Episode 9 - New Friends

Splitsie makes "friends" and Capac makes a friend.

# New Friends - Synopsis

## Prolog

Capac is outside in the sand of the Desert Planet. Suddenly he shouts he found a signal.

## Main story

"Two hours earlier." Splitsie inspects the engine room. Their ship is no longer flightworthy. Frustrated about the lack of answers, Splitsie worries that Capac's madness is catching. They proceed to clean out sand from the wreck with the help of the trusty mining sled. Capac is worried about Dune-like sandworms but Splitsie is tired of movie quotes. The planet seems quite uninhabitable. Capac volunteeres to take inventory of the food rations. Splitsie wonders what he has done to deserve this.

(Continuing from the prolog) Outside on the endless dunes, Capac reports to an impassive Splitsie that he picked up a signal. Maybe a survivor? Splitsie for his part cannot pick up anything from orbit and assumes they are safe, for the time being.

## Insightful Exploration and Imaginative Engineering

(Melancholic music) A weary Splitsie is taking the mining sled and goes inspect the signal, while Capac is tasked with getting the computer back online. Capac has the impression Splitsie is mad at him.

Capac and Steve attempt to repair the computer using tried and trusted space engineering mnemonics. Nothing works. Capac needs a new approach.

> Capac: The main bus's connected to the server node / The server node's connected to the drive array / The drive array's connected to -- my sandwich? Uh-oh.
>
>

Splitsie sighs as he walks through the scorching desert with the mining sled in tow. At the horizon, he spots the wreck of a Crashed Ship. Looks like they aren't the only ones who got fried. He takes the sled and inspects the crash site, slightly more energetic.

Meanwhile, Capac is hunching over computer electronics and says out loud "Wakey wakey! Hello? Is anybody home?"

At the same time, Splitsie is exploring the wreck where he similarly shouts: "Hello? Is anybody home?" Splitsie finds out that the space ship wreck is practically from the stone ages and of no use. The interior rooms are still intact and partially filled with sand. In a corner, Splitsie finds a stash of newer technology. Splitsie sees it as evidence of the missing survivors. He tries to reach Capac but cannot be understood through the dust storms.

Back on the RX-39487, Capac wonders whether Splitsie has found survivors. Capac's electronics repairs are done. He turns on the fixed computer and it says "beep babba boop." Capac cheers "It's alive!"

Splitsie wanders through the wreck's sand-filled hallways. He finds a console that strangely still works and has power. The computer contains blueprints that Splitsie recognises as hydrogen thrusters! Splitsie is hopeful that the Escape Pod survivor used this technology to escape--until he sees the dead body with a gunshot wound.

Back on the RX-39487, Capac argues with the computer. Capac worries he will be blamed for anything broken in Splitsie's absence. Splitsie's not gonna like this.

In the wreck, Splitsie indeed does not like this. He nervously inspects the victim. If it was no suicide, then the murderer could still be here.

## Interlude

Twotone the pirate struts across the sand between freight crates and a large wreck. A clumsy engineer above drops a welder on his head and angers Twotone. The engineer is almost done identifying what makes this weird "clang" sound. Twotone sarcastically praises the engineer for building a walker that will make their enemies cower in fear. Rivers the engineer is unfazed and wants to prove himself.

The pirate boss tasks his crew mates with searching for the intruders. They intend to check whether the old wreck has attracted the attention of the newcomers. The boss almost gets distracted by the thought of pie crust.

## Main story

Back in the engineering room of RX-39487, Capac tries to bribe an unseen interlocutor with a similar promise of pie. They are having a funny/sarcastic conversation, half of which is "beep boop beep".

Elsewhere, the pirates are swarming out across the Desert Planet in a dozen dune buggies and aircraft.

At the same time, Splitsie is heading back to Capac from the old wreck. Outside, he hears dune buggies closing in and starts running.

## Epilog

Splitsie is running across the dunes followed by one dune buggy with a funny horn and a laughing driver. The mining sled looks around confused and follows.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ The console screen shows quotes from Splitsie from this episode's script. And possibly a log message by someone who found these engines/thrusters before.