Mothership: Episode 5
Captain Foster is plagued by a dream of a ship that collided with his own ship, leading to the death of his crew. Doctor Zarkov seeks reassurance that they are on the same page that Zarkov is the team leader. Doctor Dudley plots and schemes while eavesdropping on the crew. The ship’s AI, Catalina, warns Dudley about Foster’s potential psychotic break and Zarkov’s obsession with delivering the alien archive to Kind Corp. Concerns about Foster’s behavior are expressed by various crew members, including Captain Shen, Murad, and Amanda. The crew discovers Aisha al-Faris’s body covered in a prismatic mold, and Private Fineberg disappears. Arcturus discovers that the ship is covered in technorganic spores and requests to leave immediately, but Captain Foster insists on locating Fineberg before departing. Meanwhile, life signs on Yatima begin to pulse.
The Xìntiānwēng
Captain Foster is in the CIC. He is always, endlessly, in the CIC—his spider web.
Zarkov and Shen’s chatter melts into a meaningless drone.
Foster is transfixed.
Before him hangs a wireframe of the al-Khwarizmi looming above Yatima. The Xìntiānwēng, the lab ship’s pinnace, breaks free from its berth, soaring across the horizon, vanishing into a blip of pixels. Loop. Repeat.
The Xìntiānwēng is no stranger to him, yet he’s never seen it until now. How is that possible?
The answer unspools before him like a sinister revelation. He dreamt of this ship in a nightmare seven years earlier. It descended from the void and collided with The Nellie, shredding your Hab and launching Foster, Arcturus, Zarkov, and Dudley into the abyss to die.
What is that ship from his nightmare hovering before him?
How did he dream of himself and his staff dying before meeting them?
Foster thinks “Am I going insane?
His heart throbs in his chest, and sweat pours from his brow.
“Captain Foster?” It’s Shen. “Captain Foster, are you still with us?”
Something’s wrong.
“Khytrov, can you please repeat for Captain Foster?”
Khytrov’s voice crackles over comms.
“Aye, sir. I ran diagnostics for Doctors Bey and Sethu, as requested. I pulled up the coordinates that Dudley was after, and, lo and behold; I stumbled across something. It was elusive; I’ll grant you that. But I’ve got a nose for this sort of thing. I sniffed out faint traces of life, half a klick south from the dig site. I can’t tell you more than that, but I’ll tell you this much: something’s breathing down there.”
“Doctor Zarkov, what are your orders?”
Zarkov, on bard the al-Khwarizmi, confers with the team, but on a private channel with Captain Foster, he expresses his concern that they must be on the same page. Captain Foster reassures him that they are on the same team. Zarkov stresses that he is team leader.
Catalina Reports to Doctor Dudley
Doctor Dudley is alone in his lab. His brusque demeanor has earned him a modicum of privacy. To plot. Perchance to scheme. As he eavesdrops on the crew’s discussion, the ship’s AI, Catalina, chimes to announce itself.
“Doctor Dudley, I’m tracking the life signs of Doctor Zarkov and Captain Foste,r per your request. The Captain is experiencing what appears to be a panic attack, but he’s pulling through. Impressive, considering the kind of trauma he’s carrying.”
Catalina invokes a screen before Dudley, displaying Captain Foster’s vital signs. He watches as his heart rate spikes but just as quickly returns to a stable rhythm. Foster’s got it under control. Dudley heartbeat, while accelerated, is within reasonable parameters.
“Kind Corp’s psy-profile, combined with our surveillance, puts the likelihood of Captain Foster having a psychotic break at 77% within the next 36 hours—poor thing. Foster’s a damaged instrument of Kind Corp, and he’s molded his crew in his image. If he snaps, they’ll follow suit.”
Catalina provided Dudley with the psychological profiles of Captain Cain Foster and Doctor Maximillian Zarkov.
“Doctor Zarkov is a wild card. He doesn’t trust a soul, and the pressure to deliver that alien archive to Kind Corp consumes him. It’s all or nothing for him. Success is the only option. But that relentless drive clouds his judgment, and he could jeopardize the mission.”
“He could use Arcturus to increase his chances, but the Doctor cannot abide synthetics.”
Murad and Amanda warn Doctor Zarkov
Zarkov feels the weight of Murad’s hand on his shoulder, and he sees Amanda’s hand intertwined with Murad’s. “Doctor, may we speak with you?”
Amanda nods her head toward the bridge of the al-Khwarizmi. Zarkov follows her and Murad away from the Marines.
Murad’s face is etched with worry lines. “We’re worried, Maximillian. We don’t know what spiked energy signature is, and we need to get down to Yatima as quickly as possible. But…”
Amanda takes over. “It’s Foster’s squad. We saw him at the Captain’s dinner, and he was… intense. I don’t think he’s emotionally stable.”
