Distant Earth CYOA part 22
#26 of Distant Earth text adventure
Sorry for the long delay, if you've read my journals you'll know life has been kicking the fuck out of bear for the last month or two. Anyway, i'm back and so is Distant Earth, now with risk of character death ooooooohhhhhh!
Option A tell the captain
Zack reached out and grabbed his loves paw, "No, your brother's right we should tell the captain before anyone takes any risks. For all we know someone else has found something like this before and he knows of it."
Qieth nodded and added, "the captain would know and I don't want my little brother taking any risks he doesn't have to." The wolf stepped forward and placed a paw on his brother's shoulder.
The red panda looked back a little deflated at the lack of faith his brother and boyfriend had shown for his skills. However he relented, the group grabbed the device and headed en-mass to the captain's cabin. They buzzed his door and a second later the fox opened his door, Deju stared at them in surprise, over his shoulder the badger Karlos could be seen sitting in the room. "It ain't my birthday so I assume this isn't a random surprise party." The fox observed dryly as he stared at the group.
The rabbit felt the entire group turn to look at him as the finder of the device to explain to their, slightly irate, captain why they had chosen to disturb him. "I... on the raid... that is I kinda picked up this, "He held up the device in way of explanation.
The fox looked down at it and then back at the rest of the group with increasingly annoyed eyes, "I seriously hope that there is more detail to this explanation or some five crewmembers are going to spent the next six weeks repainting the ship."
"It's... an oxygen scrubbed a fucking huge oxygen scrubber!" Kelo exclaimed loudly over the rabbit's shoulder. "This could scrub like fifteen or twenty thousand cubic kilometers of atmosphere in like seconds...do you have any idea how important this is, how many laws of physics is breaks??!!" the pony ranted with excitement as his raccoon stood beside him and nodded empathically along.
"Oh... in that case you guys can come in," the fox replied slightly taken aback, he recovered quickly snatching the device from the rabbit and examining it. "I think I might know where this came from."
"You do?" The question was shouted in unison from five aghast voices.
"Well not the exact location, but I've heard rumours about a terraforming project, the elitists are looking to create a ship capable of terraforming entire planets. I thought it was impossible and just conspiracy bullshit." Deju lifted the device up, "I'd say this little gizmo has changed my mind, we must find out where it was going. If we can find the location of the ship... oh that would be worth something to a lot of people."
"There's an access port on it, I think I might be able to hack it," Qerry piped up eagerly, glancing at Zack and Qieth in triumph.
"Karlos, the panda needs a seat move your arse," the fox demanded with the sheer authority that comes with being the captain and the confidence of years of experience kicking the ass of anyone who challenged him.
The badger moved and Qerry jumped into his still warm seat, the fox handed him the device and he laid it across his lap. Zack shivered a little as the red-panda selected a random white hair on the back of his hand and pulled, the hair turning out to be a long wire pulling out of the panda's skin the tip was pushed to the access port. "I'm in," Qerry whispered in a smug tone.
"What can you see, where is the device from? Where is it going? Do you have co-ordinates?" Deju asked quickly.
"I... I'm not alone," Qerry replied and Zack's heart began to beat rapidly. "There's something here... I can't read the info... ahhh.... fuck....shit. I'm under....fuck ahhh shit."
"Calm down and focus," Deju snapped kneel down in front of the panda, "work through the problem, security software is designed to make your mind panic, don't let it."
"Ah... it's not working, this is something new...something different... fuck...fuck I can't disconnect, it's getting through...shit shit...ahhh fuck it hurts!" Qerry squealed tears starting to roll down his cheek as his body began to spasm.
"Help him," Zack shouted to everyone and no-one, he knew he couldn't help this was not his world it needed another hacker to help.
"I can't ... I... I..." The panda never got to finish as the fox stood up and with lightening fast movements he punched the bear squarely in the jaw.
"What the fuck!" Screamed Zack in anger his own fast balling up, only for the captain to cut him dead with a look.
"Automatic disconnect if the hacker loses unconsciousness, it was the best and quickest way to save him," the fox replied with a snarl as he flexed his stinging fingers. "Sounds like this thing has an A.I protecting it, I checked out Qerry's hacker graft when he came on board, it was top of the line, about a decade more advanced than my own and a year or two on Byron. Whatever that A.I is, it's military grade and very up to date. Karlos, go find Byron and get him up here asap. It's going to take all three of us working together to hack this device."
Alright, technically this isn't Zack's choice it's Deju's as captain but I am going to let you guys take control of the captain for this one. Vote by clicking thumbs up on the corresponding comment below.
The choice is about who takes what role in the joined hacking attempt. There are three roles,
Attacking (actually taking the data, this is the most secure role, the least likely to be injured),
Defensive primary (basically taking the rogue A.I on directly, this is the role with the most risk),
Defensive secondary (running interference, medium risk)
Qerry as the most advanced hacker has the least risk and is the most effective in his role, but I have to warn you there is a risk of death to any and all three characters through this choice. I will give you the role each hacker will take and the risk of death for each one.
So choices this week are
Option A Qerry Attacks (risk 10%), Byron takes Defend primary (risk 40%), Deju Defend secondary (40%)
Option B Byron Attacks (risk 5%), Qerry takes Defend primary (risk 30%), Deju Defend secondary (30%)
Option C Deju Attacks (risk 20%), Byron takes Defend primary (risk 25%), Qerry Defend secondary (20%)
Option D Deju Attacks (risk 15%), Qerry takes Defend primary (risk 20%), Byron Defend secondary (25%)
Option Edo not attempt to hack and look to sell the device instead
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