Universe Online - Enter the Game: Complete Edition (8 page)

Thankfully one of the tools from the starting supplies includes a long length of tethered magnetic rope.  Using short, precise motions I connect one end of the rope to the capsule and then kick off the floor lightly, floating my way to the nearest wall.  It’s slow going, but infinitely better than spinning out and losing control.

The only downside is that there isn't anything I can do when a twisted piece of metal wreckage comes spinning out at me from some weird angle. I'm not too worried about it though, and instead project my Psi Shield at an angle to deflect it away.  There's only a slight change in my own trajectory, but I'm able to overcome it due to my slow speed.

There's no real way to move quickly in zero-g, regardless of my Aspects and Aptitudes.  At least not without proper hand or foot-holds.  Anyone stupid enough to try would end up cracking their foolish heads against a bulkhead, if not worse.

I finally reach the wall, and quickly snap the rope to the metal plate, pulling it tight and then cutting off the unused portion while holding onto the taut rope under one arm.

“Woah.  There.”

I mutter out loud to myself.  I have a solid handhold I can use now to get back to my only safe point thus far.  And against the wall, I can see the rest of the room in better detail.  There's a large hole in the far bulkhead, opening out into space itself.  The stars are slowly spinning; the distant pale specks of light provide a bit of peace of mind for me.

“It really is pretty.”

There isn't a lot of time to adore the view, sadly.  Not yet anyway.  I quickly shake myself out of my reverie and instead check the amount of air I have left.  Hm.  70% at the moment.  Roughly five hours of time left.  I had used quite a bit of air when I was stuck earlier.

I grimace, and sincerely hope that I never have to go through another such ordeal.

Glancing around again, I'm quite thankful that the capsule was aligned properly with the rest of the room.  The closest door is to my left, only about twenty feet or so away.  While I'm tempted to check the crates that are littered about the hold, I really need to see what else the station has going on.

And thank whatever gods there are that there is railing running along the walls.  That makes it easier to move along at a higher speed than my free-flying floating from before. I simply pull myself along; keeping an alternating loose and firm grip to control myself while holding the rest of my body as still as possible.  Sudden motions can completely change the direction you're going, after all.

It makes me quite happy that I went through the entire Tutorial Zone several times.  For those who didn't: You are idiots!

Hah.  Yeah.  Try jumping out in zero-g and see how well you do without experiencing it in a controlled environment first.

Finally though I reach the door, or rather a hatch, only to realize that without any power there is no other way to open it except manually.

“Crap.”

Okay, deal with the problem in front of me.  I take a breath and look at the hatch.  It has the standard spinning wheel used to manually unlock them, like what you'd find on an ocean-bound ship.  An old design that works even in space.

The problem is the lack of gravity.

If I simply grabbed it and tried to spin it, I'd be thrown around instead.  So I need a way to anchor myself.

The magnetic rope comes in handy again, although there isn't much unused length left.  I really must figure out how to manufacture this stuff later.

I end up wrap it about my waist securely, underneath the metal brace of the mechanical suit and against my space suit beneath. I connect the ends to either side of the hatch after that.  Pulling it taut while making sure my feet have as firm a purchase as possible on the floor is the hardest part though.

That done, I grab the wheel and twist just slightly.  I'm forced to grit my teeth as the rope tightens around my waist, threatening to cut me in half.  But I bare with the tightness and apply more pressure in slow increases.

After about two minutes of such, the wheel finally starts to spin.

“Yessss...”

BANG!  The hatch unlocks with a loud clank that I 'feel' through my grip on the wheel instead of hear, but I sigh softly as I release my grip and push the door open with one hand.  It swings inward, and I can see into the corridor beyond.

And nearly jump out of my fucking skin!

There's a body floating there.  The space-desiccated body is of a human, wearing only simple coveralls.  The flesh has turned into ice from decompression, cracked and split and white.  It’s been here so long that there isn't any sign of red or pink colored left.   The eyes are likewise empty sockets with only dry, leather-looking flesh hanging from them.

There isn't any blood, or any other fluid.  It had long ago evaporated into space.  All that's left is a husk that's been turned into an icicle.  And it is slowly spinning due to microgravity.  There's no telling how long it’s been hanging around out in the corridor either.  One of its arms is missing, and instead there's a small asteroid-belt like trail of ice chunks floating around behind it.  Probably smashed on one of the walls years ago.

“Poor bastard.”

That's about as much as I can say after having caught my breath.  There aren't any gods to pray to here, anyway.

I do end up using Telekinesis to pull the corpse to me, and use one hand to hold it before starting to go through its pockets.  I find some junk and an ID card, but it’s so faded due to solar radiation and zero-g that I cannot make out anything on it.

Also, I should note that where in most games the dead 'disappear' and leave behind drops, loot, or japtem, in Universe Online bodies are static.  They won't disappear at all unless through natural processes, like decomposition.