Murad says, “We’re about to retrieve an alien artifact, Maximillian. It’s proof that we are not alone, but who knows what it’s capable of? And what happened to the al-Khwarizmi crew? Why did the lab ship’s pinnace flee as soon as we entered the system?”
Amanda chimes in, “And if anything goes south, I don’t know how Foster will react. I don’t care about the fake news on the feeds about the Martian Insurrection. Foster’s no hero. He’s an obedient killer who’s going to snap.”
Murad concludes, “Maximillian, we’ll be heading to Yatima with a pack of wolves. What do we do?”
Zarkov reassures Murad and Amanda that he has the situation well in hand.
Captain Shen plots with Doctor Dudley
Captain Shen strides into Dudley’s lab, commanding Catalina to erase its memory of his presence while in Dudley’s company.
“Doctor Foster, we have a situation. Captain Foster’s behavior is… concerning. Since our arrival in the al-Ḥajaru al-Aswad system, he’s been running psy ops. Zarkov was immediately taken to the CIC upon awakening from cryo, while you were escorted to quarters. Arcturus has been re-programmed, and all mission-related communications now flow through Foster. Earlier, he was in a dissociative state. The man was just… gone. Foster is teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. Doctor Dudley, I’m sure you’ll agree he’s unfit for duty.”
Dudely confirms with Captain Shen that Dudley does indeed have the power to declare Foster unfit for duty. Dudely, however, asks for more proof before proceeding with such severe actions.
“We must tread carefully. While aboard the Nellie, I am the captain, but Foster is the first lieutenant. The title of captain is a polite fiction. But he does command a team of eight devoted Marines. The moment he steps off the ship, he’s in charge of operations. Foster won’t relinquish his command easily, and that presents a major risk. Doctor, I trust your judgment. You have the power to declare him unfit for duty, but when and how? It’s a delicate situation.”
Dudley advises that they see how things develops before taking action.
Catalina decrypts communications
Catalina decrypts the messages between Yatima and al-Khwarizmi for Doctor Zarkov.
Message 1:
Doctor Meryem Mahdavi: “Yusef, you wouldn’t believe it! We discovered an alien archive! The automation is working so well. I miss you so much.”
Captain Yusef Mahdavi: “I’m glad to hear you’re making progress, Meryem. Keep up the good work. I miss you, too.”
Message 2:
Doctor Meryem Mahdavi: “Yusef, with the 3D printer upgrade, we can stay at Yatima indefinitely and explore the archive. It could make us wealthier than we could ever imagine. Oh, and by the way, Doctor Gupta confirmed what I already knew: I’m pregnant. I’m so happy!”
Captain Yusef Mahdavi: “That’s wonderful news, Meryem! We’ll figure out a way to make it work. Take care of yourself.”
Message 3:
Doctor Meryem Mahdavi: “Yusef, something is wrong. I think the alien artifact has manipulated us the entire time, and some of the crew aren’t acting like themselves. I can’t explain it. We have to keep Aadon and Hawa safe!”
Captain Yusef Mahdavi: “Stay calm, Meryem. We’ll figure out what’s going on. Just focus on keeping yourself and the others safe.”
Attack!
Arcturus, Corporal Moses Howard, and Private Louis Fineberg continue examining the cryo chamber of Aisha al-Faris, whose body is cocooned in some prismatic mold.
Fineberg laughs, “If Horowitz wuz here, he would have pissed himself!”
As Howard and Fineberg continue to insult Horowitz, Arcuturs is distracted by a strobe of light and the rainbows it sparks on the mold that’s eating the body of Aisha. Then the thump of something impacting the ship’s wall and falling to the floor.
In that instant, Fineberg vanishes.
Howard and Arcturus sweep the auxiliary lab and discover a large hole carved out of the lab ship’s floor with a welder. Beneath the floor lie the al-Khwarizmi’s empty due tanks. Next to an overturned lab table next to the hole is a tablet that displays a live feed directly from Arcturus’s eyes. Howard, panicked, report to Foster, and he calms him down.
Arcturus reports to Zarkov and requests that Amanda help it scan their area for contagion. Amanda helps calibrate Arcturus’s bio scanner and discovers that the ship is covered in technorganic spores.
Zarkov and his team and Arcturus want off the lab ship immediately. Captain Foster tells them they can leave, but his team will remain on the lab ship and locate Fineberg and what happened to him. Doctor Dudley informs everyone aboard the al-Khwarizmi due to the risk of infecting the crew of the Nellie. Arcturus argues that the bio test strips for Captain Yusef Mahdiv tested positive but that Mahdiv was reported healthy despite the diagnosis. Dudley says that a single case doesn’t prove anything. Everyone is to remain on the lab ship until they can determine their next steps of action.
Meanwhile, the life signs on Yatima continue finally pulse. Below the surface of Yatima the energy signature from the alien archive keens at 3 Hertz.