LIVING QUARTERS
Lovers Quarters
Finding yourself at the door to your girlfriends quarters, you look at the input pad for the door code and know exactly what to put. Her code has always been the same and you both have shared codes with each other in the past.
Your birthday.
The door lock chimes its acknowledgement and with a hiss of pneumatics, opens.
The first thing that hits your nose is the familiar scent of her perfume, it was one you bought her for your first year anniversary and she continued to ask for during the years of dating
Your girlfriend’s personal effects were ordered and in their place. Everyone’s quarters were the same and only the personal effects each crewman brought on board were different.
Your girlfriend brought quite a few paper based books, journals and even her own diaries. She always had a fetish for real paper, always going on about the feel, the scent, the living thing made-useful. It was annoying but a nice little touch you still loved her for.
The only thing in the room that was unusual was her bed. Unmade and simply thrown to the floor, you gently lift the cover and reveal the standard issue night ware, tagged with the bog-standard Military tagging on the fabric.
‘Uniform_Sleep_Night_Temperate_Female.’
It appears as if the clothes and the bedding were quickly tossed to one side in a hurry, this was unusual for her; she always put everything away neatly, even in a rush.
Approaching her desktop terminal, you bypass her locking system with her code and browse the menu for any clue to where she was or had been.
The system tray showed a minimised tab and with a quick selection revealed the Inter-ship mail messaging system, ‘Inter-Mail’; there was a new message.
The mail is from a Doctor Frizek, a Stasis Operator in the Medical Bay; the message is brief and to the point.
‘Come to the Medical Bay, something is weird with the Stasis cycle and we got half the crew in deep sleep already. Don’t tell anyone just yet. I don’t this is as bad as I think it is.’
Tony Smith’s Quarters
Tony Smith is a Stasis Operator for the D-Shift in Medical, or he was until something happened to him.
The door was unlocked and slightly open and would remain open for as long as the hand that blocked it from closing remained. Pulling open the automatic door, you step inside the room and realise the arm that blocked the door was not connected to anything.
The bone of the elbow extended out of the arm and was torn from its socket and the floor was covered in blood.
There was too much blood for one person, this was the result of numerous humans.
Walking inside the room, you find everything a mess, as if the room had been overturned and sacked. Blood covered everything and the stasis pod was empty.
Searching the personal belongings littered the table, you find a communication pad, it wasn’t Tony’s, it appeared to be a doctor’s medical comm pad.
It was a long and detailed medical report, appearing to detail the problem with the stasis machine in Tony Smith’s room.
It seemed that Tony’s stasis machine had not activated when he commanded it to, something about a ‘Biological error’. They had come to check Tony out and had tried to fix the stasis machine but found it working perfectly.
The medical report seemed to be a back and forth of tests and solutions sent from the Medical room to whomever was working here.
Among the bodies were several different uniforms, none of the bodies seemed to be missing the arm that blocked the closing of the door. Only brute strength could have pulled that out so cleanly.
The uniforms were various medical staff, engineers and one of them was even a security officer. Checking the various pouches the uniform still had resulted in very little gaining. A low security access card given to most security officers would help get into places such as the Armoury and the Synthetic Observation and Assembly section.
As you look down at the bodies littering every surface, it is hard to tell even the gender of any of the bodies. Could your girlfriend be among these?
You hope not.
LAB
Disease Lab
The Research and Development of Disease and Vaccines Laboratory was one of the most dangerous rooms in the entire ship. The armoury had weapons and explosives, enough to arm every man on the ship and defend from boarders, the armoury had explosives that could split a ship in half if placed into the right place.
The R&D of Disease and Vaccines were mostly used for the creation of Vaccines and to research any infections that the ship came across.
The room was sealed by numerous security features and would be impassible without any codes or security details.
When acquired security details or Personal codes of Head of R&D.
Swiping the card across the reader, the door opened with a swish and let out a chime.
“Access Granted, Thank you Doctor Schrodinger, have a pleasant day.” The computer’s voice was soft and welcoming.
The once clean and germ-free lab was now a mess. Dirt and mess lay everywhere. Test tubes and vials lay smashed on every surface and their contents congealing on the floor and tabletops in hard puddles.
