Hello Everyone,
Welcome to this week’s Conductor’s Log!
Our bi-weekly Engine Room Update 0.3.3 went out on Tuesday, adding a Sprint Mode option, permanent death markers, fresh hit sounds, and weapon and enemy rebalancing. You can read the full patch notes here, and let us know what you think!
Now, on with the story….
Conductor’s Log 16: Everything Changes at Altitude
The supervisor’s desk hummed to life before anyone else was awake. I’d taken to starting my mornings there, flicking through the external cameras while the rest of the train slept and Inara slid past in grainy black and white.
This morning I opened the map instead, and traced our route back along the loop until I found it: the facility, the minefield, and a small marker just outside the entrance. I’d expected it to fade as the others had. It hadn’t. The train had logged the spot where Eyes fell, and it intended to keep it. I sat with that for a while before closing the map. Some things should stay marked.
In the Expedition Wagon, Brains had Gunner half out of his Exosuit, elbow-deep in the leg servos. The suit had started locking into a sprint and refusing to stop, which Gunner discovered by running face first into the storage car door. Brains found a setting buried in the controls, Toggle or Hold, and someone (nobody would admit to who) had flipped it. He switched his back to Hold. The hunters stuck with Toggle, and raced each other up and down the wagon until I told them to save their legs.
Gunner used the delay to lecture them on weapons. Pistols were for emergencies, a rifle would out-hit any pistol of its class, and while you should aim for the head, you shouldn’t bet your life on one shot doing the job. Neither of them argued.
Radio launched just after midday, that confident voice calling out a facility a few kilometres ahead, with what the scan drone read as a holding area.
Then, almost as an afterthought:
“Solar generator’s back online, by the way. Running on sunlight up here.”
A cheer went up from the laboratory car. Brains had been fighting with that generator for days.
I stayed behind on this one. Someone needed to monitor the cameras and the battery timer, and Gunner and the hunters didn’t need me getting in the way. From the desk, I saw them, and Brains dropped into the snow.
The robots inside came in all sizes, and the taller ones took far more killing. Some carried shields, and the siblings fell into a rhythm, one stripping shields while the other went for the head. Every critical hit and every kill landed with its own distinct sound through the comms, and before long the pair were quietly keeping score. I didn’t ask who was winning. I suspect they’ll both tell me tonight.
Deep in the complex, they found a sealed door. The last time we’d hacked one, the lock had clicked green, and the door had stayed shut. This one slid aside.
Behind it was a passenger room, and a single cryopod. The lid was already open.
Through Gunner’s helmet camera, I watched Brains press a gloved hand against the padding inside.
Then he looked straight into the lens.
“It’s still warm…”