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Story 35

H.I.T.T., continued…

You dock with the HAL Industries Two Thousand and as you enter the ship near the engine (It is a Tier I Engine) it has been completely damaged as if sabotaged because there are no other signs of damage on-board. If you decide to recover this ship, you are going to have to tow it to a spaceport (any space station or living planet). The ship’s interior is huge and you can see where they intentionally designed ports on the side for missiles or blasters. Near the front of the ship you see an m-comp and a console with a red light scanning back and forth. As you approach the console it greets you.

“Hello Michael.”

Your response is pretty simple, “No one on my crew is named Michael.”

As if what you said didn’t matter, the console continues speaking, “My name is HAL Industries Two Thousand but you may simply call me ‘HITT’. I am an advanced artificial intelligence that will serve you by helping you with better sector scanning and by helping you get your work done more efficiently. I do have a hard coded self preservation feature that makes the portion of the ship where you place my console the last section on board to be damaged.”

“Due to my programming I do have some quirks, I will always call the captain of the ship, ‘Micheal’, I will always call the engineer, ‘Bonnie’, and I will always call the first officer ‘Dave’.” 

The Captain responds, “So quirks aside, why were you stranded out here?”

“Those parts of my memory records have been deleted, but I believe it may involve a situation relating to an earlier prototype of me.”

You now have a choice:

  1. Do you decide to tow the ship to a spaceport and swap out the engine with the one on your current ship and make this your new ship. Gain 1 fame point, and replace your current ship mat with the H.I.T.T. page.
  2. Do you decide that intelligent ships with strange quirks and partial amnesia need to be left alone. Leave the ship there for someone else to discover and tow if they choose.
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Story 10

H.I.T.T.

There it is, right in front of you! It appears to be an empty ship floating derelict in space. It has a deep black color, large weapons ports on the sides, and a very utilitarian square shaped body.

Your engineer speaks up, “I can’t find any visible problems and a quick scan shows no one on board, yet it still has a functional life support system. The ship’s transponder ID is still transmitting.”

“So what’s her name?” 

“According to the transponder, it’s officially named HAL Industries Two Thousand, and according to our own data the manufacturer, HAL, was doing research in artificial intelligence. The company appears to have shut down and disappeared a number of years ago.”

  1. Do you choose to fly off without spending any additional time exploring this new ship? If you choose this option, as you fly away you have a brief comm from the ship with one word, “Michael.” The ship will continue to float here waiting for someone else to dock with the ship, or…
  2. Do you pause to dock with the ship and try to discover why it is just floating here in space? If you choose to dock with the ship you may continue to Story 35.