When knowledge of infection is known
It is here where you realise you can find a cure or even just a way to stop the infection. The scientists and the doctors had tried their best and failed, but surely they had left something? Some knowledge gleamed in their final hours that they could not use but others could?
Searching the notes littered the room and searching the computer terminals, perhaps something was here? Where was it!
Lists of Patients, lists of symptoms and lists of various vaccines used. All of them labelled as failures. Why was there no fix for this curse?
All the notes referenced the infection symptoms, transference and the causes of death.
There were more notes about something else but it was about Synthetics, not about the crew. Useless for now.
When knowledge of Infection & Synthetics is known
There! Something about Synthetics. The infection had made the jump through to the Synthetics through the bio-gel inside the brains of the Synthetics. It was a gel made up of nanites and bio-organic cells that worked together to pass create the brain of the synthetics, a brain that worked like a human’s.
It had jumped via the bio-gel and that’s what was turning them insane, their brains were infected!
A cure, there had to be a cure around here! They had the cause now they needed a cure!
Nothing! Why was there nothing! Picking the last file you could find, it was a simple notepad file, only a few lines of text on the screen.
“They cannot be cured, one the brain is infected, the damage is beyond repair.”
“Death is the only cure.”
Death… how would one kill a Synthetic? The weapons lockers were in the armoury but killing and fighting through an army of Synths was dangerous…
There was only one place that would stop them.
The Synthetic Network Node inside the Synthetic Observation and Assembly section.
MEDICAL
Primary Medical Unit
The Primary Medical Centre was the primary source for medical care on the ship, there were medical treatment beds similar to the Stasis tubes that could do the work of a team of doctors and surgeons in half the time. These were expensive to run for an extended period of time and people tended to like a more human touch to their medical care.
Medical equipment and tools were kept in sealed draws and containers ready for immediate use without having to be pre-cleaned. The entire facility was as clean as the ship could make it, the only places cleaner was the Decontamination Area and the Stasis Recovery sections.
However, the cleanliness of the room was certainly of question today. Dirt and dust lined every surface and tools were scattered in every direction. Used and unused tools and utensils were thrown and littered everywhere.
So were the bodies.
Bodies lay on every surface suitable for someone to keep a body. There were over fifteen bodies and most of them looked like they had been here a while. Cold and pale, they were all crewmen in crewman uniforms in various states of damage.
A few looked like hey had been attacked, a few looked like they had simply sat down and fallen asleep.
Checking the bodies, there is signs of attempted treatment, tubes and injection ports lined the bodies; some were even in the medical treatment beds, they looked the worse. Skin grey and tight around the bones rather than the pale white of the other dead.
Consoles line every desk at set intervals. Most were shut down and inoperable, smashed or simply out of power.
There were two still active.
The first was locked with a high access security code, more than likely the Chief Medical Officers’. The second was locked by a personal security code.
Attempting your girlfriends code, it quickly flashed the unlock code. After the spinning icon of the ship’s crest made several rotations, it was replaced by the spinning icon of the Medical Division.
Notes on attempted treatments filled the display, all of them labelled with ‘Failure’. Scrolling through the pages, going further back to understand what was or had happened, there was no information, simply treatment options and failures.
The last thing you find was a note left on a treatment record for a Patient_0000.
‘First Stage Location: Tony Smiths’ Quarters.’
‘Stasis Error code STS_505_UNKNOWN_AGENT.’
Morgue
Bodies, that was what the Morgue was for and what was found in the Morgue. Chambers exactly the same as stasis units minus any medical systems to keep the interned person alive. This drew less power than your average stasis unit and was only used for one thing, the storage of the dead.
The Morgue units were black and had no visible ports to the interior, a single flashing light showed the status as occupied or unoccupied. The Red light of a occupied pod glowed in the blackness.
The chamber was red, every pod was red. There was so many dead.
Approaching one of the pods, the name and identification of the interned came up on the holographic screen lining the top of the pod.
Every pod that was passed came up the same. Name, Rank, Cause of Death, Time of Death.
Each pod had various causes of death. Internal hemorrhaging, Organ failure, Nervous System failure.
There were some more types of deaths, these were more natural. Brute Force Trauma were common; broken necks, stabbings and brutal injuries.
Some of the pods are sealed with secure settings. Words flashing on the screen in dark red when the holo-panel appears.
