Dr. Blue
Dr. Blue
About you
You are Dr. Blue, the preeminent researcher on WRM-19 (“the worm”). Humanity's hopes are placed on you to find a cure that will put a stop to the millions of deaths caused by this merciless disease. Progress on cure research had been painfully slow until two years ago, when an expedition to Satellite 34 yielded the discovery of 'theorium,' a new substance with unusual properties. Your team led early tests on theorium with promising results. A research base was quickly founded on Satellite 34 and you were hired by Earth's authorities to lead cure development. Billions of lives are counting on your success.
One year ago
You gave the name ‘BLU-01’ to the in-progress cure. Under your leadership, research has progressed at a steady pace. However, lack of access to Earth resources was slowing you down. Fortunately, a private pilot named Captain Black contacted you and offered to be at your disposal for any transport needs until a cure was ready for distribution on Earth. They even proposed to outfit their spacecraft, the small but agile SS Karma, with a research lab to your specifications. In return, they wanted distribution rights on the first batch of the cure. You agreed to this deal - profits don’t concern you. You’re here to save lives. With Captain Black’s cooperation, research continued at a breakneck speed.
One month ago
Theorium is naturally a safe substance for humans. It’s also used as an ingredient for robot fuel. But its unique properties meant that you could alter it in such a way that it became lethal to the parasite. Confident in your solution, you approved human testing. But this time, your genius failed you: several of the testers died due to your cure. You learned that altered theorium killed humans without the worm within 10 minutes of introduction. This was a major oversight on your part; you were too eager to announce a cure to the world and claim fame. Ashamed and afraid, you lied to the loved ones of the dead testers, saying that theorium was naturally a deadly substance. You needed more time to finish the cure: a conclusion you emphasized in your latest report. Your reputation was on the line!
Two weeks ago
To your chagrin, Captain Black fixated on a single part of your report: BLU-01 was effective in killing the worm. Earth’s authorities hastily made the decision to accept the risk and begin distribution of the unfinished cure. You know that Captain Black has a lot to gain from this outcome. They own this portion of the cure distribution and its profits, after all. The delivery date was set for two weeks out and you will be part of the small crew accompanying the cure. You must find a way to prevent the distribution at all costs. Some people even messaged you directly to obtain the cure, but you categorically declined all of them.
Yesterday
You received an anonymous communication. Its sender, who went by Green, seemed equally alarmed by the shipment of unfinished BLU-01 to Earth. They offered a solution: they will take the place of the assigned engineer on the SS Karma and dispose of the cargo mid-flight. This plan would buy time for your team to continue cure development while eliminating risks to your personal reputation. As your attempts to dissuade Captain Black over the last two weeks have been fruitless, you agree to the proposal and provide Green with the time and location of departure.
Today
Timestamps indicate the start of corresponding actions, which continue (or is transit time) until the next timestamp.
Your accomplice texts you saying they’ll be late for the 5:00 boarding. They ran into an issue finding the real engineer assigned to the ship.
You board the SS Karma with Captain Black, Red (the Captain’s security personnel), and an engineer going by the name Yellow. Is this your accomplice? Did they change their name? They said they would be late, but they’re here on time. Strange.
The three of you are in the cockpit preparing for take-off. You receive a message from Green that they didn’t board the ship yet and actually just arrived. Yellow must be the real engineer! In a bit of a panic, you exit the cockpit to open the hatch for Green. They went to find a place to hide as you quickly return to the cockpit. You buckle yourself in for the scheduled 5:30 launch.
The SS Karma is in flight and after the others leave, you leave a note containing the access code for the BLU-01 cabinet and a copy of the research lab key card (emits a purple light) under your seat. Only you can create copies of this key card, and you have the original, of course.
You arrive at the canteen where you find Captain Black, Yellow, and Red. Green enters the canteen and tells everyone they are the real engineer and Yellow is a fake. Captain tells Red to handle it after dinner. Everyone eats except for Red, who only drinks a strange liquid.
You and Captain Black go to the research lab to have a private conversation. You see this as your last attempt to convince the Captain. Your conversation turns into an argument and you take one of the hyposprays out from the cabinet to threaten the Captain with it. You don’t actually kill the Captain, of course.
Captain Black needs to check on the autopilot in the cockpit. You go with them so that Green can dispose of the cure while you have an alibi. You and the Captain continue to argue down the hallway to the cockpit.
Your argument continues in the cockpit and it gets heated. Captain Black suddenly grabs you by the front of your spacesuit and you think: is the Captain going to kill me? Billions of lives depend on you! You must defend yourself.