They have to be buried and treated just like bodies in the real world have to be.

Including Player Character bodies.

You will respawn after 24 real life hours but your old body will be left behind along with some of your gear and inventory.  If you find it, you can collect your stuff unless it’s already been looted.  Eventually there may even be other reasons to collect your past body, too.

NPC's simply fail to realize that you 'died' and respawned.

I also strip the overalls from the poor git.  I may eventually need 'casual' clothing, and its quality is still pretty good, even though it’s obviously suffered degradation after so long.  With that done, I push the corpse upwards from my position, gently pushing it into the hold.

I'll eventually figure out what to do with the body later.  I'm also going to skip over the details of just what it’s like to touch something like that.  It is... too realistic to describe properly.

It does say something that I don’t even flinch though.

With that done the hallway looks clear now, so I unhook myself from the wall in front of the open hatch.  I leave the rope bound around my waist though.  There's no telling when I'd have to use it again.  I could use my telekinesis to provide the same results, but that means I'd have to concentrate the entire time.

Hm.  Might be good experience that way but I'm in too much of a time crunch right now.

Pushing out into the corridor, I find obvious signs of wreckage.  The place is trashed.  I recognize the look of scorch marks on the walls as well as the breaches.  Laser fire and mass driver rounds.  This station was attacked a very long time ago and left for scrap.

There doesn't seem to be any evidence of boarding though.  Whoever it was that attacked wasn't interested in looting the dead station, from what I can tell.

That's good news for me.  At least potentially.

After that I start my exploration, checking every room I come across.

I quickly come to realize that the hold I started in and the compartments that border it are on the 'outside' edge of the station.  Most of those rooms are badly damaged and open to space.  A lot of what was in them is either completely trashed or was jettisoned into the void when the atmosphere was sucked out violently.

The inner rooms are in better condition.  But most of them are bedrooms.  Single chambers with a pair of bunk beds mounted to the floor.  There's little to nothing to search through in them.  Either they were empty to begin with, or those who had lived here had enough time to evacuate when they left, taking their personal possessions with them.

After a couple of hours of doing such, I come to realize that the station is quite a bit bigger than what I had assumed.

This wasn't some small outpost station.  It was a major one that was likely set somewhere important.

It may actually be bigger than the unnamed mining station used in the Beta Test.

The thought makes me grimace.

It could take me weeks to explore it all.

Perhaps I should have grabbed some way to map this place easier.  My HUD has a mapping function, but it’s a bare bone thing that only records what I look at personally.  It fills in the blanks by itself, but it is still really slow.

But I don't have enough time to mess with it right now.  So I turn around and go back to the hold I started in.  The escape capsule is still there, and I need to see what I can do to fix it up enough to use as a home base for now.

Returning is a lot faster than before though, as I've gotten used to moving in zero-g.  In fact, the Zero-G Aspect had leveled up earlier, reaching level 3.  My Movement Aptitudes were likewise gaining quite a good amount of experience from all of this exploring.

Reaching the hold, I use the railing on the wall and then my rope to make my way back to the capsule.  I had ejected the hatch, but it’s still floating a short distance away so I use Telekinesis to pull it back to me and fit it back into place.  Thankfully it locks back into position without much hassle.

Nifty, that.  I just won't be able to blow it off again without fixing the emergency opening system.  I'm not too worried about that though.

Instead, I start going around the outside of the capsule; using the edges, wedges, and other angles as hand holds while I check out the damage.  It seems mostly intact, but part of it is buried in the flooring; so I cannot be too sure.

There had been atmosphere inside when I first woke up, so it hadn't been leaking.  Or at least not badly at the start.

And it does still have emergency power.  Which is going to definitely be useful.

The escape capsule itself basically looks like an elongated tube.  Like a fat cigar that is bulged out in the middle.  That's where the thrusters are located.  And probably most of the equipment used to support life inside.

The cockpit is in the front, and the exit hatch is in the back.  Easy enough to remember.

I open the hatch and then climb back up into it.  The feeling of gravity is both a relief and a little strange after so long in zero-g, but I close the door anyway and start looking around.  The seats are lined up on one side and that long locker is on the other.

The floor panels catch my attention though, and I cannot help but grin to myself as I pull out the 'multi-tool' I started with.  I start at the far end, near the cockpit hatch and pop the panels one at a time, moving them out of the way.

They are basically flat sheets of light metal held by four inverse screws.

But beneath... Jackpot.

All sorts of mechanical and electrical goodies.

“Hmmm... Lets see here.  That's the power core, fuel tanks on either side.  Transmission coil.  Micro-cell batteries.  Gravity generator.  Thruster controllers.  Ah, there, atmosphere processors.”

I speak everything out loud as I go through the machinery in front of me, pointing them out one by one.  Even though I personally don't have the skills or knowledge to recognize them, the game shoots the information directly into my mind due to my Aptitudes.