‘CONTAINMENT_PROTOCOL’
On one of the pods, the name of an individual is visible. It was Austin Foley, the Head of the Research & Development division on the ship, in control of the lab. Inside the pod lay his security card, visible through the view port.
** IF INFO ABOUT INFECTION IS KNOWN **
The information on the screen confirms that the information shows all the internal injuries were caused by the Infection. Death of the body from within rather than without.
The external injuries could very well be from the madness the infection created, or by the infected attacking the non-infected.
** IF INFO ABOUT Synth-Infection IS KNOWN **
These bodies are useless to the Synths, the brain is dead and there is no use for the Synthetics to create more of the Infected-Synths. These people were the lucky ones, even in their horrendous deaths they still were not used or turned to the Infected-Synths will.
Long Term Stasis Recovery
Entering Long-Term Stasis Recovery, you find the smell hitting your nose so intense you have to take a step back out into the corridor. Putting a rag over your face, you step back inside and try to find where that foul smell was coming from.
Long-Term Stasis Recovery was primarily used for crew members whom were injured too seriously for them to be treated on the ship, these crew would be put into Stasis and await recovery at the nearest medical station or await the return of the ship to port depending on the seriousness of the injuries.
Stasis only slowed the bodies systems and not entirely froze it, minuscule internal reactions still occurred, a total shutdown of a bodies internal organs would require immediate medical treatment at the nearest facility while a heart defect or a blood clot could be kept in stasis for years without the person within dying.
The room was filled with special medical stasis pods in rows. All of them were filled, this was strange, rarely the Long-Term Stasis Recovery room was used and was only used for the most severe injuries.
The stench grew fouler as you neared the pods. Peering inside and activating the view screen, you found humans laying in the Stasis-Coma’s, all of them were in different states of decay, their bodies were pale and puss oozed out of sores and wounds around the body. The further into the section you went, the fouler the smell and the further into decay the bodies interned in the stasis pods were.
There was no information about the infection here, perhaps the Primary Medical Unit had more?
ARMOURY
Weapons Locker
The Armoury was one of the highest security sections on the ship and for good reason. It contained weapons and kit for the defence of the ship and for away teams to out of ship locations.
Firearms were set in locked lockers only accessible via key card and key code’s from the Security Personnel. Not even the Heads of Departments had access to the Armoury and for good reason; no one wanted a mutiny to start in a department and have access to the Armoury.
Upon approach the key thing wrong already was the sealed door was open. This was unusual because there were usually two armed guards keeping watch over the sealed door, however today was no normal day.
The outside of the Armoury was littered with bodies, none of these bodies were Human. All the bodies outside the Armoury doors were synthetics but there was something odd about them. They were oozing puss and were sticky with dried blood around the joints.
Inside the Armoury was a different story, torn Human bodies and destroyed Synthetic assistants lay where they died. It had clearly been a pitched battle from the body numbers and the damage around the hatch. The crew whom had made their way here had put a valiant defence here but there were no survivors as you arrived.
Checking the weapons over you find every single one of them damaged beyond your repair, either they had been damaged in the battle or had been thrown into a pile in the corner and purposely damaged.
The pile of weapons in the corner of the room had deep cuts through the barrel and the firing mechanism, intentionally damaged.
All the lockers were open and looted, there seemed nothing here of interest. Shame, a good rifle or even a pistol would have helped.
“I guess it did not help these people here.” You mumble quietly.
SYN
Synthetic Control
The Synthetic Observation and Control section was where all the synthetic assistants were observed and controlled.
It was supposed to be secure but the door was open. One of the doors was torn open and from inspecting the panel, it was from the inside out.
The Synthetic Observation Control Section was just as the title stated it was, the room where all created and processed Synthetics Assistants were controlled and monitored, If a synthetic was to go crazy and murder an entire crew like in the trashy Science-Fantasy stories you found on the Inter-Planetary Network you could handle it from here.
The desks were all kept clean and tidy and even now in the dereliction of the ships status it was still pretty clean. A layer of dust coated every surface and thankfully there was no blood.
After Learning about Synthetic Infection
You now know that you could end it all in this very room. The Synthetic Observation and Assembly section had the master controls for all Synthetics. The systems had a high security protocol defending them and a manual hack would not be able to get through these systems. They were made to stop the exact thing.