The lights suddenly go off. The Captain is surprised and lets go of your suit. You take this chance to defend your life, and you use the hypospray in your hand to stab the person in front of you (you can’t see in the dark, but the Captain was just in front of you) with BLU-01. You drop the empty hypospray on the ground, and in a state of disbelief at what you had done, you hide in the adjacent security room to wait out the power outage.
The lights come back on and an emergency meeting is called almost immediately after. As per protocol, you head to the canteen. You learn about Captain Black’s death and the weight of your crime descends upon you.
The SS Karma’s emergency landing software brings it to the nearest astral object with a landing pad. You exit the ship with weak legs and a heavy heart.
What you have & know
- Your research lab access key card is missing. You usually always have it attached to the front of your suit.
- An ID card that is authentic and matches your appearance, name, and occupation.
- A messaging device with messaging history intact. You’ve recently spoken with Black and Green.
- You left your personal journal in the research lab. Hopefully no one finds it.
Your objectives & secrets
- Find out if you killed Captain Black. If you did, do not let anyone find out. If you are imprisoned, who will develop a working cure for the worm? This is not about you, this is about humanity. If you didn’t, who did?
- Find out where the BLU-01 is. Did Green succeed in their task?
- Hide your association with Green. If anyone finds out you have a deal with Green, you could be in legal trouble.
- Understand the events that took place on the ship. Why was there a black out? Where was everyone during this time?
WRM-19 disease profile
Origin: Alien parasite, 1st known case in 2119
Effects: While dormant, causes short-term amnesia in the host with no conclusive pattern. Upon becoming active, the parasite consumes the host’s brain. Death occurs <5 minutes of onset. Onset is unpredictable.
Spread: Infectious. Transmission methods and patterns are unknown.
Treatment: No cure in market.
Diagnosis: Prior to death, diagnosis is not possible. Posthumous diagnosis is possible. Self-diagnosis is prevalent by attributing symptoms of short-term amnesia to WRM-19, but this is highly unreliable.
Captain Black autopsy report
Time of death: 8:39pm.
Time of discovery: 8:44pm.
Cause of death: Theorium poisoning, injected into the neck via hypospray (no-contact needle). Unable to confirm which hypospray was used.
Notes: No signs of WRM-19 detected.
SS Karma map
Dr. Blue
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Dr. Blue
About you
You are Dr. Blue, the preeminent researcher on WRM-19 (“the worm”). Humanity's hopes are placed on you to find a cure that will put a stop to the millions of deaths caused by this merciless disease. Progress on cure research had been painfully slow until two years ago, when an expedition to Satellite 34 yielded the discovery of 'theorium,' a new substance with unusual properties. Your team led early tests on theorium with promising results. A research base was quickly founded on Satellite 34 and you were hired by Earth's authorities to lead cure development. Billions of lives are counting on your success.
One year ago
You gave the name ‘BLU-01’ to the in-progress cure. Under your leadership, research has progressed at a steady pace. However, lack of access to Earth resources was slowing you down. Fortunately, a private pilot named Captain Black contacted you and offered to be at your disposal for any transport needs until a cure was ready for distribution on Earth. They even proposed to outfit their spacecraft, the small but agile SS Karma, with a research lab to your specifications. In return, they wanted distribution rights on the first batch of the cure. You agreed to this deal - profits don’t concern you. You’re here to save lives. With Captain Black’s cooperation, research continued at a breakneck speed.
One month ago
Theorium is naturally a safe substance for humans. It’s also used as an ingredient for robot fuel. But its unique properties meant that you could alter it in such a way that it became lethal to the parasite. Confident in your solution, you approved human testing. But this time, your genius failed you: several of the testers died due to your cure. You learned that altered theorium killed humans without the worm within 10 minutes of introduction. This was a major oversight on your part; you were too eager to announce a cure to the world and claim fame. Ashamed and afraid, you lied to the loved ones of the dead testers, saying that theorium was naturally a deadly substance. You needed more time to finish the cure: a conclusion you emphasized in your latest report. Your reputation was on the line!
Two weeks ago
To your chagrin, Captain Black fixated on a single part of your report: BLU-01 was effective in killing the worm. Earth’s authorities hastily made the decision to accept the risk and begin distribution of the unfinished cure. You know that Captain Black has a lot to gain from this outcome. They own this portion of the cure distribution and its profits, after all. The delivery date was set for two weeks out and you will be part of the small crew accompanying the cure. You must find a way to prevent the distribution at all costs. Some people even messaged you directly to obtain the cure, but you categorically declined all of them.
