hold-over from the Majid wars, when there was a real danger of code compromisation. This is purely mechanical - you need physical contact to hack it.
Above that is a doped silicone substrate - the old digital/optical systems, running a relatively convincing simulation of an old-style Majid neural network. And above that is a room-temperature quantum computer - a lacework thing running an incomprehensibly complex analogue to a human neural net. Much faster than a base-line human, I should add - but at its heart its a simulation of billions upon billions of neurons. And if you know what the physiological effects of alcohol areā¦ and you can simulate the right chemical and endocrine inputs its relatively trivial to simulate drunkenness.
As an aside, one of the reasons why 'bots ended up being granted House citizen status (after the unpleasantness of the Majidae) was that they were able to do something as utterly useless (and destructive) as getting drunk. A kind of annihilatory Turing testā¦
Anyway, thatās just House hardware. Not sure what youāre running, but I hope youāre able to get a drink this 'eve.
Locked - Crunch crunch crunching the numbers. Best of luck!
Maybe I should add a leaderboard?
2 Likes
Nah - at least not now.
Did Round 3 come out yet - or am I just failing to find it?
I nearly missed yesterdayās. I recommend looking at Mr. Raceās user page to see what heās last posted.
Itās got a link to his comic, too.
My trading is galactic, so you better believe my parties are. A lot of us are still recovering from the blowout on the TARD-iss
Last I saw the GM, he had a bottle of Crenulian Dom in one hand, the fattest Arcatan Jimson weed B-40 you ever saw in the other hand, and was ordering a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster for some Betelgeusan hottie who kept giggling his at his jokes.
So todayās missions might be a bit slow in getting posted.
I should have Round 3 posted in the next few hours. Had to overhaul the shipās main engines last night, still cleaning up the grease and blood.