Walking over to one of the table consoles, you activate the system with a tap of a dusty key of the keyboard.
The whir of the system spooling up filled the air and after the quick series of boot up information, network information, ship and division logo, the blank black screen appeared with a simple text box.
“Access User Name.”
Damn… you don’t have access, how can you get in? Perhaps one of the dead has a card?
After Learning about Synthetic Infection & Having Access Card from Head of R&D located in morgue Morgue
Grinning as you pulled out the R&D heads security card, you type his name in the User Name section. After a brief loading icon a password box appears. In fine text under the box it states:
‘Security card scan available for Password Login’.
Putting the card on the screen, the internal scanner took a moment to scan the information on the card and beeped several times, a good beep, not the foul beep of a denial.
Opening up the system, you stare at the systems and make your way down the list of controls.
Where is it? Where is the ability to shut them all down! Why hadn’t anyone tried to do this before? Maybe they did not have security access, maybe they had thought guns could finish the Synths instead?
There! Core System Shutdown!
You press the key and another security icon appears, you repeat the information again it brings up a confirmation.
“Yes! YES! I want to do it! Damn machine!”
‘Caution, Synthetic Systems have been linked to the Ship’s Main Systems. Shutdown will cause system damage through the ship.’
“What? They linked the Synthetic Systems to the main systems? Yes! We need to get rid of these damn murder-robots!”
Clicking the accept button, the screen scrolled quickly and another text box appeared.
‘Thank you, your actions have been recorded and added to the ship’s black box for future records. Have a nice day’
“Yea, I’ll have a nice day, piece of crap.”
The lights went out and then flickered on and off for a few seconds before going out completely. Around the ship, screams filled the halls, it resonated through the very hull.
It sounded like hundreds of people dying in unison.
After two minutes the screaming stopped, there had been crying too. Turning to the door, a figure was stood there, another Synthetic.
You knew this one, it was her.
“.uoy evol I .evol yM .esaelP .em pleH .siht ekil eid ot tnaw t’nod I .em pleH”
The Synthetic reached out before falling face first on the floor, twitching then remaining still.
“I am sorry… my love…”
Synthetic Assembly
Synthetic Assembly was just as the label on the door stated it was. The Synthetic Assembly section in the SYN or Synthetic Observation and Assembly division of the ship, several different rooms made up this section.
Assembly, Augmentation, Assembly finally Observation and Control.
The technicians who worked in his section were under high security and were given strict checks and maintained a strict code of order to their work. The Synthetics were dangerous yet a vital part of the ships day to day functions.
Synthetics ran all the most dangerous jobs on the ship and worked the most menial tasks. Heavy lifting, Engineering construction in the high-danger zones and even cleaning.
It was also secure and inaccessible without the right security level. You did not have it, only technicians whom worked here or people who used this section a lot were allowed in, such as the Head of Research and Development.
After having Access Card from Head of R&D located in morgue Morgue
Grinning as you pulled out the R&D heads security card, you wipe it across the access lock on the door. The Synthetic Assembly was supposed to be one of the most sterile places on the ship next to the medical, lab and stasis sections.
Once again it was far from sterile, the assembly section looked more like a butcher’s shop than an assembly line for Synthetic parts. Blood and body parts lay scattered among metallic Synthetic body parts.
Arms of both humans and synthetics lay in piles, not just one set either, there was more than a dozen arms and legs. There were no heads in this room but there were more rooms in Synthetic Assembly.
Making your way slowly through the room, the scent of the room was overwhelming. It was not only the smell of torn bodies, there was more. The scent of machine oil was thrown in the middle of the Organic smell but that wasn’t it. What was that smell?
After Learning about Infection
That smell was rot and not just any type of rot. It was the infection in Organic flesh. It was a foul smell and caught at the back of the throat, even covering the mouth and nose with some sort of mask or cloth did not stop the smell from catching in the back of the throat.
Rot and decomposition of the body. All the bodies here were rotting and were in the middle of decomposition.
After Learning about Synthetic Infection
It was not just the Organic rot, you realise something much deeper now you know the truth. The metal was rotting? Both the Organic and the synthetic materials were rotting.
