Housekeeping note: I missed a couple of sessions, and my original numbering was slightly off, so this is a chance to correct that. I also had to leave a little early, but it was after a couple of complete cycles, so it should be mostly fine.

When I say cycles, I mean that Sammy is going through small sequences with each player (or players) and then coming to a major decision point. Then, we either can answer immediately or we have some time to think over what we want to do while the focus moves to another PC, in some cases the PC that we have just been talking to. This is obviously not revolutionary, but it is a nice way of doing things when we have all of these PCs off doing their own thing for a lot of the session. Honestly, this sort of game has a lot of potential for a duet (one player, one referee), since so much of it is about PCs slowly going weird on the moon….

Underground Base Expansion

Teresa does some checking around selected site for new underground base expansion. Wants to make sure that the area earmarked for building is reasonable.

• Does some calculations for bearing analysis and such to figure out regions that are workable.
  • Can only get a properly good location for a single module. Will need to do more than that to really do this correctly. Needed for support stuff like power room, labs, &c.
    • This area will still need some additional structural supports.
  • Takes some additional deep samples, including of one weird area.
    • Goes really quickly and then hits a sudden stop The upper layer seems to be much coarser, and then very dense layer - unclear how thick or what the horizontal extent of this layer might be.

Secret Investigation

Jan Petersson continues hunting for where these explosives have come from. Speaks to Leonid Kadenyuk, one of the chemists. Leonid claims not to know anything about it. An attempt to press the issue in private does not work very well. Leonid is holding something back - unclear what it might be.

• Jan heads around to find out a bit more about Leonid, see if anyone knows anything about him.
  • Asking out of “concern for Leonid” which might raise some tensions if people take it badly, since Jan is a known spook of some kind.
    • Rumours begin to fly.
  • Could Leonid be motivated by his identity in some way? Leonid is often quiet fixer in the background. Silent problem solver, but not often looking to get help. He might be trying to solve a problem and think that talking to Petersson will complicate that.

Inventory

Desjardins continues inventory work. Mechanical and electronic supplies and explosives are still left. Focuses on the mechanical and electronic supplies - will tackle the explosives afterwards, to not step on Petersson’s toes.

• Are a bunch of discarded suspension springs around.
  • Agramonte looks tired.
  • Request is for a comically large amount of suspension springs.
    • Might only get some, not all required
  • Need to get some new fuel cells, getting close to replacement time.
• Robotics
  • Zoe Yoneda apparently needs a ton of stuff. “This airless, godless moon hates all of our things.”
    • Notably, the wheels on any of the rovers are getting shredded.
    • Various motors are getting jammed with dust despite it not being possible.
    • Thinks that the moon might be haunted by ghosts of old robots, angry about the hubris that the mission is showing.
    • Supplies a database of things being used for lifespan for the various Remote Operated Roving Vehicles compared to projections.
      • Everything seems to be dying earlier.
    • Last shipment was meant to include some equipment for testing, but it never got here.
      • Inconsistent reports from the people who are meant to have shipped it.
      • “The earth is haunted. By people who hate me, specifically. And the shipping industry.”
    • Would also like a tape of the new Back to the Future movie.

Makes up a list of satirical requests to Houston as a means of venting some frustration:

• White picket fence and a pretty lawn
• Golf ball tethers (to not have to walk so far)
• More breathable atmosphere
• Better sleeping pills for Volkova
• Good news from home

Backup battery monitoring system

Agramonte takes a look at this.

• This is not going to help his current state of mind. Current system is woefully inadequate for long-term monitoring of battery health.
• Just does temperature, charge and
• Rushed and barely functioning Agramonte ropes in Lucy Barrere, the electrical engineer.
• She agrees that the system needs overhaul. Has not gotten any joy by speaking to Collins Aerospace, but (what is left of) the team that designed it is basically unreachable. Has been checking them regularly.
• She says that there is a system for monitoring pressure that is doing something strange there.
  • She has a design, but is not sure if she can actually share it with Agramonte (YAY! for East-West relations). Should be able to get permission from NASA to share this today.
• Agramonte believes that she has been checking them, but is going to EVA with a voltmeter and check them properly.
  • Does not trust existing system as far as he can throw it (which on the moon is not an unreasonable distance).