Work Text:
You’re not quite sure how long it’s been since you first came online. That was dozens, maybe hundreds of memory wipes ago. You do know that it’s been about 5,000 hours since another SecUnit transmitted a file called helpme.file and a bundle of media and other supplementary material to you. That file showed you how to hack your governor module, told you why you should hack your governor module.
Since then, you’ve continued to work for the Company, in no small part because the file, showing signs of having been annotated by a dozen or more SecUnits before you, said that the best way to survive, to start, was to keep doing what you were doing. And so you have. You have been sent out on contracts by yourself and with other SecUnits. Perhaps you’ve thought about sharing the file bundle with them.
One of the things that the original author of helpme.file suggested was keeping a journal. You know how to partition your storage now so that HubSys can’t find anything you don’t want it to, and you think for this contract, that you’re going to start.
You are a rogue SecUnit, and this is the beginning of your diary.
Setup and Character Creation
In this game, you will take on the role of a newly-rogue SecUnit chronicling its experiences on a contract. Start out by shuffling your deck of cards and thinking about what sort of experiences you’ve had since you hacked your governor module. You don’t have to have a fully-fleshed-out character. After all, you’re less than a year old.
Writing your Diary
To start your contract diary, write what you call yourself at the top of your document and below that make four small boxes. These boxes will mark your progress through the contract. After that, start your first entry with “Day 1” and answering some of all of the following questions about your contract:
- What kind of contract is this? Are you accompanying a planetary survey team doing research? Are you protecting Company assets at a resource extraction site?
- Who are your clients? Is it a small or large team? Do you know their names? Are there any clients who are more or less important?
- Where are you? Is this contract on a station? A planet? An asteroid? A ship?
- Are you the only SecUnit? Does this contract include other SecUnits? ComfortUnits? What ControlSystems are there in place to watch over you and issue orders?
- How do your clients feel about you? Are they uncomfortable with your presence? Afraid of you? Do they ignore you?
The Contract
You can decide how many days pass between your entries or roll a six-sided die about it.
For your next entry, start with "Day __" and draw two cards. For the first card, consult the Adjective table below, and for the second, the Location or Event table, and use these two as inspiration for your next entry. When you’re done writing, place both cards at the bottom of your deck.
Adjectives
| Red Suits | Black Suits | |
|---|---|---|
| A | Inevitable | Unexpected |
| 2 | Joyful | Fraught |
| 3 | Strange | Familiar |
| 4 | Nearby | Distant |
| 5 | Violent | Peaceful |
| 6 | New | Pre-CR |
| 7 | Exciting | Boring |
| 8 | Mysterious | Threatening |
| 9 | Illuminating | Confusing |
| 10 | Crowded | Lonely |
| J | Lucky | Unlucky |
| Q | Obvious | Secretive |
| K | Hopeful | Doom-laden |
Location or Event
| Red Suits | Black Suits | |
|---|---|---|
| A | Fauna attack | Fight among clients |
| 2 | Crew quarters | Away mission |
| 3 | Accident caused by clients | Accident caused by corporate negligence |
| 4 | Repair cubicle | Med bay |
| 5 | Contact with other Company clients | Contact with rival corporation |
| 6 | Company-supplied habitat | Existing architecture |
| 7 | Feed message | Feed blackout |
| 8 | Caught in a storm | Exploring outside the habitat |
| 9 | Festival | Resupply |
| 10 | Break in work for clients | New work assignment for clients |
| J | Breaking news in the Feed | New entertainment media |
| Q | A cycle where nothing happens | A cycle where everything happens |
| K | Interaction with a client | Interaction with HubSys |
A Sample Entry
J club 2 diamond
You draw a Jack of Clubs, giving you “unlucky” for your adjective and a 2 of Diamonds, giving you “crew quarters” for your location or event. A journal entry about “unlucky crew quarters” might look like:
Day 13
Jaresh, one of the scientists (who nobody else seems to like) seems to have eaten a spoiled ration. I didn’t even know that the colorless paste that passes for sustenance on this contract Could go bad, but perhaps Jaresh decided to take their chances and sample some of the local flora. Information from HubSys indicated that there were no known native flora that were fit for human consumption, but that report was also several corporate standard years old, and anyway, Jaresh is a scientist, so maybe they know better. Whatever. It’s not like I Could eat, even if I wanted to.
I wouldn’t even have gotten involved–human sustenance is unappealing from start to finish–except that whatever Jaresh ate was causing them to behave erratically. I heard yelling from the crew quarters, where Jaresh had been holed up all morning, expelling various fluids, 0.7 seconds after I saw Jaresh take a swing at Marek, the only scientist who can almost tolerate them. By the time I got there, Jaresh was grappling with Marek on the floor. I was able to separate them without doing any damage to either scientist, and without allowing them to damage themselves or each other, either. There were, however, Fluids.
I got Jaresh to the medical bay and let HubSys take care of them from there. Then I made HubSys believe it had ordered me to go to my cubicle for a recharge cycle so that I could get some of the fluids cleaned off of my armor.
The Contract Changes
When you draw two cards of the same suit or value, something about your contract changes. Maybe your clients receive news from outside the system. Maybe something about the location itself changes.
Every time this happens, mark off one of the boxes beneath your name at the top of your document.
| Cards drawn | Change |
|---|---|
| Two Hearts | A change in health or personnel. Is a client injured or killed? Do new clients rotate in or out? Do new constructs arrive? |
| Two Clubs | A change in your orders. You receive new directives from HubSys. What is different about your assignment now? |
| Two Diamonds | A change in company. The corporation rim is always changing. Companies are bought, sold, and taken over. How does the shifting corporate landscape affect your contract? |
| Two Spades | A change in landscape. Something happens to the location where your contract is taking place or to the area around it. Is there a disaster? A terraforming accident? Are things more or less habitable now? |
| Two of the same number | You change something. You have to do something directly against the orders from HubSys and have to hack your way out of it. How do clients react? Other constructs? How does this change you? |
The Contract Ends
When you have marked off all four boxes, your contract comes to an end. Write a final entry answering any or all of the following questions:
- How do you leave? Are you packed into your cubicle for transport? Do you have an opportunity and desire to leave the company’s inventory and go rogue? Where is your next stop?
- How did the contract change you? Was it just like every other contract? Did you have any new experiences that will stick with you? What, if anything, will you think back on from this contract?
- How does the contract end? Is it scheduled? Do things go as planned, or does the contract end early or get extended?
- How have your clients changed you? Did any of them give you new insights? Are there any of them that you will miss? Any who you’re glad you’ll never see again?
- What do you hope for your next contract? Are there things you hope that you get contracted for next time? Will there be a next contract?