DATE: 16th, October 2160 05:34
OFFICER: RICHARDS (KPI#2144)
SUBJECT: COMPUTER VOICE DIARY RECORD OF Devlin McCormick (KEN#32211498)
SECURITY LEVEL: RED 2
REMARKS: DIARY SEEMS TO SUPPORT INTERROGATION FINDINGS OF CERBERUS DISASTER
....
After my son's funeral, I was about to relax in my plush quarters when I
discovered a note had been slipped under my door. This note confirmed
my nagging suspicion that my son had indeed been murdered. I had to bring
his killers to justice.
The shuttle to Kushiro had to be delayed in order for me to solve this crime.
I tried to get to
the Shuttle, but I did not have access to the Docking Bay. I had to get the
necessary pass from Brooks the Shuttle Pilot. I knew she hung out in the
main corridor of B2. When I found her and we started to talk, I was amazed
at her gusto....what a character ! I knew that if I could keep her talking,
I might be able to goad this tomboy into a Basketball match in the B1 gym.
I was right, she wanted to show me up (and she probably would have), but I
had other plans.
While she waited in the gym, I pretended to go to my locker in the weight
room. Brooks was tough as nails, but she was not too bright when it came to
security. I found her locker open and inside were the items I needed:
the D level elevator pass and her ID card. I carefully replaced the jacket
and then ditched Brooks.
I went to the B2 level and quickly took the East corridor to the end of the
level. At the D elevator I used the access card, and was on my way to the
Docking Bay on D3. I climbed into the Shuttle and found the Navigation
Computer. From my training, I knew that if I inserted her ID card into the
computer I would be able to erase the memory banks. After this simple task
was done, she came in and scared the heck out of me. I conned her with my
charm, and she then angrily confirmed that the memory banks were erased.
I had bought myself a week.
Now to work, I had to talk to my sons supervisor, Ruth Bernard. As the
Chief Kobayashi Scientist, she may have some additional details about his
death. I found her in the Kobayashi lab on D2. I was able to question her
at length. She double checked a hunch of mine and found that Danny's Probe
had produced a three megawatt flare of energy at the time of his death.
Bernard could not tell me what could have produced this lethal surge.
It seemed that cooperation is hard to come by on this damn station.
I took a chance and asked Meyer. Meyer was the stations repairman, a
decorated war vet, and a mean SOB. I managed to locate him in the Generator
room on the East end of B2. Meyer had all the charm of Denubiam speckled
rat. With persistence, I squeezed out of him that this three watt flare of
energy was produced by a Concussion Charge. I also snatched a nearby
fire extinguisher in case of an unforeseen emergency.
The station personnel would not tell me if Cerberus even had Concussion
Charges.It looked like I was at a dead end. Just then I remembered Bernard's
associate, Rowland, he was a gossiper who always seemed eager to talk. I
found him in the B2 lab. I was right, Rowland did know about the charges,
but he wanted a bribe. I assumed he wanted cash, but a delicious Chandra
Blueberry pie was his price.
I tracked down Chandra in his kitchen on B4. Chandra was a great, but
conceited, cook. I saw the pie in the kitchen Larder, but he blocked my
attempts to get it. As we talked about his cooking, I knew that if I
challenged him to a cooking duel, I could distract him and grab the pie.
He took my bait, but I knew that I could not even boil an egg, so I had to
make him look foolish. I remembered that Ward had mentioned that in the
Catacombs off the D4 storeroom were RATS. What a way spoil a dish !
I went to these creepy Catacombs and found a rathole. Man, those rats were
so fast that I could not catch them. However, they seemed to hate the
light. I grabbed the Lantern in the next Catacomb and waited for a rat to
leave the rathole. Then I put the Lamp in front of the hole. I had blocked
the rat, but he was still too quick to catch. I finally had to freeze him
with a blast from the extinguisher. I had made a rat popsicle. With this
rat, I sneaked into the Canteen and put it in Chandra's dish on the table.
Then I went into the kitchen and had him take a look at his prized dish.
The look on his face was worth a month's pay ! While he pondered on his
culinary disaster, I sneaked into the Larder and grabbed the pie.
Rowland was lounging (as usual) in his quarters on B3 when I presented his
pie. He finally gave up his secret, Raman the Kobayashi scientist, was
working with Concussion Charges. So I paid a visit to the shy Raman, and
when I confronted her with this information, she told me that indeed
Kobayashi was working with these charges. To fool spies, the charges were
listed as Gauge 3 wrenches on the stocklist. Armed with this information, I
needed to see if a Concussion Charge had been stolen to sabotage the Probe.
I had to check the station inventories. When I asked LaPaz for the latest
Stock Inventory, she hesitantly gave me the list. I went down to the D4
Storeroom and got that Stocklist and compared the lists. My review
showed that a Charge had indeed been removed during a four hour period.
