Gareth opens the panel for the automated controls. After a couple of minutes, he determines that the technology is just too advanced for him to repair, and that the ship's power is completely offline. Without ship's power, the door mechanism can't be moved with these controls.

OOG: Picture a repair tech from the 1980s trying to work on a computer from today. He can recognize what the parts are, and swap them out, but he can't make repairs with his known techniques and tools.

"Sir, is there anything I can assist with?"

Malcolm comes to a stop just clear of the hull, and about 2 meters forward of the personnel hatch. He's oriented himself to match the ship's position; feet toward the landing gear (and the asteroid). To his left is the maw of some type of scoop, and to his right is the nose of the vessel. He notices an odd bulge perched atop the hull, a dome with a clearly defined hatch line like a lid.

Forward, he also notices a group of what appears to be windows or viewports. They are darker than the hull around them, and he can't see what may lie beyond.

The hull has markings on it, but he can't read the language.

Malcolm remembers all the markings he has seen.

"Look. A hatch. How would you like to proceed First officer?"

"This ship is far more advanced than anything we're currently working with. It also has no power. Someone will have to open it or another entrance manually."

Gareth does not volunteer to open the door manually.

"I will take point."

Malcolm volunteers to open the hatch and go into the ship first.

Malcolm examines the hatch before trying to open it. If it looks clear, he will open it on command. IF it does not look clear, he will try to clear it of danger.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Fri 20 May 2016.

Brent watches and then moves in closer as Gareth tries with the automated controls.  "Let's see if the emergency controls work first.  They should activate even if power is dead.  They don't seem damaged.  If they're jammed we'll try that other hatch."

OOC: Brent will try to operate the emergency controls.

Brent studies the area around the manual controls, and, after brushing off a small area of dust, soon spies the release mechanism for the cover. The cover hinges open, revealing a completely familiar black and orange striped handle.

He pulls the handle out and downward in relation to the ship, and the outer hatch slides open about a handspan - and then stops. As the hatch releases, Brent's sensors briefly indicate a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, but the reading drops back to zero almost before he can register it.

The cover below the hatch also pops open, and what looks like a folded ladder extends from the bay about a third of a meter, and it, too, stops.

Brent pulls back a bit as the hatch starts to open.  "Damn," he calls as the hatch stops opening.  "The damn thing jammed."  He'll try pumping the handle again.

The handle moves quite freely, and nothing happens.

Brent backs away.  "Malcom, see if you can get that other hatch open, this one is jammed.  I'll work on it in the meantime." He turned back to the hatch and braced himself while using a pry bar to try to further open the hatch.

Brent gets a good purchase against the edge of the hatch with the prybar - and discovers that the hatch moves without much effort. It slides open, revealing an airlock chamber with a closed hatch on the other side. The airlock is large enough to take the entire group and their EVA packs.

"Hopefully it shuts tight after we enter"

Malcolm enters the airlock.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:54, Sat 21 May 2016.

Brent opens the lock and then calls out.  "Captain, we are heading into the ship."  He turns and catches sight of the others.  "Let's go and see if we can get the lock to function.  There were traces of atmosphere in the lock so there might be something to breath."  As people head into the lock he'll look inside for the controls.  "We may have to crank the door closed and the inner door open.  See if the inside automatic controls are damaged as well Gareth."

Malcolm's helmet light illuminates a small part of the airlock's interior, while Brent and Gareth's lights move as their owners look around. The airless, black space is somewhat disconcerting after being outside with light from the system primary.

The airlock has several panels on the bulkheads, all labeled in what appears to be the same language as the exterior lettering. The inner hatch appears to be tightly closed, but the control panel to the right of the hatch is dark. The inner hatch also has a porthole some twenty centimeters in diameter located at about eye level.

One thing that is conspicuously missing, Malcolm notes, is handrails. Every ship he's ever seen is literally festooned with handrails and padeyes to secure items while the ship is in freefall. This ship's interior, or at least the airlock, has no handrails, and not much else to grab onto, either. Maneuvering in here will be difficult, as using thrusters in such a close space is generally a Bad Idea.

"Can we salvage the ship?" Comes the question back to Brent.

Craig replies;  "Not sure yet Captain.  Power seems to be off and from the state of the the vessel it must have been here for a long while."

"We don't have a lot of time, so you need to get in there," the captain replies tersely. (Everyone on the channel hears this.)

Gareth will enter the ship along with the others, and if possible close the outer door to the airlock behind them. If the outer door can be secured he will look for a means to open the inner door into the ship.

The interior door control panel is similar to the outer panel, except that it's undamaged, and somewhat larger. Without power, though, it's a dark colored plastic plate. Below this panel is a larger square outlined in yellow and black. It's marked, but again, none of you can read the language.

"Roger that captain," Brent will reply.  He'll examine the yellow and black panel to see if he can figure out how it might serve to open the inner door.  He will check to see if there is a way to close the outer hatch first.  He won't open or close anything until he has some idea of what might be going on.

Brent opens the panel. Inside, there are two handles, arranged side by side. Above them is a pair of round gauges with white faces and black needles. The gauge on the right's indicator needle is pointing to a blue line in the lower left (7 o'clock) of the dial. The gauge on the left's needle is pointing to the left and up (10 o'clock). The other indicators are apparently powered, so they are blank.

Brent will move back a bit from the panel.  "I'm thinking we try to close the hatch and try to get through into the vessel.  These handles might pressurize the compartment and open the hatch.  They have to provide a way to get into and out of the ship with the power off.  It may be we want to have just one person go through first in case this doesn't work and we can't get the hatch back open from the inside."

"I'll do it. I'll go in first."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:50, Wed 25 May 2016.

"Yes, I think thats best."

Gareth will approach the panel and attempt to identify its purpose, and the means of operating it.



21:11, Today: Hoot rolled 8 using 3d6 ((2,2,4)).