Yesterday
You received an anonymous communication. Its sender, who went by Green, seemed equally alarmed by the shipment of unfinished BLU-01 to Earth. They offered a solution: they will take the place of the assigned engineer on the SS Karma and dispose of the cargo mid-flight. This plan would buy time for your team to continue cure development while eliminating risks to your personal reputation. As your attempts to dissuade Captain Black over the last two weeks have been fruitless, you agree to the proposal and provide Green with the time and location of departure.
Today
Timestamps indicate the start of corresponding actions, which continue (or is transit time) until the next timestamp.
Your accomplice texts you saying they’ll be late for the 5:00 boarding. They ran into an issue finding the real engineer assigned to the ship.
You board the SS Karma with Captain Black, Red (the Captain’s security personnel), and an engineer going by the name Yellow. Is this your accomplice? Did they change their name? They said they would be late, but they’re here on time. Strange.
The three of you are in the cockpit preparing for take-off. You receive a message from Green that they didn’t board the ship yet and actually just arrived. Yellow must be the real engineer! In a bit of a panic, you exit the cockpit to open the hatch for Green. They went to find a place to hide as you quickly return to the cockpit. You buckle yourself in for the scheduled 5:30 launch.
The SS Karma is in flight and after the others leave, you leave a note containing the access code for the BLU-01 cabinet and a copy of the research lab key card (emits a purple light) under your seat. Only you can create copies of this key card, and you have the original, of course.
You arrive at the canteen where you find Captain Black, Yellow, and Red. Green enters the canteen and tells everyone they are the real engineer and Yellow is a fake. Captain tells Red to handle it after dinner. Everyone eats except for Red, who only drinks a strange liquid.
You and Captain Black go to the research lab to have a private conversation. You see this as your last attempt to convince the Captain. Your conversation turns into an argument and you take one of the hyposprays out from the cabinet to threaten the Captain with it. You don’t actually kill the Captain, of course.
Captain Black needs to check on the autopilot in the cockpit. You go with them so that Green can dispose of the cure while you have an alibi. You and the Captain continue to argue down the hallway to the cockpit.
Your argument continues in the cockpit and it gets heated. Captain Black suddenly grabs you by the front of your spacesuit and you think: is the Captain going to kill me? Billions of lives depend on you! You must defend yourself.
The lights suddenly go off. The Captain is surprised and lets go of your suit. You take this chance to defend your life, and you use the hypospray in your hand to stab the person in front of you (you can’t see in the dark, but the Captain was just in front of you) with BLU-01. You drop the empty hypospray on the ground, and in a state of disbelief at what you had done, you hide in the adjacent security room to wait out the power outage.
The lights come back on and an emergency meeting is called almost immediately after. As per protocol, you head to the canteen. You learn about Captain Black’s death and the weight of your crime descends upon you.
The SS Karma’s emergency landing software brings it to the nearest astral object with a landing pad. You exit the ship with weak legs and a heavy heart.
What you have & know
- Your research lab access key card is missing. You usually always have it attached to the front of your suit.
- An ID card that is authentic and matches your appearance, name, and occupation.
- A messaging device with messaging history intact. You’ve recently spoken with Black and Green.
- You left your personal journal in the research lab. Hopefully no one finds it.
Your objectives & secrets
- Find out if you killed Captain Black. If you did, do not let anyone find out. If you are imprisoned, who will develop a working cure for the worm? This is not about you, this is about humanity. If you didn’t, who did?
- Find out where the BLU-01 is. Did Green succeed in their task?
- Hide your association with Green. If anyone finds out you have a deal with Green, you could be in legal trouble.
- Understand the events that took place on the ship. Why was there a black out? Where was everyone during this time?
WRM-19 disease profile
Origin: Alien parasite, 1st known case in 2119
Effects: While dormant, causes short-term amnesia in the host with no conclusive pattern. Upon becoming active, the parasite consumes the host’s brain. Death occurs <5 minutes of onset. Onset is unpredictable.
Spread: Infectious. Transmission methods and patterns are unknown.
Treatment: No cure in market.
Diagnosis: Prior to death, diagnosis is not possible. Posthumous diagnosis is possible. Self-diagnosis is prevalent by attributing symptoms of short-term amnesia to WRM-19, but this is highly unreliable.
Captain Black autopsy report
Time of death: 8:39pm.
Time of discovery: 8:44pm.
Cause of death: Theorium poisoning, injected into the neck via hypospray (no-contact needle). Unable to confirm which hypospray was used.
Notes: No signs of WRM-19 detected.
SS Karma map