Again, I grilled LaPaz about who had access to charges in the Armory.
Ward and Capt. Shannon were the only two with this access.
My next step was to find out more about my chummy station mates. The ever
vigilant Dr. Chu would not let me near the Medical Computer, so I had to get
her out of the Operating Room. I knew the Hypochondriac Rowland could be my
bait. I found him resting in his quarters. I told him that he looked
really sick. Naturally he agreed, and paged the good Dr. Chu to rescue
him. I quickly ran up to the operating room and checked the medical
computer. What a gold mine ! To my chagrin, my main suspect Ward could not
have stolen the charge, he was in the middle of surgery. Now events were
getting confusing. Surprisingly, LaPaz had her own dirty secret; she was
pregnant. Now I had her !
When I next talked to her, I let slip that I knew her secret. To save her
image she gave me a Cupboard Key to gain access to Dannys things. I went
to his room on B3. I fought back the tears as I opened his Cupboard with
the key. I searched his effects and found a stack of love letters. I also
pocketed a paper clip for future use. The love letters contained a photo of
the sender. It was....Steve Kaufmann ! My son was gay. I was so distant
from him, that I did not even have a clue. Then Kaufmann burst in and
confronted me. His angry shouts over the mistaken notion that I disapproved
of their relationship were heard by others in the hall. I decided I needed
rest to gain the strength to finish this maddening mystery. LaPaz interrupted
my rest and ordered me to Kaufmann's room.
In the room laid Kaufmann, torn up and disemboweled, with Ward and Capt.
Shannon talking over his corpse. Their misguided anger and accusation
focused on me. I was accused of the murder. My pleas of innocence were
ignored, and then that brute Ward locked me in the Observation Pod
(Cerberus's makeshift brig).
I had to escape this damn Pod. So I used some McCormick ingenuity and
dismantled a nearby telescope. I was left with a lens and a metal tube. I
used the lens to unscrew the air grill. I then placed the metal tube in the
air vent and used Wards gross biscuit ration to plug up the hole. Just
like the safety manual predicted, the computer overrode the security lock and
opened the Pod door. I was ready to restart my investigation. Upon leaving
I was surprised by Allison Gates. She was another Kobayashi scientist, but
she revealed that she was their undercover spy against Mogami-Hudson.
Also, Gates was the anonymous note sender. We became unlikely allies in the
search to find out Cerberus's deadly secret. After we parted, I had to be
stealthy to avoid LaPaz, Ward, and Capt. Shannon, only they knew of my
forced confinement. I went to the Garden on B2. In the shed there I found
some handy Wirecutters. On a hunch, I looked in the Transport Pod (in the
West side of B2) and was amazed to find strange cocoons. I called Gates to
the Pod, and we investigated the cocoons. Dr. Chu surprised us in the Pod.
What a shock we had when she revealed herself as an alien metamorph. She
was intent on killing the Cerberus crew and replacing them with her fellow
aliens. Gates tried to fight her, but was ripped in two by the powerful
alien. I barely escaped the alien by going into the Generator room. I
improvised a desperate plan. I went to the Control Panel and turned off the
power. I used the Wirecutters to cut the power cable and then I restored
power. Next, I went out and lured the alien over this exposed live wire.
When it walked on the wire it should have died, but the Metamorph was too
damn strong ! It was only stunned. I reached for a nearby wrench, and in
desperation, used the wrench to break the tap on one of the fuel tanks. The
fuel sprayed on the creature and exploded when it hit the live wire.
Good-bye Dr. Chu !
I met up with Meyer who reported that the resulting damage was critical.
It meant Cerberus would lose its orbital position and fall into the Black
Hole. I ran away in disgust, knowing my actions would kill the crew. In
the corridor, I found that nosy Rowland had overheard our conversation.
Like a coward, he ran off into the Transport Pod to escape. Unknowingly his
actions meant that aliens would be given access to human society.
Regretfully, he and the Pod had to be destroyed to save mankind !
I knew that the laser cannon in the Armory could do the job. However, I
needed to short the C elevator to gain access the Armory. A stroke of
genius gave me the answer to solve this dilemma. I had to race up to B1 and
go to bar, where Chandra kept a crowbar. Then across the way to the gym for
the chest expander, and finally to the Catacombs for a hammer, with these
tools, I had I a chance to succeed. I went to the C elevator, located off
the B2 Control Room. To short the elevator, I had to pry open the Elevator
Control Panel with the crowbar. The chest expander kept the panel open so
that I could use the telescope lens to locate the correct circuit to short.
I was able to straighten the paper clip with the hammer, and use the
straightened clip to short the controls. I used the elevator to get to the
Armory on C2. There I used the laser cannon to destroy the Transport Pod.
Sorry Rowland....