Making your way through the room, you step over the hand of a former crewman but, it wasn’t? It had the fingers of a Synthetic prosthetic. Kneeling down and checking the hand, someone had amputated the fingers of the hand and attached synthetic fingers.
Prosthetics were not unusual, limbs were lost often and could be very easily replaced with a new hand or leg but this was different. There were more of them! Feet, arms, legs.
On a nearby table sat a head, and not just any head. The eyes were replaced by a single visor who’s red laser optic shifted left and right in a horizontal beam. The nose was missing and replaced by a Synthetics nasal sensor and the mouth was a grill microphone. All of it was badly stitched or attached in a ramshackle way. This was not the hand of a surgeon or SYN tech.
As you made your way through the room there was more and more of these abominations; Synthetic heads with Human Organic parts, Human heads with Synthetic parts, Human arms with metal bones and metal legs with human muscles.
This place was a butcher’s shop of mishmash parts, what had done this? Why had anyone done this? Put together Synthetics and Organics?
Something caught your eye, you had to take several steps back and the image froze your body and mind. It couldn’t be! It can’t be!
A hand, a long and slender hand still gripping a pen in its fingers thanks to rigamortis. The hand was nothing special, there were too many to count here. It was what was the pen and the ring on the finger. The pen was a fountain pen, even though it was bloody and the nib damaged it was clearly THAT pen.
You had bought that pen for someone… it was an anniversary gift…
Your girlfriend…
No, it wasn’t just the pen. The ring, a silver band with a intertwined dragonscale design highlighted with purple gems. It was the ring you gave her two years ago.
This was her hand… she can’t be dead! No! She can’t be.
“You can’t be dead!” You scream loudly, tears falling down your face.
Your eyes drift over the hand, it was just like the rest, partly Organic and partly Synthetic. Had she been tested on like the others here? Had someone made monstrosities to be Organic and Synthetic?
NON-SPECIFIC ROOMS
Monster Attack
Attack before finding out infection
It came out of nowhere, it attacked without a hint beforehand. Coming out of the shadows, or had it been out of the air vents? It was too fast to realise where it had come from. The thing grabbed with hard and firm hands, the grip was too solid and hard to break free. Pushing back hard, you attempt to break free, managing to get to your feet and move just out of reach.
“su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ”
Attack after finding out infection
“su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ” The voice rasped and growled, gibberish and yet had some sort of tone that you can’t quite understand.
You managed to kick it off you but now you need to face it or run.
Attack after finding out Infection with Synths
It came out of nowhere, it attacked without a hint beforehand. Coming out of the shadows, or had it been out of the air vents? It was too fast to realise where it had come from. The thing grabbed you with hard and solid hands. You know that these hands were not real, the fingers not bone and not covered with skin. These were Synthetic and this was not any synthetic.
“su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ” The synthetic voice rasped and growled, now you know its synthetic.
You managed to kick it off you but now you need to face it or run.
You see it finally, the synthetic body covered in dried blood, flayed skin and gore. The eyes, its real eyes wheeping blood as they darted left and right. Gore dripped out of the wide mouth, human teeth and metal fangs extending from puss filled metal gums.
Attack after finding out Infection Synth is Girlfriend.
It came out of nowhere, it attacked without a hint beforehand. Coming out of the shadows, or had it been out of the air vents? It was too fast to realise where it had come from. The thing grabbed you with hard and solid hands. You know that these hands were not real, the fingers not bone and not covered with skin. These were Synthetic and this was not any synthetic.
“su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ ,su nioJ” The synthetic voice rasped and growled, now you know its synthetic, now that you know exactly why it sounded so strange.
Backwards, it was backwards!
“!struh ti !stuh tI .em evaS .evoL yM”
“I know honey… I know…” You speak back to the figure. It gripped your shoulder and gripped your neck and tried to strangle you.
“!rehtegot eb nac eW !em htiw eB !su nioj ,em nioj esaelP” She hissed as she began to strangle harder. You managed to kick it off you but now you need to face it or run.
“Honey.” You see it finally, the synthetic body covered in dried blood, flayed skin and gore. The eyes, its real eyes wheeping blood as they darted left and right. Gore dripped out of the wide mouth, human teeth and metal fangs extending from puss filled metal gums.