The Wretched Salvage Ship
Prologue
You are the last surviving crew member of the intergalactic salvage ship The Wretched. Adrift between stars after an engine failure, your ship was attacked by a hostile alien lifeform. The crew are dead.
You thought you had won. You launched the creature out of an airlock, and that should have meant safety.
It didn’t.
Game: https://loottheroom.itch.io/wretched
BEGIN TRANSMISSION
Day 1
Salvage ship The Wretched. Flight Engineer Becket reporting. The other members of the crew are dead and the ship’s integrity remains good and life support systems are still active. I successfully jettisoned the intruder from the airlock, but it remains alive and continues to try to access the ship. With a little luck I can repair the distress beacon and somebody will pick me up. This is Becket, the last survivor of The Wretched, signing off.
Day 2
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
It was a good day. Well, sort of. The distress beacon started after I rebooted the system the first time. Will anyone hear it? Will anyone come? Buoyed with my success with the beacon, I decided to “tidy up” – moving the crew’s remains into the airlock. I’m sorry: I’m a coward and could not bring myself to jettison them. They lie there accusing me of living whilst they are dead. I could not find the captain’s remains and I keep thinking about our last words: I yelled (actually screamed) at him as he decided to be bait in our trap for the creature. It worked, but the price???
As I move around the ship I’ve noticed the damage. Will someone arrive in time?
Day 3
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
I was in the bridge early today and could hear the creature moving outside – how can it do that? The clicking of its feet echoes through the room. It talks! All of a sudden, the intercom started and it began to speak to me: I was the last one alive and it was coming for me. I could not hide like last time.
I could not take it and began smashing the equipment to silence it. I went too far and my temper tantrum damaged much of the bridge controls, locking myself in the bridge. It took the rest of the morning to jury-rig the doors to open again.
I spent the remainder of the day trying to repair the other systems around the ship that were damaged in our fight with the creature. The creature followed me around the ship as I undertook the repairs.
Day 4
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
Will it gain entry to the ship? Yesterday, as I worked around the ship I made note of where I could hide:
- Bridge computer room. An armoured vault to protect the ship’s computers.
- Above the bathrooms. The plumbing is hidden by a false ceiling and I can climb inside and hide above the pipes.
- Cargo pod 5. Some of the containers are almost empty.
- The main engine room. Lots of small hidey-holes and the machinery’s noise will be a distraction.
- Airlock 3. I can hide with the rest of the crew.
Day 5
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
It looks like my tantrum in the bridge has caused other problems…
The scanners sometimes shows an object some distance away and I cannot figure out whether this is real or a glitch. Could it be someone coming to rescue me? There have been no attempts to contact me, but is the comms equipment working??
One of the food storage units has stopped and all of the food in it has rotted. I’ve used the cook’s ID card to gain entry into his room to search for replacement food. I found a few “health” bars that will help, but nothing substantial. So much for his private pantry.
While I was searching for food I found Herbert the teddy bear. It belonged to Gwen, I think her daughter gave it to her as we left. He was lying under the rubble near Gwen’s room and I’ve carried him back to the bridge for some company.
The air vents are making funny noises: has it gained entry and is looking for me or is it a result of my tantrum? I know it sounds stupid but I’ve removed my boot and walking around in my socks to keep quiet just in case it’s inside.
Day 6
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
The gravity failed (was it me again?). Spent all day floating around the ship getting the gravity generator and power supplies back.
Day 7
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
I was searching for food and I can still hear it on the hull. How can it track me? When I got close to airlock 2, where Nan detonated his makeshift grenade, I found a part of the creature. It looks like a turtle’s shell: hard and inflexible – I did not see it. Is it covered in plates like a suit of armour?
I was shaken by the find and started to hear the creature’s chattering (or did it speak?). Once I started to listen carefully I could hear people taking! The comms was picking up someone! In the few minutes it took me to get to the bridge it had stopped. I did not hear what they were saying and there was no response to my broadcasts.
We should have listened to Gwen.
Day 8
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
The fallout from my tantrum on the bridge continues. The lights in the cargo hold started to flicker while I placing some emergency supplies in cargo pod 5. The same thing happened when the creature was in the ship and I first I thought it was inside hunting me. But I could hear it outside on the hull and calmed down. That’s weird: for the first time, I’m happy to hear it.
Day 9
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
Woken very early in the morning with the fire alarms going off! The fire suppression system in the engine room was activated and the power went out. Why? Was it me or the creature?
Spend the rest of the day attempting repairs. The main generator was almost fried and I had to cannibalise the backup to get the main generator going. I now have no backup generator.
Once I got the power going the ventilation system started again. Surprise! The pumps in the sewerage system had failed too and the smell was incredible.
The engines are in bad shape and I got them going, but to be honest I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m trying to follow the maintenance manuals and really don’t understand the terms it uses. Luckily there are pictures.
Late night today.
Day 10
Salvage ship The Wretched, Flight Engineer Becket reporting.
Woken again by sirens. There’s smoke. Everything