Captain Shannon caught me destroying the Pod. He surprised the hell out of
me by smugly confessing that he murdered my son, and later killed Kaufmann
to frame me. He wanted revenge for the death of his wife. It was obvious
he was mad with hate. I prepared myself to meet my son, when Meyer saved
my butt. He jumped Shannon, they wrestled, and he killed the bastard with
his own gun!
I told Meyer the confrontation with the alien had resulted in the engine
damage. He said that we could still save the station, but I had to go
outside for the repairs. I knew that to fix this mess, I had to risk
permanent disability. I was determined to succeed and redeem my honor.
The necessary tool, the Zero-G wrench, was found in the Shuttle's tool
locker. I grabbed it and was on my way, when I was accosted by LaPaz.
In desperation she explained that Ward had gone nuts and had killed three
Mogami-Hudson employees he thought were aliens. Together we went to the
living quarters where Ward was cornered by Brooks and Raman. Ward was
crazed, and reported that even Weatherman was an alien. I tried to reason
with him, but Brooks unexpectedly jumped him. In the struggle a grenade was
detonated, killing them. As a consequence of the explosion, poor Raman was
trapped by a falling girder. The explosion had also caused the corridor to
start decompressing. To save the station, I had to seal the corridor. When
Chandra came to Raman, his love for her was so great that he elected to die
at her side. Again my cruel fate had forced me to sacrifice innocent
lives. LaPaz dragged Brooks out of the corridor, while I went to the
Storeroom and retrieved the Laser Welder. I returned to seal the bulkhead
doors and complete this gruesome task.
The engines were close to failure, so I ran to the Docking Bay and teamed
with Meyer to use the remaining Scout craft to get the needed spare part to
fix the engines. The part was from the my son's damaged Probe in space.
I succeeded but blacked out to the stress on my body. When I awoke, I
returned to find those bastards from Mogami-Hudson had taken over the
station and had cut the air supply to the remaining Kobayashi crew.
My only chance to stop them was to go outside and destroy their control room
with a Concussion Charge. I raced to the Armory Storage locker for the
charge. It was a pleasure to payback that conniving scum. After completing
this mission, I had to know....WHY! I was able to locate a surviving
(barely) Mogami-Hudson scientist in their B2 lab. Her story did not
surprise me. The aliens had lived on the Asteroid interior and were helping
Mogami-Hudson develop new technology, but the aliens wanted too much
control. They became defiant to Mogami-Hudson wishes. She pointed to a
fluid on the table which she said will kill the aliens. Mogami-Hudson was
never big on trust, and had developed the fluid to keep the aliens in
check. I was joined by LaPaz and Meyer. Now Meyer gave me even more bad
news about our chances; the shuttle's NavCom chip was destroyed, thus
crippling the ship. LaPaz came forth with vital information that a backup
chip was available. However, the chip was in Brook's brain. I volunteered
to play brain surgeon.
While I went to the Crew F corridor on B3, LaPaz went to the Control Center
and Meyer went to the Shuttle. After I completed my gruesome task with
Brooks body, I went to the Shuttle on D3 and found Meyer. I gave him the
chip and went to get LaPaz. I found her in the Control Center with Lowe.
Together we went to find and eliminate Waterman, the last threat. I had
heard Ward say that he last saw Waterman knawing on poor Berry in the
Garden. As we passed Barry's corpse, I heard an unearthly wail from the
other end of the Garden. We found Waterman eating Barry's intestines,
for him there was no hope, he had to be destroyed.
To effectively use the fluid, Waterman would need to be detained. LaPaz and
I went to the B1 gym and there I used the wirecutters to remove the
Volleyball net. Back at the Garden, we draped the net over the second
doorway on the cliff. LaPaz lured Waterman into the net, and he was caught,
I dumped on him the deadly liquid. The alien dissolved into dust.
We met with Meyer at the Shuttle, only to find more shocking news, Lowe was
also an alien. Lowe was crafty, he was waiting till we left in the Shuttle.
Then he would blast us with the laser cannon. I had to rid mankind of this
menace for good. If Cerberus was destroyed, Lowe and this evil race would
be stopped. I eluded Lowe and went to the station Control Center and
activated the self-destruct mechanism. Quickly now to the Shuttle,
but....Damn! - Lowe de-activated the self-destruct mechanism. Now it was
personal ! I went to the Armory and grabbed the last Concussion Charge,
reactivated the self-destruct switch and then bobby trapped the
self-destruct override switch. Lowe tried again to deactivate the switch,
but this time he got a nasty surprise.
Now there was no going back, I sprinted to the repaired Shuttle.
Together with Meyer and LaPaz, we escaped this hellish death trap. As we
watched Cerberus explode into space debris, I am exhausted and heartbroken.
Our first alien contact was a disaster, 17 people, including my beloved son
were dead...wait, what is that horrible grating sound in the back of
the Shuttle. Unbeliev//////////////////////////////////////////
< ACCESS RESTRICTED >
....
from the Absolute Zero team and Eric W. Adams 7/7/95
