Hello Everyone!
Welcome to this week's Conductors log, where our heroes choose their next destination, work out hot soup and set up the fast travel system...
Conductor’s Log 10: Learning From Failure
We grabbed another couple of wagons over the next few hours, before we decided to narrow down our options when it came to the first facility to raid on the loop. We narrowed it down to two choices - a heavily defended station, which promised a huge number of rations, or a facility slightly further down the loop, which scans had suggested would have a number of passengers we could rescue. We argued for what seemed like hours, and in the end, they all looked to me for a final decision. I came to the conclusion that, before we had even more mouths to feed, we would first need the supplies to do so, and so I made the decision that we’d aim for the station first.
Driver, who’d been in favour of going for the people first, went into his cabin, grumbling and complaining like he always does, but he went with the group decision, monitoring the track as we headed toward the station. Brains was mumbling to himself, worried the cold would be too much for our exosuits to handle, and headed to the laboratory, where he whipped up a new recipe which he dubbed Hot Soup. While it uses the very rations we’re looking to conserve, it also allows us to stay warm in the freezing air of Inara, even if only for a short time. How the chemistry of it works, I’ll never know, but it did work….
Meanwhile, Eyes had been studying the train, and had found there was a “quick travel” system of sorts built into the wagons, we just had to build a way to get into and out of the tube just under the main floor of the train. Brains and he spent the next couple of hours drawing up a blueprint, and soon enough, we’d cut through to the system and placed an entrance of sorts on the floor, so you could quickly climb into it. You’d end up in a sort of pneumatic tube, and would be blasted to the compartment of you choice. Shortly after, we’d whipped up a UI, and we’d labelled the various wagons - The Den for our quarters, The Engine for the front of the train, The Expedition Wagon, Storage, Production and Overflow. It wasn’t long until we got used to using the strange system, as it really was a time saver.
We all made our way to the expedition wagon as we approached the station, pulling on our exosuits and arming ourselves with our various cobbled together armaments. Brains carried the EMP pistol, which hummed in the loaded silence. Driver pulled on the horn, long and hard, as the breaks of the train squealed as we slowed, and I had to brace myself to stop from falling into Shooter, who was cradling his assault rifle, which he’s affectionately called the Rave. I didn’t know why yet, but I’d soon find out. The train pulled to a halt, and the doors to the expedition wagon opened, and we all braced before heading out into the snow, ready to face whatever the machines had to throw at us….